Robert Mayo – Professional Auctioneer, Auction Educator & Public Speaker

The day started like many other, except my wife Aileen and I were expecting our third child, and every call from Aileen could be, “THE call.”  I was setting up for an auction 40 minutes away from the house in Pleasant Hill Missouri when she called.

Aileen said she was feeling kind of sick. I asked her if she needed me to come home, but she said no, and she would call call back if she needed me. 15 minutes later she called back and said she just had a strong contraction. I told her I was on my way, and to stay on the phone so I could time the contractions. Five minutes later she had another one, and they were lasting almost a minute. I told her to call the midwife and let her know what was happening, and I would call my Mom who was only five minutes away, so she could drive her to the hospital. Aileen said “the baby’s not coming today, because I’m not ready.” I assured her that the baby was coming regardless of her readiness.

My Mom arrived and I stayed on the phone with them. It took thirty minutes for Aileen to be convinced to get in the car. During that time, her water broke while in Lincolns bedroom. I managed to get to the house as she was walking down the steps to the mini van. With some delay due to severe pain and almost continuous contractions, Aileen managed to get in the van and I peeled out of the cul-de-sac towards the highway.

It’s important to note that this is our third child, and Aileens water broke at our home in the past and we always had plenty of time. However, this felt much different and I was pretty sure we needed to get there fast.

Not knowing how admissions of guilt work with violations of motor vehicle laws and the such, I am going to generalize here and say it this way. I was moving pretty fast on Highway 71 headed north while the other vehicles were not as properly motivated to get to their final destination.

As we approached the Red Bridge area, just before the Grandview Triangle, Aileen screamed that the baby was coming out. She screamed a few other things while she pounded on the door with a closed fist and did everything she could do to keep that baby inside. If there is one thing I can be certain of, that baby was in a hurry to join this family, and she was not negotiating on how she made her entrance.

As I crossed 4 lanes of traffic at a reasonably, cough, cough, rate of speed, to make it to the emergency lane, I looked over and Aileen had lifted her nightgown up. At that very moment, the baby’s head crowned instantly and within 8/10ths of a second she flew out towards the floorboard of the front seat like a greased football. What happened next will forever place my wife in the Rock Star Mom Hall of Fame. Without missing a beat, she reached down and caught that baby in the most perfect way possible. One hand received the baby’s head while the other hand received her butt. She scooped our little girl up and placed her on her chest, all within 2 to 3 seconds. This is the most awesome and impressive thing I have ever witnessed my wife do, and she does some pretty amazing things teaching and raising our kids. This all happened as I was still working to bring the car to a complete stop, which I managed to do 4 to 5 seconds later parallel to the 435 west/470 exit, in the heart of the Grandview Triangle. The time was 12:15 pm.

Our first concern was immediately relieved when our daughter started crying and turned from gray to pink within a couple seconds. Our next concern was relieved as we sacrificed her sister Isabella’s coat that was lying in the back seat, to keep her warm.

The immediate joy was overwhelming. Aileen started laughing and said “I feel much better now.” She even tried to convince me to take her back to the house. I laughed and told her we need to get her and the baby checked out.

Aileen gave me the number to the midwife and I called while continuing to drive to the hospital. A woman answered and I told her who I was, and that we were on our way to have the baby, but my wife delivered her in the front seat of the car. The woman then replied, “oh my gosh, I am an insurance adjuster and you have the wrong number!” I said, ok and hung up. After realizing I dialed the wrong number and dialing again, a nurse answered. I repeated myself in which the nurse asked, “did you call an ambulance?” I replied, no. We are a couple miles a way, and I will make it there before an ambulance makes it to me. She insisted I call an ambulance. I reassured her that the baby and mom are fine and asked where she wanted us to go, since the delivery was no longer necessary.

We met the nurse, two doctors, 4 other nurses, an orderly and 2 security guards at the ER entrance. Aileen had strapped the seat belt on, and now that the baby was on her chest, when she released the seat belt, the umbilical cord and her blouse were tangled up. The ER doctor, who was pretty cool, looked relieved to be involved in something life giving and fun rather than the gun shot wounds and trauma he probably has to deal with most of the time. He cut the cord in the car, and two nurses scooped the baby up to get her In a warmer while the rest of the team worked to get Mom on a gurney.

Mom and baby were checked in, and the rest of the boring and normal things they do after a healthy delivery proceeded to happen.

Baby girl weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces, and came in around 20 inches long. She is perfectly awesome, and Rock Star Mom is recovering well.

God is Awesome! He blesses me so often. Several things happened during all of this that has strengthened my knowledge of His love for me and my family.

This day, October 30th 2014 will forever be one of my favorite days. Lincoln and Isabella are excited to welcome their new sister into the family. Now, if we could only decide on a name.

Update: Gianna Lucia Mayo