First Child

Carol became pregnant within a couple of months after getting married.  This first child was very nearly her last child, when serious complications arose in June, 1940.

She was very ill with morning sickness from day one of this pregnancy, but after the nausea started to wear off, Carol began having much bigger problems with her blood pressure.  The doctors called it Toxemia, which is another term for pre-eclampsia.  She was ordered to bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy, but continued to have problems.

Soon she had to be hospitalized, as she was very near to full-blown eclampsia, which causes seizures, organ failure and death.  According to Carol, the doctors ordered her to remain very calm, and told visitors to limit their time and to not get her upset. The next part of the story is another reason why she hated sister Nina. She said Nina tried to kill her.

Nina came to the hospital to visit her, and was given the warning from the nurse.  According to Carol, Nina ignored the warning, and starting telling funny family stories in order to get Carol to laugh.  The more they conversed and laughed, the higher Carol's blood pressure rose, then suddenly, Carol lost consciousness and began to convulse in her hospital bed.  The nurses ran in and called the doctors, who noticed that not only was she in distress, but the baby was coming, so they wheeled her down to the delivery room.

Carol told me that even though she was unconscious and seizing, she knew what was going on, because she was viewing the scene from above her bed.  Doctors were trying to stabilize her, another one was delivering the tiny premature baby, and one Doctor said they were losing the mother, and made the comment, "What a shame, she is just a kid and isn't even married."

That comment made Carol so frustrated and mad (because she was unconscious and couldn't correct him. She kept trying to shout, "look at my hand, I have a wedding ring") that she snapped back into her body and they revived her.

The baby was very small, but would survive and be named Patricia Ann, born June 12, 1940.
The doctors told Carol she came so close to death that she should never try to have another child.

Of course, she didn't heed their advice, and was pregnant again two years later.