"The Woman"

"Let's go see Amber, she's in the hospital."

This simple phrase spoken by a friend during a telephone conversation last Friday night caused me to pause before answering. "Go see Amber," I thought? Amber and I haven't spoken in over two months and haven't seen each other since long before that. We had once been the closest of friends, but life has a way of causing friends to drift apart. I had no way of knowing that by the end of the day our friendship would be restored and Amber would be considered "The Woman," for years to come.

Many months ago Amber and I had a disagreement which shook the bedrock of our friendship and caused us to great each other with cautious phrases and pseudo-respect for a long time. Upon seeing her two months ago we tentatively embraced and carefully began to reconstruct our friendship. It was small, and much weaker than the bond we had shared before, but it was a start.

So on Friday night, Robyn tells me that Amber is in the hospital on closely-monitored bed rest and about to go stir-crazy. Amber's due date was six weeks away, so the doctors were concerned about the child's development and the risks of being born so early.

A little hesitantly I agreed to accompany Robyn to the hospital. Doubts flew through my head. What if Amber doesn't want to see me? What if she gets upset because I'm there? I voiced these thoughts and fears to Robyn, who, following the true nature of friendship, bluntly told me that seeing me would not send Amber into fits and that I should stop making excuses not to go.

The time spent at the hospital with Amber was one of the best we have ever spent together. The three of us laughed and talked like we were sitting in the high school cafeteria waiting for the bell, instead of a hospital room waiting on a baby to arrive. Amber was excited to see us both and thanked us several times for breaking the monotony of sitting in room for hours on end.

After three hours of sitting, in a room that could have been a cold storage locker in disguise, Robyn and I both were thankful not to be confined to that dismal room for an indeterminable amount of time. The next several hours were spent looking at baby clothes and trying to determine what book to buy Amber that might help her pass the time. At 9 p.m., Robyn and I returned to the hospital with a basketful of goodies for the "mom-to-be."

As the time passed, Robyn and I realized we should probably let Amber get some rest, so at 11 p.m. we rose to leave. Then Amber said, "hang on guys—my stomach hurts." What followed was the most hectic time the three of us have spent together. Amber went into labor and since both her mother and the baby's father had been sent home earlier by the grumpy mother, Robyn and I spent the next ten minutes making phone calls.

At 11:38 Amber delivered her baby. This is the point at which she received the title of "The Woman." Having a baby is a normal occurrence. Women have babies everyday, and even "preemies" are not an uncommon occurrence. However, not many people deliver a baby in under thirty minutes. Fortunately the baby was fine and is experiencing no complications from being delivered early. She is tiny, but has a great set of lungs. I am very thankful that the baby and the mother are doing well and that our friendship has been completely patched by sharing this experience together.