What about the day I was born?

I fear that I may have touched on this subject in one of my other "ramblings" - BUT seeings you are asking, I will give it another try. It appears before my timely or untimely arrival, my Grand
Mother Hannah Anna Gill came to stay and take care of Mother. Grandma was a "confinement nurse and midwife". She was always ready to come when the family needed her. Mom was
a bit quick when it came to ushering me into the world. She went into labor in the early hours of 7 February 1929. In those days very few people had telephones so Dad went to get the
Doctor. Now I don't know if he took the car, of if he walked. There had been a terrible storm during the night, and so the going wasn't easy from what I understand. It took a bit longer
than would have been normal. Good thing Grandma was there because she had things well in hand by the time the Doctor arrived. When everything was finished he told Mom she would
not have any more children. Grandma was a bit upset that no one said anything to her about that. She told Mom she could have checked the 'afterbirth' and could have told. Guess the
Doctor was correct, because Mom never had any more after my arrival. A note here about Mom. She never really had good health. It was hard for her in the climate there in the East. She was told she needed to go where it was warmer. She had a number of throat infections and finally had to have her tonsils removed. Not like most folks however, her health was too fragile so they had to burn hers out a little at a time. It was an awful trial for her and the entire family. While she was going through all of that, the boys, both Ralph and Ronald had to have their tonsils
out as well. They had surgery for theirs. I remember going to the Doctors house when Mom would have her treatments and waiting outside the large sliding doors into the Doctors surgery
in his big house. I don't know how Dad handled all the sickness, but when we had come to California in 1933 when Grandma Smith was in the Los Angeles General Hospital with a bladder
infection, the talk of a move to California must have come up. While we were in California the 1933 Earth Quake hit and we had the Thrill of a Lifetime experiencing that. Mom had better health after we moved to California, but she had had terpentine poisioning when she was working in the Decorating Shop in the potteries - she started when she was about 13 I believe. The effects of that on her hands came back to haunt her after we moved to 2914 Belgrave Avenue in Huntington Park. Both of her hands were effected. She had them wrapped and when they were healing the skin was loose on the palms of her hands. She had to be so careful
for a long time and wear gloves day and night and use rubber gloves when she did anything that could get her hands wet. I have often wondered how she kept going with so many trials.
Mom had had a blood disorder when she was little. I don't know if that was the reason she had so many problems, but after we moved to California and she passed through those skin problems she seemed to do much better. Some thing interesting about her that I learned much later
was that she would like to have been able to go to College and become a Lawyer. She was smart, but like Dad never had much of a chance to get an education. The boys in the family had been given more opportunities. Uncle Simon had excelled in penmanship. He was a beautiful writter.
Possibly you will learn more about the Hall Family in a further excursion into the life and times of Grandma "R"? OH - just a final bit of information - I still have my tonsils. 36 days before I turn 80 - Pretty good huh!?
Written on the 2nd day of January 2009.