In
his acceptance speech, Clinton also recounted a touching story about
Chelsea’s birthday in 1980. “On the night she was born, I came home from
Washington, D.C., from a governors’ conference. And Hillary’s water
broke 15 minutes later,” he said. Upon arriving at the hospital, the
Clintons were told that the baby was in a breech position and would have
to be delivered via Cesarean section—and that fathers weren’t allowed
in the operating room, he said.
The former president, who was the
governor of Arkansas at the time, said he protested to the hospital
staff. “If you send her into that room without me, I think you’re making
a big mistake … I want to see my daughter born,” he recounted saying.
Eventually, the doctors relented, he said. “They let me go in and hold
Hillary’s hand. I saw Chelsea come out, and it changed the hospital’s
policy on letting fathers into the delivery room when surgery was
required. And from that day to this, I have believed without the shadow
of a doubt that it was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”
