HAPPY 41ST BIRTHDAY, MY BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER!!!! WOW!!! It seems like yesterday I gave birth to you!!!
I remember going into labor around 11:00 pm on Saturday, July 28th, 1979. I stayed up all night recording my contraction times on my word search puzzles which I continued to do until I was being prepped for your delivery. I was afraid to wake up your dad until I was positive I was in labor and the contraction times were consistent at five minutes apart because on Friday July 27th, I woke up your dad before he got up for work thinking I was in labor and we went to our doctor's office. It turned out to be false labor and your dad missed a whole day of work and pay. On top of that we dented another car opening our van's door in the doctor’s parking lot.
I woke up your dad around 5:00 am on Sunday, July 29th, telling him I was definitely in labor. We called our parents to meet us at the hospital. It was 6:00 am when we checked into the hospital. When our doctor came to check me he said to go out in the waiting room because I wasn't ready. I remember all of us watching an old Jimmy Stewart movie in the hospital lounge.
Around 9:00 am, two hours before you were born at 11:02 am, my doctor came to get me ready for your birth. Back then they encouraged natural childbirth which meant lamazze classes for the parents and the mother received nothing for pain unless it was absolutely necessary. I really wasn’t feeling much pain until they were prepping me to give birth to you.
Back then the doctor’s also rarely gave a mother a sonogram to find out the sex of the baby, so most mothers never knew for sure if they were having a boy or a girl. I always wanted a little girl. In all my dreams when I was pregnant, you were a girl. Also everyone around me guessed I was having a girl. I was so sure I was having a girl that before I gave birth to you a nurse asked me if I had a boy, did I want him circumcised? I told them I wasn’t having a boy but she said they needed to know just in case.
After you were born and they were wheeling us out of the delivery room your dad took a polarized picture of us. He borrowed the camera from someone else in the hospital.
All my dreams came true when I had you, my perfect little girl!!! We already had your first and second name picked out, Jennifer Mary (my mother’s and grandmother’s first name, and my middle name). Just in case we were all surprised and you turned out to be a boy, your name would have been Keith Merrick (half of your dad’s first name and half of his second name).
All my dreams came true when I had you!!! I had this beautiful and easy going, yet strong and independent daughter who was also beautiful (inside and out). You were my dream daughter who loved me unconditionally. I never felt I had unconditional love until I had you.
Even though you haven’t been on this Earth since you were 35 years old I would do anything to have you back here!!!! I still feel like the luckiest woman in the world because I had you!!! Even though the pain of knowing that for the rest of my life I will never see or hear you again, I would never give back those 35 years with you. Most mother’s never have a child as wonderful as you!!!
So again, Happy 41st Birthday, My Beautiful Daughter, Jenna aka Jenna Butt!!!