Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

After three long days of installing, configuring and frantically searching for various passwords, my new computer is nearly set up. I knew the process would be long when the first step was to burn a system recovery DVD and, due to a rare incompatibility glitch in the software, my DVD burner would not burn DVDs for this; only CDs – eighteen of them! Three hours later, my friend Paul was able to begin installing software. My husband Darrell and I have been installing and tweaking for two days. But all this is worth it; I no longer need to wait three minutes for Outlook to open (seriously!) and I now have enough hard drive space to download podcasts and such. Now all I need is a thumb upgrade!

Given my weekend, I figured today would be a good day to have my virtual book tour stop by my home for an intimate book reading. After all, what is a book tour without the occasional book reading? And what better place to begin than at the beginning? Sit back and enjoy….

I entered this world one Friday morning in early November, 1966, in Vancouver, British Columbia. A light dusting of snow covered the ground. Mom said the North Shore Mountains looked like upside down pink ice cream cones as the sun rose outside her hospital room window.

My parents were living in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, but Mom’s doctor wanted her to give birth at Grace Hospital in Vancouver. Nanaimo did have a hospital, but according to Mom’s doctor, it was merely a first aid post in a hospital building. Any serious cases were airlifted to Victoria or Vancouver. Perhaps it was doctor’s intuition that wanted her at the best maternity hospital in the province at that time.

Mom travelled over to Vancouver in mid-October to stay with her parents, my Nana and Papa, while Dad stayed in Nanaimo to work. Mom and Nana enjoyed those couple of weeks before my birth, shopping for baby things at Woodward’s $1.49 Day. If Mom’s relationship with Nana was anything like my relationship with Mom, I have no doubt that they had silly fun and good laughs during those two weeks.

Mom had a normal pregnancy, and everything was fine up until my actual arrival. Then the situation became somewhat scary and uncertain. Mom had a reaction to the Xylocaine epidural and went into convulsions. The doctor had to pull me out with forceps, which meant I didn’t have time to read the instructions on my way down the chute. I missed the fine print on needing to breathe immediately.

One doctor worked on reviving Mom, while another one worked on saving me. Luckily, a pediatrician specialist was just leaving the hospital and was called back to try to get me breathing. Perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence that the specialist was there at that particular moment. He was probably one of the angels sent to save me that day. It was touch and go for a while. Dad nearly lost both of us.

I definitely would not have held my breath for six minutes had I known what hassles it would cause for the rest of my life. Talk about learning from experience. You would think the first lesson for a newborn would be somewhat easier!

I was blue for a good part of my first day and was placed in the “no touch zone” as the intensive care nursery was called in those days. Only the doctors and nurses were allowed to touch me. Mom could only stand at the window and watch me. Apparently she would not go back to her room until she saw me move. She prayed hard that day that I would live. Live I did!

Read from I’ll Do It Myself, © Glenda Watson Hyatt, 2006.