Jade the Blade

I don't know why we call her that sometimes. Probably something Grumpy made up that stuck. We were living on the island of Okinawa, Japan while Grumpy was serving in the Air Force. He was an intelligence officer for SAC unit based at Kadena. During the first part of our tour there, I went AWOL to have R.B. in the states and get over whatever ailed me. After having R.B. at home in the states, I went back to Grumpy and Okinawa for the remainder of our tour of duty. Things were much better in many ways. We were in a different house; one that was a tiny bit more like home. We had a breeze most of time in this location which helped with the dense humidity. I wasn't pregnant, the hormones settled down, but mostly I think it helped that I knew ahead of time what to expect. The picture below is one I got off the internet and shows what the Okinawan island looks like. There are some really beautiful beaches too.



I became involved with our church service branch there, and you couldn't find better people anywhere. The sisters there had already helped me start breast feeding R.B. when he was about 2 months old. It turned out he was allergic to all the formulas, so I had to re-lactate in order to feed him. I learned a lot during that little trial. The ladies in the branch were so supportive. We settled into our lives and things were pretty normal. The Officer's Wives Club was a great organization for the newbee wives like me and they had a nice little gift shop on base. I got to know the places to shop off base and of course there was always the Commissary and the Base Exchange. I sewed for myself and my girls, and was busy as Relief Society something or other. After a while the church leaders made a change in meeting places and we didn't have to drive clear up to Camp Hansen Marine Base for Church anymore. We shared a building with an Okinawan branch that was a huge improvement for travel time. There was no block plan in place then and driving to the other tip of the island twice a day with little kids was not my favorite thing to do. We were on a waiting list for a house on base and anxiously awaiting the time we would be on either Kadena AFB or Camp Kuwae Naval Base. There was a big hospital at Camp Kuwae.

I eventually planned a trip to the Phillipines  with several of the ladies in our branch. We had saved some money and I was on a furniture buying mission to get some nice rattan pieces for our home. Meanwhile, we got a call from the base housing office that we could move into a house on Camp Kuwae. Of course our move-in dates were the same as my trip Phillipines. My sweet husband told me to just go and he would take care of the move by himself. I was only too happy to comply. So I went ahead with my plans. I made arrangements for a lady in our branch to nurse R.B. while I was gone as I had nursed her baby while she had a minor surgery a few weeks earlier. Grumpy took some leave time to stay with the kids, and was getting ready to move all our stuff into the new place while I was gone. That is definitely a whole other story. I was excited that I would be coming back to a new (to me) house on base. Our little group put our names on the space available list and waited for a flight out to Clark AFB in the Phillipines. All the other ladies got out on a flight except me. Bummer. I waited for another flight and went alone. It hadn't sounded like such a bad idea at Kadena, but now I was by myself and couldn't get on base to stay. I was concerned. A lone American woman, not bilingual, and I  had to find a hotel off base. I was pretty scared. I managed to find a hotel, and I went to sleep with one eye open. I lived through the night and immediately went to Clark AFB in the morning to see if I could find my travel companions. (This was all before cell phones.) When we got back together and ventured out to shop I bought two sofas, two princess chairs, a 60" round table with six chairs, and a boat load of baskets in all shapes and sizes. The grand total was about $750.00 and the furniture would be ready in a few weeks. Some of the pilots Grumpy briefed everyday would put it all on one of the cargo planes on a return trip to Kadena for us. Life was good. 

I really liked living on the Naval Base. Looking out from my front door I could see the highway that ran pretty much the length of the island. I could also see the ocean. We only had 1 car, so eventually Grumpy bought a moped to commute to Kadena on. (Tracy later nicknamed him Sparky when he would ride the little moped here.) He has always been good to give up his own creature comforts for the good of his family. I love that about him. We got acquainted with several of the young men in our branch who were there without their wives. They opted for the shorter tour of duty, but that meant their families didn't get to come with them. They were in the barracks on base, and some were in the officer's BOQ's, but needless to say they were lonely. The activities (beer busts and loud parties) on the weekends were not easy for them, so we would find our living room couch and floor occupied on the weekends more often than not. They missed their families so much. We would sometimes catch a movie on base and one or more would stay with our kids. It was nice and we were glad they could spend time with us. 

This is what our life was like when we found out we were expecting baby number 5. 

I made my first appointment with the base OBGYN who was really by training NOT an OBGYN. He had all the charisma of an insect and I was not too sure about his medical acumen. I was not looking forward to having him deliver my baby. There was a couple of other Dr's that were easier to deal with. The other thing that made me really mad was at this stage of pregnancy the policy in the military at that time was to let you know you have “choices” about having a baby. I told them I had made my choice just fine when I chose to have a family so not to bother me with their lame policies any more. Things went okay and I learned that during typhoon season anyone within 6 weeks of delivery had to go to the hospital during a typhoon. Something about when the barometric pressure dropped during a typhoon, sometimes labor would start. You can't really be out driving around during a typhoon, so it was just easier to have all the ladies come to the hospital when the typhoon warning came out. I made two or three trips to the hospital in those weeks. Once during my last trimester a sweet lady in our branch told me she wanted to give me a day to pamper myself. She planned to come to our house and take care of all our kids and I was to go to her house and sleep, read, or do whatever I wanted. She even made lunch for me and put it in the fridge. I have often thought of her and so wish I could remember her name. What a sweet thing to do.

I was taking a silk flower making class, and when I was leaving the instructor's house one night I stumbled and fell. Straight down forward onto my very pregnant belly. I was so worried that I had done some damage to my baby, I went home and Grumpy took me to the emergency room. I was having some contractions and so they monitored me (and the baby) for several hours and finally told me they couldn't detect any damage. Baby's heart beat and movements were normal and I shouldn't worry. Of course I did worry. 

Finally, a few weeks later the real contractions started and I went to Camp Kuwae to deliver. Naturally, the charming Dr. Insect was on duty. He was as wonderful as ever, and I was about to refuse to allow him to deliver my baby when his shift was up and he left. Whew! The Dr. coming on duty was so much better, and I felt he was infinitely more qualified. It went well, but Grumpy still didn't get to be in the room with me as that was against policy. Up to now he had effectively missed the delivery of all our babies. I felt so bad for him and even worse for me. I would have loved to have him there for all of it. Jade was born and was so very sweet. She was 7lbs. 5 1/2 ozs. I loved to just sit and hold her. She was very mellow and didn't cry much. I was starting out nursing her and felt I had learned much through the trial of R.B.'s baby diet trauma. All was going well until just a few hours after her birth when the after-pains started. I couldn't believe how hard they were hitting. This was seriously wrong. I still had an I.V. in and asked of the nurses why. I was informed that hospital “policy” (there's that stupid policy thing again) was that all new mothers were to be given 8 hours of Pitocin (which is a drug to induce labor) following child birth. Yes, even the mothers that were nursing. Nursing a baby triggers your body to “cramp” so your uterus contracts and you will not bleed to death. So with the drug I was getting some majorly painful contractions. It was like having labor again. So wrong. At the 8 hour mark I marched myself to the nurses station and told them to take out the I.V. NOW, or I was going to do it myself. As a side note here I have to mention my dilemma with the nurses. After delivery somewhere in the haze of all the pain from the Pitocin a kid that looked all of 18 comes in and says he is going to “check” me for bleeding, stitches etc. I look at this very young man and I say, no, you are not. You go find me a female that is out of her teens. It was probably not very nice of me, but there was NO WAY that boy was coming anywhere near my stitches or anything else. I had the nicest Okinawan lady nurses tend to me. They couldn't speak much English, but I was much more comfortable with them. Once the I.V. was gone and I could relax a little, the kids and Grumpy could come and meet their little sister. R.B. didn't get to come because he had a bad ear infection and his ear-drum had just burst. He never even ran a fever with it. Chuck Andrews and his wife Suzy were taking care of him. I can't remember who had the twins and Summer.  The girls were properly impressed with Jade and I was really looking forward to going home. Grumpy had received his “get back to the states” orders and we starting the process of really going HOME. We wanted to get home in time to get the twins into Kindergarten (yay), so I was going stateside before Grumpy. He had to wait until October before he could report to his next assignment. I was planning to go as soon as I could get clearance. More policy. I had to wait until Jade was 6 weeks old before I could make the 18-20 hour flight home. That policy made pretty good sense. Meanwhile we decided what to keep and what to sell or give away and scheduled the movers to come pack us up. 

On the day were leaving Kadena AFB, the Officer in charge of boarding/passengers found out I was traveling alone with 5 children. He chose a young marine to be my helper and I thought maybe this trip wouldn't be horrendous. Our plane landed at another American base in Japan before actually starting the trip back stateside. When our wheels left the ground from that base a mighty cheer went up from all these young marines that knew they were going home. I started to cry as I realized how much America really does mean to me, and obviously to all these soldiers. We don't realize day to day how blessed we are. 

Now back to the helper Marine. I think he was an only child or had been raised by wolves. He had no idea how to help with children. I finally thanked him for his very genuine efforts and told him I thought we would be fine. He was no doubt relieved to be off the hook as I know he was completely out of his element. The kids were really pretty good for me. We landed in Alaska and then on to California. We made our flight there for Phoenix and came home to our family here. Nana had just had knee surgery and was still in a wheelchair. She and Papa had started building their new home that will always be as old as Jade. 

We chose Jade for your name because it is a beautiful stone that comes from the far east. Since you were born in the far east and were beautiful it seemed to make sense. We named you Vernae for your two great grandmothers Opal LaVerne and Verna Rhea. Opal also had a beautiful stone in her name. We love you so much and are proud of the woman you have become. We appreciate your talents and your willingness to share them and serve those around you so well. Your little family is blessed to have you as are we. Happy Birthday, you're only 29 once for real!