My Birth and Early Years

As soon as Mom got home from the hospital my dad had to go back to military training. She lived with my Grandpa and Grandma Sanders. Not long after, the pain that she had when she came home got much worse. She got a high fever and nearly died. She had what they called Child Bed Fever. An infection some women got after giving birth which was more common back then. They did not have penicillin so they gave her sulfa drugs which finally helped and she got well. The DR had sat by her side for hours until she got well. He was scared and he should have been, it was probably he that caused her infection and he had dismissed her pain. due to her illness, Mom had been nursing me and lost all her milk. They then tried to give me canned milk and I immediately got very sick and vomited for hours. They did not make formula then. My mother's cousin had a baby my age and so she took me there once a day for my feeding. That is the only thing that sustained me. I did not do well or did gain much weight. I could take a little boiled milk but not much. I refused to put anything in my mouth because even at that young age, I had learned that I would get sick.  This affected my life throughout childhood and early teens. I remained malnourished. When I got older, I could drink milk but as a baby, it made me very ill.

The DR's accused my parents of my being malnourished as they said any kid would eat if hungry enough. My dad got very strict with me and made me eat everything on my plate. My stomach was so small from not eating that it hurt terribly when I tried to eat. But Dad was persistent. I finally caught up with my weight but not until my 20's. Now I am overweight. I thought that could not happen to me.

My mother had problems related to that infection even though she got well. She had many surgeries to remove uterine cysts and eventually had to have a hysterectomy at age 25...,.More to follow...

Dad and Mom get a Baby Girl but Not Without Complications

After my dad was drafted in WWII, he was sent to Texas for training. Mom went back to CA fo work at the aircraft plant. In late March of 1942, Mom joined Dad in Texas. She rented a room there. Dad visited her often when he could get leave. Mom suffered appendicitis and had surgery. She had a terrible recovery period and during this time, she found out she pregnant with me. They were going to wait to have a family but they had decided it would be nice for Mom to have a baby when Dad went overseas so she could have company.

In the summer, Mom went back to Fairview. Dad was stationed in LA. Mom had was terribly sick during her pregnancy. I was due January 20. Dad was able to get leave on January 10 and barely made it to Mt Pleasant where I was born on January 11, 1944.
7 pounds 8 OZ. Mom had a very long and hard labor. Dad did not get the boy he wanted. In those days they made women stay flat on their backs after the baby was born. They did this because they thought women would bleed to death if they did not stay down. After 10 days, they sent Mom home. She told them that she had a very bad pain in her left side but they sent her home anyway. Complications came about for both Mom and me that would change things for the rest of our lives
.....to be continued.