Happy 29th Birthday to my son Christian! (furthest right)

byStarDragon

205 followers

5 years ago

The year 1989 was a year of terrible upheaval for me!! I was pregnant with my elder son Christian... my abusive first husband (his father), finally left me, but took my daughter just 2 years old with him!! I was devastated!!

I wanted to die... every time I walked into the K-Mart near my apartment, the little girls' dresses taunted me!! I would nearly fall to pieces just seeing them!! But, I had to live on, for my unborn son.

He was due on December 25th!! By Halloween, my boss (I worked at Pizza Hut at that time) told me I needed a doctor's note or he couldn't put me on the schedule anymore. I had no doctor, as I had no insurance... I had just applied for Medi-Cal, it was still pending. Tried applying for unemployment, but had worked so little, I was getting about $15 per week.

I was unable to pay my rent or any other bills. Thankfully, some wonderful folks from my Church offered for me to stay with them, we put the bulk of my household into storage, I did what I could to help them out, they shared their home and their food with me, so I shared my WIC benefits with them...

On December 12 (my sister Tina's birthday) I went into labor around dinner time. I didn't tell anyone yet, because my water hadn't broke... it could be anything, could be Braxton Hicks contractions. While everyone else slept, I walked back and forth in the living room and panted thru the ever-growing contractions in the recliner chair...

At 5:00 am Brian came down to go to work, saw me breathing thru the contractions, and said, "Are you going to have a baby now?" As I shook my head yes, he went to wake his wife... Tammy got the kids up and I grabbed my bag, after dropping the kids at our friend Aracelli's house we went directly to Tri-City Medical Center (Oceanside, CA).

I still had no doctor, but Aracelli had warned me, "You don't want to get Dr. Edwards... He has huge hands and no bedside manner... I think he was a veterinarian!!" So Tammy got a wheelchair and brought me in to the emergency department. The nurse asked who my doctor was... I said, "whoever you've got, as long as it's NOT Dr. Edwards..." The nurse's face DROPPED... Then she sheepishly admitted, "It IS Dr. Edwards..."

The best thing that transpired to that point is that I WAITED to tell anyone I was in labor. WHY?? Because we arrived at the hospital at 6:30 am! Shift change was at 7 am!! So, after they checked me in Dr. Edwards came in to check how far dilated I was. He was gruff and DID have really huge hands and was hurting me, so I was drawing back from him... and he was practically yelling at me to slide back down. I turned to Tammy and said out loud, "I'm gonna kick him, I'm GONNA kick him! I'M GONNA KICK HIM!!!

When the next doctor came on, he was a tremendously better option! Soon, they broke my water and shortly thereafter realized that I was NOT dilating... So for the second time, I had a Cesaerean Section, and my beautiful little man was born!

Years later, after my daughter Kandice and I had been reunited, she explained how lucky Christian was to not have to grow up with their father. It was then that I explained to him that I named him Christian, so that he'd be "nothing like his father, the DEVIL!!" He thinks that is the greatest thing.

My son Christian (the self-proclaimed Atheist) is the sweetest, most loving person, though he likes to be shocking! What he doesn't realize, is that he SAVED MY LIFE!! And for that I am so grateful...