My Daughter's Birth

The Midwife had come to visit my wife in the evening. She said ‘if you’re having this baby have it tonight, or wait till after the weekend, cos I’m off’. Then she left.

Just after midnight my wife went into labour, so I took her to bed and realised we needed the Midwife. I put on my coat over my pajamas, and headed out on foot for the public telephone. I went along the embankment, and down Roughdown road by the Greengrocer. At that time the street lights  went off in Hemel at midnight. No light in the telephone box, there’s me with a scrap of paper with the Midwife’s number and pennies for the call. It was a manual exchange and the operator was a man,I explained the situation, I couldn’t see the number because there was no light. I said ‘I think  the Midwife lives  in Cemmaes road’. The  operator said in a wonderful voice ‘now calm down boy’ and he managed to put me through. With the Midwife on route I headed home.

When I got home, there was my wife already holding our ‘new baby daughter’. The Midwife arrived a few minutes later!