Esters Birth – 1989

Franz Kellner

by Franz Kellner

Story

It was summer 1988 in Chattanooga / Tennessee. Julia becomes pregnant. After our 5 years of service in an NGO in the USA we decided to return to Austria and start our family life. We stayed shortly in Madrid with Julia’s family and moved then on to Vienna. Our families were happy about our arrival at home.We rented a small apartment and I tried to get a job at a company as soon as possible. Despite my good knowledge of English, the search for a job in an office turned out to be longer than expected. I didn’t like being unemployed, so I looked everywhere and took the first job that came my way: Metal workers at Karasek Garden Furniture in Vienna, 1989/1990. A tiring but valuable experience. When I left the company, the job reference said “He did the work assigned to him to the full satisfaction of his superiors.”Early on Friday, March 10, 1989, labor started. I called the company and was granted a vacation day. We were taken to an old part of the AKH Wien (Vienna General Hospital), which was responsible for childbirth.

In the first room where Julia lay there were about 8-10 women who were expecting their baby. Not very pleasant as understandably, quite noisy. Despite the contractions, Ester didn’t move very much in the wanted direction to outside. The doctors suggested walking a lot, which should speed up the birth. So we literally marched kilometers through the corridors of the AKH.On Saturday, the doctors came up with the idea of giving an injection to intensify the contractions so that the baby would be born faster. The contractions got stronger, but Ester wouldn’t come out. Julia was pretty exhausted. Not only did I feel sorry for her, but probably also the AKH staff. Another idea with a syringe was rejected. Julia got a single room for rest.Sunday night, sitting next to her bed, I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until Monday morning when a doctor came in and kindly said, “Now we have a second patient.”

I called my boss and said, “The baby hasn’t arrived yet, I need another day off.” My boss: “Ok. but tomorrow you’ll be at work.”At 8:20 p.m., Monday March 13, 1989, Ester was born. Size: 48cm. Weight: 2700 grams.Several people helped with the birth. I wasn’t allowed to be there. But it was good to see both of them afterwards, exhausted but healthy. Ester looked so small, delicate and in need of protection. It was a whole new feeling for Julia and me to be parents now.
I called my mother on the phone from the hospital and heard tears of relief on the phone.

© Franz Kellner 2023-03-09

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