I looked at the clock to see it was 6:30. I'd finally finished interviewing the last candidate and I was ready to go home. I'd been interviewing all day and was only mildly impressed with the people I'd seen.

Each interview was pretty extensive and also involved a timed skills/IQ test each candidate had to do. I pressed the intercom to my secretary and let her know I was done and she could finally go home.  The rest of the office was already gone and I felt bad that she stayed.
  
“Mr. Johns, I'm sorry but there is one more candidate out here.  He's been waiting awhile and would still like to speak with you if you have the time. I guess we just got backed up today, he was supposed to see you at 5.”
 
I really didn’t want to see anyone else but I didn’t want to push the process over to the next week.  I also felt bad for the guy I kept waiting.

“Send him in and you can go.  I'll lock up for the night when I leave."
 
I poured myself a cup of coffee and settled back into my chair. I saw the guy walking rather slowly down the long, now dark, hallway. Was he limping? Was he carrying a heavy briefcase?

Wait, was this guy pregnant?
 
It wasn’t completely obvious until he got to my door and I waved him in.  The guy, who was about 30 years old was pregnant, and not just kind of pregnant but heavily pregnant.
 
He reached for my hand and introduced himself but all I could do was stare at the beach ball he was smuggling under his dress shirt. He looked like my sister-in-law when she was almost due with her twins.

He had a nice suit on and a nice pressed dress shirt and tie. The tie looked awkward as it just sat on his bulging belly. His jacket was clearly from before he was pregnant and had no hopes of closing around his swollen middle.
 
We exchanged names, and Eric sat down heavily in the chair. I heard the chair groan under his weight. He had a pretty solid build and was probably an athlete in college but his 6 pack abs were blown out now supporting the life or lives within his belly. Before I even asked the first question he told me he had something he wanted to tell me.

“I know you aren’t legally allowed to ask if I'm pregnant or have a family, I think the answer is clear. I just want to assure you that aside from this kid, I have no other kids and I'm single. I'm being a surrogate for my brother and I'm due next week," he explained. "The job said the start date was next month so I'll be able to start on time, if I get it. I'm a hard worker and can put in the time. I'm telling you this because I didn’t want you to think, ‘oh here comes this guy with a new family who will be leaving early, etc.'"
 
I was impressed with Eric's honesty. Being honest myself, I probably wrote him off when I saw he was pregnant.  I'd had a lot of trouble with new fathers in the past; working short hours, always out with sick kids and taking lots of vacation time. That little speech put Eric in first place already.
  
I went through the job further and my background. During my time, Eric just sat there, occasionally he would shift in the chair and start rubbing circles on his belly. I couldn’t tell if he had just gotten a kick or what but he looked thrown off. I offered him some water, but he declined.
 
For the next half an hour we went through some back and fourth, I asked him about his past, what he thought of certain business situations, and gave him some scenarios to walk me through his point of view with. Eric was good at answering all the questions but during every few questions, he would have to break in the middle of his sentence and regroup. I'm sure having a baby and what looked like a big baby in your gut isn’t the most comfortable thing but he didn’t look good. Still he was passing all the questions with flying colors.
 
We got through the first part of the interview and continued to the IQ test. Eric pushed himself to his feet and made his way over to the table set up in the corner of my office. His balance looked a bit off when he got up but he got over to the other chair.

I felt bad for him, it was just a metal folding chair and he probably could have used something a bit more comfortable. As he settled down I noticed some sweat forming on his brow and got him a bottle of water.
  
I explained the test, and that it usually took about 30 minutes. I gave him a pencil and calculator and went to my desk to get caught up on some emails.

I looked up a few times at Eric to see him hard at work on the test. I could hear his pencil writing on the paper and the keys on the calculator clicking furiously, this kid was fast.

There were other times when I would hear the calculator slow down and come to a stop. I'd also hear Eric’s breathing pick up and get deeper. Across the room I could see one hand gripping the pencil tightly while the other went to his lap and massaged the lower curve of his baby filled belly. This happened a few times during the 30 minute test.
 
When Eric announced he was finished, he waddled his way back to my desk and handed me the paper. He took 2 steps back to his chair in front of my desk and let out a terrible groan.

His hands instantly grabbed for the arms of the chair so that he didn’t fall. His back was turned to me so I couldn’t see what was going with his face but I did see a wet mark begin to form on the seat of his grey suit pants. Oh shit, did his water just break?
 
I immediately got up and went over to the suffering guy. I laid a hand on his back and felt his the muscles begin to loosen up. He kept saying, "Oh God! Not now, not now!” Over and over again.
 
I helped him get to a seated position, his belly was now forcing his legs wider and he gripped it with his hands. He told me how sorry he was; he had been having contractions all day but in this economy couldn’t afford to pass on an interview. I explained that there was no need to apologize, I just felt bad for the cleaning service, who had to clean up his water (I didn't tell him that).

I went to my phone and offered to call a cab for him. Before I could dial the number Eric started to moan again. Was he having another contraction?

I looked over and saw his belly bulging from his shirt, almost forcing the buttons to pop off. I could clearly see the sheer force of the contraction on his belly.

I slammed the phone down, and went over to his side. On instinct, I placed my hand on his laboring middle and was surprised to feel it hard as a rock. This kid was definitely in labor!
  
“Oh God, it's coming! It's coming now, I can feel it!” He groaned, gripping onto the sides of his heaving belly.
  
I really didn’t have time to think so I just told him that we needed to lay down on the couch in the corner of my office. It almost made me sick to think of this guy having a kid all over my imported leather couch but he needed help.

I helped him up from the chair and took off his jacket as he waddled to the couch. Eric was drenched in sweat. I was impressed at his ability to give a good poker face during an interview when he was clearly in pain.

I ripped his shirt open when we got to the couch, giving his body some relief from all the heat it was creating. I lowered him down so that he was half laying on the couch, half seated.
  
I moved the coffee table out of the way and took a look at the poor guy in my office, he was obviously experiencing another contraction. His belly was slick with sweat and heaved forward as the contraction hit its peak.

As his belly expanded with the contraction, I could see it pushing down his belt, the baby was clearly trying to move down closer to the birth canal.  I went over to Eric and undid his belt, just as I released his belly from the confines of the belt, he let out a groan, and I could see the baby descend about 2 inches towards his opening.  I took down Eric' s pants and he immediately spread his legs wide.

"its coming, I can feel it coming" he kept saying over and over again.  His hands were planted on the sides of his swollen belly. I pressed my hand on the bottom of his belly and clearly felt the swell of a hard head low in his gut.  The baby was very close to being born.  When he spread his legs I took a look between.  Sure enough, I saw a sliver of dark hair emerging from him.

I kept reassuring him that this happens thousands of times a day, and not to worry, his body knew what to do.  It was true thousands of men give birth every day, but not many in an office building during an interview.

I looked up at Eric and could see his face tightening up, another contraction was upon him.  He took his hands from his belly and gripped the back of his thighs, his groans turned into grunts as he started to push.  With each push I could see the sliver of hair get bigger, I couldn't believe I was seeing a baby being born.

Eric continued to push for about half an hour.  He would push all the way thru the contractions, his face getting bright red with his effort.  When he was done pushing, he collapsed to the sofa and took deep breaths, as he breathed deep, his belly heaved up and down, and streams of sweat ran down from his popped out belly button.

Another contraction came and Eric began pushing again, this was his strongest push yet, and with a deep grunt, the baby's head popped out.  I caught the head in my hand and Eric took a deep breath.  He continued to push, and the rest of the baby was delivered shortly.    I passed the baby up to Eric and he placed the child up to his swollen nipple and began to nurse him.