Miraculous moment

The couple had travelled for days.
Mary had the worst of it being heavily pregnant and riding on a donkey, constantly counterbalancing the unexpected bumps and dips.  This is not what any woman would choose to do at this stage of pregnancy and it's difficult to imagine the toll it took on her young body.  Perhaps it was because she was so "invincibly young" that she didn't flat out refuse to go when Joseph informed her of the required census. Or maybe it was another thing she just "knew" in her heart, that it was God's plan to go.  More likely, a combination of both.

Just as they caught sight of Bethlehem, her water broke and the contractions seized her so forcefully that she laced her fingers through the donkey's mane to maintain her seat.  Mary's groans goaded Joseph's into a near trot as he frantically scanned for a place of refuge. The baby was coming quickly and the stall would just have to do, it wasn't time to be picky; he could see that in Mary's eyes.

The baby was delivered into his trembling hands and he quickly severed the tie, wrapping his son in a cloth and laying him onto Mary's waiting bosom.  Her sweaty smile erased the arduous journey as she beamed with tears of joy.  Joseph, too, exhaled, breathing out the name of his son:  Jesus.

The name above all names was spoken on earth and all heaven responded with "Glory to God in the highest".  The heavenly Father breathed deeply and shared the miraculous moment:  Christ was born.