Blood on the Rosary by Sue Smethurst & Margaret Harrod

Author:Sue Smethurst & Margaret Harrod
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia

20

When a child is born

Almost twelve months to the day of Michael’s ordination, Rod and I celebrated our own blessed event, the arrival of Jason Ian Harrod into the world. A year later our precious daughter Nicola Anne was born. The birth of those two little people made my world complete; every single cell in my body radiated a happiness I’d never previously known. Before we were married, Rod and I had agreed that we both definitely wanted children and, given our ages, we thought we should start a family straightaway. It didn’t take long to fall pregnant and I was ecstatic when we found out our first baby was on the way.

Not long after we’d shared the good news, Rod received his next transfer, from HMAS Nirimba down to HMAS Creswell at Jervis Bay, south of Sydney. The naval base was in the middle of a national park, with turquoise water on one side as far as the eye could see and bushland to the horizon on the other. The sand at Jervis Bay is said to be the whitest in the world and it truly was pristine. It was paradise, the most idyllic place I could imagine to bring my baby into the world. HMAS Creswell was a training facility with a strong community of families and young couples living on the base, and we instantly made many new friends, some of whom are still friends today. When word spread that a new couple expecting their first child had arrived, the wives and officers went out of their way to welcome us.

Starting a family was something I’d always wanted, but I never dreamt it would happen, especially when I entered the convent. To be married with a baby on the way was really special and I felt that perhaps God was trying to tell me it had been the right decision to leave the convent. When I fell pregnant with Jason I gave up teaching. We were moving to a new home anyway and I couldn’t commute so the timing was right. I was determined to soak up every minute of motherhood and it wasn’t hard filling the hours. By the time we packed up one house, moved and unpacked into another, the baby was due to arrive.

My due date passed with no sign this little bub was on the way. Every niggle made me wonder if it was time, but another ten anxious days went by before I went into labour. While the pregnancy was relatively easy, Jason’s arrival wasn’t smooth sailing. I started having contractions early in the morning and Rod bundled me into the car and made a mad dash to the nearest hospital, which was in Nowra, an hour and a half away.

We needn’t have hurried. Jason arrived an exhausting 32 hours later. The labour was long and difficult, and Jason was determined not to come out and needed forceps to arrive. After so many hours of labouring I was exhausted and when my baby boy finally appeared, he was quite listless.

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