08.31.06
“They say it’s your birthday. It’s my birthday too, yeah…” The Beatles
This is fondly known in my immediate family as “birthday week.” Mine was a couple of days ago; Fyre’s is today - Happy Birthday! - And my youngest, RC2, has a birthday the next day. In addition, there are lots of friends whose birthdays fall in this general time frame. My theory is that in the later fall, the weather gets chilly and folks start getting pretty cozy. Next thing you know, we end up with lots of babies in the late summer. I used to cringe during my fertile days when October/November rolled around. I’ve had more pregnancies than I’d like to recall with only three going full term. I am very lucky to have those three and my two grands. I am also very lucky to be able to relax when those cozy, cuddly months come around now. Menopause, once you get through the years long roller coaster ride, is actually a wonderful thing. Anyway, I’m getting off-track here. I remember waiting for Fyre. She was due on my birthday. X thought it would be fun to throw me a small birthday party. Everyone sat around watching me, waiting for something to happen. It was one of the weirdest birthdays I’ve ever had - and I’ve had a lot of them. I finally went to bed and let them party without me. Sure enough, as soon as I went into our bedroom, the party kicked in. They could only think about Fyre’s impending birth with me in the room. Luckily she didn’t come the next day, because everyone was hung over and wouldn’t have been any help at all. X’s sister had come down from San Francisco to be here when Fyre arrived and was getting impatient. We were all so naive. They all believed that if that were the due date, that was when she would come. I knew better, but there was no telling them. Anyway, the 2nd day after my birthday, soon after dinner (during which I had again been the entertainment as we all watched Fyre roll around in utero knocking over my plate of spaghetti that had been balancing on my huge belly), my water broke. I had originally planned to hitchhike to the hospital, but had been talked out of it by my now best friend who had gotten busted in Disneyland with us a few weeks before. I guess she was the sensible one, if any of us had any sense at all. We called the doctor, then her for a heads up (she was the only one in our circle of friends with a car, which is probably why I had figured on hitching a ride) and managed to stay home until morning. I had hoped to avoid repeating my mother’s tendency to have long, hard labors, but was doomed by heredity and scoliosis. I ended up being induced with pitocin in the late morning. It was horrible. My contractions immediately went from very mild to very hard and fast. It was still many more hours with a grumpy substitute doctor. I was very happy to see and hold my lovely daughter, who has grown up to be FyreGoddess. Her aunt, X’s sister, had waited patiently and gazed at her through a window. I know they say that babies can’t see very far or well at that age, but we all swore that their eyes connected at that moment, and I know they always had a special bond. My life was changing very rapidly. Here I was a married woman, whom I swore I would never be, and now a mother too. I was completely in love with my daughter and very excited to take on this new challenge. I felt a part of something and complete for the first time in my life. I was ecstatic!