Jean and
Muriel came home from the hospital after the usual several days and
it seems to me that Jean’s mother was on hand for awhile that day
but mostly it was I coping with making baby formula for the first
time along with well the other rather unfamiliar household tasks, as
well as those specific to the homecoming. By the end of the day I was
exhausted and Jean still remarks how I snored that night.
Jean had
borrowed or obtained in some fashion a bassinet and Muriel slept in
that her first months. Often during our evening meal she would be in
a wakeful, fretful period and we would have her in the kitchen beside
us, where we would be moving the bassinet with one hand and eating
with the other.
I recall
that when Muriel was born she had little tufts of hair on the top
tips of her ears — I guess these little tufts soon disappeared as I
have no recollection of them later.
Girl
babies sometimes have a slight flow of blood, similar I suppose to
menstrual flow, shortly after birth. I (we) were unaware of this so
when it occurred with Muriel we were considerably perturbed until
reassured by the pediatrician. The latter was one Dr. Brown, who both
lived and had his office in a house in north Berkeley, sort of at the
point where the Alameda and the old Grove Street (now ML King Street)
meet.
Brown
was really a character, but he loved children and was very good with
them. He was one of the homeliest men I think I’ve ever seen — he
was called “Old Hatchet-Face” by his colleagues in the medical
profession and indeed the description was rather apt. One of Brown’s
recommendations was that orange or other citrus fruit should always
be eaten first, on an empty stomach, so that the body could best use
and assimilate the vitamins etc.
Jean’s
expenses at the hospital were I think covered by Shell’s medical
plan, but I’m not sure about this. I think both Dr. Aitken’s bill
for care during pregnancy (I think it was about $100–$150 for the
care through the delivery) and Brown’s package deal for the first
year of care for Muriel were our responsibility — at least I have
no recollection of submitting a claim to Shell for reimbursement. At
that time medical insurance coverage was just starting to be used;
nowadays much is made of the need for it — then most people just
did without and made do as best as possible.
One of
Jean’s recollections of Alta Bates, from her first birth experience
there as well as subsequent ones, was the wonderful meals that were
served. It was when Muriel was born that Jean met Lucille Piehl, who
was in the same two-person ward as Jean. Lucille was also having her
first child, Marybeth, and this chance meeting led to a long-time
acquaintanceship between our two families. The Piehls lived for a
long time in El Sobrante; we sort of lost track of them when they
moved to Napa. They had subsequently two boys, John and Billy. Billy,
the youngest, was one of the most appealing little boys I have ever
encountered.
Muriel and Carl, December 17, 1954
I have
various recollections of Muriel as a young child. She was an
inquisitive child and it was necessary to keep a close eye on her or
she would be “getting into things.” I suppose it was when she
started crawling or toddling around the kitchen that Jean resorted to
tying the cupboard handles together so that they couldn’t be
opened. And she spent time in the playpen — over the years we had
two different pens. The first one was the larger and we acquired it
secondhand I think. The bottom needed replacement which I made, but
what I made did not fold up as the original had so it wasn’t as
easy to transport. Later we disposed of it I think and purchased a
smaller one.
I can
still see Muriel standing in the first, larger playpen just beyond
the door into the dining room and adjacent the living room table (one
of the items that Jean brought with her). It was from the dining room
table where Jean had been sewing a shirt as a Christmas gift for my
brother Vincent and had left the buttons for the shirt that Muriel
reached and proceeded to swallow at least one of the buttons. We
recovered it (them) and they graced the final shirt.
It was
at a later time that Muriel scratched her name on the tabletop of
this same dining room table. Muriel was walking as I recall before
she was a year old and some time when she was a toddled we took her
with us when we attended an open house given by a Shell visitor from
Holland who was about to return to Holland. The visitor had rented a
bric-a-brac–filled house during his stay and I spent the time we
were at the open house following her around and steering her away
from all the little items she was attracted to.
It was
with Muriel that Jean obtained a little harness with a little leash
attached to use when she had her with her outside the house. I can
remember “losing” her when we were in Capwell’s in El Cerrito
plaza; I suppose this was before Jean had found the little leash.
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