Having babies was definitely a new experience for me. Both of our boys were born in Athens. The first one came on Groundhog Day about noon. The problem was that I took my wife to the hospital at 11 p.m. the previous evening. So here I sat in the hospital knowing that any minute I would be notified of the birth. I couldn’t sleep because I was sure that I might miss the notification. Every time a door would open or a nurse would walk by, I knew they were looking for me. Twelve hours passed by and still I waited. Finally the notification came and I went in to see Bobbie and our first son Glenn.
About a year and a half later it was time for our second son to arrive. We dropped Glenn off at a friend’s house and went on to the hospital. Bobbie was in pain but I was dreading the wait. I was prepared for my long night at the hospital. This time I was able to sleep in the hard chair and no amount of door opening and nurses walking by could disturb me. Just as I was about to get comfortable, the nurse came out and announced the birth of Gregg. I said you’ve got to be kidding me, that was sure fast; I was just about to go to sleep. The nurse explained that the second child usually comes faster. After I graduated from UGA I took a job working on a farm in Armuchee. (Pronounced Armurchee, but there is no second “R”). Armuchee is a small town just north of Rome.
Our daughter Christy was born in Rome and I got in trouble. I was going to the feed store for some hog feed in the farm’s two ton truck. My wife, Bobbie said that she was having pains but didn’t think it was anything. She got in the truck and we went to see the doctor, who sent us to the hospital. I checked Bobbie in and sat in the waiting room. The nurse came out and said everything was fine but that it would be a while. I went to the feed store and picked up a load of feed and then went back to the hospital. I waited about 45 minutes and the baby was born. I went in and saw the baby, talked to Bobbie and then went back to the farm to unload the feed. In the meantime my mother, her mother and my sister were driving up from Jonesboro. I guess the nurses had changed shifts because when they got to the hospital the nurse told them that she hadn’t seen me.
When I got back to the hospital there were three very angry women accusing me of not caring enough to even be at the hospital when my daughter was born. No matter how I tried to explain, it did not help. The nurse’s testimony outweighed mine and Bobbie was somewhat drugged when I talked to her. My daughter still believes I was not at the hospital after 46 years. I guess there is some stuff that you have to devote your total attention to. So now when the grandchildren and great-grandchildren are born, you can’t get me away from the hospital until the wait is over.
