Winding Roads IV

By May of that year not much had changed with the decisions over the baby and Diane hadn’t seen her parents in close to 3 months. Being a new couple living together was certainly different for both of us and even more challenging without having a car to rely on.

The saving grace for us was the fact that while the neighborhood wasn’t the best place to be living it was quite centralized to the things we needed. . Within walking distance we all sorts of daily amenities from food and groceries to a Laundromat.

All best estimations from the doctor was to put the delivery of the baby into late June early July and without my knowing a whole lot a great deal of the arrangements had already been taken care of.

May 20th was a day pretty much like any other as we both set out to work and go about our daily routines but the funny thing would be this day wouldn’t be routine by any means. I know that sounds so cliché but it’s funny how true that would be. It was a normal busy workday nothing out of the ordinary by any means.

Later that night Diane had complained about having a slight backache at work and decided to go to bed a bit early. I think it was around 8-9pm if I remember correctly.

Close to midnight Diane had gotten some really serious back spasms and I got very concerned. I didn’t know what to do about, hell I was only 19 .. So I called my sister and while on the phone she heard Diane let out one obnoxious scream. I swear she didn’t miss a step and said I’ll be right over. I had no idea what was going on but apparently my sister did ..

When Tammy arrived she had told me we were taking Diane to the hospital and there was some concern in her voice but she never let on as to what it was. We had a bitch of a time getting Diane into the car as her pain was so bad she couldn’t easily bend.

By the time we hit the hospital everything was moving quickly. They came out put her in a wheelchair and started up towards the upper floor. The nurse that was helping told me I would have to go check her in and my sister was going to park her car. I remember saying to the nurse ,,well she isn’t due for a month so this must be false labor right? Um ..nope ..she is having the baby ..

Diane went one way and I went the other to check her in scared to death and wondering what was going on. I met up with my sister in the hall and headed up to the maternity ward and I was directed into a waiting room where a nurse would come speak with me.

Tammy helped calm me down and get me situated and needed to go call home to let her new husband know we were ok. She had no sooner walked out of the room when the most bizarre part of the story happened. A nurse walked into the room and asked if I would like to see my daughter. I remember looking around the room trying to see if there was someone else who I hadn’t noticed. It was only me ..

You’re Mr Maynard right? She asked and I nodded .. your daughter is her n the hallway if you would like to see her. To say it was a speedy delivery would most certainly be an understatement. We arrived at the Holy Family Hospital at just about midnight and the baby was born at 1:08 am on May 21st 1985. In a little more than an hour so much had taken place and I’ve heard most women have labors in the tens of hours..

The timeline had happened so quickly that I had not had time to do anything. Shortly after casting my eyes on my daughter I knew I had to try and do what was right ..I just didn’t know how …..