Wow, that’s quite a story! Unbelievable. What happens in our little Square…….

here is the full version of the story:

A 4th of July to Remember
9:00am- 2.5 weeks before our baby’s due date, my wife Erin and I went to Marietta, GA to see the 4th of July parade .
12:00pm – After watching floats and marching bands, we drove up to Lake Allatoona to enjoy picnicking and swimming. At the Lake, she told me that she had very small contractions but that there was no pain.
3:05pm – We arrived at the ESPN Zone in Buckhead to watch the world cup semifinal between Germany and Italy. Many of our friends were there to join us. At the Bar, she had more contractions; I even timed them. They were a little stronger but still did not hurt.
5:15pm – We went home and Erin rested for about an hour. At this time, her contractions were inconsistent in frequency and duration.
7:30 pm - Deciding to go to Marietta Square, we listened to “Little Big Town” (one of Erin’s Favorite bands) which played prior to the fire works.
The story really begins here:
Towards the end of the concert, Erin’s contractions were yet a little stronger, but it was still 2.5 weeks early so we did not worry too much. As the fireworks were nearing completion, Erin and I headed out to get a jump start home when she met one of the singers. I took a picture of them. As she told me she was now experiencing a little pain, we quickly walked to our car. By the time we reached our car, all the other 10,000 people reached their cars too, and there it was: THE WORLDS WORST TRAFFIC JAM AND LEVAN’S WORST NIGHTMARE COME TRUE. (And for nine months, I had been planning for 285 traffic. HAHA!) We sat in out car in the parking lot for 30 minutes and moved at the most a few yards. Erin’s pain increased; she began to cry. My panic increased also. I finally maneuvered the car out of the parking lot but traffic was worse on the little street (we were about 30-35 minutes from Northside). I jumped out of the car and asked other drivers to let me through because we were having a baby. This effort took us no more than 100 feet. Panic took a hold of me; I was sweating like a big dog in the humid weather. I called 911, and they said it would be very hard to find me in such bad traffic. I called back 5 minutes later, turned my flashers on, jumped out of the car, and ran like a crazy man looking for a cop. I finally found a cop; he came to the car and called some paramedics and the ambulance. Erin was sitting down. I thought she for sure was going to have our kid there. Finally, the ambulance made it through the traffic. They loaded Erin onto a stretcher and into the vehicle. I quickly backed the car up over the sidewalk to the parking lot, grabbed the camera (I am a smart man even though I was in panic), and sat in the passenger seat of the ambulance. In 25-30 minutes we arrived at Northside (11:15pm). Erin was already 7 cm dilated (craziness). In a short 30 minutes, she was fully dilated. And in 1 hour after being at the hospital, baby DANTE KAKHADZE was born. No epidural, no drugs, but O’boy was she in PAIN. (Note to future Dads in the labor room: don’t talk and do what she asks you to doJ). The whole experience was amazing; DANTE came out very healthy 16 minutes after midnight (so his birthday is July 5th) 7 lbs. 9 oz and 20.5 in. It was a blessing that labor in the hospital only took 1 hour, but I probably lost 2 years of my life before we got there thinking that I would have to deliver the baby in the car.
So nightmares can come true; however, we had many blessing that day: we had a full day of fun, Erin saw her favorite band, and Italy beat Germany and advanced to the world cup finals. Labor only took 1 hour and much more.
Lesson learned: if (when) we have a second child, you can find us camping out in the hospital parking lot for the last 4 weeks of pregnancy.J
Advice to fellow Atlantans: Never underestimate the traffic in our city, and when planning to reach your destination in a hurry, expect the unexpected, which, quite predictably, happens very often in Atlanta.
-Levan

JUST THOUGHT I’D SAY HI AND CONGRATS. I’M GLAD EVERYTHING WORKED OUT WELL. (SORRY YOUR WIFE DID’NT HAVE HER MUSIC THOUGH)

YOU GOTTA LOVE THOSE MARIETTA EMT’S!!! SINCERELY, E. TILLMAN, EMT-I