HAPPY BIRTHDAY

On Feb 6, 1974 my daughter had a terrible cold. She was 4. I got up in the middle of the night, very pregnant, to go take care of my little girl, and my water broke.
I went back to bed after settling Stacey and cleaning up and called the Doctor. Was I in labor? No. He said, stay put. Don't move around. Call me when you go into labor.
I waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And I did not go into labor so around 4 or 5 in the morning I called him back and said, I'm not doing anything, but every time I move I lose water. He said, get in here then.

So John went out to start the car and it would not start. It was cold and snowy and I was pregnant and the car just sat there like the huge red lemon that it truly, honestly was.

We called a neighbor. They drove us to the hospital and went home. I never did go into labor, I was induced. They were very worried about the baby. This was long before you knew whether you were having John or Harriet. So they piggy-backed some Oxytocin into my IV. This is like going from 0 to 100 in 10 seconds. You skip over all that boring prelim stuff, like having contractions increase slowly over time. You go right into the monster contractions, no warning. One second you are laying there fretting and the next you are clawing at the ceiling. All you want is to go home and forget about it all.
I remember thinking "This was a BAD idea!" But of course, it wasn't.

Christopher John was born at noon that day. He was small but perfect and had a head of black, thick hair. He was my baby.

At home, Stacey continued with her terrible cold. She was angry. Mommy was gone, she was sick, she had been rousted out of bed and taken to a neighbor's in the middle of night, more or less. And worst of all, Daddy had no ride home. He finally called a co-worker who came and got him. Al. Al and Daddy stole a pass (no one but family allowed) and Al came to see me and the newbie, the only non-family member who got in.

And then, there was the gas shortage so that even when he got the car running, John had trouble finding gasoline. Eventually it all worked out, and I got home, and Stacey after awhile  decided the new kid was ok. Not wonderful, but at least acceptable.

Today my baby is 37. I hope he has a wonderful Birthday and I wish I could be there with him. Happy Birthday, Christopher John.