August 26 1955
when marie had given birth to her third child the previous April,
she waited too long to go to the hospital, nearly dropped him
in the elevator, and developed a life-threatening hemorrhage.
so with this baby she made sure to get to the hospital
in plenty of time. unfortunately, the [female]
obstetrician [not easy to find in the 1940's
and 1950's] who had delivered all of her
children in culver city had died after
john's birth. the family had moved into their
new home in torrance as well.

although he certainly knew of marie's history,
the [new, male] OB, when the hospital called to
let him know of her arrival, said, "oh, she won't
go for hours," and did not report to the scene
in time to catch marie's baby number four. this
was a problem for the nurses and/or orderlies
attending marie. legend has it they did everything
short of sewing her shut to stop the new baby's arrival.
they held her legs together. the story i been told for
all my life is that marie was pretty pissed about
this treatment, and that there was not a soul alive
or dead inside that hospital that day who didn't know it.

home movies document the next day, when marie,
still pissed, took her newborn daughter out of the
hospital against medical advice. they show the family
lined up in the back of a suburban tract home in
the pouring heat. according to marie it was 115 degrees
outside, and the only person who wasn't bothered by the heat
was the baby.

i always wondered how my mom knew i wasn't bothered by the
heat! i mean christ, one hundred fifteen degrees?! all you can
see in the movies is the blanket and the bald head of a newborn.
anyhow, that 5 pound baby girl is considerably bigger today.
hehe - and she weighs more, too.

half a century. bekah! i did it. amen

- posted by barbara @ 8/26/2005 05:45:00 AM