Scarlett-Journal-Pages

Greta Luna Fedorak

December 24, 2008

Our Christmas Eve Blessing...

Greta Luna was born on a blustery winter Christmas Eve, December 24th, 2008 at 12:10pm, weighing a whopping 10 pounds and 22" long! Greta was the largest baby born on Christmas Eve at our hospital and she is absolutely gorgeous. A gift to top all Christmas gifts! Not only did we wake up to the biggest winter snowstorm of the year but an arrival fit to weather any storm.

Once again, Frank and I have fallen deeply in love with another darling daughter. Greta was born on Christmas Eve, a special day in and of itself but also a very special day for Frank and I. Frank proposed to me on a similar snowy Christmas Eve in 1996 and thus began the journey of our two souls, melding and creating three miraculous and beautiful daughters.

Chloe Isabel, our first daughter, was born on a Monday.
Scarlett Rose, our second daughter, was born on a Tuesday.
Greta Luna, our third daughter, was born on a Wednesday.

The birth was perfect, magical even. It was as close to a home-birth experience as you could hope to have at a hospital. I felt like we were in the comfort of our own home. I was able to have a completely natural child birth experience with no medication and no interventions. It was a beautiful experience.

The experience turned out much different than the one we had originally been told would occur just over a month ago. We were all set for a cesarean birth on Dec 3rd as it was discovered that I had a low-lying placenta and that the baby was breech, making natural childbirth pretty much impossible. Well for some wonderful reason, the placenta shifted and the baby turned around in her own time.

After Greta was born another phenomenon was discovered, the umbilical cord had what is called a perfect "true knot". Apparently it is rare and only happens in 1% of pregnancies and it can sometimes lead to devastating results. They told us that Greta is a "miracle baby" in that she suffered no distress from her knotted cord. How blessed we are. Apparently we have a little gymnast on our hands.

Scarlett loves her baby sister so much and every 10 seconds she asks to hold and hug her. Scarlett has changed Greta's diaper, rocked her to sleep and kissed her when she cries. My only wish is that their big sister Chloe could be here to join in their sisterly love. We miss Chloe terribly and this experience only heightens our longing and yearning for her to be near.

Greta's body is free of the disease that touched her sisters and for that we are eternally grateful. As a mother to a newborn baby this experience has been such a new one for me. Greta is a very different baby in that she started breastfeeding within her first hour of life and was holding up her head and pushing up on her arms within those first few hours as well. Her physical strength and ability is something new to me. Chloe and Scarlett were born with emotional strength well beyond their age, however they struggled from the very start with the physicalities of life, even the seemingly simple and natural ability to suck, swallow and hold their head up was something that Chloe and Scarlett struggled with from the very beginning. Observances that make me happy for Greta and yet devastated for Chloe and Scarlett.

Life is wondrous, miraculous, amazing and exciting, sprinkled with both joy and sorrow, life and death.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night,

Lisa, Frank, Chloe (our angel), Scarlett & Greta
xoxoxoxx