Another Date In History

Our first born child was sound asleep in her room and we were sleeping just down the hall. The date was September 14th and we were expecting a second child. The birth could come at any time but I didn't expect something to happen when I went to bed on the 13th. I wasn't feeling labor pains when I went to sleep and had been feeling well the past few days. The hospital where we were pre-checked in offered a nice couples dinner that would be available some time after our child was born. The food was reputed to be quite good and we were actually looking forward to enjoying what was described as a night of fine dining, before we checked out to return home with our new daughter.

I woke from a sound sleep. It may have taken a moment or so to decide what woke me up but not any longer than that. Labor! Full labor! Ready-to-push type labor pains woke me. I woke T. and told him we urgently needed call the doctor, get my sister to come down to the house to take care of our toddler - and then we needed to get to the hospital. This child was coming and if we didn't hurry, we might greet her before anyone expected.

T. rushed to the phone and made the call to sis. I called the doctor's office and got his answering service and left a fast message. Our daughter woke up with all the commotion and I know she was frightened to see Mommy and Daddy packing up in the middle of the night and getting ready to leave her. I tried to explain that we had to go to the hospital and get her new sister and that her Aunt would be coming down to take care of her. I'm not sure how much of that sunk in.

I recalled the nurse who taught childbirth classes telling the mothers to start panting when they needed to delay delivery and I began panting - and what do you know, it worked! My sister came in and went to take care of Sarah. T. and I rushed out to our car and I got into the back seat to lie down. We started the wildest and quickest ride of our lives. I recall pressing my toes into the arm rest on the car door and panting each time a pain would come. I so wanted to begin pushing but knew I couldn't. Every now and again, T. would turn his head and ask me how I was doing as we sped the streets toward the hospital. He was trying not to panic but I could feel the surge of the car as his foot pressed the accelerator. We had to cross a railroad track and he never hit the brake, just called to me to hold on as he took the grade crossing at maximum speed. I actually got a little airborn as we went over the tracks. Not far, now. We slid up to the emergency entrance to the hospital and he ran inside to get someone to help. I was bundled into a wheelchair and taken inside. I remember him telling the night shift his wife was in full labor and to get the doctor. There was someone standing at the desk and he introduced himself as The Doctor. Sure enough it was! We went upstairs to the Delivery Room - no time for the Labor Room... things were sort of a blur. But - at one point during the course of events, the doctor told me to push and then suddenly he told me not to push. I panted some more. Gosh, that nurse who gave the classes sure did know what she was talking about. When I was allowed to resume pushing, there was a little delay and then Susan came into the world - what a lovely cry she had.

The doctor later told us the baby had the cord around her neck and he had to remove it. That's why he so abruptly stopped delivery. Wow, thank you to so many people that night. To T. who drove like a maniac, to my sister who came to care for our older daughter while we rushed off into the night and to the nurse whose classes had impressed me with proper breathing techniques during labor, to the doctor who safely delivered our healthy girl. From the time I woke up until the moment Susan was born took just 60 minutes. That was one intense little hour.

Now it has been thirty-0ne years - and 1 hour, since our second daughter made her memorable entrance into our lives bring us joy and love and surprises and completing the family we started with Sarah. T. and I got to have our dinner at the hospital as promised and we probably enjoyed the gourmet meal but I couldn't tell you to this day what we ate. I doubt he could either.

We talk about the wild ride to the hospital and how quickly the baby came. We talk about the important things; the family we made and how much we love our girls and their families. And every year when each of our daughters' birthday dates roll around, I think about the start of it all.

Have a Happy Birthday, Suse.