Ten. . .Nine. . .Eight. . .Five - Oh Well, I Tried

In our continuing saga of the days they were born, today's story is about Clayton's arrival on October 9, 1985 - get it? 10. . .9. . .8. . .5. . . Anyhow, this was one terrific day to be sure.  To completely grasp it's terrificness, you have to know just a little bit about Morgan's delivery - it did not go as I planned, hoped, prepared for, wished, dreamed or imagined.  It was long, involved heavy medication (which I did not want) and ended my relationship with the OB who cared for me throughout my pregnancy but that story will come later.

For my care with my second pregnancy, I chose the General Practitioner who was taking care of Hollis, Morgan and me for well, general medical stuff.  His name was Curtis Ryder and he and his staff were just wonderful to all of us.  In mid-January of 1985, San Antonio had a record snowfall of 13 inches.  It was unbelievable!  I have great pictures of my not quite two year old playing in snow piles that were taller than he was.  We had a little 4 wheel drive truck so we were able to drive over to see and check on Hollis' mom and grandparents but it was wild the way it shut down the city.  Somehow a few weeks later, I had a positive pregnancy test (Clayton does not enjoy this part of the story but in the interest of historical accuracy, I had to share).  

When I was about 20 weeks along, Dr. Ryder ordered my one and only ultrasound test and we knew by about the first week in June that boy #2 was on his way.  The choice of his name was pretty easy.  We both loved the name Clayton and thought it went well with brother Morgan's name and Lewis was Hollis grandparents last name.  Now we just had to wait.  Let me just say that being big time pregnant in the summer was not as enjoyable as having a baby in April.  I discovered that there are many reasons that wild animals have their offspring in the spring and I came to value those reasons. About a week before my due date, I went into labor.  I had not been sleeping well and Hollis stayed home from work to take me to Dr. Ryder that day.  He said I was in labor and sent us to Village Oaks Hospital (where I had Curtis 3 years later) which had just opened its' Labor and Delivery Department because it had just opened the hospital a few months before.  Signs of incomplete construction were all around the building.  I was in a Labor & Delivery suite which meant that I would not have to be moved at the last possible moment to a separate delivery room which was what happened to me with Morgan.  Hollis and I watched a baseball game all afternoon and my labor progressed without any medication.  About 6:00 that evening, Dr. Ryder stopped by on his way to dinner and broke my water.  I told him not to go far.  By 7:00, I was begging for drugs.  The wise husband said that if I was not pushing by 7:30, he would get me drugs.  By 7:15 or so they had gotten Dr. Ryder back to the hospital and I began pushing and at 7:30.  At 7:49, 8 lb, 8 oz Clayton Lewis was born.  Apparently having them a week early results in a lighter baby than when they are 2 weeks late i.e. Morgan and Harris who were both over 9 lbs, but I digress.

So this awesomeness only took about 8 hours and I did it with no medication at all!!  Shortly after Clayton was taken to the nursery for assessment, Carol, the nurse came in to help me get cleaned up and settled and she told us that the construction was going to require that the water be turned off for the night and oh, by the way, Clayton was the 13th baby ever born in that hospital.  She was running a sink of warm water when Hollis came back to the room to give me the stats on the baby.  He and I were beyond relieved that this delivery had been such a breeze compared to the first and Carol the nurse was actually one of Dr. Ryder's office nurses who took L&D shifts to augment her income and because she really liked L&D.  I was very excited to have 2 people I already knew attending the birth.  As she began to help me get into a fresh gown and get settled, Hollis said "That was easy! Wanna do it again?!?" and I enthusiastically replied "I'm ready when you are!!" and Carol said "You guys are sick!!"  

Clayton Lewis Wooldridge

Our friend Stuart came to see me in the hospital after both Morgan and Clayton were born.  He was quite astonished with the no-drug me as compared to the drugged-out me of the first time and willingly obliged when I asked him to go get me a hamburger, fries and a shake.  I don't know if you've ever noticed but just about all the commercials during a baseball game are for food.  I labored all afternoon and there were nothing but Burger King commercials on between innings!  I was chattering and happy and very hungry and I will always be grateful for his willingness to fetch me food.  Willis had brought big brother Morgan to the hospital earlier to meet his baby brother and Hollis had gone home with Morgan for the night.  

I wanted to be released 6 hours after delivery with this baby but that would have been the middle of the night so I agreed to being released the next morning and I was.  Clayton was about 14 hours old when we left the hospital.  Mom came from Houston and took wonderful care of me for a few days.  Clayton was a wonderful, easy baby who slipped easily into our family.  There was no way he was going to be the last but that story comes later.