The arrival of a new baby has often been the plot of television sit-coms; usually with the new father as the butt of the jokes.
Most of these comical plots take place in modern times with all the conveniences, taxis, 911 operators etc. all of which should make getting to the hospital the least of their problems, however, it sometimes seems that the more help you have the more you mess up.
Imagine the father to be in January of 1943:

January 14, 1943
“Papa Pulls Sleigh In Race With Stork and Wins
Town Secretary W. L. Sharpin was awakened from peaceful slumber at about 5 a.m. Wednesday when Mr. Stork began hovering over his residence.
Having no means of transportation to the hospital three blocks away he gazed frantically out of the window but no car was in sight. However that didn’t stump him.
He grabbed a cushion from the chesterfield and loaded his urgent case onto his small daughter’s sleigh and at a brisk trot headed for the hospital pulling his improvised ambulance.
Shortly after his successful but eventful trip, the secretary was informed that he was the father of a seven pound baby boy (Edwin Robert).
Mother and baby are doing nicely.”

We can laugh now, but we really have to give the man credit. He didn’t panic and was resourceful enough to find a solution to the problem, and I imagine his resourcefulness was very much appreciated by Mrs. Sharpin, after she arrived at the hospital, of course.

Back to Back In Time page