Let me tell you something about my birth. When my father got the news that my mom was going into labor, he went to the hospital as fast as he could. He did not want to miss the birth of his son.

My birth was high risk. My mom had been in a bad car accident while pregnant with me. She didn’t know she was pregnant at the time. She found out after multiple X-rays revealed my presence.

The doctors said I would probably come out with deformities or be mentally retarded because of the accident and the X-rays. But my parents refused to abort me. My father had raised my step-sister from his previous marriage who was mentally handicapped as a single dad and he said he’d make it work somehow if I turned out the same way.

Anyhow, he gets to the hospital and they wouldn’t let him in the delivery room. My father became enraged. He told the doctor to let him in, or he would break down the doors and start smashing heads.

So they let him in with the understanding that if my dad passed out, he’d stay on the floor until my mom and I were taken care of. My mom was going to have a C section. The anesthesiologist overdosed my mom.

She started going into cardiac arrest. She tried to communicate that she couldn’t breathe but she couldn’t speak. She started to cry. My dad noticed she was moving her lips. He pressed his ear against her mouth and my mom managed to barely whisper, “I can’t breathe.” My dad yelled out, “SHE CAN’T BREATHE!!!”

They resuscitated my mom and she made it, as did I. My dad brought his camera and took pictures right after I came out. (Really, Pop?!?!) He set the shutter to automatic and let the camera do the work. (Pop, if you’re reading this, I blame you for why I’m near sighted!)

Now my dad is a lot of things. Some good, some bad. But if he hadn’t been present at my birth, there’s a chance either I or my mom wouldn’t be here either. You really want to miss the birth of your child?

Then you go ahead and roll the dice. Maybe you’ll miss something incredible or maybe something tragic. Either way, you need to pull yourself together and be there. Oh, and leave the camera at home.