You gave birth where???

6:35 last Monday morning: I should have been getting dressed for work and trying to drag Eli out of bed for daycare. Instead I was holding my newborn in the front seat of our car.
Ok, so here's the backstory that didn't appear in the Washington Post:

So...I had a baby on Oct15th...in our Highlander Hybrid. Yes, I know that's only supposed to happen on dumb sitcoms desperate for ratings...and yes it can actually happen to intelligent, rational people. Labor can be a funny thing, so throw out the stopwatch and ditch the "What to Expect" book chapter on labor signs; when the baby is ready to come, there's no telling what will happen.

The PG version: I had erratic contractions all day Sunday, called the doc at 11pm and was told to go to the hospital when they came 5mins apart for an hour. All night they never stayed in a steady pattern.

Around 5-something A.M. I felt a pop and suddenly had superstrong contractions very close together. Justin started getting everything ready while I screamed at him that we had to go NOW (we weren't quite operating on the same sense of urgency). He called for my mom to come watch Eli (fortunately he was still asleep and oblivious to the drama), and by the time she came I had made it 2 stories downstairs and was on the floor of the foyer, screaming. I tried to get into the car, but collapsed on our front step with another contraction, and completely terrified our neighbors who yelled out the window to ask if they should call 911 (I tried to say yes, but it's hard to make a rational argument in that state). Somehow Justin got me buckled into the front seat of the car, and I felt the head coming as Justin drove. For the record this is the first time I've ever had to tell him to drive faster. Justin called the doc from the car to tell her to meet us at the hospital. We made it to a crazy slow intersection and got stuck at the world's longest red light. Then the baby fell into my PJ pants. Yes, seriously. After pushing for almost 4 hours with Eli I didn't think it was possible either.

Justin didn't quite understand what had happened (still trying to be the calm voice telling me "Hang on, we'll make it") until he heard her cry as I untangled her from my pants. Then he frantically called 911 who told him to pull over and wait for the ambulance to come. Lena was crying and seemed ok so I was pretty calm, just holding her and trying to keep her warm in a towel. The EMTs came quickly and cut her cord in the front seat, wrapped her up, and helped me onto the gurney and into the ambulance for the mile or so ride to the hospital. All things considered it was a pretty easy birth, relatively (Eli had a really stubborn entrance to the world), and Lena will have quite a story about her debut.
Welcome to the world, Lena Eliza; you sure know how to make an entrance!

And to answer everyone's second most popular question: You'd be surprised how well leather cleans up.