The 9th Inning

Because I remember

That day so well,

So well,

A reference to the

“9th Inning”

Always rings a bell.

The story starts

On the first day that

I ever held you

To My heart

A memory

So tender

To me

I don’t think it ever will

Depart

Although the machine

Had recorded

The contractions

At just two minutes apart,

Our doctor, that day

Had cautioned that

We should go

Speedily away—right back to

The parking lot.

His comment to us:

“Come another day,

No baby, not this day”

 “If you come again

We’ll send the both of you

 Right back away”

So, traveling to our home

So uncomfortable I lay

In the backseat of our car

Yet warmed under the sun’s ray

I hoped for the best and prayed

That the pain would somehow

Go away;

For the birth

We had thought

So close,

Had just been announced

By the “pro” as,

A “No go”;

Since we had not

Made the goal,

 We did

As we had been told;

But,

Such a rough time

At home—I roamed

Straight

Through

The bedroom door;

The process of labor,

It soared.

But, the beginning

Had not yet begun—for

The time of the “9th Inning”

Had not yet come

 All being said and done,

The baseball game

Was just being run;

With prior plans to catch it on TV

He got all settled in to see

As usual, and especially now

I, no interest in the game

To be found

So he prepared to watch

Without me

While, concentrating

In my mind

On my bed

I lay

While, every now and then,

My husband, the father to be,

Would come in

To look,

And to check on me;

This being our first

Fruit on the tree

Neither had experienced

A birth;

I played my role through

The process

While my Richard

Remained unearthed

Soon I would be

A new “mother hen”

And, “Dad”…..?  Well,

He would as usual return to the den.

The announcer

Offered his update

With regard to the current score.

I remember it as the last time

That I ever would hear

The crowd roar.

After a while, still on my bed

 I turned my head to see

 My Richard standing—oh, so close

But…something was different

In the way he looked at me;

I still can see the concerned expression

There on his face

While making haste

He said,

“Oh, my Gosh,

I can see it, there,”

“Why, it’s the baby’s head!”

This was the true beginning

I heard the announcer as he said

 “Folks: We’re in the “9th Inning.”

I never knew

If they were losing or winning

But, for sure I knew

That this would be

The day of your beginning

It was, after all, the “9th Inning!”

Born in the “9th Inning”

You’re still running

In the winning

For He alone

Is still the one who

Truly holds our endings!

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