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Mom's letter to Maggie:

August 21st, 2001

Dearest Maggie,

It's August 13th, I am now just finding the time to put my thoughts down on paper.  It has been almost seven weeks since your arrival and our lives have never felt more complete.   Let’s start back on the evening of Tuesday, June 25th. . .

We have visited friends that had just had a baby girl, Ava on Sunday night.  As Andy and I were pulling away from the hospital, I looked over at him and said "I am ready", with a smile both external and internal with anticipation of your arrival.  As the days progressed on, you were growing inside of me every minute, but were not due until the 16th of July.  So, we thought we still had some time before we got to see your precious little face.

On Tuesday night, June 25th, I cooked eggplant parmigiano.  Andy had pulled the recipe from the web, as with most of our cooking, it is a combined effort.  It was absolutely terrific!!!  We joked that the old wives tale states that eggplant will induce labor, I guess time would tell, I thought to myself.  About two hours later, I decided to take a bath.  I soaked in the tub and relaxed before I would lie down for the evening.  After getting out of the tub and drying off, I shuffled over to the bed in my robe wrapped around me, tugging at my tummy.  I told Andy that I was tired and not feeling too terrific, so I was going to go on to bed.  He quickly joined me in the bedroom to retire for the night.

I had just laid down to bed and I felt a little trickle, I got up and went to the bathroom.  I came back to bed, and felt the same sensation.  I must have had a weird expression on my face as I turned to Andy and said, "I think my water just broke."  He asked if I was sure, and I said "No, not sure but let’s wait a few minutes." (It was 9:30 pm).  Sure enough, that was all the time that I needed to confirm that Maggie was on her way to greet us.

I called the doctor, and she advised us to come on in, take our time, but to get to the hospital.  I was not having contractions yet, so Andy and I did just gather our things up, he even took a shower and made sure that the dogs had ample food and water and drove on to Piedmont.

We were admitted right away.  I was escorted to the labor room where you, Maggie, would enter this world and our lives, leaving forever the most unforgettable memory and incredible experience I have ever encountered and probably ever will.  The birth of a child is nothing short of a miracle of God.

The contractions began about 11:00 pm Tuesday night.  I did not have my epidural until 2:30 am, when I had reached 3-4 centimeters.  At this point, I felt that my body would react to the contractions if given the epidural and it would ease my pain.  I slept until 7:30 am – basically until I had dilated to about 8 cm.  Andy was sleeping with me, in a pull out bed beside me, right in the room.

Andy and I had attended a few child birthing classes, which both of us agreed that maybe 25% of the information was useful.  We had not practiced breathing techniques, coaching for labor etc.  But as the morning progressed, so did my contractions.  Andy never left my side.  My labor and delivery nurse would come to check on us every 30 minutes.  "Real labor" began around 10:30 am.  Without hesitation, Andy stayed right by my side – he was to my left, the labor nurse to my right.  Together, we worked as a team in the birth of you, Maggie.  The love and support I received from your Dad was overwhelming, the words of encouragement, the tenderness he had in his eyes.  He helped me work through yet another contraction.  I hope that you too will find a man of your father’s strength, love and moral fiber.

August 21st, 2001

Dear Maggie,

As you peacefully sleep this afternoon, I find myself back here to continue on with our incredible journey.

As I was saying, your father never left our side during the birth of you.  After two and a half-hours of "labor", Dr. Johnston came into the room and asked if I was ready to help you to make the transition from womb to world.  I said yes, and within 10 minutes you were on my chest your cord still attached, your eyes wide open and instinctual to feed upon my breast.  I gazed into your eyes with such pride, love and an overwhelming feeling of joy.  Your dad immediately gave you and I both kisses as he then took the honors of cutting the cord.

I had never felt better.  The true elation that one feels after the birth of their child is incomparable to any other miracle on this earth.  Your father stayed by your side Maggie as they took tests, cleaned you, etc.

He met me back in the delivery room and we were transported to our room.  Once up in the room, we again awaited your arrival to join us.  Andy had gone down to the gift shop and purchased "door decorations" announcing to the world of your arrival.  I think we would have climbed atop the building and yelled out who you were and how happy he was that you were apart of our family.

We proceeded to call all of our family and friends, not able to contain our excitement and love.  During all this, I was checked every hour and you were feeding every three hours.  The total exhaustion I had felt during labor had totally dissipated.  I had a permanent smile upon my face looking down at you.  Your Dad held you ever so gently and gave you loving kisses as he rocked you to sleep.  You were so tiny but ever so resilient.  Your first visitor was Ms. Katie Kane, one or my best friends.  She brought food and flowers and her wonderful kind words.  After this, the stream of people that came to see you was staggering.  At any given moment throughout our stay in the hospital we would have 2-6 people in our room hoping to get a glance of Ms. Maggie.

About 8:00 I sent your Dad home to get some rest.  You and I spent our first night together.  It was the first of many trial and errors for your mom and breast feeding.  I was up every 3 hours to feed you.  And then I was awoken every hour for my check ups.

The next day brought more visitors, Dad back in to spend the day with us and you and I getting to know one another.  Every time I looked down at you, it was utter amazement that we could have brought such a miracle into this world.  Even at this early point, your eyes were wide with awe.