they say it's your birthday.......

Julia was born on this day....Nov. 22

     I had a 61 Chevy Impala.  It used to be owned by a Chicago cop, and he installed a secret kill switch under the dash.  Turn the switch off, the car won't start.
     So there we are.  Nov. 21, a Saturday night.  Jackie and I were staying at my parents' house on the north side because that was closest to the hospital.  John came over and we fixed him up with Janet, a nursing student at the U of I.
     We were playing cards at the dining room table.  Jackie had a bad back ache.  At about 11 she went upstairs to the bathroom, and minutes later yelled down, "My water broke."
     So we jumped into action.
     John ran to get the car, which was parked on the next block.  Jackie was having contractions.  We are in the house when John comes running back up yelling, "The car won't start."
    Damn kill switch.
     I grab the keys and race to the next block, get the car and drive back and pick up the whole group.
     We drive to the hospital and John lets Jackie and me off in the ER and takes Janet back to her dorm.
     And the waiting starts.
     Now Jackie had the same doctor who delivered her....Dr. Friedman.  I don't know how old he was, but he was, how shall I say it, not young.  (And the doctor bill for his services from first visit to delivery was $150....paid in small amounts over the 9 months.)
     She sleeps, I sit in the waiting room.  At some point John had come back and gone home.  During the morning, Billy G. had stopped by to wish us well.  (Billy lived across the alley from John and he was going to be a Catholic priest until the 68 Democratic National Convention, when he snuck on to McGovern's floor in a Chicago hotel, met a nice young Jewish girl, fell in love and got married.)
     Come to think of it, I only saw Billy twice after we got married.  Once when Jackie was having Julia, and again when she was pregnant with Emily.  Good thing he didn't come around more often!
     Dr. Freidman came out and told me it was going slow and he wished she would hurry up because he had Bears' tickets and it was a noon kickoff.
     Sometime after 12, she went into labor and they wheeled her into delivery.  I was not allowed.  I don't believe I even had the option.
     What seemed forever passed until he came rushing out.  "It's a girl.  Every body's fine.  I can still make the second half." And he was gone.
     Just seconds later a nurse came out carrying this bundle.
     Julia had been sideways.  Luckily another doctor was also delivering a baby and when our doctor ran into trouble, the other guy stepped in.  He had to use a forceps to reposition her in the birth canal.
     And she had had a bm during the delivery process.
     So the nurse has this little bundle and says to me, "Would you like to see your beautiful daughter?"
     I looked at our baby.  She was covered with brown shit, blood, mucus and had these huge red marks from the forceps all over her head.
     I nearly threw up.
     "She'll look a lot better once we clean her up," the nurse said.
      I hope so galloped through my brain!
     And she did.  She was a beautiful girl.  The red marks faded in a few days, everyone was healthy, and the Bears beat the Bills 31-13.  Bobby Douglas was the Bears QB back then and was a terrible passer.  That day he had 8 completions in 20 attempts, and four of the catches were TDs. (I looked that up!)
     Dr. Freidman made it for the second half.
     Now Jackie may dispute some of this....but she can do her own blog.  This is my story, and I'm sticking to it.
      Happy birthday!