This is my initial entry for the questions contained in the book i received from Natalie. The book is entitled “My Father’s Life”
What is your birthday and what time of day were you born? Where were you born?
My birthday is June 6, 1959. I am unsure exactly what time of day I was born but believe it was in the morning. My twin sister Julie was born 6 minutes after me. I was born at Parkview Hospital on Randallia Drive in Fort Wayne, IN
Are there any stories about your birth that were told to you by your parents or other family members?
My Mom did tell me a few things about her pregnancy. Mom was a thin woman and being pregnant with twins made her belly rather large. She told me that when she went to family gatherings that some of the female family members would ask her to go into the bedroom and show them her huge belly. In the 1950’s it would not have been appropriate to do that in front of the men. At those gatherings she got a huge kick out of the fact that she could use her belly as a table to hold dinner plate. She always smiled when she told these stories.
When Julie and I were born I believed we were in the 5 pound range. Although, by today’s standards, this is not an unhealthy birth weight we spent the first few days in an incubator. I believe Julie was able to go home first followed by me a few days later.
What is your full name and what is the story behind it, were you named after someone? What about your middle name?
My full name is Jerry Allen Schlund. I don’t believe I was named after anyone. My grandfather’s name was Gerald so it’s possible that played a part in how I was named. Since I was born a twin, my name had to sound like it matched my sister’s name. Jerry and Julie goes together much better than Robert and Alice. Friends and family members sent my parents suggestions on how we should be named. All suggestions were pairs of names that had the same first letter. My middle name was also part of a pair. Julie’s middle name was Anne.