On the third or fourth month of my pregnancy I started to spot. It was very scary. The first day or so I would see just a spot but then it got heavier. I didn't feel any pain but I called the hospital and they told me to come in for a looksee. Nobody sent an ambulance. I called Wheeler and they sent the Welcome Baby lady for me. I can't remember her name, just that it began with an A. It might have been Alberta. I'm really not sure.
She got me in there. In the ER they checked me out. By then Tom had shown up. I think Alberta must have called his CO to let Tom know I was in the ER. We were both scared and upset. I felt if I lost him, I'd never be able to conceive again and I really wanted him.
I've read in books since that when a woman is pregnant she bonds with her baby even though he's on the inside. I'd been reading and singing to him and patting him. I talked to him about things I didn't talk to anyone else about. He was the most important person in my life. If I liked something, I told him. If I didn't like something I told him.
Sometimes he'd give a little kick and then I knew I should either shut up or that maybe he agreed with me. I don't know when I first felt him move. I was alone when I felt it. I knew what it was because the other women talked about it. It was a marvelous feeling to know that inside me was a little person, even if he wasn't going to be named Jennifer Marie.
We were finally told that his heartbeat was strong and they could do nothing. They sent me home with instructions to go to bed and stay there with the phone nearby. I wasn't to do anything like getting up except to go to the bathroom and if someone was home with me, he should stand near the door in case I needed him. I've got to say, he took those duties seriously. When he left for work a cooler was beside the bed with water and snacks in it. He made sure I ate even if I wasn't hungry.
After a couple of weeks the bleeding stopped. It was almost like I'd had a period but it was longer and the blood was brownish. The doctor said I could move a little but not a lot yet. My landlady brought up her portable sewing machine and shears. Between her and Tom they fixed it so I could lie in bed and with a small coffee table over my legs. I could cut fabric and sew squares if I wasn't tired. I definitely had the fabric.
In the next few months, I did my doctor visits, two a week and cut and sewed fabrics. When I got to the part where you put the two sides together with the batting between, Tom and his friends would grumble but they held them up and made them straight. Then they put clothes pins on all the edges and rolled them up.
I'd lay in bed and a rolled quilt would be laid across my knees. Being careful not to move anything to much, I would edge along putting a needle with yarn on it though the corners of the squares going through all three layers. I'd knot that off and go to the next one. I did the edging by hand and it was really time consuming but what else did I have to do?
I made and mailed off home and to Nancy in Texas about a dozen quilts. I even made one for Tommy.
I was still three months away from having Tommy. The doctors wanted him to be born on December 8th. I thought Dec 7th would be more fitting but nope, they wanted him on the 8th. I was told I would have to come in 3 days a week now. It was so much aggravation all that going in and coming home. If I got the Welcome Baby Van I'd still be waiting around for hours for the return trip. Sometimes I take the Van in and the bus home but the bus was really two buses and there was no stopping at Goodwill either way.
One day I went in as usual and was told I wasn't going back to the apartment. I was being admitted. My blood sugar was all over the place and something was stressing me. I could have told them what. It was all those trips back and forth. I was told I was doing to much.
The odd thing was that when I got pregnant I weighed a certain amount. I never gained an ounce. I was told this was good in a way because it meant I'd lose a lot when I delivered him. It was bad because it was stressing Tommy too. So they admitted me.
I went through a lot of tests. They checked my eyes in the hospital. They took blood and urine and tested my blood sugar and injected my insulin for me. I was feeling healthy. I had a nice room mate. She too was bored.
I had my paints with me and I painted a lot. There was a TV but I wasn't interested in it much. The other lady paid for it because to be able to turn the TV on, you had to pay. I could have watched whatever she was watching but it was boring stuff.
I painted that for my room mate. Her husband took the photo of it.
I painted these two from illustrations in National Geographic.
I did some Native American ones but I'm not sure if I have photos of them. I thought they were on my site but I looked and they aren't.