I know some of you may not be able but if you are, take a moment and ask your parents about the day you were born. Better yet…ask them separately. Obviously you are going to get similar stories but I highly doubt they will be identical.

I know where I was born, kind of… I was born in a hospital that moved from one town to another it used to be in Gary, Indiana and now it is in Hobart, Indiana. So technically I couldn’t drive you to a building and say I was born there. I am not sure if it still stands or not. I have seen the final bill, I actually have it. Its good to know I am paid in full and that no one can come and repo me. My Dad, however, can tell you to the penny how much I cost. Without the bill. We will get back to that later.
I have heard my mother tell about the day I was born and it was always kind of funny. In 1967 women in labor were lined up in a room with just the shower curtain like things hanging between them. You could hear everything that was going on. No HIPAA back then. (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and the African American woman in labor next to my mother was actually having a spiritual experience as she labored. You know they call it labor for a reason… Its work, it’s uncomfortable, but in the end, you get the most wonderful of payoffs. Everyone finds a way of coping with the pain and discomfort. This is long before epidermal. The lady is lying there and saying with each pain, “oh, Jesus, oh sweet Jesus.” This gets louder and louder as she labors until someone finally checks her and she is just about to give birth in that room and they roll her away. Mom is quite the storyteller and she is very funny when she tells this. That lady is probably what mom focused on during her labor. The rest of the story as Mom tells it is when she is ready to deliver she delivers my head she hears “the cord is around baby’s neck, knock her out!” She wakes up not knowing what she has had, or if I am alright. Kind of crazy, huh? But here I am.

That is the story I grew up hearing. And then Dad would say how much I cost because I had jaundice and had to stay in the hospital for a while and I was a very expensive birth. He used to call me his little jewel because I cost more than Mom’s engagement ring.

Then a few years ago maybe 10 or 12 Dad and I went to visit his mother and on the drive back (which was a 6 hours drive) we got to talking about the day I was born and here is the way he told it.

Men weren’t allowed in the delivery room in 1967 and he was fine with that. While he was waiting for an announcement of its a boy/girl a nurse came out and said there have been some complications and I need to know Mom’s blood type. Knowing my Dad he went white as a sheet. What he did say was that he was thankful that my Aunt Susie was there to answer questions. As they waited Dad said he went into the stairwell and it became his prayer tower as he prayed for his wife and child. By the time he gets to this, we are both wiping away tears. We both were o.k. depsite the scary delivery and the jaundice extended my stay to 10 days, thus the expense.

I am the last baby they had. When Mom would get baby fever he would say “you’re not leaving me with three children to raise” and I always thought that was kind of cold until he told me how he experienced my birth and what he was really saying to her was, “I am afraid of losing you in childbirth, that scared the hell out of me, let’s just appreciate the two we have.”

I believe I have mentioned before if you still have your parents or Aunts and Uncles ask them questions lots and lots of questions. Get them on video if you can so that your children and grandchildren can not only hear the stories but get to see the person who is telling it as well. Put a face to the name and hear their voice. They will become a family treasure, that my friend is absolutely predictable.