My First 56 Years

We got used to the idea in the next few months. Charles had had a vasectomy after Chuck was born and we couldn't have anymore babies. The idea of a cute little bundle of joy was starting to grow on us. The Grandma and Grandpa insignia however did not.
We returned from South Dakota that weekend with a baby ring made with Black Hills gold.
Her due date was November 12th but in 1990 a due date just meant the baby could be born two weeks before or two weeks after the due date.
The evening of November 12th I was cleaning the cabinets that Charles had made in the kitchen and Charles was doing some wood working on some cabinets he was making to sell.
About 9:00 pm Jennifer sauntered out of the bedroom and announces she is in labor. I looked down from my chair, terrified of heights and trying not to fall.
She tells us in no uncertain terms that her future mother-in-law had informed her that it was now time for her to tell me .She had been on the phone with her for several hours that night and all the things that a daughter should be telling her mother she was telling Lance's mother.
I asked her how long she thought she had been in labor and she said,” About two hours “but her back had been hurting all day at school.” I asked her how far apart were her pains and she said, about ten minutes! “I then proceeded to fly around the house and throwing my arms up into the air screaming at Charles, “Get a box and start tearing up newspapers this girl is about to give birth!" We lived about twenty miles or less from Heartland Hospital. We had a long gravel road to traverse with deep ravines on each side. We rushed her into the car and Charles, me and the "little Mother" and Chuck crammed into the car along with her bag and Charles drove about 90 miles an hour down that gravel road to Blair toward 36 highways.
We turned east on 36 and headed for Wathena not caring about the highway patrol or any city cops that always traveled that highway. Fortunately we didn't see any. They would have appeared as a blur if we had and they probably couldn't have caught us if they had seen us.
We arrived at the hospital. Charles parked in front of the doors at Heartland Hospital West in the emergency room parking area. A burley security guard promptly approached us to tell us we couldn't park there. We jumped out of the car and seeing my very pregnant daughter opened the emergency doors and found a wheel chair for her to sit in. She was in a good deal of pain the whole way in the car, we were all afraid we wouldn't make it. As a new nurse I had very limited training in birthing a baby, none actually. I sure didn't want to test my knowledge out on Jennifer!
Charles moved the car and met us on the 3rd floor, the maternity ward. As soon as the emergency nurses saw us come in they ushered us up the elevator to the 3rd floor. They said she was close to delivery when we got there. About an hour and a half later we had a new granddaughter! She named her Brandy.
Lance didn't show up until later even though it was eleven thirty or so by then. We decided to go and let her sleep and come back to see her in the morning.