It had been bitter cold for several weeks and, now toward the middle of January, it had been snowing heavily for two days. The year was 1921 and there was no heat in the house except for a coal range in the kitchen. In an upstairs bedroom a young woman had been in labor for almost three days. The doctor seemed totally confused at this point. A neighbor lady who was the unofficial midwife for these immigrant women did not know what else to do.
The mother-to-be was in great pain and she seemed to drift in and out of consciousness. She remembered her home village in Italy and her mother waving goodbye to her. She half turned and waved to her mother, but eagerly ran down the path to the main road. She was so excited to be really going to America with a friend of the family. She was leaving behind eight brothers and sisters and her parents, but her desire was greater than anything else.
A wrenching pain tore a scream from her mouth. She tried to distance herself from her body and from all the pain, for which there was nothing available. She thought of her first arrival in a new, foreign land, and of going to her friend’s house where a number of people awaited them. Among the people there was a handsome young man whom she learned was from the same area as her family. She still could smile at how quickly they fell in love. Just four months later they were married. This young man was now downstairs listening to the moans and screams of his bride of less than one year.
After those three long days of extended labor, the doctor finally made the decision to use forceps. The father was told of the perilous situation and was asked whom he wanted saved, the mother or the child. Of course he chose the mother and was so terrified he could hardly speak. The doctor, sure that the child was dead, worked to save the mother. He applied the forceps to the baby’s skull and pulled. The child was finally born and someone quickly wrapped her in a towel and put her at the foot of the bed. They worked feverishly on the mother to stop the hemorrhaging.
Suddenly out of the folds of the towel there came a sound! Then there was a loud cry! No one could believe what was happening. The helper quickly picked up the little bundle and unwrapped the baby, who was definitely crying for attention. Everyone was laughing and rejoicing at this miracle and someone ran downstairs and told the father that both had survived.
So, on that snowy, cold day in January a miracle happened. Into this family, which was so poor, with so very little to look forward to except hard work, a healthy baby girl was born. That baby girl was … me.
