Happy Birthday Olivia!

By Suzanne, on March 21st, 2010

Olivia: lots of hair. Me: very anemic.

Ten years ago today I had a baby girl.

My first birth was a long drawn-out nasty induction.

This one, my second? Two hours start to finish. Yes, I was induced, per usual, because of my bad habit of developing pre-eclampsia. However, I was past dates, it was my second birth, and we were Ready To Go.

She was born at 11 am on the first day of spring. We had to wait for the doctor to show up. He sauntered in wearing his Porche jacket, not realizing how far along we were, and ended up delivering her just like that.

She had so much hair he took personal polaroids to show everyone because he swore he'd never, ever delivered a baby with "hair like that." It was a circus in the delivery room. I'm a fan of private birth, but this one was a party. Everyone on the floor had to see this baby with the huge head of thick long hair.

The nurses kept coming up with reasons to take her to the nursery and every time they brought her back she had a new hairstyle. This all seems crazy to me now. I realized later my babies were mine and no one else needed to be touching them for any reason. But that's another entry.

There's something wonderful about having a baby in the spring. I've done it three times now. I must just be fertile in July. Each time, I've found out I was going to have a baby on my birthday in August. Then I'd get busy with back-to-school, all the holidays, and by the time I got all that taken care of, it was time to get ready for the baby. Plus I didn't have to suffer through the summer heat. Babies in the spring is the Bambi way!

I named her Olivia Suzanne. Yes, I did. My parents didn't give me a middle name. I think girls deserve one just as much as boys do. My dad's argument was that Atwood, my last name, would turn into my middle name. Well, it was. For a while. Now it's just my whole name. I think a girl needs to have her Own Names. Others considered: Genevieve, Josephine, Lily. Olivia was the only one her dad would agree to. He wanted to name her Sally. That's what his old car was named, so um, no. Plus he said Josephine sounded like a cowgirl, but Sally didn't?

Girlfriends.

Yesterday she had a friend party. Things I got to see: her friends love her. Like, truly love her. They also asked, didn't you invite Queen Bee Mean Girl of the Fourth Grade? Olivia shrugged it off saying, "She's not really nice or my friend."

Mmmm...Cupcakes!

Best kid birthday party trick ever. Don't frost the cupcakes. Have them do it as part of the festivities!

I have about a billion photos that look like this one.

Ten-year-old girls are fun. They are this perfect balance between little girl and young woman. They were poised, funny, silly, hyperactive, witty, kind, happy.

Why yes, that is a Hannah Montana balloon bouquet. Why do you ask?

I'm not sure The Parent Trap was the best idea, but Olivia had only seen it once a long time ago and really wanted to watch it again. I did explain that it was fictional and never going to happen. The kids blew me off. "We know that, Mom!" and then added, "Besides, you never had twins!"

I also kept the Where Are They Now? conversation to a minimum.

It was a great time. Then I took the kids back to their dad's house per our custody arrangement and collapsed for a while. I left the mess for Olivia to clean up today. It's just a 15 minute job with a black garbage bag, and I should have had her do it last night, but she has the privilege of doing it tonight.