Life of Wry

So, lots of talk around our beautiful state lately about atmospheric rivers — storms that bring great gobs of rain, which bring floods and mud slides and all kinds of drama. LA is getting epic rainfall and they’re thinking this latest atmospheric river will land LA in the record books. They think that it’s SO MUCH RAIN it could be like the 5th most rainfall LA’s EVER gotten!

Well, know when #2 was? Check this out:

Sally sent me that screen shot of a story she was reading today and when she saw the list of other record rainfall dates, she noticed that #2 was on my birthday! These are two-day rainfall events and #2 started on January 25 and ended on January 26 — the day I was born, and the first full day of my life on earth. A storm for the ages.

My parents often recounted the story of my being born in a big storm. I believed it, but didn’t imagine it was anything beyond a typical southern California weather event — not much of an event at all. I wish mom and dad were around right now and they could tell me again what those days were like. I’d love to share with them the significance of that storm and its place in weather history.

The story went something like this: mom was having contractions and wanted my dad to take her to the hospital. My dad was sick, but they went, only to be told it was false labor and to come back later. They went home and shortly thereafter, her contractions got more intense and she wanted to go back. Dad wanted her to wait. He wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to go back out into that storm only to be sent home again. But she was sure … as sure as you can be about these things when it’s your first and you you know nothing about labor (I’m sure there were no childbirth classes back then, just Dr. Spock’s book). But mom was in a panic and so she called Mrs. Hesse (who lived across the street), and she took her. They had to drive to San Pedro, which I guess was the closest hospital. I claim my birthplace as Manhattan Beach on all my official paperwork because that’s where we lived, but I was technically born in San Pedro (hey… St. Peter!)

At some point, grandma Mary showed up at the hospital and she and Mrs. Hesse became the support team for mom’s first birth. Mom talks about smoking during labor and maybe that Mrs. Hesse and grandma Mary suggested that wasn’t such a good idea.

That’s about it for my birth story: second time was a charm, I was born in a storm, dad was not there, Mrs. Hesse and grandma coached her through it, she smoked, and I was the most beautiful thing she’d ever laid eyes on. And that’s all I got.

It’s great knowing that storm was such a big and well-corroborated and documented part of the story!

I have these photos scanned and handy… they are close enough. She 26 years old here. Practically a kid.

(She sure got her figure back! Just in time to get pregnant again and have Jay 18 months after me.