2nd Sunday of Advent: A Holy Night in August
When Kathy and I found out she was pregnant, we were overjoyed but slightly concerned: We had gotten maternity insurance in November (in those days it was separate coverage), and this was in January. If our baby came early or if there were problems along the way, we wouldn’t be covered. Still, we put that out of our minds for the most part and lived in great anticipation of the due date, which was September 3rd.
We (and, as it turned out, all of our family) bought diapers…and more diapers…and more diapers. Diapers literally towered to the ceiling in the nursery. We began buying the next size up because she might outgrow them before we used them all. (She did not; those diapers disappeared faster than we imagined.)
Kathy’s last day at work was a Friday, then she had a baby shower Monday night. She began having labor pains Tuesday morning and went to the doctor, who said it would be a while yet. By 5:30 AM Wednesday, we went to the hospital.
They put us in a labor room and hooked Kathy up to a monitor that showed her contractions. Once I got used to it, I would remark, “Okay, here comes another one!” For some reason, Kathy didn’t appreciate me saying that, telling me that she knew it was coming before the machine did.
Around mid-morning, I looked up and there were our friends, Alice and Larry Oakley coming down the hall. Alice was pregnant and due mid-September, but my first thought on seeing them was, “I didn’t know people came to visit you in the labor room.” Then I realized that Alice was in a wheelchair; she was in labor as well. That was perfect, because now I had a buddy to spend the day with me. (Okay, I know, it wasn’t all about me!)
Kathy’s labor lasted all day. She knew a C-section was a good probability, but she wanted to try to have our baby (for whom we did not know the gender) naturally. Sometime after 7:00 PM, the doctor said he was taking Alice into delivery, after which he would take Kathy for a C-section. Bless her heart, she was so tired, she said, “I don’t care how you do it, just get this baby out of me!”
Larry came and told us they had a baby boy, John Thomas, born at 8:07 PM. I knew as soon as he said it that we were going to have a daughter; I just knew! Sure enough, at 9:25 PM, Amanda Michelle was born. Fathers didn’t go into the delivery room in those days, but they brought her out and let me hold her.
Perfection…absolute perfection! Joy…complete joy!
Love…unconditional love!
I’ve been fortunate to have that experience three more times: at the births of my grandchildren, Jay, Abby, and Lizzie. There are truly no words!
Friends do many things together, but not many get to have their babies together on the same night. As hard as it is for me to believe, Mandy and John were born over 43 years ago (both were a little early, but at least the insurance had kicked in!). John and Mandy enjoyed birthdays together and were baptized together. We have a picture of Maurice Moore, the pastor at that time, holding them, one in each arm.
As it turned out, neither John nor Mandy had any siblings, so John was always Mandy’s “big brother,” even if only by about an hour. Much later, on their first night at Tennessee Tech, the two of them and some friends stayed out all night, just because they could…but it was okay because she was with her big brother. Mandy even met her husband, Jamie, through John.
August 27, 1975, was indeed a holy night! God is present in every birth; God is present in every person. Glory to God in the Highest!