Lucky Dorito

Dear Luby,

I can’t believe it’s already been TEN years since you joined our family! You were such a stinker, arriving 2 weeks early. I’ll never forget it:

I had carefully planned it all out. You were planned to arrive on December 14th during a scheduled C-section (which was a few days prior to your actual due date). I had scheduled my last patients on December 1st, planning to use the two weeks I was off work before your arrival date for Christmas shopping, decorating, and completing the nursery for you. But…… that final day I worked, I spent it counting the time between contractions while I treated my patients.

We joked all day that I might have to shove my patient out of the dental chair so I could give birth between patients.

I honestly didn’t expect those contractions to be real labor pains …. I thought I was having more of those darned Braxton-Hicks contractions that women have for weeks and weeks prior to the actual birth of their child. But, as the day progressed, my lower back began to hurt worse and worse.

Finally, about 4pm on that day, I called the doctor to tell him my contractions were coming fairly consistently every 5 to 6 minutes which wouldn’t ordinarily alarm me except for this terrible pain in my lower back. He said, “I’ll tell you what…. I’m headed over the hospital in about 30 minutes. Why don’t you run by there after you leave the office at 5pm and I’ll take a look at you?”

I said, “Ok but…. I am NOT having a baby today. I have lots to do first!”

He laughed and said, “We’ll see what happens.”

When I arrived at the hospital, Dr. A checked me out and said, “I think you’re going to have a baby. Very soon.”

I said, “Nooooooooo! Nooooooo! This was my LAST DAY AT WORK! I’ve got things to DO. I am not ready yet.”

He was just laughing and rolling his eyes at me. Apparently most women are ready to get it over with by the 9th month of being pregnant. Can you believe that?

He was very thoughtful for a few moments, trying to figure out how to proceed with this crazy pregnant woman, I’m sure. He finally said, “OK, I’ll tell you what. I will give you a sedative – it’s going to knock you out for a while tonight. If this is a false labor pattern that’s happening, the sedative will stop it. If it’s REAL labor beginning…. you’ll be back.”

I said, “Ok. But….. I’m not coming back tonight.”

We made a plan for me to meet him the following day at 1pm to check me again, to see what was happening.

I went home that night and promptly fell asleep from the sedative he gave me. I woke up early the next morning and showered, taking off to WalMart to get some shopping done. I knew before I was even out of the shower that morning that the contractions were back with a vengeance so I had to get a MOVE ON, just in case.

I walked around WalMart, stopping to breathe during the hardest of contractions…. because they were really beginning to get more difficult. I did it though – got everything on my list and then some!

When I got to Dr. A’s office at 1pm, I was in full-fledged labor – already about 6 cm dilated. He said, “All right, meet me over at the hospital and we’ll get this baby in your arms soon!”

I came home – spent a few hasty moments decorating the tree while your Dad called Mamma and Grandma and a few others – and then we rushed off to the hospital. You arrived a little after 5pm, December 2nd, 1999.

You were a beautiful baby, precious beyond belief. And you’ve grown into a beautiful young girl, still precious. And precocious. And a live-in comedian.

A full decade ago! That’s so hard to believe… where has the time gone??

I love you, my sweet Luby, my darling glue-girl.

Love,

Mom

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