Birthing A New Generation

     Way back in the annals of civilization families were large and women had their  babies at home and if they were lucky they had the help of neighboring wives to assist them. The families were large because the labor force that was needed to work the farms most people lived on, women gave birth at home because there were no hospitals to go to and few Dr's if any to attend to them. Giving birth was often difficult and many babies and mothers didn't survive, I have visited the grave of my Great Grandmother who had previously given birth to five kids, the sixth baby ( a girl ) died a month after birth followed a month later by her mother and in the same graveyard is my Aunt who died at birth.
     Well times have changed thru the ages, families have become smaller mainly due to the cost to raise a child to adulthood  ( about $250,000 in 2015 ) and the labor requirements are no longer needed to run the farm as few people live on farms now days. Today women give birth to their babies in hospitals assisted by a host of doctors and nurses, even Dads are a part of the process. Though modern science has made many improvements in birthing as far as the medical aspects go nothing has changed in the process itself. There are easy births and difficult ones, some go on for hours while others are over with in mere minutes and they still say that the first one is the most difficult.
     Take my own birth for instance, bear in mind this is all hearsay because I don't remember it but I was reminded many times of the difficulty my mother had giving birth to me. I was the first of five kids in my family, the year was 1947, the hospitals were few and far apart, the doctors still made house calls and birthing at home in your own bed still occurred. In my case there was no hospital but there was a sanitarium which was a kind of scaled down hospital that had Drs and nurses so I was born in a sanitarium a few miles north of Gallatin, Tn.. I am told the labor was long and painful and in the end mom not only had a bouncing baby boy she also developed something called pleurisy an ailment she never let me forget about. That is about all that I can say about my birth except that after my birth my other four siblings were a piece of cake.
     Fast forward about 33 years, after trying to get pregnant for the past 13 years Linda and I were successful. Linda was as happy as any expectant mother could be, she beamed with pride, I on the other hand was scared to death. Her pregnancy was somewhat uneventful, she went to work every day, came home, ate dinner and went to bed. Being pregnant is not an easy task for a woman, it takes a lot out of them and Linda was no different. I used to joke and tell people that she slept for the whole nine months - I wasn't too far wrong. When the time came for Danny to greet the world Linda and I were watching t.v. and she kept getting up to use the bathroom and after about the third trip she came back in saying she thinks her water broke. Now when the water breaks it usually means it is time to get in the car and go to the hospital but rather than rush into anything Linda calmly went and packed a small bag of clothing and then took a shower, we arrived at the hospital about 45 minutes later ( the hospital was only two miles away ).
     They took Linda in to the preparation room and called her Dr who happened to be Hungarian and spoke with a somewhat heavy accent. Soon after his arrival he came out to the waiting room and started telling me that there was a minor problem, it took me a few minutes to comprehend what it was he was trying to tell me. At last he held up an x-ray picture which showed that Danny had at the last minute flipped back upright and was not in the correct head first position and no amount of persuasion was going to turn him around so they were going to have to perform a Cesarean Section. I didn't know if he was just telling me or asking me for permission, all I could say was OK, fathers like me were the reason the delivery room was off limits. About 30 minutes later the Dr returned and told me in his heavy accent that I had a baby boy, he pointed to his surgical gown to show me a rather large wet spot and explained that all of Danny's parts were working. My firstborn arrived in this world July 10, 1980. After seeing my son thru the window of the nursery I walked beside Linda as they rolled her to her room from recovery, still a little groggy all she wanted to know was " is he beautiful ?" my answer was " of course ".
     There is a sidebar that needs to go along with this story. Danny was the only boy in the nursery and he had a head full of thick black hair long enough that the nurses wanted to tie a blue ribbon in it. The next day I returned to see my family and was talking to Linda when one of her friends came in, I took the opportunity to look in the nursery to see Danny. There was an older couple looking thru the glass at there new granddaughter who was obviously upset about something as she was loudly crying and kicking the air, they were marveling over how pretty and precious she was.  The nurses rolled Danny next to the little girl and he laid there sound asleep, and not meaning to brag, he was the most beautiful baby there. The older couple now turned their to Danny and started saying how precious he was. Moments later their son walked in, they told him how beautiful their granddaughter was and how much they adored her and how happy they were, they shook his hand and hugged him proudly, then the lady told her son that she wanted him to get started on another one and she wanted it to look just like this one ( she was pointed to Danny ). As proud as I was I couldn't help but say something so I put my hand on the other guys shoulder and told him good luck, it took 13 years to get this one right.
     Two years later we found ourselves in the family way again. Linda didn't get much sleep this time as she had a toddler to take care of but she didn't seem to mind, she was devoted to Danny. Things were going well until about seven or eight months into the pregnancy. It was one of those times when life jumps up and throws a wrench into the works, I got word that the company was shutting down my operation but had acquired another company in California and wanted me to transfer out there, in retrospect this was one move I should have turned down - but I didn't. I went to California and got the job and even went back to get acquainted with the people and that is where I was when Linda went into labor, by the time I got home the next day Clay had arrived.
     Once again this is hearsay but it was Linda who told me and she never lied. To preface the story, Linda had a Cesarean Section with Danny and due to her age and and the prior c-section she would have to undergo another c-section with Clay, she was prepared. A date was set for the procedure and life went on normally until one night her water broke and a neighbor took her to the hospital where the nursing staff took her to be prepped for a c-section. During the preparation the nurse looked down and saw that Clay had a foot sticking out which was not a good sign. Linda was rushed to the delivery room, it was too late for a c-section, Clay was going to be a natural breech birth, the boy was going to come out feet first which he did on August 24, 1982. It was a hard birthing for Linda but I think she would have done it all over again for Clay, he was her baby and held a special spot in her heart.
     I must confess that in the beginning I wanted a baby of my own but for various reasons it did not happen, I was even told that I could not father any kids because of a low sperm count. We or maybe just I resigned myself to not having kids, I had nieces and nephews and friends who had kids and that seemed to be enough. Linda on the other hand looked into adoption  and was on the verge of telling me that we were next on the list when she found out she was pregnant, the news while welcoming  struck fear into my heart. I was too old to be a new father, to set in my ways for any change but by the time Danny was crawling I was putting him on my shoulder walking him around the neighborhood showing him off to all we met.
     Now I have Grandchildren of my own, they are growing like weeds and change every time I see them. MJ and Matthew were both c-section babies and I expect their mother will someday regale them with her stories.
     I am sure modern medicine will continue to evolve in the future and make giving birth completely safe for both mother and baby but the birthing process will be the same as it has been for thousands of years, there will be difficult births and easy ones, some will last for hours while others will be over in mere minutes. The fathers will be proud, the mothers will smile with happiness as the circle of life goes on.