WEBVTT 00:00:00.460 --> 00:00:05.497 This is Boris Solis interviewing for Creative Push on December 15th 2016 00:00:05.530 --> 00:00:12.056 at 11:30 a.m. Ok. Can you say your name and your date of birth or your age 00:00:12.089 --> 00:00:16.756 ? I am uh 50. 00:00:16.789 --> 00:00:24.789 Was it 52? And uh my name is Jolene Martinez. It's spelled Joelene. 00:00:24.818 --> 00:00:30.227 Uh It's not spelled like everybody else's Jolene. Is that a family name? 00:00:30.260 --> 00:00:37.356 Uh No, my uh grandmother picked it out. So, um can you tell us a little 00:00:37.389 --> 00:00:41.156 bit of your family history? Are you from around the area? Yeah. Uh All my 00:00:41.189 --> 00:00:49.189 family is around from down south um Tome uh Las Unas around the area and 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:56.967 uh farther back, my, my mother's side goes from farther south to Roswell 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:03.347 and so far so forth over there. And then um my father's side is uh located 00:01:03.380 --> 00:01:07.855 from uh Los Uno also just around the area. Do you have brothers and 00:01:07.888 --> 00:01:15.888 sisters? I have two sisters. Uh I am the oldest and um the youngest one is 00:01:16.528 --> 00:01:23.686 uh uh 49. She is suffering from multiple sclerosis. So we take care of her. 00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:29.397 My mother is still alive. My dad passed away three years ago uh from a 00:01:29.430 --> 00:01:37.430 blood disorder. Um uh we are all girls in the family so we all kind of 00:01:37.709 --> 00:01:41.936 watch each other. We take care of her. So, do you know anything about how 00:01:41.969 --> 00:01:49.969 you were born? I was born in Berlin and uh it was a small little hospital. 00:01:50.409 --> 00:01:52.486 Um, 00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:58.217 it's now a not a hospital, it's just a school building, you know, just the 00:01:58.250 --> 00:02:02.397 office building right now for the schools. But uh it wasn't, that was 00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:06.305 Belem was the only hospital around. So uh they couldn't transfer to 00:02:06.338 --> 00:02:10.495 Albuquerque. It was just too far. So Belem was the only closest area where 00:02:10.528 --> 00:02:15.196 I was born. Do you know um how your mother was born? 00:02:15.229 --> 00:02:20.906 Um No, not really. She did not really did say anything about it but I 00:02:20.939 --> 00:02:28.146 think she was born at home but I'm not sure just like uh all my other 00:02:28.179 --> 00:02:34.386 aunts, aunts and uncles, they were mainly born at home too, right? Um It 00:02:34.419 --> 00:02:42.419 was, she was born until May. Um and she had, let's see, 1234 brothers and 00:02:46.058 --> 00:02:52.555 one sister. Um she only has two brothers that are living right now. So 00:02:52.588 --> 00:02:56.136 everybody's passed away. Did family members then help with the births at 00:02:56.169 --> 00:03:01.816 home or was there a midwife? Yeah, they all helped each other. Um There 00:03:01.849 --> 00:03:06.846 was uh the area where my mom grew up was all kind of constituted with 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:09.416 family all the way around where there was cousins and stuff like that. 00:03:09.449 --> 00:03:15.005 Everybody walked to their houses across the street or within a half a 00:03:15.038 --> 00:03:19.677 mile radius, kind of thing. So, everybody kind of walked everywhere. 00:03:19.710 --> 00:03:23.255 That's wonderful. So, there was a good family support. Yeah. My mom's side. 00:03:23.288 --> 00:03:28.005 Yes, because that's where I kind of grew up on that side. So I knew all 00:03:28.038 --> 00:03:32.827 the, what was going on. I stayed a lot with my grandmother at that time 00:03:32.860 --> 00:03:38.386 when I was younger. So I grew up with her. Um, at that time they didn't 00:03:38.419 --> 00:03:42.555 even have indoor plumbing, but they had a house when I was growing up, 00:03:42.588 --> 00:03:46.707 what, till I was maybe 1213. 00:03:46.740 --> 00:03:53.846 So, um, so I kind of grew up on that old world kind of situation. I even 00:03:53.879 --> 00:04:00.896 enjoyed it. Um, how did you meet the father of your child? Um, through 00:04:00.929 --> 00:04:08.929 work. Uh, I work with, uh, somebody, uh, at a place of, uh, at a company 00:04:09.500 --> 00:04:17.455 and his brother is where I met my son's father and, uh, we weren't married 00:04:17.488 --> 00:04:21.437 just something that just happened. But, um, it was just meant to be this 00:04:21.470 --> 00:04:25.476 way. I look at it because he was with me while I was growing up also since 00:04:25.509 --> 00:04:33.296 I had him when I was 21. So, um, I worked, um, at the post office through 00:04:33.329 --> 00:04:38.426 the whole time. So I work graveyard and, uh, it worked well with my mom 00:04:38.459 --> 00:04:43.257 taking care of him while I was working and he was sleeping. So it just 00:04:43.290 --> 00:04:51.290 worked that way. So, um, how was the pregnancy? It was, 00:04:52.269 --> 00:04:55.377 um, 00:04:55.410 --> 00:05:03.137 an experience it normal pregnancy the whole bit, it was, uh, no problems 00:05:03.170 --> 00:05:08.637 and, uh, labor was, uh, the problem, but through the whole the pregnancy 00:05:08.670 --> 00:05:12.776 was good. Did you give birth in the hospital? Yes, I did. I, in fact I was 00:05:12.809 --> 00:05:20.809 , had him when I in Belen also. So, um, the new hospital in be, uh, went 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:29.075 over there had him, but it took, uh, I was in labor for 36 hours. And then 00:05:29.108 --> 00:05:32.637 after that, he turned around, he was born breached. So I had to go to 00:05:32.670 --> 00:05:38.776 Cesarean. So, so it took a long time. So I had top of long labor. I went 00:05:38.809 --> 00:05:44.166 through surgery, had a Cesarean. But uh, and then complications after that 00:05:44.199 --> 00:05:51.127 , I had developed an infection and they found that my son had a kidney 00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:58.286 problem. His ureters weren't working. So they had to, um, um transferring 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:02.887 from Ben all the way up here to Albuquerque. So I had complications. I had 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:06.846 to stay in Berlin. He had to come to Albuquerque. So my mom, my mom and 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:12.217 dad uh came with him and stayed with him at the out while I was down there. 00:06:12.250 --> 00:06:16.416 That must have been a really challenging, hard experience. It was I was 00:06:16.449 --> 00:06:20.765 by myself there because everybody was with the baby and um, he had to have 00:06:20.798 --> 00:06:27.426 surgery uh the first week of his life. So they had to uh get his implant 00:06:27.459 --> 00:06:35.459 them into his kidneys, his bladder. So, um, so that went well. Um, but he 00:06:35.470 --> 00:06:40.377 healed really quick and stuff like that. So the babies bounce back faster 00:06:40.410 --> 00:06:46.645 than we do. So, um, how was your, your recovery in the hospital then? It 00:06:46.678 --> 00:06:50.967 must have been difficult. Yeah, it was, I was after, I was there for about 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:57.627 , I guess seven days. It was after that I had, uh, Cesarean, 00:06:57.660 --> 00:07:04.455 uh, that was, went, all right. Um, developed the tear when they were 00:07:04.488 --> 00:07:09.416 taking him out. So it was longer than what it was healing wise. Uh The 00:07:09.449 --> 00:07:14.836 infection set in. So I was there until the fever broke and it stayed uh 00:07:14.869 --> 00:07:20.736 stable. So, after they let me or released me, I came back to Albuquerque 00:07:20.769 --> 00:07:26.526 and I stayed with my son. He was in the hospital for, um, about 2.5, 00:07:26.559 --> 00:07:32.137 almost three weeks. You definitely weren't nursing that. No, no. Uh, 00:07:32.170 --> 00:07:39.067 there's no way I could have done that. Uh, but he healed well. Um, and 00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:45.325 then he developed uh hernias after that, the one about a month after that. 00:07:45.358 --> 00:07:52.455 So they corrected that too. So, uh, he all, all in, all his health was a 00:07:52.488 --> 00:07:58.217 little compromised, but he healed quite well and he has no problem today. 00:07:58.250 --> 00:08:01.106 When you look back on that experience. It, it must, I mean, that's like 00:08:01.139 --> 00:08:03.325 traumatic. 00:08:03.358 --> 00:08:10.366 Uh Yeah. Um, none of my, well, nobody's ever gone through that kind of, uh 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:16.757 , experience in my family. Um, but my sister, the youngest one that has MS 00:08:16.790 --> 00:08:22.995 , right. Now, when she had, when she was pregnant, she had her son, uh, he 00:08:23.028 --> 00:08:28.356 didn't make it. He would, he had a heart problem when he was born, half 00:08:28.389 --> 00:08:32.836 his heart wasn't developed. So they had to send him into surgery. He never 00:08:32.869 --> 00:08:39.596 made it out. So he died on the table, uh, within a week of his life. So 00:08:39.629 --> 00:08:45.096 that was more of a traumatic thing than anybody else ever had. So, when I 00:08:45.129 --> 00:08:47.726 went through that situation, 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:52.467 it didn't be compared to what my sister did. So it's interesting that, you 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:57.076 know, you view your experience in re, in reference to a different, to your 00:08:57.109 --> 00:09:02.537 sister's experience. Yeah. Yeah, it was just, uh, something that, uh, I'm 00:09:02.570 --> 00:09:07.456 glad that the doctors caught what, you know, what they needed to do, there 00:09:07.489 --> 00:09:11.936 was, uh, available doctors that could treat that without any problems. So 00:09:11.969 --> 00:09:16.967 , uh, just, uh, being away when he was a surgeon while I was down there, 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.625 that was the, probably the hardest part on me besides the surgery and 00:09:20.658 --> 00:09:24.427 stuff like that. And when the, when you finally saw him, did you feel 00:09:24.460 --> 00:09:29.826 bonded with him or did the time, the time away impact your feelings at all 00:09:29.859 --> 00:09:33.885 ? Um, no, it just brought me closer because I didn't want to leave him 00:09:33.918 --> 00:09:38.566 after that. So I stayed with him while he was in the hospital. Um, they 00:09:38.599 --> 00:09:42.706 made a room, you know, the bed next to him and stuff like that. It was 00:09:42.739 --> 00:09:47.086 just, uh, a little heartbreaking because of the, the wires coming out of 00:09:47.119 --> 00:09:51.816 the tubes and stuff like that while he was, you know, recovering. But 00:09:51.849 --> 00:09:58.066 other than that, it was uh he was, he good. He, he was acting just like a 00:09:58.099 --> 00:10:03.956 little baby, so newborn. It's amazing how, you know, in that moment, you 00:10:03.989 --> 00:10:09.576 probably couldn't imagine this 21 year old, healthy man that you have now 00:10:09.609 --> 00:10:16.537 you got to be 32. That's amazing. So you have, it's so great that you had 00:10:16.570 --> 00:10:20.476 so much contact with your grandmother. Did she tell you any interesting 00:10:20.509 --> 00:10:27.086 stories about her? Um No, my grandmother passed away a month before my son 00:10:27.119 --> 00:10:33.375 was born so she never got to beat him. Uh That's kind of going regret 00:10:33.408 --> 00:10:38.086 because I was so close to my grandmother growing up that, you know, I wish 00:10:38.119 --> 00:10:44.856 she was around when, you know, but uh that was a possible um kind of like 00:10:44.889 --> 00:10:49.657 the same thing happened when my niece had her kids. My dad passed away a 00:10:49.690 --> 00:10:56.436 month before they were born. So it just, it's weird how that happens. You 00:10:56.469 --> 00:11:01.986 know, the history repeats itself kind of thing. So did she, so she saw you 00:11:02.019 --> 00:11:07.356 pregnant though? Yes. Did she did that? Um jog her memory and did she 00:11:07.389 --> 00:11:12.307 share any of her? I can remember her doting over me or something like that 00:11:12.340 --> 00:11:17.476 , you know, just uh making sure that I was off my feet and, you know, uh 00:11:17.509 --> 00:11:22.005 make sure I eat certain things and stuff like that. You know, just, uh, 00:11:22.038 --> 00:11:27.427 caring like a grandmother, you know, don't do this, don't do that we have 00:11:27.460 --> 00:11:31.157 in my family, we have certain customs, like my grandmother will make a 00:11:31.190 --> 00:11:36.196 blanket for the new child and that the mom will sleep with the blanket for 00:11:36.229 --> 00:11:39.596 a while before the birth of the baby that the baby has the smell of the 00:11:39.629 --> 00:11:44.547 mom. Do you have any kind of? No, but my grandmother did make my son a 00:11:44.580 --> 00:11:50.157 blanket. Um, it was a patchwork bucket quilt actually because it was uh 00:11:50.190 --> 00:11:53.956 one that he carried for, for a long time until it kind of fell apart in 00:11:53.989 --> 00:12:01.936 the wash until he was like maybe 10 years old. He had it. So, um, that he 00:12:01.969 --> 00:12:06.696 did, she did, uh, do a lot of the other stuff like the quilt and, and 00:12:06.729 --> 00:12:12.946 blanket making and stuff like that. So, is there anything else you wanna 00:12:12.979 --> 00:12:18.956 ask you? Anything question? 00:12:18.989 --> 00:12:22.576 Was there anything from your experience that you would tell a new mother 00:12:22.609 --> 00:12:30.226 that might be experiencing some similar things that you do? 00:12:30.259 --> 00:12:34.407 No. Um, I just know that, uh, now this day and age there's a lot of 00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:40.515 miracles out there. And, um, do you hear about all the the babies being 00:12:40.548 --> 00:12:46.346 sick, born with one thing or another or, or some kind of a disability? 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:50.436 Who knows if the environment has anything to do with it? Because when I 00:12:50.469 --> 00:12:55.936 was pregnant or became pregnant, I was working at a company called 00:12:55.969 --> 00:13:01.057 Motorola, but I was in a secured area where they made, uh, powdery stuff 00:13:01.090 --> 00:13:05.986 and where you had to wear ret beer and stuff like that. Um, but who knows 00:13:06.019 --> 00:13:08.557 if anything, 00:13:08.590 --> 00:13:12.346 it has anything to do with whatever is happening, you know, but if it does 00:13:12.379 --> 00:13:20.379 , um, just go with whatever, uh, they can do for the baby and work with it 00:13:20.658 --> 00:13:27.157 and the baby is yours. So I might as well, you know, love it like it was, 00:13:27.190 --> 00:13:33.525 you know, you don't realize the disabilities because he's just yours. 00:13:33.558 --> 00:13:38.066 No, there's no reason to give them up or push them away. Just keep them 00:13:38.099 --> 00:13:43.658 close. Thank you. That's amazing. Ok, so we're gonna.