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
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