Birth Stories

Today was a snow day and Chuck's mom e-mailed me the story of his birth...after a New York blizzard. It made me think of my daughter Jamie's birth. Here is our story:

There wasn't snow, but the wind was blowing fiercely through the awnings of the hospital windows. The constantly rattling and whistling was making me very nervous. Jamie was born in a little country hospital in Nyssa, Oregon. We arrived at the hospital at 11:30 p.m. (and got charged for a whole day for the 30 minutes for midnight). I was the only one in the labor room so Jim hopped in the bed next to me and napped while I was in labor all night. The nurses brought him food and treats. Jamie was born at around 11:30 a.m. I had been pushing for about an hour, making no progress. My doctor was a kindly old general practioner. He told me if I didn't get the baby out in the next 15 minutes, he would have to get out for forceps. I decided I had better push with all my might. I pushed so hard I thought my eyes would pop out of their sockets. Finally, I forced Jamie out. She was the fattest newborn I have seen. When I first looked at her, I got teary-eyed because her face looked deformed. Her cheeks were so full, it looked like she didn't have a chin. The doctor reassured me that nothing was wrong with her face. The doctor estimated that she was over 9 pounds. She was a short baby so she actually weighed only 8 lb. 11 oz.

The day I delivered, Tuesday morning, there were 2 women in the little maternity ward. By the next day, I was the only one in the maternity ward and Jamie was the only baby in the nursery. I noticed a steady stream of people walking down the hall to the nursery. I expected nurses to be going there, but there were a couple of high school girls who came every afternoon and adults in street clothing. They'd glance in my direction but never say a word to me and then head down to the nursery and spend about 15 minutes and then head back up the hall. On my last day, Friday, I saw a woman go down to the nursery and then on her way out, she stopped in to talk with me. She said she worked at the hospital office and that word spread through all the hospital staff that there was a very unusual baby in the nursery. She said that Jamie was the most alert newborn she had ever seen. Back then, the conventional wisdom was to put the baby on its stomach so they won't choke when they spit up. (That's all reversed now.) The nurses in the nursery put Jamie in front of the big window and laid her on her back so she could look at her visitors. The hospital worker told me that Jamie tooked at people and was attentive to them. She thought she almost smiled at her admirers.

Jamie's due date was Feb. 10th and she was born on Mar. 27th. I guess she was maturing at a rapid rate inside the womb so she had a head start after she was born. She was fully filled out with rolls of fat on her arms and legs. She started sleeping all night at 3 weeks. She rolled over once from her stomach to her back at 3 weeks and then never did it again for 6 months or so. She was a very sweet baby. For her first year, none of our babysitters would accept any money for babysitting her.

Now she has two beautiful daughters of her own.