The plan was to get a snack before the game started. But on the concourse of Kauffman Stadium, Stephanie Hetherington had a troubling realization.
"I think my water broke," she said to her husband, Jason.
Although the two had joked for at least a week in advance that they would be having their baby at Kauffman Stadium, the playful banter suddenly seemed a reality.
But this was Game 1 of the World Series, Kansas City's first in 29 years. Stephanie didn't want to miss it. She decided they would go back to their seats, watch the start of the game and play it by ear.
Before they even sat down, her body was telling her it was time to go. They walked out before the first pitch, going against the flow of fans leaving the stadium.
Jason said the stadium personnel grabbed them a golf cart to shuttle them back to her car. All the while, though, Stephanie was distraught.
"My wife was basically in tears," he said.
They watched Game 1 from the hospital as their third child's arrival drew close. Even though the Royals went on to lose that game, Stephanie wanted the baby to be born the same night at the World Series game.
"At 11:30 she looked at the doctor and said, 'we're having this baby tonight," Jason said.
Ali Hetherington arrived at 11:49.
Jason and Stephanie had already planned on getting tickets for Game 6, but his employer, Burns & McDonnell, ended up having space in the company's dugout suites behind third base.
Jason and Stephanie got to watch Game 6 from that field-level vantage point -- with Ali in tow for her first Royals baseball game.
"She’s got her little Royals shirt on," Jason said.
Pretty good start to your first week of life.