We're Having a Baby...We had a Baby!
Erin Burt
I was recently watching an episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and one of his guests was fellow late night host Seth Meyers. Meyers’ wife had recently given birth to their second child, Axel. He recounts their unexpected birth story with the humor you would expect from the former SNL star.
He says that their first baby was almost born in an Uber before making it to the hospital just in time for the delivery. So they understood how quickly labor can happen, and they were prepared to head straight to the hospital when the time came for their second child to be born.
The Late Night host says he was feeding lunch to his son Ashe, and he wasn’t expecting his mother-in-law to enthusiastically announce that it was time to head to the hospital right now. They immediately did everything a parent would do when they are preparing for baby’s arrival. They called in childcare for the toddler, called the doula, called an Uber, and headed down the elevator to get to the hospital as quickly as possible.
Meyers tells that his wife seemed to have one long and painful contraction while heading to their building’s lobby. When he tried to load up the Uber to head to the hospital, his wife refused to get into the car. He tells Jimmy Fallon how he tried to “man-splain how labor works” and tried convincing her that “she would be fine.”
As it turns out, Meyers’ wife Alexi had progressed further than anyone realized. Standing next to the Uber, she started to yell, “The head is out!” The doula confirmed, and Seth describes the situation by saying, "I looked at my wife, and the only way I can describe how my wife looked, was she looked like someone who was hiding a baby in a pair of sweatpants," unable to control his laughter.
Alexi immediately went back into the building’s lobby to find a place to lie down and finish delivering her baby. Meyers recounts his quick 911 call saying, “We’re about to have a baby—We’re having a baby—We had a baby!” The New York Fire Department and EMTs arrived, and baby Axel and mommy were taken to the hospital after delivery. Everyone is healthy and doing well, and now they have a pretty incredible story to tell.
Wendy is a mother of four who lives in central Illinois where she blogs at TheMessyMom.net.