The Pyrenees---Southern France

The Pyrenees---Southern France
Showing posts with label home births. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home births. Show all posts

Saturday, December 21, 2013

This Day Will Go Down in History

      Thirty-four years ago, minus one day, I was in great pain. But after gathering together my family and close friends, the pain stopped.

      "What should I do now?" I asked my osteopath. He said, "Walk. Walk as much as you can. The act of walking with begin things again."

       It was unseasonably warm on December 20, 1979--just like it was yesterday during the day. I walked the streets around my Maplewood home and eventually, things did start up again. The contractions returned and again my family and friends were summoned. When the evening of December 21 arrived, so had my beautiful daughter.

     After my baby girl was checked out and declared perfect, the doctor and my mom--along with my mother-in-law and my adopted grandma--had cake and coffee. I cuddled up with the best early Christmas present anyone has ever gotten. *



     Happy birthday, Virginia. You're the most wonderful daughter and the best mother.

* Note: In the 1970's, I worked at St. Anthony's Hospital and discovered that women were shaved (not their armpits) and an enema given before delivering. This was standard operating procedure.

Since I wanted to be a little more control of what happened, I chose to have my baby at home, without drugs. An incredible osteopath, Dr. Fred Duhart, did home deliveries. He delivered my daughter and eight years later, delivered my son.

 And if you want to take a break from holiday shopping on Monday (Dec. 23) and you live in the St. Louis area, Lynn Obermoeller and Linda O'Connell will be reading their "I will survive" stories from the Gloria Gaynor collection. It's at the Gelateria, 3197 S. Grand and begins at 7:00. 

Ice cream and some great writing? What can be better than that...  


Monday, March 14, 2011

Truth...and No Consequences

        Before I (drum roll, please) reveal which was the lie (see the previous post), I want to pass the liar's torch to one blogging friend I unintentionally left out.


           I don't think of Fireblossom as just an average, run-of-the-mill blogger. I read and follow other blogs to laugh, to think, to get inspired.  I read Fireblossom's posting when I want to get brilliantly green with envy.  How one person can write a phenomenal poem every day is beyond my comprehension. Perhaps she's the biggest liar of all?  Maybe it's her minions that take turns writing poetry will she sits back in a recliner eating bon bons?

         Anyway, Fireblossom...Consider yourself included in the fibbin' bloggers. Maybe your 4 truths and a lie can be written in the form of a poem?

       Okay. Start the drum roll now, please.  

  • I did work in Mark Twain National Forest one summer in high school. It was part of the Youth Conservation Corps program.  It was an all-girl crew, which we did not consider exceptional until we visited another crew that happened to be coed.  Much to our surprise, the girls in the coed crew did the easier work while the guys did the more manual stuff.  That summer---forty years and 100 pounds ago---I learned how to dig post holes by hand, I strung barbed wire, cleared trails and tried my best to avoid rattlers and brown recluses...

  • I do have a half-sister who is in prison (forever) for killing her four-year old step-grandson.  For the several years since it's happened, I've wrestled with the desire to understand/forgive/disown.  I still am undecided...

  •  Skydiving. The most exhilirating experience of my life.  I've done 3 tandem jumps (which means I'm hooked up to diving instructor) and hope---some day---to do a solo jump.  There is nothing more exciting than looking up and down and all around and seeing nothing but blue sky... 

photo by amelungc
This is a tandem jump, done in the proper position:
Back arched, arms and legs extended, your cheeks
(probably both sets) rippling like a brook...

  • Both my daughter and my son were born at home. When I was 18 I trained to be a nurse's aide, and we had to do a rotation in the wing where the new mothers were. In those days (late 1800's) women got routinely shaved and had a "just-in-case" enema. And if they were dying of thirst, they only got ice chips. I wanted a little more control to what went in or came out of my body, so I looked into getting a midwife (not legal in those days) and eventually found Dr. Fred Duhart (now dead), an osteopath whose specialty was home deliveries.  No drugs. Surrounded by my family and friends. When I was thirsty I got some 7-up, and after Virginia and Ian were born, we had cake and coffee with the doc.  Their births were a close second to skydiving...


  • So the lie is working for Chrysler. However, I did work for a short time at a pharmaceutical factory. My job involved working a machine where the two halves of a capsule were filled and then joined.  We were supposed to throw away the capsules that got dented or got holes in them. My problem was just about all of them had dents or holes, because I was such a klutz. I finally got fired when I cut the tip off one of my fingers with the machine and they had to pay for a trip to the emergency room. I was relieved---that place really stunk! 
        
            I know there are other writers brewing up tall tales right now. Linda O'Connell
is telling a lie...See if you can determine which one it is. Donna has got her pants on fire, she's such a liar...Barb--as expected--told her 4 truths and a lie in a poem that rhymes! There are others. Check them out.(And Fireblossom...I'll be on the look-out for yours!)