BIRTH STORIES

       Births are spine tingling events. I told you about my birth in a post. It's too bad that often the person's birth story is not shared with them. I heard my birth story from my Dad but not because he was telling it to me. He was telling others and I happened to be listening. 

     My two youngest brothers have stories. I was 15 when my youngest brother was born so was part of the story. 

    My third brother was born in the old wooden shack we lived in. He was born in February which is a brutal winter month. Roads were poor at the time and there was no snow removal so all winter travel was by horses. Somebody brought the doctor out and the wondrous event began. The event ended  with a bit of an emergency. The baby was not breathing. My Mom had some problems that had to be dealt with. When my Mom was stabilized the Doctor put his attention on the infant. The Doctor gave my brother artificial respiration. One puff and my brother began breathing and crying. The Doctor was almost a chain smoker so my Dad always joked that the tobacco breath was what started my brother breathing. 

     My youngest brother doesn't know this but he was almost born in the car on the highway.

    We were  taking Mom to the small town with an eight bed hospital. This was well before her due date. Again it was mid February. Open roads at that time were still not reliable. The roads could be blocked with snow for a week or ten days. Roads were gravel. On our way   the old Studebaker made a 360 in the middle of the road and continued down the road as if nothing had happened. However, the passengers in the car were pretty stressed. So it's easy to say that this stress could have brought on the birth right there out on the highway. However, about two weeks later Mom came home with our new baby brother. 

    Later on my brother became the director of nursing in the little hospital he was born in. And he looked up the records on his birth. 

    

A BRIGHT, SUNNY, WARM DAY

      84 years ago today was a very pleasant warm day on the Saskatchewan prairie when a baby boy was born in a small wooden shack to a young couple. Yes, That was me!

     Since I was the oldest the birth must have impressed them and Dad told this story many times to anyone who would listen. He never told me the story. I just remember listening to it many times.

    The country doctor attended and sat and smoked and read the Reader's Digest. Mom's two friends Linda Kabernik and Margaret Mehaffey attended to the serious business of the event. The doctor probably tied my cord and left. For all that work, or lack of work, the Doctor got $10.00. 

    Meanwhile on that warm day Dad stayed busy on the yard. His help was to stay out of the way. 

    I always think that I've been fortunate to have the story of my birth. I don't remember my siblings having much of a story about their births. 

SEVENTY SEVEN YEARS AGO...

    Seventy seven years ago this afternoon the lives of a young couple changed forever. I was born seventy seven years ago this afternoon. It was a terrifying time for my mother and stressful for my Dad. You see, I was born in a small farmhouse. The place was about 14' by 24' .  Mom had two of her friends , Linda and Margaret, assist with the birth. Their only claim for expertise was that they had had children. The country doctor sat and smoked and read magazines until the great event was about to occur.

     It was a very warm pleasant fall day. Dad said the house got warm as they were boiling water to be used for good hygiene. 

     So for the next 34 years my Mom cared for me and my Dad cared for me for 68 years.  Now I don't mean that they physically looked after me but as parents I was on their mind. I appreciate their support even though sometimes I disappointed them greatly. A couple of years before Dad died , he looked at me and said. "Well, you did alright!" Of all the things he said, this is the most meaningful. He approved of what I did.

   Today most births occur in a hospital with highly skilled specialists and nurses. The risks in the birth procedure for me were very high. Mothers ,in particular, paid a high price in childbirth at that time. 

      So on my birthday I like to think of the beginning and the important things that had to happen to bring me into the world. Birthday parties for being one year older? I can pass it up.

75's a Good Number

    Today is my birthday and I'm a proud and happy 75. I don't think much about aging and how old I am or how much life I have left. I've enjoyed my 75 years. I will enjoy what's left and not worry about it.

    What I do like to think about on my birthday is my birth.

    I was the first born child for my Mom and Dad. They were in their mid 20's and were the young generation which lost heavily in the great depression. Mom worked as a house maid and stayed home with her parents. Dad roamed around and picked fruit, worked in the bush and sawmill. worked on a dairy and did as many day jobs as he could find. He stayed with friends and relatives. 

    My Dad was able to buy a small farm and this is what he took my Mom to when they got married. There were only country doctors and the nearest hospital was 40 miles away. Most children were born at home. I imagine my mother was somewhat terrified as there was really very little expertise as far as delivery was concerned. The old doctor had much experience but nothing to work with. Mom's two friends came to be with her. My birth went smoothly , the doctor left and Mom's two friends took over. 

    It was a very warm fall day. Dad said the house got hot when the old cook stove was used to heat up lots of water for my delivery.

    I like to think about the mixture of excitement and fear my Mom and Dad had when I was born. The story of my birth was told many times. I was born in the house and both parents shared the experience. 

    So it makes me happy to reflect on my birth once again.

My Age is Established

      Yesterday I posted a bit of a riddle on my age related to my brother's age.

      Yes, we were born less than a year apart. It was always interesting when we were little kids and someone would ask our age. When we both said the same number people would automatically ask us if we were twins. We hardly knew what twins were but we knew we weren't twins.

     The situation of our births being less than a year apart brings up one of those questions I wish I'd asked my Mom before she died. I wish I'd asked her if my brother's birth was a little early or maybe even a lot early. But I didn't ask so I'll never know. I believe that there are many people with births less than a year apart because the younger one was premature.

    I've had fun with this situation all my life so I thought I would share it with you.

    I was surprised that such a simple post attracted do much interest. Several  readers got it bang on.   Check these blogs too. I given links to these blogs. Several more were in the ballpark and some were mystified by the situation.

    I had fun with this post and was surprised how much I learned. For example,  the term Irish twins refers to siblings who are born less than a year apart.

We were in gr. 2 and 3 in this school picture. So second row from the back...we are second and third from the right, I'm the dude with the bib overalls behind the teacher to the right. My brother is standing beside me on my left.

    At this age I was much bigger than my brother. It didn't stay that way. In my prime I hist  5' 10" In my brother's prime he was 6' 1" or 2".

    My bother was a farmer all his life so was outdoors and doing heavy work. I was a teacher and was inside so we have some differences in physique. 

Isolated Birth

       On my last post I jokingly established my worth according to a doctor bill for my birth. After that I began thinking about the conditions surrounding my birth. I also began wondering how much people know about the experiences during a time of which they have no memory. We know about our birth from what stories our parents tell us and the odd bit of history which occurred at the same time.
  
       I have written previously about my isolated farm life.

      My mother was born and raised in a small Manitoba city. When she married my Dad and came to live on his small farm in Saskatchewan, she must have had some culture shock although she had been on farms occasionally. She only knew one person in the district and that happened to be an older cousin. My father's family were very German and they looked on him with some disappointment when he married an English woman! The house on Dad's farm was a somewhat primitive small wooden structure. It was probably 16'  by 30' and was completely uninsulated.

      Nevertheless, I made my debut into the world about 2 years later in 1939. I was born in the above descibed little house. It was a beautiful warm October day and the house became hot due to all the water which had to be boiled on the wood cookstove. My Mom had two friends with her who had given birth to several children and they set things up as the doctor requested. My mother was probably somewhat terrified as she was well aware of the risks in childbirth. However, the conditions of my birth were pretty well standard at that time. Hospitals were distant and transportation primitive. If someone had tried to travel to a hospital under those conditions they would likely not have made it successfully.

     So my birth took place in a fairly routine manner very fortunately for mother and child. Kind neighbors helped my Mom until she could resume normal duties. Those housewifely duties were challenging as the house was not only meagre but there were no facilities. Water had to be hauled and washing was done by hand. You can imagine what else was lacking in this situation. Everything!

    Under challenging circustances I survived and had two brothers and a sister in the same house. By the time I was eight another more substantial house with some facilities had been erected.

     When I tell my children about these conditions I stop and listen to myself and can hardly believe what I'm saying. It was a totally different age.

    Do you know of conditions pertaining to your birth?