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© St. Petersburg Times, published September 8, 2002
Sept. 11 is now linked forever with terror and heartache, yet babies were born that day.
Parents are wrestling with the conflict of celebrating a young life Wednesday while the nation remembers its loss.
When Sara Johnson tells people her daughter's birthday is Sept. 11, they gasp. She understands the reaction but hopes it won't always be that way for her daughter.
"I wish people would think before they say this because it was a terrible day, but it really was a joyful day for us, too," she said. "I'm going to associate both with it every year. But it's her birthday so I can't avoid it."
Johnson planned to have Laura Lynne's birthday party Saturday instead of Wednesday.
"We were afraid people would see us out at a park celebrating on a national day of mourning," she said. She plans to avoid having any kind of big party on Sept. 11 in future years as well.
Johnson and her husband watched the news unfold a year ago from her labor and delivery room at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater.
"I was so scared to think I was going to bring a baby into the world at a time like this. We didn't know if there were going to be more attacks or are we going to war," she said. "Then there were a few times I had to remind people: 'I'm in labor here. Can we turn the TV off?' "
Her husband videotaped some of her birth, including the televised news reports, and they saved newspaper clippings.
"She'll know all about it," Johnson said. "I'm always going to tell her it was also a beautiful day when she was born. From such a terrible day, something precious came out of it."
For Heather Healy, who gave birth to her first child, Jonathan King Healy, the events of September made his birth and his name special. Her son is named after his grandfather, who was an officer with the Seminole Indian Police Department and died when young Jonathan's father was just 6 years old. Since the police and fire and rescue workers were such heroes that day, she thought it meant even more to name him after an officer.
"It was a great honor," Healy said. "To a lot of people, it was a good thing. For every soul that was lost, there are new souls brought into the world. It opens up a lot of hope for other people."
When Jonathan was 6 months old, his parents had his picture taken with him on top of an American flag. They plan to have a real birthday party Wednesday and will not avoid parties on 9/11 in the future.
"We'll just have to take it and make it work," Healy said. "Every year at school they will be doing something special (in remembrance of the attacks) and we'll explain to him that it's still his birthday, but you need to remember these other people."
Most employees and patients at Morton Plant Hospital never met the babies born there that day, but the births were a comfort.
About 3 p.m. on Sept. 11, employees and patients were invited to gather in the hospital's chapel to find support in each other as they talked about the attacks. In the middle of sharing stories and prayers, lullaby chimes played over the hospital's public address system. It is a tradition at the hospital to broadcast lullaby chimes each time a baby is born.
"Everybody just stopped talking and took a breath," recalls Beth Hardee, the hospital's public relations director who was in the chapel at the time. "It was such an awful day people felt like the world was coming to an end and then there was new life. It was something good happening in the middle of everything else."
Of course, there are children and adults who were born on Sept. 11 in years past who now have a different light cast on their once ordinary birthday. And there will be children born on this same day for years to come.
Christina Myers is expecting her first baby Wednesday. She is regularly asked, "When are you due?"
"Some people tend to look at it like it's a blessing because it's a new life and what better day to bring forth new life?" she said. "Others think it's a bad omen and they tell me they hope it comes on a different day. I've had all kinds of reactions." Her mother-in-law cried.
"It doesn't really bother me too much . . . we will definitely be thinking of those people who passed," Myers said. "But at the same time, if the baby does come on that day, it's a good way of moving forward."
My aunt's first child, my cousin Tripp, was born on Dec. 7 in 1958. Though it was 17 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, people always commented on his birthday, referring to it often as "the day of infamy."
But she made it a day to think of distinct events: a great loss and a great gift. She had birthday parties on Dec. 7 and made the day about her son, rather than a memorial to World War II heroes.
"Even now, when he's filling out forms and has to write his birth date, anybody who is 50 years old or older, and some younger people, will say something about it," my aunt said. "I'm guessing Sept. 11 will hang forever in people's minds even for people who aren't even born yet."
-- You can reach Katherine Snow Smith by e-mail at Oliviachar@aol.com; or write Rookie Mom, St. Petersburg Times, PO Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731.