Julie was our first born, and we were anxious for her to arrive before her mother exploded.
The date was February 25, 1959, and I was getting ready to leave for work when Joyce told me that I should probably stay home because she was having contractions. Although we were ready for the blessed event, I was still nervous at the thought of it, and like Butterfly McQueen (Prissy, in Gone With the Wind), who said: “Lawzy, we got to have a doctor! I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!” I fidgeted about while Joyce called her obstetrician. He said that we should leave for the hospital when her contractions were five minutes apart. We left the apartment shortly after the call.
We arrived at Ideal Hospital late in the morning, and settled into a labor room. Ideal was the only hospital in the area, at that time, which allowed husbands to stay with their wives during the labor process. A husband in the delivery room was still a long way off.
Joyce’s contractions got closer and closer together, but never closer than two and a half to three minutes apart. The time began to drag as she got more and more… well, uncomfortable would be an understatement. My efforts to comfort and/or distract her were becoming futile. We both thought there was no end to it as the pains went on into the night with no appreciable progress.
Eventually, in the wee hours of the next day, the nurses gave Joyce an injection that stopped her labor so that she could get some rest and gather her strength for what lay ahead. They told me that I might just as well go home to shower, shave, and take a nap because it would be a while before Julie made her escape.
The rest of the ordeal is a bit hazy now, but Julie was born in the early afternoon of February 26th. I felt as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders, and I can only imagine what Joyce was feeling; Julie weighed eight pounds, four ounces. I watched as a nurse brought the baby out of the delivery room and began to clean her up. She held Julie face up with her body tilted head down over a large sink, and proceeded to scrub her with what looked like a coarse brush. I almost banged on the window to tell her to be careful – that was my kid she was scrubbing. Soon, the shiny new baby with the bruised cheeks was nestled in her mother’s arms, ready for a snack.
I left for home several hours later once Joyce was settled and the baby was back in the nursery. I exited the hospital to find a parking ticket on my car because it had been parked illegally during the overnight hours. I drove away muttering to myself about the ticket when, from out of nowhere, a wave of emotion overwhelmed me and I began to sob uncontrollably. I had to pull off the road because I was crying so hard that I couldn’t see to drive. I suppose the episode was caused by a feeling of relief that both Joyce and Julie had come through the delivery in excellent health. Julie was chubby, healthy, and had all the standard parts right down to the ten toes and ten fingers. I was happy, although you’d never have known it if you had seen me crying. The tears soon stopped and I continued on my way, but I had never experienced such emotion before, nor have I since.
Things were quite different when Cathy was born on September 14, 1960. Joyce had started having mild contractions during the previous day and evening, but considering the long labor prior to Julie’s birth, she was in no hurry to tell me about it. She did tell me on the morning of the 14th, that the baby would probably be born that day, and that she was about to call her mother to come over to take care of Julie. I, of course, stayed home from work and went about getting together the things that Joyce would take to the hospital. There was a general air of expectancy during the process, but no great rush this time.
My mother-in-law arrived about an hour later, saw that everything was well in hand, and proceeded to make a pot of coffee. We timed Joyce’s contractions and were surprised to find that they were between three and four minutes apart. I suggested that we leave for the hospital; my mother-in-law agreed. Joyce decided to make another pot of coffee. The time between contractions was decreasing; I was beginning to get a bit nervous while Joyce looked as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “Shouldn’t we get started?” I asked. “In a few minutes”, she replied, “no hurry.”
Joyce’s mother had a worried look on her face as she took me aside and said “Will you GET HER OUT OF HERE?” What was I supposed to do… drag her out by the feet? I’ll admit that the thought had crossed my mind. After what seemed like hours punctuated with pots of coffee, Joyce suggested that I call the hospital to tell them that we were on the way.
It took us about twenty minutes to get to the hospital where we started filling out forms as soon as we arrived. I had remembered to put the car in the parking lot this time.
A nurse came out to check on Joyce’s contractions, and when we told her they were about two minutes apart, she grabbed a wheel chair for Joyce and whisked her away while I finished up the paperwork. It seems that Joyce had just gotten settled when I was asked to leave; things were moving right along. Cathy was born in the mid afternoon, tipping the scale at a very healthy seven pounds, ten ounces. Our family doctor came in to check her out and remarked that he had no trouble finding her in the nursery saying “I knew her right away; she was screaming her head off, just like her sister.”
It was now about five o’clock in the afternoon, and I was supposed to start my first class at night school that evening; I had decided to take some business courses after being out of college for five years. I was prepared to stay at the hospital if that was what Joyce wanted, but she wouldn’t hear of it. I made it to class on time without experiencing the flood of tears that overtook me after Julie’s birth, but my eyes did fill up as I thought about that miracle that is childbirth. I was happy that all was well, but was now an “old hand” at the father business. As I said earlier, things were quite different this time.
F. A. Zedik
05-29-05