The Family I Was Born Into

     The family consisted of a wonderful mother, one of my unsung hero's, who was kind of nerdy but with a heart of gold.  She had had a mean father but a loving mother.  My father was at times a hero but was emotionally troubled by having been raised by an abusive mother who beat him with a horse whip, he did have a very loving father.  

     My oldest brother, Wally, was eight years older.  His birth should of been a c-section, mom could not give birth and the doctors forced my brother into the world with forceps.  My mother and then infant brother almost died.  They set her aside with that expectation.  They were surprised she lived through the night.  They did not show her the baby for days latter when a dear friend of hers insisted they let her see her baby.  His head was terrible misshapen by the forceps and he was partly paralyzed at birth.   The nurses showed my mother how to reshape his head and tie his arm to force him to use it.  In time he had full use of his body and his head had a nice shape.  But it left him with handicaps they were not yet aware of.  He would eventually realize he could not handle change enough to get married and he would find it difficult to write anything but a simple postcard letter.  But this would not stop him from becoming an engineer and one of my unsung heros.  He was an inspiration to me.

     My mother had only miscarriages from the trauma of birth until at last six years later she had another son.  Her pregnancy had been so difficult from not being able to even tolerate water without getting sick that he was born dehydrated.  She did not even want to see him as Wally had been a hard child to raise.  He was very strong and rambunctious, which often happens with brain injured children.  But when they brought her this beautiful baby he quickly became a very loved child. He was perfect and would become an extremely able adult who traveled the world and translated.

     There was also a tomcat.  To me that was very important.  I was the unsuspected pregnancy she was afraid to have so soon, three months after my younger brother was born,  and thought I was a tumor because I caused her no problems, not even morning sickness.  The doctor informed her the tumor would wear diapers.  She always wanted a girl and I had curly hair and she was extremely happy with her two little additions for six years.  Then things would become more complicated.