THIRTY YEARS AGO TODAY

Today is my daughter's thirtieth birthday.  It doesn't seem like it's been a full 30 years ago, but I know it has.  On that day, she decided to come really early, like sometime around three or four in the early morning.  We had been so diligent in securing a loving neighbor to come over and stay with our sixteen and a half month old, Dustin, in case our trip to the hospital came during the middle of the night.  Neighbor Janice was ready to run two houses down whenever the possible middle of the night call came.  My parents were going to be there soon, as well.  Then Janice told me that they would be leaving for the cape on Friday.  I figured since my parents would be there Saturday morning, we would be good for just a half a day and night.  You can only imagine how unhappy I was to awake in the middle of the night having contractions that were finally too strong to ignore.

The time must have been around 3:30 and I hadn't secured a back up with any of my neighbors.  The only person I could think of was Dustin's godmother, Debi, who was nearly 40 miles away.  She suggested I call her currently separated from husband, who was only 20 miles away.  After a frantic call to him and no answer, and another to Debi, who said let it ring and ring because he's a deep sleeper, we finally had Norman on the way.  I was trying all those tricks to lighten the pain, lying on your back.....nope.  Sitting upright in a chair.....nope.  Finally, I just paced around and hoped Norman got there soon.

We called the hospital who informed us that my obstetrician was unavailable and they'd wait til I was examined at the hospital before disturbing the on call doctor.  This delivery, it seems, was becoming a little more stressful than we had planned for our second child, which we expected, without doubt, to be a boy.  My mom and dad, after having three grandsons, wanted a granddaughter so much, I just knew that would jinx us into having another boy.  I actually thought two boys and then a girl would be the ideal family.

The drive to the hospital was uneventful, even though Mark was hoping for a policeman to pull us over so he could say "my wife's having a baby", and get a police escort to Putnam Regional Hospital.  When I stepped into the elevator with the waiting maternity ward nurses to escort me, they asked if my contractions were coming within regular intervals, which they weren't.  I lied that they were because I was afraid they'd send me home.......and I knew this was it.

As the first maternity nurse examined me, she said to the second one that she wanted her to examine me without giving her exam results.  The second performed her exam and said, "She's ten!", to which the previous nurse blurted out,"That's what I thought, but I wanted confirmation!"  Both nursed agreed they had never had anyone come in at ten before.  For those of you who might not know what that means, it means that I was totally dilated and ready to give birth.  So, they hurriedly called the doctor and told me I'd have to wait on him.  He just happened to be the Chief of Staff, on call that night.  It didn't seem like that long before this elegantly dressed man appeared in the doorway to receive the latest info on his patient.  After he again disappeared,Mark and I asked if he had been called away from some gala event.  They said he always dressed like that.....wow.  Next time he appeared in the typical doctor scrubs and said I could finally push.  Seconds later, he said that he'd give her a 10, which I knew to be her apgar score, meaning she was perfect on that first overall health shorthand checkup. I already knew she had good lungs because she came out screaming. When he said it's a girl, I could not believe it.  I was thrilled beyond words.

We called my folks , who were getting packed to leave the house, and told them they had a new baby granddaughter.   They were elated.  I don't remember much after that except that everyone was relieved and exhausted.  When I asked the doctor about the apgar score, he acted like he didn't know what I was talking about.  I know they don't like to discuss those, but I'm 100% sure that he said she was a 10.  You know what?  She's still a 10.  She's the most perfect daughter that she could possibly be.  Happy 30th Birthday, Christina!

Everyone have a wonderful and safe day.  luv, Susan

FRANKFORT RECEPTION AND OPEN HOUSE...........CHECK, CHECK

Wow, I can't believe so much time has passed since my last posting about Christina and Joe's Island Wedding.  I've been reliving the trip with pictures and sharing memories with friends and family members for the last two months.  And, Saturday was the Frankfort reception that we planned for friends and family members who were unable to make the trip to Maine.  I'm so pleased to say that it all went well, even though it was quite a push to the finish line for Joe and Christina as they put all the necessary finishing touches on their totally reconstructed home that was a great fixer upper for Joe's talents as a carpenter and a contractor. The house, not far from the state capital and downtown, had suffered major fire damage from it's previous owners.  This previously fire damaged shell of a house, as we had once seen it, was painstakingly turned into a beautiful, open and updated, lovingly crafted in every detail home with a fenced in back yard and an awesome child safe deck and beneath it a bricked patio.  To see the transformation was nothing short of miraculous.  Joe, Christina and their friends, volunteers and workers did a great job getting it ready for the reception just in the nick of time .

My job was to bring some of the decorations from the Vinalhaven wedding reception to Frankfort and help recreate some of the oldstyle ambiance and charm that we had at the farmhouse barn.  With the help of my sisters, Pam and Kathy, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Rich and Les, and Joe's mom, Amy, I think we were able to do just that.

Christina had previously put out the invitation on facebook, so we could have expected as many as seven hundred or so guests.  I had invited some friends and family that weren't on facebook, so that made it over the possible 700.  We tried to plan for a little less than that as the responses on facebook trickled in.  Ultimately, I'd say we had close to 150 or so make it to the Open House-style reception which started at 2:00 and was still going strong when we older foggies left around 9:30.  

In addition to watching the video of the Lane's Island wedding ceremony both inside on one of the walls and later, outside on a big screen, like a drive-in movie, Joe's two different bands provided entertainment out on the deck.  It was wonderful.  I hope all their neighbors are music lovers!

I, personally, was so happy to have family attend from Illinois.  My mom's brother, Junior and wife, Shirley, came from Maroa and her youngest two sisters, Linda and Carol, came from Argenta and Forsythe.  Also, my cousin Betty, Linda's daughter made the trip, driving them to Frankfort.  I don't get to see my Illinois family often enough, so this made it very special for us all. All in all, just like the wedding in Maine, everything went beautifully.  Having Mark's oldest brother there and friends making it from Henderson, also made it special.          I hope you are having a wonderful day, computer problems are telling me it's time to finish up for now.  Take care and be safe.           luv, Susan