On This Date

On this date 42 years ago, at Wesley Long Hospital, at 7:59 a.m., I gave birth to Cathryn Susan Clapper. Every woman who's had a baby remembers her labor(s) and I am no exception. Like most, it was long and painful. They didn't give epidurals back then. No family except the husband was allowed in the labor room. (He was useless, in my case.) The nurse on duty when I arrived the evening of May 11th was busy with other patients so I didn't get any "help" or "encouragement" like you see on TV now. All evening, in addition to labor pains, I had hand and leg cramps due to hyperventilation and dehydration, but until things elsewhere in the unit slowed down, no one came in to deal with those problems either. I bless the nurse who came on duty at 11 p.m. She helped stabilize my breathing and let me have some ice chips, but I still had another almost 9 hours before true relief was achieved.

After it was all over, Cathy looked beautiful and I looked (and felt) like hell. I had heard that another mother was having a C-section a couple of hours before I delivered. When I finally made it out of my room and by her room down the hall on my way to the nursery (they didn't let you keep your baby in your room), I saw her--hair done up neatly, impeccably made up, a garland of flowers around the head of her bed. I hated her. I remembered that her daughter was named Misty. Years later there was a beautiful little girl in Cathy's kindergarten class named Misty. I found out she had been born on May 12th too and was probably that mother's baby. I thought I might be over my ill feelings by that time, but I still resented her mother for looking so good! And I still do.

They kept us in the hospital almost a week. Phid (husband Bruce's mom) came to help for the week after we came home. I was bottle feeding, which Bruce volunteered to help with until he realized he'd have to get up (and stay awake!) in the middle of the night to do so. So he said he'd let me do it because I was so much better at it.

The years since then seem so short, and most events are a blurred memory, but my memories of May 11-12, 1967 are as vivid as ever. I told my doctors that I didn't want to have another baby until I found a new way of doing it. And for Kim's birth in November of 1969 I did. But that's another story for another day.