Birthday Girl

The trouble with being up here and all my children down there is that I miss all the birthday parties! I can still remember like yesterday though the original birthday of Maria. I went in for a routine check. They were monitoring me closely because Johnny had been born ceasarean, Linda was natural, and they were thinking maybe Maria could be born naturally also. However, when Dr. Rust checked that day, he said Maria had turned breech, labor had started and the policy was for two surgeons to make the determination so while they consulted I sat and fretted. I could not feel labor, my muscles were worthless in my stomach after that first birth.

They decided the risks were too great for a natural birth and I should go to the hospital immediately and they would prepare for ceasarean. What they said is if the inner sutures tear it was a risk to both me and the baby.

The nice thing about ceasareans is the babies have these beautifully shaped heads and Maria was definitely a beauty, even then. The strange thing was I had some malady and could not stop crying. I was in a room with three other women and people would come in and think I had lost my baby because I would be crying!! And then they would wheel in this beautiful baby. It was very puzzling to everyone, especially me.

I already had a name picked out, can't remember what it was, but another gal in our ward had already used it so we were scrambling to come up with something new. Of course, Maria, was now a popular name after Westside Story so Maria it was. I was a little afraid it would seem like a Spanish name but then later I found all these Marias' in our Swedish genealogy. Evidently it is a popular name in most nationalities. It suited her to a T.

My parents were at our home and we were enjoying baby Maria and baby Linda Poo (my Dad's name for her) was getting lots of attention and Dad was playing with Johnny (he was called that for several years) when President Kennedy was shot and we then spent most of our time glued to the TV.

After my parents left, the thing I remember most, was that supper time was very hectic and I kept the buggy in the kitchen so Maria could be bottle fed if necesarry while I tended to Linda and Johnny. Linda was only 17 months old, so a baby herself. She grew up fast though and soon became the one in charge of all needs of both Maria and Johnny.

"You must have been a beautiful baby, you must have been wonderful child.... cuz baby look at you now" (popular song from the 40's.  Happy Birthday, Maria!