Happy Birthday, Meagan!
It was a warm, sunny morning, 38 years ago. After a good night's sleep, I rolled out of bed at 7:00, and immediately had a contraction. That was nothing new; I'd been having contractions off and on for a month. But since we had already waited for five days beyond my due date, I was hopeful that this contraction was signaling the start of real labor. I was really hoping that this baby wouldn't make me wait as long as big sister, Erin, who had been born 10 days late. I got dressed quickly, and helped three-year-old Erin get dressed, as well, before we all sat down for breakfast. I doubt if I ate much. I don't remember where Bill was working that day--perhaps he was doing a repair at one of the apartments he managed, or he might have been working at a construction job somewhere. Either way, in that time before cell phones, he promised to call me every hour throughout the morning to check on me. Mom had flown into the Scottsbluff airport a few days earlier to help after the...