She's A Birthday Girl...

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She was born on a beautiful spring day in 1964 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was in a hurry to get here -- arrived 3 days early! I will never forget the day. I had a doctor's appointment and couldn't find a sitter for our other 3 kids, so I dragged them all with me to the doctor's office. It was just a routine weekly checkup! But, we were all in for a surprise. Dr. Day told me that I had already dilated to 4 and I better get over to the hospital right away. His office was right across the street from Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City, so all I had to do was walk across the street.

Of course that was not an easy task, because I had my 3 other children with me! So, I borrowed the doctor's telephone and called a good friend, Barbara Swenson, who lived in Rose Park to see if she could come take the kids, and oh, by the way, could she also find Gerry? He was in Wyoming somewhere on a geology project! She was happy to help and came and picked up Kim, Mark and Debi. She said her husband Ron was still trying to locate Gerry (they worked at the same place -- Gladding McBean/Interpace Brick -- and he had some connections to find his whereabouts.) You have to realize that this was the 60's -- we didn't have cell phones back then! And Gerry was a geologist and was most likely out in the middle of some desert somewhere!

I went across the street to check myself in and told them I thought I was in labor, although I hadn't had a single pain. They were skepticle, but because they had an order from my doctor, they checked me in and wheeled me up to the labor area of OB. I was buffed, fluffed and prepped and checked and re-checked and all the time, everyone just kept shaking their heads, because I still didn't have any pains! When I had dilated to 8, they wheeled me into the delivery room where anesthesia was waiting to put in a caudle-spinal -- still I had no pains. Dr. Day arrived, checked me and had to break my water membrane (I never did have it break by itself -- in any of my pregnancies) -- and labor began in earnest! Three pushes later, there was our beautiful baby girl! And where was the dad? Who knew?

It wasn't until they were cleaning me up, that Gerry poked his head into the delivery room to let me know that he had gotten the news and that he was here. He missed it all. But, back in those days, the dads weren't allowed in delivery anyway, so the only part he missed was the pacing and taking me to the hospital. This was the second birth he was late for! He was in Lodi, California, when I went into labor in Santa Monica, California with Mark in 1960. Ah! The life of a geologist!

JerriAnne was a cutie. She looked, we decided, more like the Henderson side of the family than the Davenport side because we all thought she resembled Gerry's little sister, Joyce. We had a hard time getting the right name for her, too. I had picked out "Lisa" for a girl or "Scott Tracy" for a boy, but when we looked at that adorable little bundle of joy, neither one of us could see her as a "Lisa!" So we racked our brains for a new name. It was quite by accident that we stumbled on JerriAnne. I liked that it was after her father, and also, I had had a girl friend in high school named Jerri Anne. So, it was settled and by the time we were ready to check out of the hospital 3 days later, our new little addition had a name!

And for all of these years since that day, JerriAnne has been a joy in my life. She was an easy child to raise. She was always eagar to please and helped me so much in every way. We have struggled together through loss and disappointments and joys and sorrows and have come to a point in our lives when we realize just how much of a gift this beautiful girl-child-woman has been in my life.

I love you, JerriAnne -- have a wonderful, beautiful birthday. My best gift to you is all of my love on this day! ------------- MOM