My younger brother was born at 4 PM on March 17, 1965. My mother had a precipitous labor with my brother. A precipitous labor is the kind where things move fast and it often isn't as painful as a normal length labor.
My mother and I were at the grocery store and she started feeling nauseous and a bit dizzy. The lady standing in front of her asked her if she was all right. We went home and as she later told me "I went to the bathroom and thought that it seemed like I was peeing forever. Then I realized what was going on."
She called my father and he came home. Not long after, maybe 20 minutes, my brother was born. I was in the room. I was four years old and to me there was nothing traumatic or awful. There was no screaming, maybe a bit of groaning, which is more typical of a precipitous labor. My brother was fine though he was three weeks early and he did have the cord wrapped around his neck. My father was able to remove it quickly and right away he started hollering.
Maybe it was because my brother and I had four years between us that there was never any great sibling rivalry. I was always very maternal towards him--until he got older and then we wrestled and climbed trees and such. Anyone who calls me a tomboy gets a can of whoop ass opened on them. My name was never Tom and I was never a boy. I was an active girl who liked playing with toy trucks as much as I liked playing with dolls. I've never been a "girly girl," it doesn't suit me. But I don't think I've ever presented as "masculine," much though society might like to apply that label to me because I don't fit the label its created for "femininity."
I have never been as much of a daredevil as my brother. He's done things such as hang gliding and sky diving, and he's a firefighter/paramedic/SWAT medic. Unfortunately he will have to have back surgery to fuse 5 discs together in his spine next month. When he was coming off the engine he had a bad fall backwards and torqued the hell out of his back.
My brother once tried to teach me to ride his dirt bike and I nearly killed both of us. He declared me a hopeless case. Which is probably a pretty accurate assessment!
My brother is a pretty busy guy. I hope that one day we might be able to be in touch a little better than we've been over the past 20 years. We're in touch, but not very often. Maybe someday he'll come into the Information Age and learn how to use that newfangled Email stuff.
Happy birthday to my brother.
My mother and I were at the grocery store and she started feeling nauseous and a bit dizzy. The lady standing in front of her asked her if she was all right. We went home and as she later told me "I went to the bathroom and thought that it seemed like I was peeing forever. Then I realized what was going on."
She called my father and he came home. Not long after, maybe 20 minutes, my brother was born. I was in the room. I was four years old and to me there was nothing traumatic or awful. There was no screaming, maybe a bit of groaning, which is more typical of a precipitous labor. My brother was fine though he was three weeks early and he did have the cord wrapped around his neck. My father was able to remove it quickly and right away he started hollering.
Maybe it was because my brother and I had four years between us that there was never any great sibling rivalry. I was always very maternal towards him--until he got older and then we wrestled and climbed trees and such. Anyone who calls me a tomboy gets a can of whoop ass opened on them. My name was never Tom and I was never a boy. I was an active girl who liked playing with toy trucks as much as I liked playing with dolls. I've never been a "girly girl," it doesn't suit me. But I don't think I've ever presented as "masculine," much though society might like to apply that label to me because I don't fit the label its created for "femininity."
I have never been as much of a daredevil as my brother. He's done things such as hang gliding and sky diving, and he's a firefighter/paramedic/SWAT medic. Unfortunately he will have to have back surgery to fuse 5 discs together in his spine next month. When he was coming off the engine he had a bad fall backwards and torqued the hell out of his back.
My brother once tried to teach me to ride his dirt bike and I nearly killed both of us. He declared me a hopeless case. Which is probably a pretty accurate assessment!
My brother is a pretty busy guy. I hope that one day we might be able to be in touch a little better than we've been over the past 20 years. We're in touch, but not very often. Maybe someday he'll come into the Information Age and learn how to use that newfangled Email stuff.
Happy birthday to my brother.
2 comments:
Interesting story. Too bad he hurt himself, he seemed to enjoy the physical aspects of life.
Happy Birthday Lily's brother.
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