Planning a joyous birth as a nation mourns

 By Patrick Langan

         Christina Langan was in the hospital set to give birth to a son at New England Medical Center in Boston.

        “It was an extremely emotional time, and I was feeling vulnerable. Having a new baby and two young daughters at home made me super vigilant” she said.

        Her due date was September 11. She was voting at the school, and it came on the television.

        She went straight home and turned on the news and every station were covering it.

        After the attack, her focus was to keep everyone safe. Her father had a plan.

“Papa had planned on evacuating us on his boat that was docked at Marina Bay.”

        He was planning to take himself his wife, his daughter and son-in-law and their family into the Bay to avoid any other possible attack attempts on land.

        “It all was very surreal, nothing like 9/11 had every happened-on U.S soil before and the whole country was on edge,” she said.  

        She said she wasn’t sure if there was going to be another attack and even a possibility of an attack in Boston.

        “I just wanted to make sure my family was safe.”

In New York City, the days following were very difficult as well, people were putting up posters of their loved ones asking for any information that led to finding them.

“It was unimaginable that they would never truly know what happened to their loved one,” she said. 

 In the months and years after, human remains of some of these victims were found every day.

She said that people came together as one during this time.

 “People helped coworkers, friends, and strangers with anything they could. People stopped taking life for granted,” she said.

 “There was a newfound respect for the police, firefighters, and all first responders. Many who had made the ultimate sacrifice to keep the rest of us safe.”

 She saw a sense of unity formed among citizens. People didn’t take what they had for granted but rather appreciated it more.

        Airline travel was shut down for days because two of the flights came from Boston.

        She said that was unprecedented and that “everything felt off the days following.”

        She still couldn’t believe what had happened and was “really restless.”

        She also remembers how she felt with two young daughters at home. Her and her husband were at the hospital with her parents watching her older daughters.

         “I was worried about my young daughters especially with out being able to see to them at that time,” she said.

     She said she was worried but knew her parents would take good care of them.

    She said there was a lot of just worry and overthinking with everything that had happened. Her due date passed, and she went into labor on September 14 for 18 hours.

    She gave birth to a son in the late afternoon on September 14.

    She stayed in the hospital until the 15^th and was glad she could go home and see the rest of her family.

    “The next day in the hospital was chaotic,” she said.

     Everyone was looking for more information and the next steps to take, she said.

     “I wanted to go home but was told I should stay for the night. Although it was a difficult thing to do, it was the right decision."

“I couldn’t imagine what those families were going through. It was such a tragic day for this country.”