Big Joe Reminisces About Lil' Pete

Peter was like the other 6 OP's, born 10 to 14 days after the due date.

We finally figured out that Mom was a late ovulater.

I was in the second year of my premed studies at Mankato State, below

the hill and then located more or less near the Courthouse.

In utero Peter was a contrary little fellow,,,As the last two or three

weeks approached he was in breech position, not the best for a large

baby. I manually turned him several times and finally he stayed put,

although in a posterior position. And in that position he was born

weighing in at nine pounds and thirteen ounces at the Winnebago Hospital

with the left-handed Dr. Halvorsen in attendance once again. Births in

the posterior position, albeit head first, cause tremendous low back

pain during the birthing. Peter's mother will attest to that. And

paracervical blocks are not terribly effective.

After the usual five days of postpartum convalescence and multiple

visits from friends and family Peter, Joey, and Mom were transported to

our rented home on Cornelia Street in North Mankato.

It needs to be said that Peter had a round head, hardly any visible

neck, reddish hair, what there was of it, (he still notes an occasional

reddish hair in his current beard), and he was so cute! He was given to

crying a lot the first few days. He did not have a clue about

thumbsucking, and, any way, we hoped to avoid his older brother's means

of solace.

Finally, in exasperation, and at 10:30 PM I rushed to the nearest

drugstore and purchased a "Binky", a British name for a pacifier. He

took to the Binky like a duck to water and peace returned once again to

our humble abode on Cornelia Street, North Mankato.

With the coming of later children we learned of a tremendous product

called "diaper liners". The children were still wearing cloth diapers.

The beauty of the diaper liner was that the paper liner and its contents

could be flipped into the toilet and flushed without plugging the

plumbing, saving much time and the nastiness of handscrubbing the

diapers!

Diaper service was available at the time but we could not afford it.

Later when we tried it it was our opinion that we could do a better job

ourselves. For anyone interested we still have some of the nice "clean",

well used diapers which make make damn good dishtowels. No, they are not

for sale!

Grandma Mary was always worried about Peter's welfare in utero because

Mom carried Joey around propped on top of her tummy and, therefore, atop

poor Peter.

Joey was delighted to have a brother except for picking up after him.