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THE BIRTH OF NICOLE
The doctors were concerned with Mary's pregnancy early on due to the
miscarriage she almost had in September.
They had her take an ultrasound to see how the fetus was doing. That was when we found out we were going to
have a little girl.
From the day we found out we were having a daughter we prepared for her
in every way. We obtained girls
clothing and decorated her room accordingly.
Mary did most of the organizing, I did most of the painting, and the
entire room was in move-in condition by the beginning of February.
On the night of the April 13th I worked at Domino's until 2 am. When I got home, Mary told me she was in
labor.
I became excited. She said it
could take all day, so I might as well try to get some sleep. I tried, but it was difficult as an
energizing feeling overcame my heart. I
had finally fallen asleep when all of a sudden I was awoken before seven
o'clock and told her water broke. I was
nervous and giddy at the same time.
We planned a natural childbirth.
For weeks during the winter we took Lamaze classes in Smithville, a few
short miles from the house.
I liked the class except for one couple, the Scarpa's. Tony thought he was a hot shit craps
Floorperson at Bally's Golden Nugget. She
was some kind of secretary at another joint and thought the two of them were
the shit. I was so embarrassed at what
I did for a living I never told anyone let alone bragged about it. I went to there home with Mary and Nicole
for a one-year reunion of the class and it was bought and filled with mob money
ego. Tony wasn't fooling me; I knew
that deep down he was just a blue-collar scumbag.
After Mary was settled in we found out that her water never broke. It
was just her over reacting. All there was to do now was make phones calls and
wait.
And wait we did, for nearly nine hours. It was getting to the both of
us. Everyone got tired of waiting, so
around five o'clock the doctor gave Mary a shot to induce dilation. Within twenty minutes, Nicole was trying to
get out.
They had me go to the bathroom to change into scrubs. When I came out, Mary was being taken to the
delivery room. I caught up with them
and accompanied. My adrenalin began to
surge. The moment I walked into the
delivery room it was as if I was transformed into another state of
consciousness.
Things were moving very fast as Mary was trying to hold back the
baby. When she was finally in place the
word to push was given.
I held her hand and coached the entire way. I heard the doctor say he
saw the head. I jumped up and ran to
the end of the table to get a snapshot of the baby making her attempt into the
new world. The nurse told me that if I
were her husband she would kill me. I told her if she were my wife I would get
a divorce. The baby kept coming and I
got a few more shots before going back to be with Mary.
That little girl came out so fast she caught the doctor off guard. He
fumbled with her half way to the floor before getting his grip. I thought he was going to drop her. Afterwards, he said everything was fine I
gave Mary a kiss and said, "We did it," as the two of us broke out
crying tears of joy.
I got up and walked over to the doctor as he was bringing her over to
another table. The nurse was wiping her
when she finally opened her eyes and took a look around.
The first thing she focused on was my face. She was so beautiful. I gave her a big smile and said hello. All I could do was wonder what was going
through her mind. She was not crying,
just looking around taking everything in.
I knew she was thinking about something.
After the doctor was finished we brought her over to Mary. I was afraid to hold her since I never held
a baby before. Mary embraced her and
started to cry. She looked down at her
and said, "We made this? She's
beautiful." It was one of the most
emotional situations I ever lived through in my life. I was so proud of them. I
told Mary how much I loved her as both were being removed from the room.
On Saturday afternoon I brought them home. I was on top of the world until it came time to leave them to go
work for the gangster, Donald Trump. I
donned on my new zoot suit and my father took my photograph as I kissed my
little girl good-bye.
It was Mary's mother, Barbara Ingemar, who asked us to have Nicole
Christened. Barbara was a good
Christian, but I did not see why this little girl needed to be put through such
a process. Nicole did not need to be
baptized; she had committed no sin.
That whole ploy by the church saying that if the babies are not baptized
they go to hell is a crock. It’s just
their way of getting new members as soon as possible. I wanted Nicole to grow
up and make the decision on her own. I
didn't want her to feel that from the start she had no control over her life.
My daughter was going to have a mind of her own, one that she was very well
capable of making up without any help.
But Mary could not go against the wishes of her mother and asked me to
humor her. I held off for some six months but finally gave in so there would be
no tension between us. However, we
would have to join a church and that was the last thing I wanted to do. Besides, we were not legally married. But
Mary found one who would take us anyway.
It didn't matter; I knew Nicole would not be brought up in a church.
I thought of the most open minded morally decent person I could think of
to be the Godfather and came up with Bubba.
His real name is Kevin Rupp and I graduated high school with him.
From the beginning, Bubba and Nicole hit it off. He loved her and she was always warm to
him. He sent her presents and even
drove four hours to attend her first birthday party. I couldn't have made a better choice.
Mary's choice in a Godmother was not as prudent. She chose her sister Karen. I have never held any respect for her, but
did put up with the decision.
The party afterwards was a lot of fun with Mary's mother and father
together in the same room with the woman (Liz) with whom Mary's father cheated
for years. Her parents despised each
other. He said Barbara and her family
were all crazy. Of that he was
right. But I think it was the fear of
living with a strong arm for the Mafia that drove her crazy. At least they behaved while there.
What convinced me about Barbara Ingemar were the stories about her from
Mary, Karen, and their father. Barbara
was strange. She had an apartment but
was so afraid to stay there that she lived in her car. We could never get in touch with her because
of that and I was cruel when suggesting we all get her a car phone for
Christmas since that was were she lived.
When I first started seeing Mary back in the fall of '86, her and her
sister told me that their mother heard voices from Karen's baby. Even though I
liked her, and knew she was a good Christian, I still would not leave her alone
with my child and neither would Mary. |
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