Grandma Henke

Do you believe in love at first sight?

Thirty-five years ago today it happened to me for the third time. It was the day Brett was born. I had been happily anticipating his birth for nine long months and the four of us we were excited to add little baby “whoever” to our family. This, of course, was before the days of peaking and knowing ahead of time what gender you could count on.

My doctor was out of town, and the doctor taking over for him was also out of town so there was an Intern at the hospital running between three rooms of us ladies who were racing to the finish line and our deliveries. To say he was a bit up tight would be an understatement. There was one delivery room and three of us ready for it. It appeared I was going to come in 2nd and they wheeled another woman to the delivery room and instructed me not to push. Those of you who have been there know there is a point of no return and the minute they walked out the door I felt an overpowering urge to push and called them back. The nurse yelled to the doctor, “Mrs. Henke’s baby boy is here,” which was followed by his cry. Seconds later I heard a newborn cry from the hallway where the other woman had delivered on her way to the the delivery room. Within a minute we heard an infant cry from the room down the hall as another little baby pushed its way into the world. Three little baby boys had made their appearance within two minutes of each other and none of their mothers made it to the Delivery Room. I think the little boys must have been wagering on who would be first.

They whisked all the babies away so fast none of us got to hold them and suddenly there were doctors and nurses everywhere helping this poor Intern fix the mothers up and check out the babies. They took us to recovery and then to our rooms and told us we would see our babies in four hours when they brought the babies around to their mothers. Back then you didn’t get to keep your baby with you in your room. They brought them to you every four hours and that was it. I’d been in the recovery room a couple of hours already so it was going to be six long hours before I could hold my little boy who was 22 inches long and weighed just 6 lbs 10 ounces. The only glimpse I’d gotten of him was a full head of dark hair and a long skinny body and neck that reminded me of a baby bird wobbling in its nest.

All this time I could hear babies crying in the nursery and there was one in particular that seemed to be crying harder and louder than the others. About a half an hour later I heard a cart being wheeled down the hall with this squalling little baby screaming his heart out. “Mrs. Henke, this little guy is not going to be happy until he is held by his mother,” they said as they rolled him into my room and wrapped him up tightly and held him out to me. His little face was red from crying and he was as mad a newborn as I had ever seen.

I held him up in front of my face and said, “Oh little Brett, what is the matter with my baby?” He immediately stopped crying and turned his little ear to my voice and opened his eyes and listened intently. “Did you want your Mama?” I asked him softly as I held him close to my neck and face. He didn’t make another sound but snuggled tightly into the crook of my neck and went to sleep.

Yes, there is love at first sight …. Happy birthday, Brett.