This historic fiction was written by Abby DeJong and is based stories told by Wanda Kling and Marilyn Liming.
Mary glanced up at the clock as the telephone rang, it was 10:40 p.m. The switchboard had closed at 9:00, and all calls were routed automatically to the nurse`s station.
``John Burn`s Memorial Hospital,`` she answered.
``Yes, my wife is going into labor, I need to get her in immediately,`` said the man at the door.
``O.K. calm down, you can bring her right in.``
``Thank you!``
Gloria was just getting ready to get off shift at 11:00 when the call came in.
Gloria`s husband was in the waiting room waiting to pick Gloria up.
``Gloria, we have a pregnant woman coming in, we need Dr. Stone.``
``But, Mary, he`s at the late show with his wife, what do you want me to do?``
``Send your husband to get him immediately!``
When the lady came in, she was gripping her big stomach, screaming and moaning like nothing I`ve ever heard before.
``Frank will be back in just a minute, he just left,`` Gloria said.
``Good, lets get her in the delivery and take her vital signs.``
``Well, we`re going to be delivering a big one tonight, Mary.``
Ten minutes later Frank comes running through the hospital doors with Dr. Stone following closely behind him.
``Dr. good you`re here, vital signs are good and she`s ready to have this baby, but she`s screaming so loud, I can`t hear the babies heart beat,`` said Mary.
Dr. Stone takes his stethoscope and places it on her abdomen, frowns, and moves it back and forth a bit more. He takes Mary and Gloria out of the room.
``Mary! Gloria! This woman is not even pregnant, she`s drunk.``
``Well, how could this be, she says she`s pregnant?`` asks Mary.
``Well, sometimes women want babies so bad they will do anything to convince themselves that they are pregnant.``
``I had always heard about incidents like that, but I never thought we`d have one here at our hospital.`` Gloria said.