1940 - Jewel Expecting her First Child.

705 D St. NE #2
Washington, D.C.

January 23, 1940

Dearest Mother and Dad:

It was good news to hear of Myron going into business for himself.  That sounds like a good proposition, and I'm sure that if anyone can make any money in that line, he can.  I see by the Guardian where another new service station is to be built in Thatacher and I guess that gives Grant a headache.

    It is very sweet of you to want me to come home and I wish it were possible to do so.  I can hardly imagine paying a doctor only $35.00.  Dr. Preece is charging $100 and he is considered reasonable.  Of course, he is a specialist.  The hospital bill would amount to $100 too, if we didn't belong to the Group Hospitalization Association.  [omission]

    We have not even considered moving to another house.  We are very conveniently and economically situated where we are.  You see, we pay only $45.00 for this apartment, and that includes heat, electricity, water and telehone.  It is practically impossible to find an apartment with provisions for two beds at that price.  The only advantage to having a house like Glen Randall's would be that I would have a place in the basement to hang the baby's things on rainy days, but I have a screen porch that would suffice in a pinch.  If we took Glen's house we would have to pay about $90 a month rent besides utilities, and then be responsible for sub-letting the upstairs apartment.  Their apartment is much smaller than ours--in fact, wewouldn't have room for our piano in their tiny living room, and Lyle would have to sleep in the basement.  In short, we consider ourselves very lucky to have such a roomy apartment and such a congenial landlord at the price we're paying.  He has put windows in the porch for the winter, and a new inlaid linoleum floor in the kitchen since we've been here.  Mrs. Staples is always sending up some delicacy and the girls are very sweet and friendly.  They save me lots of steps and help me in a hundred little ways, besides being company during these long evenings when Clarence and Lyle are studying for exams.  We have almost as much privacy as if we were in our own home.  They entertain their friends, and we entertain ours.

I went to see the Doc yesterday on my regular visiting day, and what do you know--I have gained 19 pounds!  So I have to begin to go rather easy on the starchy foods.  Of course, I will continue to gain, but not so rapidly.  He says I don't look very big to him, and that it is possible I am not as far along as we first thought.  Heavens, I feel like my ole tummy has stretched as far as it can, but the nurse just laughs at me when I say that and says, "You'll be surprised how much more it can stretch!"  The Doc is not definitely sure of the baby's position, and unless he can positively determine its exact position in two weeks, he is going to take an ex-ray picture.  That is the advantage of having a fine doctor with all the modern equipment necessary no matter what kind of case he has to handle.  I am so completely confident of his ability that I have never had the slightest qualm about the whole business.  I wish that Lella could have a man like Dr. Preece to take care of her.

    Another reason why I haven't seriously considered coming home to have the baby is because I wouldn't think of leaving Clarence.  I am getting more dependent on him every day.  He buys the groceries with all the thriftiness of the experienced housekeeper and clucks over me like a hen with one biddy.  I just couldn't get along without him, and I'm sure he would be lost without me. 
   
    I have had a great deal of energy lately and have expended it, along with a little filthy lucre, in purchasing the necessary articles for the baby.  I'm just getting the every-day needs, and then i can get the dress-up things later.  As you know, January is bargain month, and I had the mostest fun bargain hunting.  So far I have acquired one rather large 50% wool blanket, one cotton receiving blanket, four shirts, three winter nighties, material for three summer nighties, material for little flannel kimonos and bands, two nightgowns and a pair of pajamas for myself, and safety-pins, soap, powder, etc.  I'm going to get a couple more receiving blankets and two dozen diapers, which I am making out of a heavy grade of outing flannel which costs 11 cents a yard and from all recommendations apear to be the most absorbent, easiest to aunder and longest wearing of any.  Eloise Randall is lending me her bassinette, and giving me her combination baby bath-tub and dressing table, called a bathinette, which she would have to discard anyway, ecause it is made of a rubberized material and it would be usely to try to save it for the next baby.  That will be all that will be needed for the baby's arrival, and then I will know whether to invest in dresses or rompers when fall comes.  During the summer, shirts and diapers and occasinally al little thin dress or kimono will be the rule.  I'm having lots of fun making a few little things, though I feel that I'm not so very skillful at it.  It tickles Clarence to see me sewing and I think he is more anxious than I am to get a sewing machine.  I intend to crochet some bootees, but I don't know whether I'll get around to it or not.  If you would like to, you could make me a pretty little quilt or coverlet, or a hood or a fancy dress or two.  In other words, I'll manage with all the essentials and you make whatever you want to in the way of luxuries.

    Since I started my layette it seems more real--the fact that we are actually going to have a wee one in our midst in not so very long.  If I continue to feel as well and as energetic as I have the last few weeks, the time will fly.  I think Ray was more of a strain on me than I realized.  Not especially Ray himself, but just that there three boys to feed instead of two and Ray was free a lot more of the time than Clarence or Lyle so he was harder to keep track of.  [omission]

    Our means ar elimited, but I believe that in the year and a half that we have been maried we have acquired more of the really worthwhile things than most of our friends.  Maybe I just imagine it because it is ours, but this apartment seems to be more of a home than most of them you go into.  So many of them look so temporary.  Of course, this is temporary too but it doesn't look quite so much like it.

Give my love to the rest of the family.

XXX

Jewel