This should probably be titled "For Women Only". New babies … they are everywhere you look.  Take a ride around the countryside and you will see them. There is nothing in the world as pretty as a newborn calf. Of course, that is up to three days old. Then they start getting dirty and it’s all over.

   This being the baby season causes this one to think about the birth of her own babies. Gee – I should probably do a four-part series of birthin’ babies since that’s how many I know about. Maybe .  Get a bunch of women gathered around and start telling baby stories and I doubt if there are any two alike.

One of our babies was born in Aztec, NM, in the doctor’s office, by appointment. We set the delivery date after figuring out Ed’s work schedule and determined which days he would be on a "long-change" the first part of November. A long-change started at 8 a.m. on Thursday and ended at 3 p.m. Sunday, so that would give us enough time to deliver and get settled back in. My mother came to town and took the first two kids home with her for the week.

We showed up at the doctor’s office downtown Aztec at 9 a.m., Nov. 14, 1961. The birthing processes was started and the shots continued throughout the day as he tended to his regular patients. Ed and I sat in the lobby with the others until I was "ready". Long story short, Bill was born at 5. The nurse went home, the doctor went for the newspaper and coffee and Ed went next door for burgers and fries.

The cost - $100 for a girl; $110 for a boy … snip snip is $10 extra you know. My God ... she will talk about anything! We received prescriptions for birth control pills (new on the market) and diet pills and  within half an hour we were having cake and coffee with our friends back in our home in Farmington. Bill’s older brother looked into the bassinet and said, "I don’t like him … throw him in the garbage." That first night with a newborn was very interesting, but that's another story!

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