BIOGRAPHY OF: ROSE MARIE GIROUARD

BORN: June 3, 1957 - Monday - 6:21 p.m.
Tacoma, WA. USA
St. Joseph's Hospital
Dr. David F. Dye & Dr. Bass
7 lbs. 3 oz. - 19 1/2 inches long
Footling birth (feet first)

Rose was born with club feet (she had stood on them for most of the 9 months - she never turned, always kicked in same spot; maybe because I was really frightened by a peeping-tom, when I was a few weeks pregnant.

Casts were put on her feet at 3 days old. When they were removed (by her Dad, by soaking in warm water with vinegar in it and using his jack knife, he thought he had slipped and cut her, once.) And, he had me 'look'...because he was shaking so badly.

From then on, she wore corrective shoes, up until she was 10-12 years old.

I had morning sickness that started about the sixth week of pregnancy and lasted for another six weeks. I was anemic and had to take iron pills. It was a normal pregnancy, except for Rose never turning around, inside me. Footling birth. Rose Marie was named after our favorite song, "Rose Marie" - sung by Nelson Eddie and Marie McDonald.

We moved back to Leominster, Massachusetts when she was just 9 months old. I flew back with her, and I was pregnant for Joey. Joe came in a few months, when he was able to get an early-out from the Air Force. They had offered it to him, a few months earlier...but at the time, he felt to stay in for the full term. I got a bad case of "homesickness"...first, last, and only time; so wanted to go back to MA.

When Rose was 11 months old, our doctor discovered she could not stand and it was because she was found to have a congenital hip problem (no hip socket on her right side). Dr. John M. Cummings was our pediatrician.

She was brought to Children's Hospital in Boston, MA. The anesthetized her and put hip ball in place - then put her into a cast. When they took x-rays, they discovered it wasn't in exactly the right place - so, the operation was repeated. They didn't "cut", but worked the bones into place: it was still called an operation.

The cast went from her armpits down to her toes - "spread eagle". Then, she had to be strapped to a frame that was in her crib; with the head slightly elevated. There was an opening in the cast, so she could go to the bathroom. We had to place a pan beneath the frame, to catch the refuge - no more diapers for awhile.

Dad built a carriage so that she could sit upright during the day and we could take her places outside.

She remained in the cast for 7 months - having larger casts made, as she grew. Finally the cast was bi-valved (sliced in two); top half being removed so we could take her out of it, to exercise. We had to begin to exercise her legs - bringing them down to normal position over a period of many weeks. If we did it too fast, it would break her legs.

She walked at 2 years old - no limp - a real miracle, our doctor said. Rose continued to wear corrective shoes; still, no arch formed, but the club feet were corrected.

She had her tonsils out after recovering from acute tonsillitis (all prescribed meds didn't work) - she and Dave were both in the hospital together, with it. Dave never did have to have his out.

She had stitches taken on the outside of her wrist, when she put her hand through a kitchen window - while she was fighting with Joey, when she was around 12 years old. We had let her babysit and 7 siblings were just too much for her to control.

Dad nicknamed her "GUNGA-DIN". And, then Mom nicknamed her, "Mit-Mot-Da-Pot". Rose used to say that a lot. We didn't know where she got the expression (she was about 1 1/2 years old). One day she was watching TV (her favorite show, "Beany & Cecil"; she called to me and said, "Mit-Mot-Da-Pot". Beany & Cecil were on one of their many treasure hunts, while they sailed around the world). Beanie was a cartoon kid, with a pinwheel on his cap, and Cecil was a seasick sea serpent; there was also a fat, little sea captain. They were always looking at a treasure map with "X MARKS THE SPOT" on it. Rose repeated, "MIT-MOT-DA-POT!". Now we knew where it came from...

Rose went to a Catholic school for two years, until we became "Born Again" Christians and then she went to public school. Her first teacher was a Mrs. Wheeler; she asked us why Rose was always removing her shoes and socks in school. All we could think of was that her corrective shoes wee uncomfortable. She used to put her toes in her mouth and chew her toenails. Doctor said that, eventually, she wouldn't be able to get her toes up to her mouth!

Around this time, we had gone to see a man who walked across the USA, carrying a cross. His name was Arthur Blessit. Rose was very impressed by the words that he spoke, and she made a commitment to our Lord at that time. I'm not sure if this was the first commitment that she really made on her own. She did make a commitment, a couple of years earlier (with the Billy Graham Crusade, that was on TV) - but, maybe it was more peer-pressure than anything else. Or, maybe this time...she was re-dedicating herself.

She made a dress in Junior High School that won First Prize and a picture in our local newspaper. They took her picture on our front hall steps. She also won a watch, when she sewed a cape. It had a white background, with a thin blue and a thin green line through it. She always enjoyed sewing.

Rose had asthma really bad from the time she was 2 years old, until almost 12 years old. When we became Christians, we prayed for the 6 children who had asthma and all of them were healed.

She had all diseases or the shots to protect - mumps shot, included. Rose caught chicken pox in school and proceeded to bring it home to the 5 other children; Andrew was a newborn and didn't get it that time around.