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     Our first daughter,Kitty  was born early.  We had spent the day at the drag strip and I stood all day.  Marvin blew the clutch in his 55 Chevy and we rode home in low gear about 15 miles.  I laid in the back seat and my back hurt so much, I could not believe it could hurt this bad, but only my back hurt.  After we got home, I bathed and went to bed about 9:00.  Marvin went down the street to his sister's to visit her husband and she came up to see me.  We were laying on my bed when my water broke.  I know I had a funny look on my face, because she asked me what was wrong.  I told her either my water broke or I just peed all over myself.  We called the Dr and he said go straight to St. Lukes Hospital.  I wasn't even packed, we weren't due for another 3-4 weeks.  We went to the hospital and got all admitted and put into a room.  This was the first grandchild on both sides, so everyone was in the room with me.  I had my first contraction.  It wasn't so bad and we decided to time them, like we were supposed to do.  Well, 3 minutes later I had another one, it hurt a lot more.  Then about 2 minutes later, another one and 30 seconds later another one and it hurt like the devil.  I felt funny down there and Marvin went and got the nurse.  She shooed everyone out and proceeded to lift the sheets and plopped them right back down and headed out of the room.  Well, things began to happen fast then and they wheeled me into the delivery room and I was given a sedative and put to sleep.  

     I didn't know anything for about 2 hours.  When I woke, everything was over. I had a single footling breech birth.  I think I am glad I was out.  Marvin was sitting by my bed.  He told me we had a problem and our daughter had a birth defect.  He said she had a short leg.  It never occurred to me that anything would be wrong with our child, my life had always been right on track and this was a curve I didn't anticipate.  When they finally finished her exam and brought her to me, yes she was perfect except for a short leg.  We had picked the name of Katrina Kay for a girl and Mitchell Dean for a boy.  We stayed in the hospital for 5 days making sure everything else was ok before they released her to come home.  I was a young nervous mother and thought babies were supposed to eat, sleep, poop and repeat.  Kitty cried and cried.  I seem to remember not sleeping for days.  When Marvin would come home from work, I said she is yours also, you hold her while she cries.  I think she was 8 months old before she slept all night.
     We were sent to a hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan that specialized in birth defects and the state paid for the medical expenses but we had travel expenses to get there and back. It seems Kitty had a Thalomide type of defect, she was born without a thigh bone and had only muscles to connect her leg to her torso.  She had a small foot with 4 toes that were webbed.  She was given an artifical leg when she was 16 months old and the next day she started walking and hasn't slowed down since.  We made regular trips to Grand Rapids during the early 60s to adjust her artifical leg to her growth.  Before she started to school, she had surgery to remove her toes and made her heel into a stump that fitted down inside an artifical leg.  She was in the hospital for several weeks, recuperating and learning how to walk again.  We couldn't afford to stay with her, so after her surgery, we came home and left her in the hospital alone.  When we came to pick her up, she called me Nurse.  It really about broke my heart.  It is not known what caused her problem, but she deals with it.  When she was a little girl, I told her she would always stand out in a crowd and that she could make that work to her advantage.  And I told her that people would remember her for how she acted more than anything else.  Kitty is my hero even as a small child.  We didn't treat her special and told her that she could try anything she wanted to do.  When the other kids went roller skating, she did also.  We went water skiing and she wanted to try, Marvin put her on a slalom ski between his legs and skiied with her.  Before long, she could come right up on one ski.  We lived in the country on a small acreage and she wanted to take horseback lessons. So she did and we bought her a horse.  She loved Isit.  She was just a grade mare but with enough spirit to enjoy and gentle enough for all of us to enjoy.
     It took a long time, but we decided to have another child.  Casandra Ann was born when Kitty was 7 and our family was complete.  The Dr told me at the first sign of labor to head for the hospital.  I worked at the IRS at the time and went in for my weekly visit at 8 months and he made me quit work that day.  He said I was 3 cm dilated and could deliver any time.  She didn't arrive for another 10 days so I had plenty of time to clean house, wash windows and get my nest ready for a newborn.  Again I had a terrific backache.  We went to the drive in and I ate pizza, popcorn, pretzels, candy and pop.  Along about 2:00am I decided something was up.  I took a shower and had a contraction in the shower.  We hurried and got on the road to StLukes in downtown KC and I had another contraction on the way.  It was a real gripper.  Marvin let me out and I waddled to the emergency room while he parked the car.  I told them I thought I wanted to be admitted.  They scrambled and found a wheel chair and got me to the correct floor.  The nurse checked me over and said I was at 4 and called the doctor.  She stood with her hand on my stomach for about 25 minutes to watch for contractions.  I could have told her that I wasn't having any.  When Dr. Shockley came to the hospital, he checked me and said I was a 10.  The nurse stuttered and said "But she didn't have any contractions."  I had another contraction as I was being put onto the labor table and getting my feet into the stirrups.  I had no anesthetic and it was to late for anything to take effect.  Casandra was on her way into the world.  We had another daughter and I was pleased with that.  I really wanted another daughter.  We only stayed a short time before we were sent home.  Candy slept like a baby was supposed to do.  Of course, I was more mature and could handle stress better myself.  But another problem developed, I started hemmoraging when Candy was about 3 weeks old.  I had to go to the hospital for an emergency D&C.  I had not had enough contractions to shedd all the after birth and when it finally came loose, I started bleeding.  I think that had it been 20 or 25 years earlier in time, I would probably have died giving birth.  Anyway I didn't and life rolled along.