Happy Birthday to my Son

(photo the right is one of my favorites...Nathan with "Grandma" Neta Koons)

October 13, 1970 was the day this baby boy entered into the world. I was a "first time" mother to be when I entered Berea Hospital the night of September 30, 1970. I had labor for almost 13 hours by the time he was born. I knew nothing, I didn't know what to expect, the doctor Myron Welty, MD was my family doctor and OB.

Labor pains are not comfortable. No one taught me how to breathe. No one taught me to relax. No one told me my husband would stand outside the labor room leaning up against the wall, fall asleep, then ultimately go home from there leaving me alone in the hospital.

I guess those were the days of blind faith, and no questions asked.

I remember sweating my ass off during the contractions, and Tim asking me, bending low so he could whisper in my ear "can I turn the air conditioner off? It's cold in here"! Ya' think!

They brought the baby into my room during the wee hours of the morning so I could see he was physically perfect...all his fingers and toes, all his little arms and legs. 8 lbs. O oz. 20' long.

I remember like it was yesterday. The nurse had taken him from the incubator (he needed to be quiet and warm, no oxygen needed as he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his throat).

I was grateful for her bringing him to me so I could touch him and kiss his little face.

There were some other things I remember...I remember standing in the hallway of the hospital, longingly peering through the glass window of the isolet room wanting to hold my baby and not being able to do so for four days.

When the nurse came into the hospital room that I shared with another new mother, speaking to Tim and me she brought in the "regulation birth forms" that had to be filled out. She asked "what is the name of the baby boy?"

Tim and I had decided on a name for the baby. We had chosen "Peter Winfield Von Duyke" (Winfield was Tim's father Lee Von Duyke's middle name) if it was a boy. Back in those days, no sex was ever revealed to the "to be Moms and Dads". I don't even know if an ultrasound was ever performed during my pregnancy. "Sarah Elizabeth Von Duyke" was the name we chose if it was a girl.

You can imagine the shock on my face when Tim replied:

"His name is Nathan Winfield Von Duyke".

And so it is.

Love you baby boy!