1987 Ravenswood "Birthing Room" Circus

Today is Jeremy's 25th Birthday.  I feel so young, it's hard for me to believe I have a twenty-five year old son.  It seems like just a few days ago, that I was twenty five.   Last night I took Jeremy to Red Robin to celebrate…while there I began to feel very ill, I must have looked bad because the hostess asked me if she should call 911.   We were able to get home and I was able to sleep off whatever it was.   Earlier in the day, I was at the Doctor's office for a follow-up to a work related injury, and was told my blood pressure was a little high and that I needed to start watching it because of age.  My age…it's starting to sink in.  I'm getting older… oh boy!

I remember vividly the day Jeremy was born.  Jeremy was the first baby born in the "Birthing Room" of Ravenswood Hospital (side note: 23 years earlier I was born at Ravenswood just a few feet away in another room.)  The "Birthing Room" looked like a hotel room.  It had couches and chairs, a normal looking bed, night stand and television.  The room was meant make the mother and father feel more comfortable, and the room made it possible that mother could bring other members of the family for the birth.   That's where this story gets strange! 

I've called this story for 25 years,  the 1987 Ravenswood "Birthing Room" Circus!

February 18, 1987 in Ravenswood Hospital's Birthing Room in Chicago, Illinois.

Guests to the room included: me (of course), my mother-in-law (will refer to as Mil) and one of my spouse's close friends, Sandy.   Besides the four of us in the room there are at least 10 nurses. . . all wanting to be a part of the first birth in the new room.  Adding to the frenzy is the fact that Mil and Sandy have arrived with balloons and toys, as well as engraved badges reading "Jeremy - It's a boy!" and "Tiffany - It’s a girl!"  And what is supposed to be (in my opinion) a private personal event has become mayhem.  Mil and Sandy are acting like cheerleaders and the they are pumping up the adrenaline of all the nurses around them.  My spouse is having severe back pain and is crushing my hand by squeezing it.   I don't think all of the excitement in the room is helping her.  I keep telling Mil and Sandy that they need to keep it down or they will kick us out of the hospital! 


When my first son, was born we were alone in a small room.  Breathing together, laughing together because we can hear delivering mothers in other rooms cursing out their husbands for getting them into this mess.  And now I'm surrounded by a frenzy of screaming excited women and then suddenly a nurse says it time to push.  The nurses all begin running around the room flipping panels and cabinets, pushing buttons and pulling hidden levers and it's like a scene out of a Transformers movie… the bed and all the objects around it convert into the look of a typical delivery room.   And then as fast as the room is converted, Jeremy arrives! 


Jeremy David Harrah.  Jeremy named after a friend, and David, my favorite character from the Bible. 


The blue name badges are passed out, the nurses clean him up, and take his hand and foot prints.  When I have Jeremy in my arms for the first time and I'm amazed at how much hair he has and how much he looks like my Dad, which makes me happy!  Then suddenly Mil begins commenting about how much Jeremy looks like her family and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.  He looks just like one of us, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!  The circus goes on a little while longer.   The nurses leave, as well as Mil and Sandy.   The Ravenswood "Birthing Room" Circus has ended. 


We're alone with Jeremy.   I give Jeremy his first GI Joe and take a picture of him with it.  I'm so happy I have another little boy.   In spite of the mayhem of the circus, I marvel at the awesome handy work of God which is seen in this little boy, and think to myself how can anyone doubt the existence of the Divine Maker of all things.

Happy Birthday Jeremy!