September 2005                                                                 The Megaphone                                                                                    Page 7

Love at First Cry 

by Ron Runyan

The setting was Mercy Hospital in Elwood, Indiana. The hospital practice during that era for the birthing process of the expectant mother was to be first admitted into a labor room right next to the sterile surgical wing of the delivery room. A husband was allowed into the labor room, but no other visitor was allowed. At the determined time, the soon-to-be-new-mother was taken into the nearby delivery room. A doctor and nurse were waiting and no father, parent or "coach" for the mother would be allowed in this room. The delivery room was a surgical room in the hospital for the birthing process only. After the birth, the mother was transferred to a normal hospital room with another new mother - patient for the duration of her stay. The baby was kept in a separate room, the nursery, in a clear plastic basket called a bassinet. The nursery was monitored by a nurse "around-the-clock." The baby was taken periodically to the new mother for nursing and retrieved soon after and returned to the nursery. Neither the father nor any other relative was allowed in the mother's room during this nursing time. A mother was required to be hospitalized with the newborn baby for at least a WEEK, but it was preferred she would stay for 10 days after the delivery of the baby.

My, how times have changed for having a baby at a hospital. A large birthing room has replaced the small labor room, and the birthing room is also the delivery room. The parents have taken lessons about how the labor process leads into delivery, and the husband is allowed in the birthing room to “coach” his wife and to help in the birthing process. This birthing room is also the mother's room to be in during her hospital stay and she doesn’t have to share it with another patient. Although nurseries are still available the baby spends most of the daylight time in this birthing room. Grandparents, family and nearly a "reunion of relatives" are allowed to visit (all at one time) after the delivery in the birthing room, and are even allowed to hold the newborn. A couple of days later, a special candlelight dinner" is given to the new parents in this birthing room. Most unique though is that the new mother and baby are only allowed to stay in the hospital for three to four days depending upon insurance coverage, complications, etc. Gone are the one week to 10 day stays in the hospital for the newborn and mother.

Now back in 1943 on a typically hot summer day, I was born on August 15th. My mother named me Ronald Thurman Runyan in honor of her husband and my father, Thurman. I wore the customary hospital garb for babies, a flannel gown trimmed in blue and my grandmother had brought me some blue booties (the color for boys) to wear.

One week later, the date was now August 22, 1943, I was awakened in the nursery by the cry of a newborn baby in the bassinet beside me. I could tell she was a girl because she had on pink booties and her flannel gown was trimmed in pink. I stayed in the hospital a couple of more days, and each time the nurse brought us back to the nursery from our moms we were in bassinets beside each other. Being just over a week old I could not read the name on her bassinet, so, I just committed her features and that dainty sound from her voice to my memory. Someday, I thought, I'll remember this girl and get to know her better. 

Well, to shorten up the story, 19½ years later on December 16, 1961, Sandra Kay Brunson, that little baby I met in the hospital with those pink booties became Mrs. Ron Runyan. We've been celebrating our birthdays one week apart for 44 years now.

Ron & Sandy Runyan

Elwood, IN 

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