User:Stapelt

Jaundice
My name is Stephanie Tapelt, I was born January 23,1977 in Minneapolis, MN at St. Mary's hospital. My mother's name is Maureen Tapelt-Glaser at the present time and my father's name was William H. Bryant who is deceased. My birth was linked later in life with a rather bizarre story that sometimes I tell for the shock factor as most likely fictional, but sometimes I wonder myself how much validaty there is to it. My mother was the youngest of eight siblings raised in Minneapolis by my grandmother Eleanor Dexter. She was 16 while pregnant with me my father was almost 10 years her elder, both were users of some sort (marijuana most likely and maybe psychotropic drugs also considering the era and this story). My mother being very small and a teenager gained a significant amount of weight. Friends, family and neighbors jokingly insisted that my mother must be having twins. During routine visits my mother's doctor was discribed as distant and cold, but this type of manner was expected due to my mothers age and marital status. My mother requested two things of her doctor prior to going into labor with me one that my grandmother be present during the birth and to have a natural birth without medication. My mother checked into the hospital and requested my grandmother join her, but my grandmother was not allowed to enter the room. My mother recalled contractions, but the next thing she new she was waking to be told she had given birth to a healthy 5 lbs baby girl. I was brought in to be fed and my mother noted that I was jaundice. She wasn't sure for days whether I was to be name Stephanie or Stacy. Just as many times as my mother changed her mind about my name fate she noticed the color of my skin would change from yellow to clear. The nurses were constantly taking me in and out to be fed and still my jaundice would come and go. My mother told me at the age of 13 after the birth of my 3rd brother that she felt as though there were 2 of me. Prior to leaving the hospital a nurse had brought my birth certificate to be completed by my mother, she had finally decided to name me Stephanie. While filling the document out she noticed there was an "X" next to twins. The nurse corrected this over sight and my mother has been telling this story ever since insisting the doctor and hospital sold my sibling. Of course as I went through my adolescence I always joked that they sold the good one and my mother was stuck with me.