An Unidentified Alcoholic, a Hospital ,a Ghost and a Baby ,Peeks for Peeps from Madness, Addiction & Love
You will recall how Melanie came into the world in previous chapter, Nuns & Roses.
Less than two years later we conceived once again. We were very excited about this birth. We were living on Hartt St , Fredericton. At the time we thought we would have three children. This was a great beginning.
As is the norm for me I was sick from the day I conceived to the day Amanda was born. Melanie she was a seven-month baby. Here once again I went into labor at 7months. I seem to suffer from hyperemesis gravidarum .
Little was know about hyperemesis gravidarum in the 70’s. Kate Middleton suffers from this when pregnant.
Sept 30th ,I go into labor .John brings me into the new hospital they had just built in Fredericton. , Dr Everett Chalmers Regional .
I am tucked away into a private room and put on a drip to stop the sickness and contractions.
At exactly 1:05am , the nurses decide it was time to call John. I was up out of bed, had pulled the drip from my arm. I was singing, being rowdy, wild, waking other patients and would not stop laughing, dancing, swearing. It appears I was inebriated, drunk, sloshed. Yes, at that time in 1976 , they gave me an alcoholic drip to stop the contractions. As I write this I cannot stop laughing. The look on John’s face when he came into the room was stunned ,horrified and awed. He did not know what to do with me. I remember, even in my intoxicated state, seeing him chuckle. I do not think he ever saw me this way. (that was to come a few years later)
Finally, between him and the nurses they decided to call my Doctor. By 6:00am I was carried away by an ambulance into Saint John ,NB.
Because Dr Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital was new, they did not have a prenatal unit yet. I remember John driving our old 1967 Chev at high speed to be in Saint John before our arrival and he was.
I stayed in that hospital for two months. October 1st- December 1st, 1976.
I stayed in that bed from Oct 1st- November 15th. Yes, I was not allow to move for fear of going into early labor again. They brought my bedpan, food , washed my body, my hair all in that small sterile bed. I witnessed so many new mothers -to -be come, stay and leave my room in those two months.
That was the first time Melanie was to be in NFLD with my parents and siblings for an extended stay. Six months later, she was to return, when John discovered he had cancer.
On Dec 1st, 1976, I remember being so happy to be home. I missed our little Melanie but she would not arrive until after this baby’s birth. On Dec 6th my beloved grandfather , James Smith passed away while he had been living with my parents. I received the call the first thing on Monday morning. The next day I was again in labor and a Cesarean Section was preformed at 6:35am on Wednesday morning. While I was in recovery ,my grandfather was standing at the edge of my bed. He told me we had another girl. I recall him so vividly. He said his goodbye , told me we would be fine, it was time for him to leave now.
When I was wheeled out and saw John, I said,” Granddad just told me we have another daughter. John looked at me with his humble ,deer in a head light look and said , yes.
The Doctor told us that when he went in to remove baby, he took my appendicitis and tied my tubes. I could not have any more babies. Three was a dream , two was enough.
In all the years between then and now I ha