But for me, it’s always had another meaning. As some of you may know, my dreaded night job is that of a Labor and Delivery nurse…(okay, by now you know where I’m going with this). My very first year out of nursing school I worked on Labor Day. How appropriate was that? Women in Labor on Labor Day…So today I’m going to share with y’all some of my favorite stories… (every one of them a true story!)

When I lived in Florida, the unit I worked on was 6 floors up. We had a separate entrance from the ER, clear on the other side of the hospital. One night I got a call from the security guard who sort of chuckled and said, “We’ve got a lady down here having her baby in her car.” Because he laughed, I thought he was joking. Only, he wasn’t. The laugh was an I’m-scared-please-come-help-me laugh. So my team and I run to the elevator, and hurry down to the entrance. Sure enough the mother was lying in the front seat of a Grand Marquis. She was trying to exit head first out the driver’s side. Problem was, the baby was coming head first the other direction! We managed to delivery the baby without too much difficulty and up to the L&D unit safely. Let me tell you, leather upholstry makes a very nice delivery table!

One time, I was working in a University Hospital with residents and interns. A lady in very active labor comes down the hall, holding her stomach and breathing like she’s a category 3 hurricane. Between breaths she says, “I need a birthing room.” As the charge nurse that night, I showed her into a labor room, explaining it was the only empty bed, but if she was ready to deliver I’d move her over to the delivery room after we examined her. I turned to pull back the covers, and when I turned around, she was gone! I found her at the end of the hall, holding onto the guard rail we had on the wall, squatting and grunting. (NOT a good sign!!) So, I grabbed her gown and slipped my hand between her legs. Yep I could feel the baby’s head touching my hand. As we maneuvered into a delivery room, (imagine here a cross between a waddle and a goose-step!), I yelled for a resident. Good plan, except for the delivery table was chest high!! No way could she climb on top to deliver. The little resident runs in and says, “What can I do?” After he gets his gown and gloves on, I told him to put his hands under her like a quarterback, and then when I let go, whoosh…he caught the baby with mama standing and holding onto the delivery table. Funny thing was, I looked into the observation window that this hospital had, and there was the rest of the staff all watching!!