Page 81 - Philly Girl

Philly Girl 65

Jill’s Birth

New York City, 1979. Dennis and I were in a restaurant in
Chinatown when a man choked on a chicken wing. I pulled
him in front of me and did a Heimlich maneuver. He was fat
and very rigid. Finally, the bone popped out of his mouth.
The diners broke into applause.
As if that were not enough excitement for one night,
while we were putting on our coats to leave, the manager
asked for our name, and said there was an urgent phone
message. It was Carmen, my brother-in-law, telling us that
my sister Faye was in labor. He asked us to take the train to
Philly as soon as we could.
We arrived at 30th Street Station at about 10 p.m. in
freezing sleet. It was slippery and bone-cold. The lone cabbie
took us to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and
there was my sister, in deep labor. I covertly did a vaginal
exam on Faye and learned that she was eight centimeters
dilated, a great sign that the labor was progressing quickly—
and I expected her to deliver with ease. I felt the baby’s head
with my gloved fingertip and knew that she would have curly
hair.
Four hours later, Faye’s labor stalled, but finally my niece
was delivered at 2 o’clock that morning by Caesarian section.
By now, Dennis, Carmen, and I were starving. We went to
Pat’s Steaks (whiz, wit’) in South Philly to celebrate the birth
of my beautiful curly-haired niece, Jill Ann DiGiovanni—
who would ultimately become a vegetarian. Her loss!