Reflections on this date 32 and 28 years ago

On Wednesday, February 1, 1978, I was very pregnant and driving 4 kids (Eddie 8, Billy 6, Danny 3, and Lynn 16 months) to Primary at 4:45 pm when it began to snow. We lived only about 5 minutes from the building in Hamilton, Ohio, but it was dark and cold and the snow was already sticking by the time we arrived. The two older boys had classes, and I hung out in the foyer with the little ones and other moms and toddlers. When we drove home an hour later, the roads were coated and slushy and the wind was blowing. Ed was slowed down getting home by the storm.
The blizzard blew up quickly and ferociously. By morning, the whole Ohio River Valley was locked in a record snowfall. Everyone was ordered to stay off the roads, the entire industrial community was shut down, and nothing was functioning. That continued for three more days. Stores had run out of food, nothing could be delivered, some people were without power for more than a week.
In the midst of this, Julie was due on Monday. Our subdivision was cut off from the world because we sat on a ridge, and no one had plowed the access roads from either side. We had it figured out, though. There was a GP around the corner, and his wife was a pediatric nurse, so we were ready for a home-born baby! Finally on Sunday the plows made it up the hill and cleared the streets. There was a huge pile at the end of the driveway that Ed had to clear. Did I mention that we had a VW bug and a Chevy station wagon (the yellow and brown one)? No 4-wheel drive!
I went into labor Sunday night. We called Sister Harnish who was able to make it over in her husband's truck to stay with the kids, and we took off on the country roads to Oxford and McCullough Hyde Hospital. The doctor got in just in time to catch the baby and announce she was a girl--I never did think he earned his fee for that appearance at the last minute. It must have been a full moon or something because in the next two days there were so many babies born that new moms were in beds in the hallways. I was sent home Tuesday night (unheard of!! this was when you stayed four days at least!).
When I came in the door close to bedtime, Lynn was coming down the stairs, saw the baby in my arms, and let out a blood-curdling scream. Not quite the quiet introduction to the family I was hoping for, but they ended up being best friends.

Flash forward 4 years--another baby is due on February 6. We had Julie's birthday the weekend before so that there would be no problems. I fully expected this baby might be early, after all it was number 6. But when the 5th rolled around, nothing had happened aside from a few Braxton-Hicks contractions. Ed got home from work about 5, and I suggested a trial run up to the hospital as a date night activity because I hadn't felt really well all day and needed to get out. Eddie was 12 so he was babysitting.
After dinner we bundled up and took the station wagon out. It wasn't snowing, but it was really cold. I was having fairly regular contractions, uncomfortable but not serious. We made the trip up, pulled into the parking lot, and they stopped. Ed suggested waiting around a little bit, but I wasn't willing to do that, so we turned around, got an ice cream cone, and drove home. We went to bed and the pains started in earnest.
At 11 pm they were 5 minutes apart and getting stronger. We called the hospital and Sister Harnish, got the bag, and took off again. The trip is about 30-45 minutes, and by the time we got there, they had stopped. I was not going in with false labor, and Ed was not driving home again. Our compromise was for him to try to sleep in the back of the car while I dozed in the front. That lasted an hour or so until he was frozen. I still would not go inside, so we drove back home and went to bed again. At 8 am they were intermittent and the hospital called and asked where we were. They had been waiting for me, and said just to come in for a check. So back we went.
Once they got me settled in a labor room, nothing. It was my due date by now, so they had me start walking the halls. Dad and I walked the halls of that hospital for 6 hours--nothing! They broke my water, put me to bed, and figured we would be there the rest of the night. Fifteen minutes later I said I needed to push, but no one believed me after the day we had had. I insisted, the nurse checked me, and shouted, "She's crowning!!" and began yelling at me not to push until I was in the delivery room. Again, the doctor rushed in just in time to catch him and announce a healthy boy--another fee for services not rendered!
Ed called home to tell the children about a new baby brother, and there was a serious problem. Julie was thrilled with the idea that we would be the Brady bunch, 3 boys and 3 girls. In fact, Paddington Bear had confirmed that truth to her very early in my pregnancy. (Remember, this was before ultrasound to tell you who was coming to dinner.) When she heard the baby was a boy, she threw the bear under the bed (a terrible fate since I had not been able to vacuum under there for months) and cried about how he had lied to her.
Tommy had to stay in the hospital for a week because of jaundice, but the kids came up to look through the windows at him. When he came home there was another fight amongst the siblings--Eddie claimed the baby as his property and we had a power struggle over who got to hold him, mom or big brother.
And so for many years the family was complete at 6. It did take four more years before Tommy got to celebrate his birthday on his birthday, because it was Julie's day first and she wasn't going to share it. That was actually a condition of her baptism, so the first shared day was her 8th and his 4th.
Now the little girl has 4 of her own, and the baby has had his first baby. What a joyful ride!! Happy Day to both.