She was born on June 18, 1965 and the day began with me having a pain in my eye every twenty minutes. A sharp needle like pain would cause my eye to water so I called my eye doctor who was in downtown Denver. "Someone needs to look at that eye," he said, "but since you cannot get into downtown, I'll give you a name of a doctor on the west side of town. My in-laws were visiting from Peru, and my mother-in-law said, "The baby will be born today." I told her that my eye had nothing to do with my pregnancy and I drove to have my eye checked. The doctor could find nothing wrong with my eye. He had no explanation as to why I would get a pain and tears would gush out of one eye. He advised me to go home and rest.
Arriving home I tried to take a nap but suddenly I felt a contraction. Maybe my mother-in-law was right and my baby would make an appearance. My husband arrived home from work around 5:30 p.m and we began our frantic journey to the hospital. Since it was rush hour, it seemed as if we were stuck in traffic, that he hit every red light and every time I got a contraction I would scream, "hurry up!" At the hospital the nurses checked me and said, "It's a false labor, you have not dilated and you can go home." The nurses kidded us and told us that the baby was not as ready as we were!
My husband was looking in the closet for my shoes when I felt a gush of water but this time it was not from my eye! "Call the nurse," I yelled. "I can't find your shoes," he said. I exclaimed, "Forget the damn shoes, call the nurse, my water just broke." When the nurse arrived she was surprised because I was almost ready to give birth. They called my doctor and he was at a car dealership looking at cars for his large family. There was no time to prep me as I was rolled into the delivery room. A doctor on duty came in and in a few minutes, after a few contractions, I watched in a mirror as my daughter slipped out. She was placed on my stomach and she felt like a burning cinder. She was a darkish-purple color, had a full head of hair, and seemed to be asleep. I felt a peacefulness and tiredness come over me and I wanted to sink into a deep sleep. I fought to stay awake for fear that if I dozed off I might never wake up again! Everyone did their part and I was holding my precious daughter within twenty minutes of being born. I was told her coloring was because of the iron in my system!
I couldn't help thinking how different this birth had been compared to when my son was born. She had arrived without much ado in a quick and easy manner. I didn't need any drugs, I was not put to sleep, and I was able to watch the miracle of birth. My husband was informed that our daughter was born and he went to call my mother. Knowing what a kidder he was, she did not believe him. "You just left for the hospital a short time ago, how could she have been born already?" she asked. It took him a few tries before he convinced her that our daughter had arrived.
He looked in through a small window in the door and I held up our baby. In those days, no one outside the medical staff was allowed in the delivery room.
Only a mother knows the feeling of pride and joy when she looks at her new born. The tiny being is so perfect. My baby weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20 inches long. My daughter was a quiet and peaceful baby. During the time I carried my children, the way they moved inside me sort of showed what their personalities would be. She would gently roll while he jabbed, kicked, and poked. My doctor came rushing in after it was all over, and he said he expected a long birth like my son's had been. He was the one that made the remark, "You're baby arrived so fast and so quietly, that I would say she is the calm after the storm!" I've always thought he meant that my son was the storm and my daughter was the calm but as I write I wonder if he was just being literal meaning a calmness after the flood!
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