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We had an “October surprise” for the ages in the Walsh household this election season.
Baby girl arrived early, in the wee hours Sunday morning, happy and healthy – and despite being late preterm at 35 weeks, mom and daughter headed home three days later.
Watching our little bundle of joy (all 5 pounds of her) stretch her legs, grab with her tiny fingers, give a smirk and stare at you with those curious eyes while being so young is truly remarkable.Â
She was just ready to meet the world, no matter what the calendar said. And now she’s here.
Our princess, Fiona.
The journey for our second child was more challenging than we expected.
It took over two years of trying before my wife got pregnant – twice as long as we experienced with our son, Francis, who will turn 5 at Christmastime. My wife later told me she was nearing the point of wanting us to end the monthly emotional roller coaster before a test finally came back positive over Easter weekend.
We approached this pregnancy a little differently than with Francis, from a “sharing the news” perspective, in my mind to embrace the elation of an impending arrival while facing without fear the reality that no delivery is guaranteed. We told family and friends during the first trimester, we revealed her gender and I even wrote a column about it weeks before the due date.
Talking about it openly probably helped us through the tough third trimester, too.
My wife experienced chronic abruptions that led to four hospital stays between Aug. 31 and Oct. 13, a complication that caused some recurring minor bleeding that ultimately presented more worry than actual physical harm. The way she battled through the emotional trauma was inspiring.
Because of the risks an abruption can pose the later a pregnancy goes, we were gearing up for baby girl to come a couple weeks early by scheduled C-section. Plenty of time to still get some stuff done around the house, wind down work commitments, and enjoy moments and memories with our son like trick-or-treating Saturday.
Halloween certainly had a treat in store…
My wife had a little more bleeding during the day and wisely decided to go to the hospital and get checked out that afternoon – thinking there was a good chance she’d be cleared to go right back home, pass out candy and watch our Golden State Valkyries in Game 7 of the WNBA Finals by projector in our driveway.
Nope, she was four centimeters dilated and our daughter was on the way.
Because of her slower progress and other activity in the labor and delivery ward, her C-section was set after midnight Sunday. We celebrated the Valkyries’ championship staring down at her cellphone screen and caught a quick nap before our show began.
We were actually staging for surgery during the bonus “fall back” hour, and our little girl was born at 2:32 a.m. Nov. 1. We named her the next day, Fiona Kristine Walsh – a beautiful “F” name to pair with Francis, along with a middle name amalgamation tribute to our mothers.
The doctors, nurses and technicians have carried out the many precautions and tests that follow a preterm newborn, but Fiona was in the room with us the whole time. Mom’s recovery continued to progress well, and both were released home Wednesday afternoon.
I’ll relish the opportunity to take a break, with my month-long hiatus now underway; although I’m a news junkie so I’ll still be tapped into the stories by our team and the leads on social media … just from afar.
Fiona’s early arrival helped pry me away in a healthy way. This was the first election in 16 years where I was not actively working until the crack of dawn – but I was awake at 11 and 2 and 4:30, for other reasons…
I still remember that first Election Night on the job fresh out of college at all of 22 years old, reporting through midnight for a daily newspaper in Lake County that saw seachange results for sheriff and district attorney that November. Then I drove down to Benicia in time to join the caravan to SFO later that morning for a flight to Washington, D.C. as my wife’s late grandfather was being interred at Arlington National Cemetery – the middle-namesake for our Francis Terrence.
I’ll remember Fiona’s first election even more fondly, a real turning point for our new family of four.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the associate publisher and editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What A Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
