30 years ago today at about this time I was checking into Mountain View Community Hospital. I was 17, and very, very pregnant. The first due date I was given was November 17th; five days short of a month later I was wondering if my daughter would ever choose to be born, or if she had decided to take up permanent residence in my womb. After 10 months of pregnancy it didn’t seem impossible.
My water had broken at about six AM and no amount of wishing had manifested a single contraction, despite the on and off Braxton Hicks I’d been having for weeks.
I was prepared. I had my little LaMaze bag in my lap as I sat in a wheelchair filling out paperwork. My tennis balls and can for those low back massages, both sweet and sour lollipops for the dry mouth, baby-powder and lotion for belly rubbing.
I’d be sorry later that I had spent the morning applying coat after careful coat of “Million Dollar Red” lacquer to my long fingernails, but since I didn’t know that then, I admit I was admiring the color and shine as my pen hand moved over the forms.
Checked into a lovely Labor Room with my husband we arranged the room to our comfort, the pleasant rose walls and bright sunlight streaming in through the louvered blinds in sparkling bars of light.
My labor was induced with a tiny pill under my upper lip and finally the contractions began. Woo Hoo! Time to use all that well practiced breathing. 7 hours of intense labor later (It came on really fast back then when they induced) I whispered to the nurse as I caught my breath between contractions, “Maybe just a little shot? A short break?” At only 5 centimeters dilation and no end in sight I was ready for a little breather. So much for “Natural” childbirth!
Although I didn’t know it, I didn’t have much longer to wait. My girl was wedged between my back and my pelvic bones, which wouldn’t open for the life of me.
At 9 PM it was decided that I should have an “emergency C- sec” and I believe my words to the Dr. when he told me were something like, “Fine. Just put me out before the next contraction, damnit!”
Now seriously, 5 minutes before the Doctor made his decision, insane breathing and contractions all aside, it was pretty peaceful. Next thing I knew they were shaving everything they had missed the first time around, and I was flying down the hallway on a gurney surrounded by nurses and other green and pink clothed people wondering what the rush was. Someone noticed my nails and freaked. “Get some acetone!” And then someone was spearing my beautiful Million Dollar Red across my hands, their hands, the sheets and everywhere.
In just a few minutes it seemed, I awoke seemingly alone in the green tiled operating room. Seriously. Not even into recovery yet and croaked “Where’s my baby?” Someone answered, “She’s with the pediatrician and her Daddy. She’s perfect”.
As I drifted back off I remember thinking “Of course she’s perfect”.
And she was.
And she is.
She is the love of my life and the single best thing I have ever made or done is her.
Happy Birthday, my angel; My Fawn. I love you.

So here’s the concept for Only The Good Friday. Shelly at This Eclectic Life says:

We are living in some pretty negative times, aren’t we? You can’t pick up a newspaper or turn on the television without hearing more bad news about the economy, the war, the stock market, the political candidates. I think that many of us are living in a state of fear (though I’m in the state of Texas).

Fear feeds upon itself. It’s like a contagious virus. I’m tired of adding to it. I want to start another kind of “virus.”

You see, I think that optimism can be contagious, too. If we consciously try to look at the good in the world around us, it will become easier to see.

Thorne’s words on Only the Good:

I really like this idea. Any of you regulars who have peeked in on Thorne’s World once in awhile over the last year know that between my political activism and blogging, and some pretty heavy personal life stuff, I kinda crashed. Well; no “kinda” about it. The world and life pretty much kicked my ass into a sever depression that I have been trying to pull out of for the last several months. It’s rough for me once I hit the blog, because I seem to have gotten caught up in everything that’s wrong, and when I check in online I still see so much that outrages or upsets me that I have a bit of a hard time keeping to my resolve to try to stay a little calm and happy and out of the outrage and anger and sadness. Shelly’s meme is so GOOD for me!! No matter what’s going on, on Fridays at least I can say to myself “Turn it around, woman! What can you say-think-write-feel-do today that is good?! Positive! Hopeful!!”
Won’t you join us?? Help spread the good love for Only The Good Friday!