Friday night, Sabbath, Sunday, March 1-3, 2013

Special Tribute to my number 1 daughter, Natasha, whose birthday I forgot earlier in the week!

John said I was radiant

Having a mother who was a nurse-midwife gave me an early and deep love for everything maternal, like marriage, pregnancy, and babies.  John and I got married when I was 25 and I had no idea that it would be almost 11 years before I'd have my first baby.  But life happened differently than I'd thought and after much waiting, Natasha Nicole was born when I was 36 and John was 39.  We were definitely old enough to be grandparents.  Having my first child over 35 made me an "elderly primip", medically speaking, with added risks.  Thankfully, I was healthy and only the conceiving was difficult...well, I take that back.  Delivery was, too.

It just so happened that we were living in Vallejo, CA, and dear old friends Cyndee and Gary Watts, lived nearby.  Cyndee and I had gone to Greater Boston Academy together.  Gary was an OB-GYN at Kaiser Hospital.  He took especially good care of me!  Natasha was 5 days overdue, she was not thriving, mom had to leave soon, AND Gary was going off call.  So he induced me

Muir Beach trip day after my due date

with a prostaglandin gel on my cervix, Friday evening, February 24.  Labor was approaching anyway and this enhancement kicked it into gear; labor pains 2 minutes apart for 12 hours and a long time pushing.  I had wanted to walk during labor but I was just too miserable.  I wanted to squat and use the birthing chair but they just didn't work for me.  John, my mom, my sister, Juli, and Gary, were all with me, taking breaks, even, but I had to do the hard work of labor and needed all of their help!  To this day, I contend that it is the mother who needs the gifts on the child's birthday!

Dr. Gary Watts, OB-GYN and dear friend

In retrospect, and knowing better what to do when Karissa was born, I realized that I was a bit reluctant to push as I needed to.  All first time moms are worried about "pooping" when pushing and I was no exception.

When Natasha was born I was wrung out and looked even worse than I felt!  John and I just looked at our pictures of Natasha's birth, and one of my captions says just that.  I looked and felt awful!  Natasha was beautiful and perfect but because she was not pinking up real well, they took her off my chest and suctioned her out, then wrapped her warmly.  She'd just had some mucous that

Our darling, alert newborn, Natasha Nicole

needed cleaning out.  John held her then and talked to her for a good 20 minutes.  She was alert and listening and a marvelous bond was formed right then that John often alludes to as the highlight of his life. 

Like I said, getting pregnant took a long time.  I was probably 33 or 34 when we started to try.  After a year with no luck, Gary did some initial blood work and found out that my Prolactin was elevated; it's the hormone present during lactation.  To rule out some kind of Pituitary tumor, I had a CT scan done. It was fine.  At that time, they prescribed Parlodel to bring down the prolactin.

It's a Girl!  Welcome home!

The other problem that I noted was that my cycle was short; instead of the 28 day normal cycle, mine was more like 22 or 23 days long.  So, even if an egg was fertilized, there was insufficient build-up in the uterus to support implantation.  About that time, I started taking my temperature every day in order to better pinpoint ovulation.  One day, I noticed that my temperature didn't go up at the 10th day as happened when my cycle was short.  It didn't go up until the 13th day--a normal cycle.  Then, it didn't go DOWN.  I knew this was a good sign.

I worked at the Health Department at that time and Lily, one of our Family Planning staff, had always told me that she was the one who would do my pregnancy test.  So when my period didn't start and my temperature was still elevated, I timidly brought her a urine sample.  She was delighted and we both watch apprehensively, then delightedly as the dot turned blue, indicating a positive test.  I was amazed and thrilled and incredulous!

Baby Natasha with mom and dad at four weeks

Right away I called John.  He was working at Hewlett-Packard.  His friends gave him very good advice.  They sent him home early and told him to buy some flowers and bring them to work to me.  He did and I was so thrilled.  That night, though he had always been a "reluctant" father, he said, "I have a name for a baby girl...Natasha."

Praise God, we had no complications during pregnancy, just a happy time enjoying what I had waited so long to experience.  John said I was radiant and I sure felt that way.

The result of that waiting was Natasha Nicole Knobloch.  She just turned 24 last Monday.  Today, she is married to Jeremy Micheff.  She is a psyche nurse and full time student.  In December she will graduate as a family nurse practitioner.  John and I could not possibly be any more proud of her...our number one daughter!