The drama on the night she was born...

It was six days passed my due date and finally my body was saying it was almost time to have this baby. Saturday night we went to bed excited that perhaps we would have a baby soon. I was having strong, regular contractions about every half an hour. I lay in bed restless while Jeff slept. 

I was awake at about 2 am when I heard the electric garage door open up. I quickly woke Jeff and side (urgently), “The garage door just opened and no, I am not dreaming.” We both heard the sounds of our car starting in the garage and then it backed out. We were out of bed like shots and ran to see through blurred vision as our car careened backwards down the driveway, turned through the front lawn and crashed into our rock flower bed. I immediately called 911 as Jeff ran upstairs to get a gun. 

The man who was trying to steal our car was still in the front yard, trying to free the car, spinning the tires that were high centered on the rocks. The dispatcher skeptically took my information as I watched the man through a window (we kept all the lights off in the house). After a few minutes the man abandoned the car and ran to Jeff’s pick-up, parked in the drive-way. He got in and closed the door. He must have been disappointed to not find another one of our vehicles with keys in the ignition, ready to go. He got out and came back in the garage. 

I was still on the phone with the 911 dispatcher and she was now getting into the drama, realizing I wasn’t just a lonely house wife at home with too much bourbon in the middle of the night. She asked, “Where is he now?” just as I heard the back door open. In all the excitement, neither Jeff or I thought to check the back door from the garage to the house and it was unlocked. I hid in the living room and whispered into the phone, "I think he's in the house." Jeff spoke to the perpetrator in a strong voice to get out of the house. Seconds later, I heard the door softly close. The man quickly left and ran off.

The Sheriff’s Deputy pulled in the drive a minute or so later having come from downtown Dallas in 6 minutes. The Deputy was an old friend, the son of my parents good friends. He called in the calvery and soon more police and a canine unit were sitting out in front of our house with light flashing everywhere. We were the excitement in Polk County for the night.

Six cop cars, a burglar on the loose and our car in the flowerbed got the adrenaline going and my contractions went from every half an hour to once every 2 minutes. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to get to the hospital in time, but once I laid back in bed the contractions dissipated. 

The man who tried unsuccessfully to steal our car was apprehended on the nearby highway while he waited for his friends to pick him up. He waited under a yard light and had called his friends on his cell phone. When the cops picked him up, he was so drunk he could barely walk.

After the police left and our car was safely back in the garage without any damage, Jeff and I went back to bed. We lay awake talking about our crazy experience Both of us agreed, "It could have been so much worse." And the strong contractions reminded me that there was a still a baby that needed to be born.

We waited until 7am to call my parents, who were in Salem, to come and stay with Emma. Emma missed all the excitement as she slept in her bed, unaware that a bad man was in our house and that her daddy had a gun, ready to defend our family.

We got to the hospital at 8:30am and Mandy Rose was born at 12:30pm on Sunday, September 16. She weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 19 inches long. As we called family and friends, we said, "Our baby girl is here... and some guy tried to steal our car last night." The story was crazy and by far, the most memorable way to jump start labor and delivery.

I know many of you were praying for me as I waited impatiently for Mandy’s birth. She was late, the pregnancy wasn’t easy, and the birth is still very vivid in my mind, but she is worth every minute. God is so, so very good.

* Update. The 19 year-old guy who tried to take our car was arrested, but could not be charged with grand theft because the vehicle never left the property. Also, he couldn't be charged for breaking and entering because the door was unlocked. He ended up with some lesser charges and this was his first offense. I spoke with his attorney and found out the guy was a college student at WOU and (supposedly) he had never drunk alcohol before that night. He was partying with friends in Corvallis and was so obnoxious on the way home, his friends stopped and through him out of the car near where we live. He remembered nothing from the incident at our house and was embarrassed and extremely apologetic when he was told what he did. I stressed to his attorney that Jeff and I wanted him to realize how serious the event could have been. Jeff had a loaded gun pointed at him! Jeff also went and talked to the district attorney and conveyed our wish for the kid to have no jail time. In the end, the young man got many hours of community service and 4 years probation. His attorney sent us $75 to replace a plant that was damaged in the flower bed.