But I digress.
The TDY is just about up, and no new orders are coming through. So Stan parked me with our friends in town while he went back to Long Beach to see if he could promote another TDY, or wait for new orders, or whatever....
Anyway, he came back to El Paso to retrieve me and we had The Talk. I was tired of moving around. I wanted a home, a real home--not a shack in the desert or whatever we could rent for a reasonable price--and babies. So we had three choices: we could go back to Los Angeles and Stan could go back to his job as an investigator for the district attorney, we could stay in the army, or he could resign his commission and go back to school and get a teaching credential. He didn't want to go back to LA, I didn't want the army, so it was 2 or 3 years of college to finish his BA and get his teaching credential.
So, before the end of the TDY, he enrolled at Texas Western College (now University of Texas at El Paso, or UTEP). So by the time the TDY was over, he was a full time student.
Hey! and Whoopee! I'm pregnant. Oh, no! all of a sudden horrible cramps. And I'm not pregnant any more. So we take in a foster child, but that lasted for just a few months, as her mother met all the requirements of the court and the social workers, and got her child back.
But I'm pregnant again (holding our breath!), and this time it "took." Now we're out of the army, no medical insurance (some planning, right?), so I have to find a prenatal clinic that would charge what we could afford to pay. Which was precious little, as Stan got veteran's benefits to go back to school.
I got a job in the office of one of the department stores in town to bring in a little money, but by the time I was seven months gone, the store decided the liability was too great, and asked me to resign. I understood their position, but all my protestations that I would be careful, and wouldn't fall, or otherwise injure myself or my baby, they still insisted that they couldn't afford to keep me on.
In the meantime, dear husband had seen a painting that he just couldn't resist, so he put it on layaway, and paid a few dollars a month until it was paid for. I'm not going to describe the explosion that took place when he brought that picture home.
I'm about eight months pregnant, we're still living out on the desert, miles away from the hospital where I'm supposed to go to deliver. So we find a small apartment built onto the back of a home in town. It was nicely furnished, a pleasant little place, and the landlady was a dear.
La familia Rios took me as their own. Mama Rios spoke pequeno English, and I spoke pequeno Spanish, but we managed to communicate a little. I don't remember why we didn't have a car anymore--maybe Stan sold it when we moved into town--but at any rate, the eldest son left the car keys under the floor mat for us to use when Baby decided to come.
In the meantime Mama Rios got her friends and relatives together and gave me a baby shower. I was so surprised and so grateful and so moved by her kindness, I cried a little. Yeah, I get emotional. I got some beautiful handmade booties/jacket/bonnet sets, some layettes, blankets, all kinds of wonderful things. My aunt (who could stay only a few days after the birth) gave me six months of diaper service. Wow!! No Pampers then.
Anyway, the time comes, and wouldn't you know--it was midnight. I had been restless all day, but no cramps, no backache, no warning of any kind that NOW IS THE TIME. We rushed me to the hospital, all swathed in towels so as not to leave a mess in the car. I'm in full labor when someone puts me on the gurney. Since this is my first child, the doctor tells Stan it will be hours before the baby comes, so go home, get some sleep. Besides, he had final exams in the morning.
Hah! Within 45 minutes of arriving at the hospital I was a Mama! I will never forgive the doctor who delivered me. At the last moment, he knocked me out, and I was not to see my son the moment he was born. I thought we had an agreement, and I didn't ask for anaesthetic! I woke several hours later to be informed that I had a son. I will NOT forgive that doctor for taking that moment away from me.
So that's it for today. Tomorrow, the joys and travails of motherhood.