Michal was born on June 26, 1975. We lived in a little cottage in the woods on the border of an exclusive golf course which we had purchased for only $900. I will always remember the day when my husband, Keith, came into our little apartment in town and took me by the hand, and with my protruding belly, marched me out to the car. He drove to this secluded spot off the beaten path....there, surrounded by woods and the edge of a green fairway, was a vandalized little building, overgrown with weeds. As we stumbled along on the property, looking at the broken windows and battered insides, my misgivings began to unravel as I saw my husbands enthusiasm and excitement......we knew with some work, this could be our new home.
After a search for the owner, we sold our car and with that money we secured the property and building for what was owed to the bank. We put in a wood stove, painted and repaired the inside and out, and made the entry into a room for our new baby. I should say - Keith repaired and painted and put in the stove......I was too sick. My extreme morning sickness had become debilitating.
Keith and I took Lamaze classes for natural childbirth and read every book we could get our hands on. We packed our "to go" bag and waited. It was a sunny bright morning in New England the day my water broke. She was two weeks late, and she had not turned . . . she was going to be born bottom first......
My doctor allowed me to give birth to her naturally. In spite of the difficulty, she only took 8 hours to be born......but it took me two weeks in the hospital to recover! Those were the days when hospitals didn't rush you home..... sitz baths for me and nurses taking care of Michal. I rested and ate and wrote thank you's for shower gifts. Because I chose to nurse her, she stayed in my room.... unless I was sleeping... then they carefully took her and cared for her til I woke up.
We were so happy to come home nonetheless......as we stepped out of the hospital doors and carried her into the sun, she sneezed. To this day, she still always sneezes when she comes out into the sun. It serves to remind me of that delightful day we brought our beautiful daughter home.....and she was so beautiful....clever, deep blue eyes, and wispy golden hair. As young new parents we thought we had this figured out... we were going to be okay...
we had a lot to learn.....
Like the first night when I found, to my horror, mosquitoes had gotten through the old windows into our bedroom. I put a net over her bassinet, but Keith was determined to secure the windows and kill them. As I sat in bed nursing our daughter, he stood on the bed next to me, swatting at the mosquitoes on the ceiling. After conquering the foe, we nestled Michal back into her bassinet alongside our bed and we thankfully fell back to sleep......only to be awakened by a loud thud, and a feeling like the bed was falling thru the floor.....it was falling thru the floor! The cottage floor had some rotting wood and Keith's weight on the bed as he bounced in attack on the mosquitoes had caused the legs of the bed to actually break thru the floor! I spent our first night on the couch with our baby protected in my arms while Dad repaired the flooring.
We loved our little cottage in the woods, and Michal grew healthy and strong. I nursed her, even though at the time bottle feeding was fashionable. In those days you had to endure the looks of disdain from other mothers. When she started eating, I ground her fresh veggies and fruits and bought fresh ground rice cereal at the health food store. Our little girl was happy and had a most contagious giggle.
The economy was recovering from a recession, yet Keith always came up with some new business to aid our income. Like his little "tune-up" service, or when he bought cars that needed new engines...he would replace the engines and resell the cars. One car he purchased at a very low price, didn't end up needing a new engine.....the ignition wires from the distributor were crossed. He switched them over, and the car ran perfectly. We took that car to Florida for our first trip to Disney World with Michal. We didn't know that would be the first trip of many to that magic land, and would be a source of great joy to her, but one visit would bring great sorrow......
