The HR who cried wolf

Yesterday I got home after going to a movie with my sister-in-law, to find a message on our answering machine from Adam, who, sounding rather bemused, informed me that he had been told I was in labor, and he was just trying to get a hold of me to find out if it was true. He'd call my mom, he said, thinking she might know, and then come home, as it was the end of his shift.

Well, I stood there, very much not in labor, laughing. I also felt for Adam, because what sort of heart-leaping, stomach-dropping moment must it have been when he heard news like that? We're both eager parents-to-be, and that news is what we are both hourly awaiting, hearts held high in hope.

It turns out that his department, who had finally hired someone to work with him at the Help Desk, had told Human Resources that the new hire needed to be processed promptly, as Adam might leave any time now to attend the birth of his child. Of course, Adam's department meant any time now to be taken as, "any time in the next few weeks, we really don't know when." They just wanted to be prepared. HR took it to mean that Adam was leaving NOW because I was in labor NOW. So HR, trying to be helpful, but really being slightly confused, called Adam's department back to tell them that Adam's wife was in labor. I don't know why they feel the need to inform Adam's department of the fact when it was Adam's department that informed them of the fact (I use the word "fact" not very literally), but so it was.

My husband, being a smart man, didn't panic, and took it with a grain of salt. After all, why would he hear it from HR and not me? But, also being a concerned father-to-be, he did check it out. He missed me, but did get reach my mom by phone. My mom, who had seen me just a few minutes earlier, as I had stopped by her house to pick something up, assured Adam that I was not in labor, and Adam came home after work to laugh with me about the snafu.

It was funny, but it does put me in mind of an old Aesop's fable that my dad taught me. False alarms tend to guard you against believing the true ones, so I hope we don't have many more before the event itself, or how will I ever get Adam out of work to take me to the hospital? "Oh, it must just be HR getting their signals crossed again . . ." :) Just kidding. I know Adam, and I know he'll be there in a heartbeat. I'm so glad that he's the one with whom I get to go through all of this! He's going to be a great dad, and I'm eagerly awaiting seeing our little one in his arms, and the look on his face. I love him.

-Jess