RAISIN'
Two more super special days were November 4, 1958 and November 25, 1959, when Andy and Debbie were born.
On Monday morning November 3, 1958, about 7:30 am, JoAnne said it was time to get to the hospital. We arrived at Mobile Infirmary about 8:00 am. One person took her and headed for the labor room, another sent me to Admitting.
After Admitting, I was told to go to the second floor waiting room and WAIT! After about hour or so of knowing nothing, I asked a nurse if she could get any word from back there, somewhere in the dungeon of I don’t know what. She checked and told me that it was gonna be a loooong wait. She also told me that if I went to the pay phone there in the hall, call the hospital number and ask for the labor room, I could keep check on progress.
After feeding a couple of nickels in the pay phone, and being told that it may be sometime Tuesday before the baby came, I made an agreement with the labor room nurses that I would go home and call them every hour, on the hour, until they told me to come back. So, that’s what I did.
When I called at 4:00 PM Tuesday, November 4, 1958, I was told to come back down, it wouldn’t be long.
At about 5:15 PM, Dr. B.B. Kimbrough came out and said, “You’ve got the biggest footed boy I’ve ever seen! He’s gonna break ya buying shoes for him. Him and his Mama are both fine.”
James Andrew Wood, Jr. was born at 5:02 PM, weighed 9 pounds 7 ounces, and was 21 inches long. And he had a FINE set of lungs.
It wasn’t very long before I got to see my new son,.... through a glass window in the nursery. Not like now-a-day almost being able to catch ‘em coming out! That just wasn’t done back then. I did get to glimpse him in a buggy of eight babies when the nurses cleared the halls and took them to their mother’s room to be fed. I knew him right off as the loudest of the bunch!
JoAnne had some complications getting her kidneys to act. Finally, when Andy was nine days old, they let them go home. And...Finally, I got to hold my son. JoAnne was still catherized and her kidneys didn’t start functioning until he was fifteen days old.
I just thought that Andy was about the most special thing there ever was! He was very expensive. We didn’t have any medical insurance, so I had to pay the doctor $150.00 and the hospital $350.00. It took almost until the time Debbie was born to pay for him.
In fact, there was very little that we did know about “Burthin’ Babies!” We barely knew what caused them, much less near what is common knowledge and freely discussed in “open” conversation now a day.
After complications with the birth of Andy, JoAnne decided to go to Dr. Hubbard in Chatom, and to go to Washington County Hospital when time came for Deb to be born.
JoAnne stayed in Millry for about a month before the due date, so she’d be near the Doctor and Hospital. Mother had Florence Turner, Lucy’s sister, in most days to help her with Andy. Also, she stayed after the baby was born to help out.
While at Millry, Sylvia made sure that she had plenty of Healing Springs (Mound Spring) water to drink to fend off the kidney problems.
JoAnne had kinda gotten homesick, so we went to Eight Mile on a Monday. We had started back Tuesday night and she said we’d better get Andy to Millry and get back to Chatom, soon.
I tried to drive as fast as I could, but was afraid to go too fast as we saw no less than seventeen different deer along the way. Some were even in folks’ yards in Chatom.
We left Andy with Mother and got back to the hospital about 11:00 PM on November 24, 1959. After examining her, the Doctor said it would be a pretty good while yet. So, I made a quick trip to Millry to advise Mother. (She had no phone then.) Also, called JoAnne’s mother, Lou.
Unlike Mobile Infirmary, I was allowed to stay with JoAnne in the Labor Room. In fact, they let James Robert Whigham, husband of the Head Nurse, Dorothy, come back to see us about mid-day Wednesday.
At about 11:15 Wednesday night, they came back and told me to go to the waiting room, as it wouldn’t be long now.
At 11:45 PM, November 25, 1959, Deborah Kaye Wood entered this world, not with a shout and scream, but with a small, dainty “whimper!” She weighed in at 9 pounds 8 ounces and was 21 inches long.
I was only able to see her through the nursery window that night. She was a beauty from the start. Then, the next day, I was allowed to be in the room when they brought her in to be fed, and I got to hold her then.
After a couple of weeks with Florence’s help, in Millry, we got to get back to Eight Mile where we became the family of JAW-3-Plus 1!
Other special days include my being saved when I was eight-years-old, both the kids accomplishments, such as scouting, band, church events, when they were saved, each of their weddings, and of course, the birth of each of our five grandchildren.
19b.2. MORE SPECIAL DAYS
Two more super special days were November 4, 1958 and November 25, 1959, when Andy and Debbie were born.
On Monday morning November 3, 1958, about 7:30 am, JoAnne said it was time to get to the hospital. We arrived at Mobile Infirmary about 8:00 am. One person took her and headed for the labor room, another sent me to Admitting.
After Admitting, I was told to go to the second floor waiting room and WAIT! After about hour or so of knowing nothing, I asked a nurse if she could get any word from back there, somewhere in the dungeon of I don’t know what. She checked and told me that it was gonna be a loooong wait. She also told me that if I went to the pay phone there in the hall, call the hospital number and ask for the labor room, I could keep check on progress.
After feeding a couple of nickels in the pay phone, and being told that it may be sometime Tuesday before the baby came, I made an agreement with the labor room nurses that I would go home and call them every hour, on the hour, until they told me to come back. So, that’s what I did.
When I called at 4:00 PM Tuesday, November 4, 1958, I was told to come back down, it wouldn’t be long.
At about 5:15 PM, Dr. B.B. Kimbrough came out and said, “You’ve got the biggest footed boy I’ve ever seen! He’s gonna break ya buying shoes for him. Him and his Mama are both fine.”
James Andrew Wood, Jr. was born at 5:02 PM, weighed 9 pounds 7 ounces, and was 21 inches long. And he had a FINE set of lungs.
It wasn’t very long before I got to see my new son,.... through a glass window in the nursery. Not like now-a-day almost being able to catch ‘em coming out! That just wasn’t done back then. I did get to glimpse him in a buggy of eight babies when the nurses cleared the halls and took them to their mother’s room to be fed. I knew him right off as the loudest of the bunch!
JoAnne had some complications getting her kidneys to act. Finally, when Andy was nine days old, they let them go home. And...Finally, I got to hold my son. JoAnne was still catherized and her kidneys didn’t start functioning until he was fifteen days old.
I just thought that Andy was about the most special thing there ever was! He was very expensive. We didn’t have any medical insurance, so I had to pay the doctor $150.00 and the hospital $350.00. It took almost until the time Debbie was born to pay for him.
In fact, there was very little that we did know about “Burthin’ Babies!” We barely knew what caused them, much less near what is common knowledge and freely discussed in “open” conversation now a day.
After complications with the birth of Andy, JoAnne decided to go to Dr. Hubbard in Chatom, and to go to Washington County Hospital when time came for Deb to be born.
JoAnne stayed in Millry for about a month before the due date, so she’d be near the Doctor and Hospital. Mother had Florence Turner, Lucy’s sister, in most days to help her with Andy. Also, she stayed after the baby was born to help out.
While at Millry, Sylvia made sure that she had plenty of Healing Springs (Mound Spring) water to drink to fend off the kidney problems.
JoAnne had kinda gotten homesick, so we went to Eight Mile on a Monday. We had started back Tuesday night and she said we’d better get Andy to Millry and get back to Chatom, soon.
I tried to drive as fast as I could, but was afraid to go too fast as we saw no less than seventeen different deer along the way. Some were even in folks’ yards in Chatom.
We left Andy with Mother and got back to the hospital about 11:00 PM on November 24, 1959. After examining her, the Doctor said it would be a pretty good while yet. So, I made a quick trip to Millry to advise Mother. (She had no phone then.) Also, called JoAnne’s mother, Lou.
Unlike Mobile Infirmary, I was allowed to stay with JoAnne in the Labor Room. In fact, they let James Robert Whigham, husband of the Head Nurse, Dorothy, come back to see us about mid-day Wednesday.
At about 11:15 Wednesday night, they came back and told me to go to the waiting room, as it wouldn’t be long now.
At 11:45 PM, November 25, 1959, Deborah Kaye Wood entered this world, not with a shout and scream, but with a small, dainty “whimper!” She weighed in at 9 pounds 8 ounces and was 21 inches long.
I was only able to see her through the nursery window that night. She was a beauty from the start. Then, the next day, I was allowed to be in the room when they brought her in to be fed, and I got to hold her then.
After a couple of weeks with Florence’s help, in Millry, we got to get back to Eight Mile where we became the family of JAW-3-Plus 1!
Other special days include my being saved when I was eight-years-old, both the kids accomplishments, such as scouting, band, church events, when they were saved, each of their weddings, and of course, the birth of each of our five grandchildren.
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