<Begin Segment 39>

AI: And then what happened with you and Jack?

KM: Well we were, eventually we were the only ones left in the camp. [Laughs] And then John, the baby was delayed two weeks. And so they had to re-open the hospital and then the means of heat was, there was steam. They had to really work it up before the hospital could be occupied. 'Cause it was only one room that we occupied, but the whole hospital had to be heated, and it took quite a bit of time. But then they opened it up for us.

AI: So...

KM: And then my labor was so long. [Laughs]

AI: So John was originally due in September...?

KM: September, uh-huh.

AI: ...but he was two weeks late.

KM: Uh-huh.

AI: And tell me about what happened with your labor.

KM: Well, the doctors there that was in charge for OB, he thought that so far that all the Oriental people didn't have that much of a hard time. But there was some stillborn. But not that they were laboring and I couldn't get the baby. And so he said, first day or so he didn't worry about it. But then when it became second day, and I still, and he examined me and there was no fetal heart. And the third day, so he consulted a Japanese doctor. But the Japanese doctor had his hand tied because, see, head, he was in charge. But he said, the head doctor said, "Tell me what your real opinion is. What can we do?" So he said, "Well then let's save the mother and we'll forget about the baby, since there's no fetal heart." And by that time, the third day, the head nurse, which I had never seen -- she told me she was the head nurse -- and then she brought an ice bag and put it on my head. And I didn't even know I was running a fever. And she, I could tell from their face that they were so concerned. And then this doctor kept coming midnight to examine me again. And then coming in early in the morning. And so, I think around third day I said, "Something's wrong." This is, and then I kept thinking about my mother. And my labor pain was constant. It was just constant. It wasn't so many minutes apart, it was just constant. And the nurse's aide came to put a thermometer. And first few days I would leave it in there, but boy, I just threw it. I said, "I just couldn't stand it any more." So I held on to the bed, and I don't whether I bent it or not. I said, "Oh, Mother, I said, "Is this what you all go through?" And I said, "How could they stand it?" 'Cause little did I know that I was having a extra special different kind. But finally, on Saturday, they broke my water bag to hurry it. Well, that made it worse 'cause it was dry. So Sunday, October 7th, that was John's birthday, at 10:07 -- I can't forget the time either. They put me out and then they just butchered me, and took me out, took the baby out with a forcep. And they thought the baby was dead so he has a big scar over here.

AI: And so they used the...

KM: And then he wouldn't cry or nothing after he was, so they put him in a oxygen tent for three days with a special nurse with the orders that, "As soon as the baby turns blue, immediately notify the staff." Well the third day he cried and he wet his diaper for the first time. [Laughs] And so they knew that there was a chance for him to survive.

AI: For the three days after he was born, were you breast feeding him, or how...?

KM: No, no. I didn't even see the baby.

AI: You didn't see...?

KM: They just kept him in the oxygen tent.

AI: And so you found out that he was alive when he was born? But...

KM: Well they didn't say anything.

AI: They didn't say...

KM: I said, "Can I see the baby?" And they didn't, they kinda silently... and then later on I found out he was in the oxygen tent, because the nurse came to tell me that I'm the one that had to keep watching. Was I ever scared. [Laughs] Yeah. So...

AI: And did they let Jack come in to see you?

KM: Oh yeah. Jack did. Yeah. And then they told Jack that we don't know about the baby, but we're gonna try to save your wife. But he didn't want to tell me 'cause they told him not to tell me.

AI: So here you were for...?

KM: Yeah. And then, so we had no one to tell it to or talk to. And poor Jack, he went back and forth, and then the nurse chased him home and he came back again. [Laughs] Even he goes home there is no one he can share anything with. And he said when we finally got the baby, he said, "No more baby after this." [Laughs]

AI: Well, how long were you in the hospital after John was born?

KM: Yeah, well because of this exceptional long labor and everything, they kept me for two weeks -- which was unusual. They usually send them out two or three days. But I wasn't able to breast feed him at all, because of the labor.

AI: And how about you? How were you feeling?

KM: Well, I was exhausted, to say... but, at least I was beginning to eat. For the five days now I just couldn't eat because I didn't have a chance to eat. And whenever the nurse's aide would, especially the Japanese nurse, she would come in the morning and she would say, "Oh, how are you?" And she would say, "Mada?" in Japanese, "Not yet?" And that would irritate me. [Laughs] And I said, "I wish she wouldn't say that to me." Bad enough to keep waiting and struggling. But two weeks after they discharged me they gave me instructions to take a shower, but be sure the sun is out, when it's warm. Don't go out when it's cold. So I waited until noon or around two o'clock. After I took the shower and came back in, I started to shake. And I thought, "Gee, I'm feeling funny." And then I'd try to see the baby and the baby would go up and go down and the room would go around. But I never realized I was having a fever. Because coming out of the shower and taking a hot bath, I thought, "That's what it was." And I laid down, and it just wouldn't go away. And so Jack said, "Let's take your temperature, 'cause you're shaking." So I took my temperature and with the thermometer that we had taken to camp and it was 108. And we shook it, and we did it again. I said, "I never had a fever this high." And so he went to the doctor and called him and told him. And the doctor said, "Your thermometer may be old and it could be wrong. So let's take a brand new one." And he brought a brand new one from the hospital and took it and it was still 108. And then when he took my urine specimen, it was kidney poison because of the labor. And so until the time that we left camp, I was sick. Just barely moving around and holding the baby. And I don't know whether I was up here, down here, I mean it was just an awful feeling. So they said that we will put you on a Pullman train. And that was the old, old fashioned. It was just like going on a train, chug, chug, chug. And then until the motor went so far the steam wouldn't come. And I was bottle feeding him. And the baby was crying until the steam came up so I can warm the milk. And it was a kind of a rough voyage home too. And then when we reached Fresno Station, Jack had already sent a telegram to his folks, somebody to come after us, because we'll be landing certain time. And then no, just an empty station. Nobody was there. And so we had to look for the cab. And then that's how we came home, on a cab.

AI: Oh my goodness.

KM: And so we, we just felt like weren't even expected. And we had sent a telegram as soon as the baby was born, and a date was set. So my husband was saying, he was kinda embarrassed, he says, "My folks." [Laughs]

<End Segment 39> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.