A family whose son goes to my son's school was expecting their second child around mid April.
Yesterday, I bumped into the father and the boy (3) in the shops, and asked how the were, with a comment like "this is the last stretch for you". How wrong I was! The poor man looked entirely shell-shocked.
The mother was in hospital for observation (not sure why), and then the baby's heart rate started to drop. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. They had to do an emergency C-section. The father had to ensure that the son had someone to look after him - on the Saturday afternoon of a long weekend (not such an easy task, as the grandparents live far away). He left, organised something, and made it back to the hospital with 5 minutes to spare before they started to operate.
The baby girl was fine (nearly 3kg), but she is in the neonatal ICU to ensure that her lungs get strong enough to breathe independently.
After the birth, the dad had to leave quickly to make sure the boy was taken from one set of carers to another. After some running around, all was sorted, and he headed back to the hospital. En route, some stupid person jumped a red light, and nearly wrote off his car. Fortunately, he was ok, and the car could still drive, so he still went to the hospital. I didn't ask if he told his wife about the accident. She probably had enough on her mind.
So if you're having a bad day...