I know you all have some interesting, if not bizarre, OB-related stories. I mean, the babies, they gotta come out, right? They come out whether you’re ready for them or not.

Some of my friends have told stories of delivering babies in cars, parking lots, and elevators. I had an attending who once did a perimortem C-section in the parking lot of a Home Depot (at least that was the rumor).

I’ve had a few strange OB cases in the last few years. One didn’t know she was pregnant (I still don’t get how you don’t know that).

The first happened when I was just a resident, finishing a night shift moonlighting on the morning of July 4. As residents, we could moonlight at the community hospital as physician extenders. It was a great experience because I got to do all the fun procedures, but always had an attending as backup.

All of a sudden I hear a voice call, “We need a doctor to Trauma 3!”

I jumped up. I knew I wasn’t going to get an experience like this at the Ivory Tower.

And then I hear The Wail. The Wail of a woman in labor who isn’t going to make it to L&D.

The medics come in and report that it looked like she was crowning. One peek under the sheet confirmed that.

I told her emphatically, “Don’t push!”

It looked like we would have a few minutes to get set up for a delivery. Questions rolled off my tongue: “When are you due? Who is your doctor? When did your water break? Was it clear? Any problems with your pregnancy or any medical problems?”

The poor thing could only breathe her answers with each huff and puff. Finally we got things set up for delivery. I told her, “You can go ahead and push now!” She replied, “But somebody told me not to push!”

“That was me! Now I’m telling you to push!” And push she did. Out came a healthy baby boy. A Yankee Doodle boy, born on the Fourth of July. Come to find out, new Mom and Dad had lost twins at 20 weeks about a year and a half before. So it was very fulfilling to deliver to these parents what they always wanted: a healthy baby.

Since that was the first emergency delivery I’d ever done, I’ll always remember it.

One that was more recent wasn’t as cut-and-dry. It was just plain weird.