Charnaud Family Header
Home Browse Stories Find Chapters Contact Us
Chapter's From Mike Charnaud's Post War Story
Post War Chapter 1 Post War Chapter 2 Post War Chapter 3 Post War Chapter 4 Post War Chapter 5 Post War Chapter 6 Post War Chapter 7 Post War Chapter 8 Post War Chapter 9 Post War Chapter 10 Post War Chapter 11 Post War Chapter 12 Post War Chapter 13 Post War Chapter 14 Post War Chapter 15 Post War Chapter 16 Post War Chapter 17 Post War Chapter 18 Post War Chapter 19 Post War Chapter 20 Post War Chapter 21 Post War Chapter 22 Post War Chapter 23 Post War Chapter 24

Post War 13
BIRTH of Janet and Peter…

Once back on the estate everything was in preparation  for the  coming birth. One thing  that was comforting was that Jill now had quite a good circle of young married friends around  in the district.  Bob and Anne Christie from Eskdale about 1 ½ hours away were especially close friends as both had conceived at Trinco at the time of my accident, and they would both be in confinement together at the Nursing Home. Both would travel the long three hour  twisty  journey once a month to Hatton  for their check ups with Dr Dowce, who in the case of Jill  was a bit concerned  in that he was fairly certain that he could now hear two hearts beating. Finally  in mid April about a fortnight before the due date,  he said that he would be happier to be absolutely sure with an X ray which we arranged at Badulla Hospital. Father drove her down and both waited for the result, and then the Sinhalese Radiologist returned beaming with all smiles, two fingers raised “ Madam there are two. You can see the spines : Congratulations”. After that Bob and I took 4 days off and left Anne and Jill at Hugoland to talk, dream and plan for babies, and we drove down to the sea on the east coast to a tiny run down rest house at Arugan Bay. Bob Christie was a Protestant from Dublin and had enlisted aged 18 for the last year of the war in the Royal Navy. Like all the Irish regardless he loved talking, and he once told me that he and all his family just had to have company and yarn, like he needed air to breathe. The sea and weather was ideal and the following morning we took the slow ferry route northward and at the first ferry was a Tamil who had just shot a leopard which upset me but there was nothing that I could do about the poor creature, so  I purchased the skin from him, brought it back to the resthouse, pegged and stretched it out and dried it with local rock sea salt. Later I sent it Colombo for curing and it is here to this day….poor animal. We got home and the following day I took Jill over to Hatton in case things came with a rush and with our isolation, I felt that I could not take the risk.
Once there, I  was greatly relieved to know that my Honey was safe at the nursing home ready  for the birth which could come any day. Whilst she was waiting Ray Beadon a senior  planter from St Leonards in Udapussellawa had been rushed in for an emergency appendix operation. Jill helped the nurses on the final sterilization of the surgical instruments. Dr Dowce had been told explicitly by Ray that he wanted his appendix saved and placed in a bottle of   formalin as he wanted to keep it on his mantlepiece when he got home,a wish with  which he obliged!  The following evening still very frustrated  and with still no sign of any  activity, she went out to dinner on a nearby estate where the wife was an ex- nurse. She had a gin  and tonic, and safely returned and then suddenly at four in the morning Hazel the nurse on duty noticed a leg showing. Dr Douce was summoned  and first Peter who was a breech birth and an hour later Janet were safely born. Whilst all this was going on I was blissfully unaware busying myself on the Estate. On 1st May  “Labour Day”  I rose early as normal and was taking muster with the men at 6 am, when the  servant  Velaithan  came running down to say, that he had a telephone message from the nursing home to say that all was well and Lady had given birth to a boy and a girl. It was incredible that the message had come through  at all  with the chaotic slow telephone system  in Ceylon. So frantically eager I leapt into the little black  car and drove off on what was the most exciting day of my life.
Three hours later after the tedious drive through the great tea district of Dimbula and past the beautiful wide St Clair Falls and then the long deep Devon Falls,  I was at the Hatton home. Jill was   now more radiant than ever, exhausted of course after all the night’s activity and next to her  in tiny cots  were the two tiny babes, Peter 5lbs 8ozs and Janet 5lbs 6 ozs both perfect with dark black hair .  They were absolutely beautiful especially Janet who seemed to have quite the most perfect features with  a small exquisitely shaped mouth and pretty face and nose. Peter was  more boyish and very hairy all over his back which reminded me of Grandfather Chasseaud who had hair on his shoulders, with large hands and feet. On that bright sunny morning to  see all three safe and well, I was so thankful that I gave a prayer to God. Jill was looking so peaceful and radiant and content after her long ordeal in the early hours.

                                                If I could write the beauty of your eyes
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age would come and would say, “this poet lies;
Such heavenly touches ne’er touch’d earthly faces.
Shakesspeare
Above all I was so pleased for the babes to be able to grow up in each others company on the isolated tea Estate  and it was an extra bonus that they were  both different sexes. They would have  the companionship  that I had so missed as a child with only occasionally having Ian and Barbara Gordon to play with, whereas I knew that they would always grow up together with that firm  bond that only twins can ever have.  But to see Jill with the two safely at her breast, in this little nursing home,  with  the kind nursing  staff, all under  the  control of the soft, quiet, avuncular  Dr Dowce, seemed perfection beyond belief.  It was decided that she would stay on in the home for a further fortnight to be on the safe side and so get over the  trauma of the birth as well as having medical attention to see to the stitches  etc that had to be looked at. Also Candy,  the excellent senior SRN nurse, who was a Jaffna Tamil and quite charming , agreed to come back to Hugoland for a couple of  days and settle her into to her new routine. I returned  to the  Estate   late that afternoon thrilled with all that I had seen and  oh  so very thankful that a most critical hurdle had been safely crossed.
A couple of days later sister Helen turned up on her way to New Zealand to see Ian. It was like everything to do with Helen quite a stressful experience. She wanted to see Jill and joined me on the trip over to the home early one morning. As we passed along the road by Talawakelle a Tamil woman and her son were walking in the middle of the road. I sounded my horn and the son went one side, the woman the other and I passed to go between. But at the last minute the woman decided to join her son and walked straight into the car. I braked but the headlight smashed and the glass cut right through her sari into her bottom. Luckily the hospital was only a few hundred yards away and I took her there, and then went to report the matter to the police, which in Ceylon can be an absolute nightmare and can take all day. I walked in told the officer what had happened and the duty sergeant came out looked at me and smiled.   He had recognised me and introduced himself as a sinhalese from the next village to Hugoland. We all had a chat and swopped reminiscences about people we knew when he asked me why I was there. I told him of the accident and  my wife just having given birth to twins and my need to get on quickly.
“ No need to worry.... you just go. This woman was a fool and now she has been treated  we can all forget it. Just leave it all to me.” So once again with luck on my side we were able to continue our journey and see my Honey and her twins.

When we got back to the Estate, Father had come up from Trinco for his last stay before  setting sail finally for Turkey. He wanted to see the twins and Jill, but wanted to vacate the house  before she returned. Helen and he just got on each others nerves and Helen would relish talking badly to him and constantly kept on  goading  him, until finally  he was at his wits end quite unable to keep calm with the constant  harrying. Once in desperation, he even picked up a broom and tried to lock her out of the house  because she had made him so demented. Such was Helen,  but with me she was alright, although I was quite powerless to control her. It was with her parents that she enjoyed goading and annoying, yet she admired them both for their bearing and standing as well as their intellect, but at the same time she

Next Page 1/3

Twins Peter & Janet

Jill and twins 3 weeks.