MILA'S ARRIVAL

LEADING UP TO THE DAY

At 18 weeks of pregnancy I was diagnosed with complete placenta previa, which means the placenta is out of place and it's completely blocking the cervix. In these cases a c-section has to be performed, which to me was ok since I had my three boys via c-sec, and the placenta is taken out from the uterus right before extracting the baby.

The problem with this situation is that there can be many complications because lots of bleeding can occur. Thank G-d I did not have any bleeding while pregnant, but we were all prepared for a complicated c-section.

The c-section was scheduled for November 8th...

DELIVERY DAY (Nov. 8th, 2018)

On November 8th I woke up very anxious and took the kids to school, along the ride I told them I would be going to the hospital and staying there for a few days, as the doctor was going to extract their baby sister from mommies' belly. At first they were scared, but then I told them they would come visit us and they got very excited!

The traffic was terrible, my anxiety was enormous and on top of it all my phone decided to stop working all of a sudden. It was a little crazy! We got to the hospital at 9 AM and checked in. As soon as I settled in the pre operating room, and got my phone to work again, I was able to relax with my family and friends.

At around 12 PM they took me in the operating room and gave me the epidural. Afterwards my husband came in the operating room, and as we waited for everything to be prepared, the nurse decided to put some music on and selected Ed Sheeran, which by coincidence I had heard a lot during my pregnancy. The music made me relax even more!

The doctor, which by the way is amazing!, came in and started the c-section. The operation was a little complicated due to my placenta previa and I could see it in the doctor's eyes that he was worried.

At 12:43 PM, while the song Perfect by Ed Sheeran was playing in the background, the doctor counted down 3 - 2 - 1... and that's when we saw our precious baby girl for the first time, tears were coming out of our eyes. Words cannot describe how special that moment was.

While the doctor was finishing my c-section my husband and the baby left for the nursery to get checked. I was laying on the OR table and could not stop crying of happiness because in that moment I felt that my fertility journey had come to a perfect ending, after all the ups and downs, hard times and beautiful moments it had all played out just perfect, I had learned my lessons and passed my obstacles to become a mom of four healthy babies.

After the c-section was finished the doctor told me how complicated that c-section was, and that I had to be in the recovery room for longer that usual because I had a lot of bleeding and they wanted to keep an eye on me to avoid any further complications. My husband went with our baby to the nursery room to get all of her tests done.

After a few hours they allowed me to go to my room, as they rolled my bed up to the room I started feeling nauseous, and as soon as I got to the room a pediatrician from NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) came to tell me that they had to keep the baby in NICU because she was not breathing right. At that moment I started throwing up so much, the nausea and the angst both caused a terrible reaction in my body. Even though I had gone through a similar situation with my son, Jack, I was very nervous and super emotional.

THE FIRST NIGHT IN THE HOSPITAL

The first night my husband stayed with me in the hospital, I was very sad because I had not seen my baby since the delivery, it had been many hours since I got to hold her in my arms and I could not go see her in the NICU because I was not allowed to get up from my bed yet, due to the C-Section. At 1:30 AM a very kind nurse came into my room with a wheel chair and found me awake, she knew that I had not seen my baby and that I was very sad, so she told me that she was going to take me to see her.

It was one of the best moments of my life, as I got to grab my baby's hand, she was so tiny and beautiful, I could not hold her because she was in an incubator with many cables connected to her, but just to hold her hand was enough. I will never forget that moment!

THE SECOND DAY (Nov. 9th, 2018)

I had a busy day, all of our family and friends came to visit us and kept me entertained during the whole day. The baby was still in the NICU and my husband with the grandmothers went to visit her. I pumped a few times that day and sent the colostrum to her in special bags. At around 1 PM they allowed me to walk all the way to the NICU and visit her, she was doing much better and the pediatrician told me that if she fed well in the next feedings she would be able to leave the NICU.

At 5 PM we started getting ready to do the shabbat prayer, and just before we started the prayer a nurse came in the room with the baby, we were so happy, she had come at the exact moment to be with us for her first shabbat (Friday night).

That night my mom stayed with me in the hospital and we had a very good night...

THE THIRD DAY - HER NAMING - GOING HOME (Nov. 10th, 2018)

It's a custom in the jewish tradition to go to the synagogue the days that the torah (the old testament) is read and name the newborn baby girl, so that morning my husband went with the boys and the family to our synagogue and named the baby, Mila Sarah.

Mila is because we really liked the name and Sarah is after my mom. We didn't tell the name to anyone, in part because we wanted to keep it a surprise and also to avoid everyone's opinion, we really wanted to decide for ourselves.

I couldn't go to the synagogue for the naming as I was still in the hospital, with my mom, so I decided to tell her the name while everyone else was at the synagogue, she couldn't believe we had named the baby after her, she got very excited and started crying.

After they finished the synagogue my husband, my dad and the boys came to the hospital to pick us up. The boys finally got to meet and hold their baby sister, they were so excited! it was like they had a new toy.

We got to go home that same day, super happy and with Mila super healthy, thank G-d!