It is Beltane Eve and, every year, the same few things come back to me… There is the battle between the Winter King and the Summer King that I loved as a child, from William Croft Dickinson’s Borrobil, the number 77 bus that took us past a Beltane hill where the fires were once lit, according to my grandad… and a burglary.
I could not believe what I was seeing. The little kitchen window looked across the paths between the houses to my neighbour’s door. Which a hooded figure was busy levering open with a crowbar. Knowing my neighbour to be at work, I needed to call the police. Unfortunately, this was thirty three years ago and the nearest phone was a booth half a mile away. I grabbed my keys, locked the door, wondering how much good that would do… and ran.
The police dispatched a car right away and told me to go home and stay there. By the time I reached my gate, I had little choice about that. Running is not recommended when you are the size of a beached whale.
But, in spite of the pain, I was not too worried. The baby wasn’t due for over five weeks. I breathed through the contractions and waited for them to go away. Which they didn’t. When my husband came home, he called the hospital. They told him to bring me in when the contractions were… well, he said two minutes apart, but being French and panicking, I cannot be sure that communications were accurate at that point.
So, three days later, we headed to the hospital.
“Being so early,” said a disapproving midwife, “you do realise how small this baby is going to be?” I’d heard that one before… my elder son had been just over a month early and weighed in at nine pounds. Still… an easy delivery would be nice. I was already shattered. So making me babysit a nervous student doctor who needed his hand holding was a tad unfair.
Once the epidural was in place, all I wanted to do was sleep. All he wanted to do was talk and take my pulse every few minutes. He’d never delivered a baby before… my confidence was sky-high…
Hours later, my (now ex-) husband had gone home because he was tired… The midwife decided it was time. None of this TV birthing, where you lie there looking glamourous, pull a few faces, while someone mops the beads of sweat from your forehead… oh no. They tried me every way up and then squeezed me like a tube of toothpaste… but the little sod wouldn’t come out.
By the time they realised he was facing the wrong way up, the epidural had worn off and there was no time to top it up. A doctor armed with lethal-looking forceps and a small army of med students crowded around my knees… and several versions of Hell later, my son was born.
Being premature, he was indeed very small… a mere nine and a half pounds.
That, though, is probably the most trouble he ever caused me. Apart from the incident with the wooden Meccano when he set the rug on fire by extending it through the fire guard… and the innumerable times he and his motorbike ended up in ditches and emergency rooms… Curly blond hair and big brown eyes in the face of an angel mitigated the mischief of a demon. But he has grown into a quietly remarkable young man and a wonderful father of whom I am exceedingly proud.
So, while Beltane Eve celebrates the coming of the summer sun, I think back to the arrival of my son.
Although he lives just minutes away, I will not see him today because of the lockdown, so I’ll say it here…
Happy birthday, Alex.
From my son’s family album
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
A beautiful – and memorable – testimony to the day!
LikeLike
Not a day I shall forget 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
lovely post Sue.
LikeLike
Thanks, Di.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A wonderful post, Sue. Sorry you couldn’t see your son on his birthday. I know you had other things on your mind but did you learn if the police caught the burglar? 🙂
LikeLike
Yes, they did… which was nice 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Goodness. What a memory of the birth of your teeny tiny baby boy. Yikes, Sue. But a wonderful memory for Beltane. Happy Birthday to your son. You did well. ❤
LikeLike
It was hilarious, looking back, Diana. 😀
As for teeny… neither of them were, premature or not!
But yes, I did well. ❤
LikeLike
I enjoyed that.. but I’m shocked! Giving birth doesn’t involve full make up and smiles? Only kidding been there when my lot arrived.. 😷☘️🎈
LikeLike
I know… such a disappointment 😉
But seriously… It is not something to be missed, is it? I helped deliver my little brother… the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy birthday, Alex!
LikeLike
Thanks, Tori.
LikeLike
Glad you didn’t make it to full term – 9 1/2 pounds is tough enough work! HB to Alex!
LikeLike
Especially as I really am hobbit-sized 😉
Thanks, Eliza.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a fantastic posting, and wonderful remembrance. Congratulations to him, and you too, Sue!
LikeLike
Thank you,Michael 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations on surviving motherhood. I think every child’s birthday should be mother’s day. Actually, I had a similar birth, but without the epidural or anything else. My doctor was tired and took a nap and labor last 23 hours while the nurses played bridge and ignored me. Finally, I threw a bed pan at them, which they thought showed how unsporting I was. I told them they could play bridge somewhere else and could I please get a drink of water. My (ex and RIP) husband also got tired and left. Who needed him anyway? I could see signs of terror in his eyes. He hadn’t signed up for anything this messy. Yet here we are and I adore my son and you adore yours. Who’d have thunk it?
How can it be Beltane when we don’t have ANY FLOWERS yet? Just asking.
LikeLike
Flowers we have aplenty here… they have definitely been well watered over the past few months 😉
Odd, and rather beautiful, how none of those memories get in the way of the love for our children.
LikeLike
I think they enhance the love. We have stories to tell which these days are funny. They weren’t funny at the time, but all these years later.
LikeLike
No, they were not at all amusing at the time… but they are now. And I think you are right 🙂
LikeLike
My comment showed up twice. Usually, it doesn’t show up at all.
LikeLike
Deleted the duplicate, Marilyn.
LikeLike
Happy Birth Day, Alex … every mother should tell the story of the child’s birth on their birth days, no matter how old they are, and in as much graphic detail as possible! 😀
LikeLike
Every so often, such tales need airing 😉 And I could have shared those embarassing baby pics, after all 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah… dodged a bullet there, Alex! 😀
LikeLike
Oh yes 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person