Logan quickly dialed 911 and gave the address. As he described the situation, he realized he knew absolutely NOTHING about the situation. He glanced over at the woman over and over as he disconnected the call. "They said it should be less than five minutes," he offered to her.
"Okay..." she said in between 'woo,whos' and 'he-hes'. She had what appeared to be another rough contraction and he had no idea what to do so he offered her his hand. She grabbed his hand and squeezed through the contraction to the point that he was sure he would need to be treated for a crush injury once the EMTs arrived.
"Thank you," she whispered once the contraction subsided a little.
"Sure," he said. "I'm Logan."
"Jessica," she replied in between rapid breathing.
He nodded, "I don't want to assume, but are you expecting?"
"YES! OF COURSE I'M EXPECTING! I DIDN'T EAT AN ENTIRE WATERMELON FOR LUNCH!" she retorted.
He raised both of his hands in defense, "Sure. I just didn't want to assume. I don't know anything about this at all. I didn't want to offend in case that wasn't what this was... I'm sorry."
She huffed at him in response and rolled her eyes.
Logan tried again, "Is there someone I can call for you? To meet you at the hospital?"
Jessica responded, "My damn husband is on a business trip in Seattle. I'm not due for another 4 weeks so we thought he would be fine to travel. You can call him but he won't be here anytime soon." She burst into tears on top of everything else.
Logan nodded, "Okay, I can call him for you," while thinking 'this won't be awkward at all.'
She threw her phone down on the bench between them. "His name is Sam."
He picked up her phone to find his number and found it locked, "What's your passcode?"
"1-2-3-4," she replied.
"That's not a very secure password," he said offhandedly while unlocking her phone.
Jessica was completely exasperated with Logan at this point. "Oh my god! Can you maybe give me a cyber security safety class some other time?!"
He dialed Sam who answered quickly, "Hi, baby. I'm still in a meeting. Can I call you back?"
Logan grimaced, "Um, hi. My name is Logan. I just met your wife on the street in New York where she has apparently gone into labor."
"WHAT? SHE CAN'T BE IN LABOR NOW! IT'S TOO EARLY! YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!" he shrieked at Logan.
"Um, yeah. So far I've helped her sit down on a bench, called an ambulance, and now called you," Logan replied with wide eyes. In the background, Jessica's breathing was becoming more rapid and louder. A siren could now be heard in the distance, which he hoped was the ambulance.
Sam replied, "Right. Sorry. Thank you for being there with her. I'm clear across the country but I will be on the next flight out."
Logan sighed feeling way more involved with these people than he ever intended. "Is there someone else I can call to come and be with her until you arrive?"
Sam sighed. "Not really. We just moved there a couple weeks ago from San Diego. We don't really know anyone in New York yet."
"O-Kaaaaayyyyyy," Logan sighed audibly. The ambulance arrived and things started to happen quickly. Jessica grabbed Logan's hand and wouldn't let go as they loaded her up on the gurney.
"Come on, Dad," the paramedic said to Logan, "You can ride to the hospital with us."
Logan started to say, "I'm not the..." but with all the commotion and doors closing, it went unnoticed and the next thing he knew, he was riding in the back of an ambulance to New York Presbyterian with a woman named Jessica.
He realized he still had Sam on the line in his other hand. Sam finally said, "Oh, no! There are no flights until tomorrow! Seriously!?"
Logan thought to himself, 'Oh, no... I'm not going to be in the middle of this until tomorrow afternoon.' Then he thought, 'But this is one thing I can help with.' "Ok, Sam. Get yourself to the airport and wait for my call. I will fix this for you," as he pulled up the eJets app on his own phone.
Sam said, "Okay, but how in the world...?"
Logan replied, "Look, Dude. I know nothing about babies, but I can get you here sooner than Southwest or whatever. Get your stuff and get your ass to the airport and let me know once you're there."
Logan realized that Jessica was staring at him with tears running down her face while she tried and tried to slow down her breathing.
Sam replied quickly, "Thank you. Can you stay with her? Please? I know this is a lot to ask..."
Logan, resigned that he was here for the duration, "Sure. But, you need to know that I am completely out of my depth here."
Sam said, "Thanks nonetheless. I'll let you know once I get to SeaTac. Thank you so much." Sam wondered what on earth this might cost him but decided that he could worry about that later.
By now, the ambulance was stopped in the ambulance bay at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Jessica was being wheeled into the sliding doors. Once the paramedic gave the nurse/doctor pair the pertinent information, the nurse asked Logan, "What's your wife's due date?"
Logan shook his head, "Not my wife! Definitely not my wife."
The doctor said, "Okay, your partner. When is her due date?"
Logan shook his head again, "I was walking on the sidewalk and met her exactly ten minutes ago. I called 911 for her and then her husband. Her name is Jessica. That is LITERALLY all the info I have."
The nurse rolled her eyes at Logan, assuming that he was the father but not wanting to be on the birth certificate for some shady reason, "Okay, well, are you going to be her birth partner?"
Logan squinted and asked, "Her WHAT?!"
Jessica still had not let go of his hand and nodded vigorously. The nurse said, "Okay then. Let's go."
The doctor said, "We're going to check your progress and see what's next Jessica. We're going to take great care of you. I'm Dr. Anderson."