In the spring of 1990, I learned that I was to become a mother for the second time. I calculated the dates on my calendar and then ran the numbers again. “Well, that didn't go as I had planned,” I said to myself.
My calculations indicated that this second blessed event was to take place on December 26. Who wants to be in the hospital over Christmas? As the time for my confinement approached, I became increasingly anxious. I did not want to miss the family Christmas gatherings at our parents’ farms or be apart from our five-year-old daughter at Christmas.
On December 25 I attended my family's Christmas dinner and the Hubs family's Christmas supper. When we got home that night after two turkey dinners and being at the end of my ninth month of pregnancy, I put my hand on my tummy and said to The Hubs ”now this is the definition of full!”
On December 26 I grudgingly began month number ten, relieved that Christmas was over. I had a doctor’s appointment on December 27, and we planned to stay in the city with my sister C and her husband as the forecast was calling for extremely cold and stormy weather.
We went to my appointment and that evening had supper at my sister and brother-in-law's home. My brother-in-law left to work a night shift and the three of us settled in for the night. The Hubs and I were asleep on the sofa bed in the basement when around 12:30 a jerking feeling in my abdomen woke me up. I got up and quickly realized the time had come. I was in labour!
We started getting ready to go to the hospital. My sister heard The Hubs go out and start the truck and came downstairs to investigate the commotion. The three of us started buzzing around folding bedding and putting the sofa bed back up. We were moving around like zombies or The Three Stooges, I am not sure which. Afterwards, we wondered why we were so worried about cleaning up and putting everything back in order.
I remember the short drive to the hospital and how cold I felt on that -28 night. I was staring at my feet pressed against the floorboards of our truck bracing myself against the contractions and the jerking motion of the truck hitting the snow drifts that had formed across the highway.
Once we got into a room at the hospital, the Hubs was worried about plugging his truck in so he went out to take care of that. By the time he got back to the room the baby was coming and I was taken into the delivery room. At 2:15 in the morning on December 28 we were blessed with a son, weighing 8 pounds 7.5 ounces and 21.5 inches long. We named him after his paternal grandfather.
My calculations indicated that this second blessed event was to take place on December 26. Who wants to be in the hospital over Christmas? As the time for my confinement approached, I became increasingly anxious. I did not want to miss the family Christmas gatherings at our parents’ farms or be apart from our five-year-old daughter at Christmas.
On December 25 I attended my family's Christmas dinner and the Hubs family's Christmas supper. When we got home that night after two turkey dinners and being at the end of my ninth month of pregnancy, I put my hand on my tummy and said to The Hubs ”now this is the definition of full!”
On December 26 I grudgingly began month number ten, relieved that Christmas was over. I had a doctor’s appointment on December 27, and we planned to stay in the city with my sister C and her husband as the forecast was calling for extremely cold and stormy weather.
We went to my appointment and that evening had supper at my sister and brother-in-law's home. My brother-in-law left to work a night shift and the three of us settled in for the night. The Hubs and I were asleep on the sofa bed in the basement when around 12:30 a jerking feeling in my abdomen woke me up. I got up and quickly realized the time had come. I was in labour!
We started getting ready to go to the hospital. My sister heard The Hubs go out and start the truck and came downstairs to investigate the commotion. The three of us started buzzing around folding bedding and putting the sofa bed back up. We were moving around like zombies or The Three Stooges, I am not sure which. Afterwards, we wondered why we were so worried about cleaning up and putting everything back in order.
I remember the short drive to the hospital and how cold I felt on that -28 night. I was staring at my feet pressed against the floorboards of our truck bracing myself against the contractions and the jerking motion of the truck hitting the snow drifts that had formed across the highway.
Once we got into a room at the hospital, the Hubs was worried about plugging his truck in so he went out to take care of that. By the time he got back to the room the baby was coming and I was taken into the delivery room. At 2:15 in the morning on December 28 we were blessed with a son, weighing 8 pounds 7.5 ounces and 21.5 inches long. We named him after his paternal grandfather.
The Hubs went back to my sisters, told her the news, took the sofa bed back out, unfolded the bedding and tried to sleep. By the time my brother-in-law got back from his night shift, the action was long over. He and the Hubs had a celebratory beverage at seven a.m. to mark the occasion.
It was so cold all that week, I can remember the windows of the nursery in the old Holy Family Hospital in Prince Albert were coated with a thick layer of frost. I found one clear little spot and peeked out at the world.
My boy and I spent his first New Year’s Eve in the hospital. The nurse brought him to me just before midnight and I wished him Happy New Year.
As the years passed his older sister was at times put out at the freedom and privileges her younger brother received at an age she felt she did not get the same treatment. She sometimes resentfully referred to him as “special boy”. The term stuck and I still call him that, he is my special boy, my only boy.
I wrote this story not because his birth story is particularly exciting or unusual. I wrote it so that he would have a record of the night he was born; many people don't have that.
I am sharing it with you in the hopes that you will record the details of your children's births for them to keep and share with their own children one day.
I have found that once your children become parents they have a lot of questions about the day they came into the world and when they were little. Thank goodness I have always liked to write things down!
Happy Birthday Son
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