A birthday in our family

25 years ago, today (24th April), my wish for a daughter finally came true.

We already had 2 sons. I had been trying to find out the sex of our 3rd child for weeks, even right up until 3 days before the birth, but I was told "Don't buy anything pink". At that stage, I was sure I was having another son.

She was in a hell of a hurry to be welcomed into the world., too.

At the time, we lived in a rural community. The town's Doctor was away on leave. Just after 1am, I woke feeling a little 'off', but I'd been getting up every 2 hours to hand drip feed a litter of 5 puppies that we'd found dumped at the local tip - but, that's a story for another day.

After checking the puppies, and finding them all asleep, I made a coffee and sat at the kitchen table. Hubby woke and came to find why I was up. My back was sore, then I began to experience cramps. We had a friend who lived on a farm just out of town who was on stand-by to be called when the time arose to give birth, but I knew she was going away that morning. Hubby asked if he should call her. I was undecided and remember saying "I don't know - she'll kill me if this is a false alarm."

After 5 more minutes, I changed my mind - contractions were coming one on top of the other, and that was intense to put it mildly. Our friend was called. It took her 10 minutes to get to our house. (She must have driven like a maniac)

When we heard her car, hubby went to answer the door to let her in, and I stood up from the table. My waters broke all over the floor. We lived 5 streets away from the hospital. Hubby called them to say we were coming in, but was told as there was no doctor, we'd have to travel to the next town - 40 minutes away!

When he hung up, he said he was going to call the ambulance. At this stage, I felt like I had to push, so hubby called the hospital back and told them we were coming in, and that I wouldn't make it to the next town.

Dressed in just a t-shirt, on the coldest night of the month (if I recall correctly, it was around 1 degree Celsius), hubby walked me to our van. I had to get in the back, on all fours, for the 5 street drive to the hospital. Baby was coming whether we wanted it to, or not. When he screeched to a halt at the hospital doors, they came out with a wheelchair. There was no way I could sit with a baby's head between my legs. But I couldn't walk the distance to the birthing room, either, so I stood on the thing like a stiff board - feet on the metal things, with straight arms and hands gripping the armrests.

They practically ran as they wheeled me. Within minutes, I had to get up on a bed that was waist height - which wasn't going to happen, so I just laid across it with hubby supporting my shoulders off the other side. My labor, from start to finish, was 21 minutes long, and a midwife was responsible for helping with the delivery. When she called out for the other nurse to "Call the doctor!" in a panic, I began to panic. The chord was wrapped a few times around babies neck. Once the midwife sorted that - baby was born in an instant, but whisked off with blue lips. I didn't even know if I had a boy or a girl until hubby leaned over and said I'd got what I wanted. Yay. I finally had a daughter.

So, HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY, CASSANDRA. (Can't believe our baby is 25 years old today - or "Halfway to 50" as she said the other night on the phone)

We love you.