“Mr. Fulginiti- can you take a phone call?”  

It was the school secretary, calling on what we would now describe as the old-time intercom system.

“Yes. Who is it?”

“It’s your wife Tammy.”

My wife? I just spoke to her about an hour ago.  The doctor said everything was fine and it looked like the baby would be born right on time- three weeks from now.

I went upstairs and into the Lititz Elementary School office.  The secretary, Mrs. Pfautz, had a peculiar expression on her face that didn’t register with me.  I didn’t know that she knew something I didn’t.  I took the phone.

“Hey- what’s up?”

“My water broke.”

“What does that mean?” 

I knew full well what that meant but I was so focused on the doctor’s report from earlier in the morning, that I just wasn’t making sense of things.

Mrs. Pfautz and her assistant were now in full smile, and laughing at my confusion.

“That means I’m having the baby. ” Tam said.  “Now!  I’m in labor!” 

“Oh!  Right!  Geez!  But you just told me….”

“I know- but here we go!”

“Ok I’ll meet you at home.”

Mrs. Pfautz and her assistant sprinkled their congratulations with some good natured teasing about my confusion over the “water breaking”, and told me I better get off to the hospital.

As I drove from Lititz to our house in Lancaster, I wondered for a minute about how bad things would be if having a kid changed my life in ways I didn’t really like.  But that was just a brief, mild wave of anxiety.  We were ready!  I just always get uncomfortable with things that are unchangeable, even if they’re good things.

I don’t remember stopping at the house to get Tammy and our hospital bag.  I have almost no memory of checking in to the hospital, or the early hours of labor.  I do remember that it seemed slow; so slow that I decided to go down to the cafeteria and get a salad.  I figured that once things got moving I would not have a chance to eat.

When I got back up to the room, things had progressed.  My salad got shelved until much later that night, when everything was finished.  In the meantime, Tammy was walking up and down the hospital hallway trying to alleviate some serious back pain and stiffness.

She leaned against the wall as if trying to do a push-up on it.  

“Can you massage my back as hard as you can?”

“Yeah.” I dug in.

“Harder.”

“Ok!”

“As hard as you can.”

“I am!”

“Is that all you got?”

“Yep!”

“Dammit!”

A few hours later I watched my daughter enter the world.  It was awesome!

Both my family and Tammy’s had been hanging out in the waiting room and were ready to meet the newest family member.  For some reason, Tammy and I kept them waiting for close to 45 minutes. I think we were trying to savor the moment or something but we must have lost track of time.  I don’t know what we were thinking!

We did pick a name during that period.  It was between Bailey and Talia, and after struggling with that for too long, we went with Bailey Clarke (Clarke is from a character in Spike Lee’s movie Mo’ Better Blues- check it out!).

At one point the nurse said, “Your family is really getting restless out there- they want to know when you’re going to let them come in and meet their grandaughter and niece.”

So we left them in- finally!  

That was 30 years ago!

Bailey Clarke Fulginiti celebrated her 30th birthday on May 17, entering her fourth decade at exactly 8:09pm.  She is many things; a gifted singer, an excellent teacher, a caring friend, a crafty crocheter, a skilled cook and baker, a strong cyclist, an open-minded thinker, and just an overall good person that makes me proud.  

One thing she generally is not is…..early. Not as a toddler, a teenager or even now as an adult.

But on May 17, 1996, three weeks ahead of schedule, Bailey was…….early!

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