Memories of Russell's Birth

Russell asked Barbara and me to tell him something we remembered about his birth. It was 25 years ago, so I had to think a little bit before the memories started flowing back. And so many of them....

Here are, in no particular order (which is why I am going to use the HTML unordered list option) some of the memories I have about Russell's birth.

• We lived in Euless, but I was working on the other side of Dallas, and Barbara was concerned about not being able to find me when it was time for Russell to be born. This was way before cell phones, so we rented something called a Baby Beeper. Russell asked me if we knew the sex of our children and I told him I couldn't remember. I suppose we had a good clue Russell was going to be a boy since I rented a blue beeper instead of a pink one.
• I had gone to visit a client with a co-worker after getting the beeper. We were returning to the office and were stuck on Central Expressway in Dallas. I managed to get off the expressway (I imagine at 3 in the morning, it would have lived up to the express part of the name) and I was able to find a payphone at a service station. As it turned out, it was a false alarm. Barbara was as surprised as I was that the beeper went off.
  
• Russell was our third child, the first to be born in the hospital that was just down the road from where we lived. Our two previous children were born in hospitals in Fort Worth.
• James (then aged 4 and Rachel aged 2) were given a special tour of the maternity ward before Russell was born. As I recall, they both got to wear miniature surgical gowns. They assured us that if we were not able to get to the hospital on time, they now were trained enough to help deliver the baby. Luckily, their services were not required.
• A few weeks before the due date, I was asked to substitute as the teacher for an early morning church class (seminary). After finishing my teaching assignment at the church, I drove on to work in Dallas. I recall just getting settled in at my desk when I my beeper went off. Barbara had gone to the doctors for her weekly checkup and the doctor asked her how long she had been in labor. The long and short of it was that the baby was going to be born then, not on his due date.
• I rushed home and we were off to the hospital. Barbara must have got James and Rachel off to some friends.
• As I recall, it was an easy delivery. At least easy for me. This was new at the time, but at the hospital we were put into a room that more resembled a nice hotel room. Towards the end of the labor, it more resembled a television studio with the bright lights. I was impressed to the see that the bed came apart in the middle so Barbara did not have to change beds at the last minute.
  
• We were so happy and thankful when Russell popped out to see that he was a perfectly healthy baby.
• We hadn't really decided on a name yet, but after Russell was born, the decision was more urgent. All of Barbara's brothers have Russell as a middle name, since that was my mother-in-law's maiden name. We decided that we would name him Russell after his maternal grandmother's family and Walker after his maternal father's family. Barbara's youngest brother goes by Russell but his first name is Thomas, so we joked that we could call our baby Tom. We never did that of course.
• After making sure everyone was fine, I went and retrieved James and Rachel from their friend's home. Rachel refused to go to the bathroom anywhere but home, so I didn't dare wait too terribly long to get her. They were very happy to have a new baby brother.