CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The phone rang inside Jake Matthews' hotel room early Thursday morning. Not his cell phone -- that was on silent, so he missed the 10 or so calls trying to reach him. This was his hotel room phone.
He hadn't had a hotel wake-up call since college, so Matthews picked up the phone and knew something was either wrong -- or it was time. Fortunately it was the good kind of emergency: His wife, Meggi, had been in labor for a couple of hours and his first child was about to be born.