The Incredible Journey of my Amazing Doctor

In previous posts I have bragged about how amazing my OB doctor was. Dr. Piepmeier always answered my questions and had great advice to relieve some of the aches and pains of pregnancy. I always thought highly of him, but when he walked 4.2 miles in an ice storm to deliver my baby, he only confirmed what I had already thought. He was a doctor that really cares about his patients and is willing to go the extra mile (or 4) for them.

The hospital got word of Dr. Piepmeier's amazing journey to Jaron's delivery and contacted the local newspaper. They decided it would make a great story. As a result Dr. Piepmeier came over to the house yesterday and we shared with the newspaper what happened the night of Jaron's birth. I had never heard Piepmeier's story, but it was pretty amazing and thought I would share with everyone else his trek that night.

At 11:30 Dr. Piepmeier decided he should start heading into the hospital. He lives on top of a hill. He started to drive his car but before he even got to the incline his car slid to the side of the road. He decided at that point it was too dangerous to drive down his hill. So he went back to his house, put on his warm clothes and grabbed some cardboard. He decided it was safer to slide down the hill on the cardboard instead of trying to walk. So imagine and 47 year old, 6'7" bald guy sledding down the hill at midnight during an ice storm. Is the picture kind of humorous? The college students out walking around that night (it was the last day of finals and they were celebrating) found it funny as well and he got some fun comment from them.

After he safely made it down the hill he began walking main drags to the hospital. During his walk he walked through our church's parking lot and he said he began to wonder if he was going to make it on time to deliver the baby. But his long legs covered ground fairly quickly despite the ice. However, before he would reach the hill where the hospital is located, he end up falling 3 times. Once he reached the hill he said he literally had to crawl up it because it was too icy to walk normal. At 1:00 he made it to the hospital. He was really sweaty and needed to take a shower. I finally saw him at 1:30am. He walked into the room and apologized for running late, but he had to walk to get there. I of course forgave him and told him thank you for walking on that way. Jaron was born an hour and half later.

Dr. Piepmeier left the hospital at 7:30am. He got a ride from a nurse who dropped him off at the bottom of the hill he lives on. He said he had to crawl up it to get home. Later that day (after he had taken a good long nap) he was out walking his dogs. The neighbors came out and asked, "Were you the guy who was crawling up the hill early this morning?"
"Yes, " he answer. "I just got back from delivering a baby."

It was really enjoyable having him over and listening to everything he went through for us. He held Jaron for awhile. When the reporter asked Dr. Piepmeier if there were any other exciting weather related births he had done, his reply was, "Nope. This one takes the cake." It is going to be fun to share with Jaron how his doctor braved the ice to be there for his birth.