MOTHERHOOD

On this day sixty-six years ago, I became a mother. It’s a good thing there was no qualification test because I’d never have passed. Ken had more experience with a child than I did–he’d babysat his oldest niece, Judy, when he was a teenager. I knew nothing about little ones because I’ve been an only child and never a babysitter. I was afraid of babies. I’d never held an infant until I held my own.

The only preparation I had was buying and absorbing “Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care,” the current handbook for parents.

After three days in the hospital, Daddy brought Linda and me home from Monroe. My mother, who lived about three miles away, came to help me cook formula made from evaporated milk, Karo syrup and water; bathe Linda in the kitchen sink and change cloth diapers fastened with two, huge safety pins and covered with plastic pants. The used ones were stored in a covered pail soaking in water and bleach until there was a washer load.

The next morning, when I opened my eyes in our upstairs bedroom and it was light, I realized Linda hadn’t woken up during the night for the 2 a.m. feeding. I quickly checked our daughter, who was sleeping in a basket beside our bed, to make sure she was breathing.

Her glass bottles stayed in the refrigerator. I had a small, electric warmer that I kept on the upstairs, bathroom windowsill to use during the night. During the day, I heated each one in a pan of water on the stove. To make sure the contents were the right temperature for baby, I squirted it on the inside of my wrist.

Mom returned many times to help me through the stressful days of caring for our little girl. Luckily, Linda was a good baby who slept a lot.

Our needed furniture had been gathered from relatives. The metal crib in the small, upstairs, nursery had been Uncle Hookie’s baby bed. The bathinette and the playpen sitting in our living room belonged to Ken’s sister, Lola Mae. Most of Linda’s baby clothes had been worn by her cousins, the six Gaffney kids.

When I began to feel confident that I knew what I was doing, I realized we would soon have a second child. Lisa was born the following April. Caring for two wasn’t much different than doing for one. Kurt came along, two years later. With three babies in four years, I became adept at child care.

Were you experienced with children when you became a parent?