Danielle Rosemary DeFaria

This is Danielle's birth announcement that I wrote the night she was born:

This is yet another short little letter that we have decided to send out to you all once again to announce the birth of our new baby girl, Danielle Rosemary DeFaria, 7 lbs 5 ounces 20 3/4 inches, born 12:36 AM April 15, 1992. There, all the specifics and suspense out of the way. As many of you know Mary-Anne was pregnant and was due on April 13 but we knew in our hearts that being as Mary-Anne had toiled many a tax season at her old job at a CPA firm that April 15, tax deadline date, would be an apropos delivery date and Mary-Anne was anxious to comply.

I write this letter on April 15 at 3 AM as I am jazzed right now and, while tired, I don't feel like going to bed right yet. This letter may end up a long one as I have much to describe.

Mary-Anne is doing just fine and so is our new daughter, Danielle. The labor was incredibly easy - only really 4 hours, in true Flood tradition!

We were told that we were going to have a girl but we tried not to get our hopes up too high for we have known many who were told that they were having a girl only to find an extra umbilical chord attached! Ends up that we did indeed hit the jackpot as between Mary-Anne and I we have seven nephews and zero nieces.

Just last weekend Mary-Anne went into what we thought for sure was true labor. She had had many contractions and we were timing them thinking that this was it. But they subsided and with our hopes and dreams of an early birth slightly diminished we had to come to the realization that it was not meant to be at this time. Mary-Anne was a little depressed, feeling that she was somehow at fault.

Then others that we know who were also expecting started delivering, and all of them girls. We felt for sure that we would end up breaking the streak and have a boy but not so. Prepared, we picked the name Danielle for a girl knowing that we could also use the name Danny in case we were wrong.

Mary-Anne stayed home on her maternity leave and I continued at my job, waiting for the news, with beeper in hand. And my life started getting more and more busy. New assignment at work with some traveling involved, school on Tuesdays and Thursdays with midterms happening and my band getting gigs all around the April time frame, John and Bobbie needing to go to Korea and Gary Flood also traveling. It seemed like there was no good time for Mary-Anne to have the baby.

But in between my ever increasing busy schedule and everybody else's busy schedule, in the middle of spring break from my college classes, between gigs and all Danielle decided that it's time to come out!

Now a little bit about the actual day of delivery, that fateful day...

Well it was a Tuesday. No school for me, spring break, and not that much going on with everybody else too. Mary-Anne had another doctors appointment and she felt that she wanted to go alone this time. I got a call from her shortly after she finished at the doctors. She wanted to pick me up at work to go get something to eat. I knew that she wanted to tell me something and that she didn't want to tell me on the phone.

When we met she told me that the doctor said that she was completely effaced (the uterus had thinned) and 1 centimeter dilated! I could also see that her contractions were powerful. We ate and I insisted that I drive her home and that I would take off work for the afternoon.

When home we notified John and Bobbie and they came over to sit through the timing of contractions and the waiting. We also notified Donna Flood (the godmother) that the time was near. It was at this time that Cindy, my sister, knocked on my door as she was in San Francisco on business and she had decided to come down to San Jose for an evening of country dancing at the Saddle Rack. I told her "Just in time, Mary-Anne is about four minutes apart!" and she almost died! It was good that she had made it down to San Jose.

Next, feeling like I was getting in the way and at Mary-Anne's insistence I actually went to my bands rehearsal, equipped with my trusty beeper which she promised she would beep if I was needed. In the middle of rehearsal my beeper went off with the "911" code meaning that Mary-Anne was going to the hospital. I called up and verified that this was no drill and proceeded to go to the hospital. It was approximately 8:30 PM April 14.

I arrived first and waited for them to show. We were led into a small labor room and she was hooked up to the Hewlett Packard fetal monitor. Luckily Dr Wheeler, our doctor, was on duty that night. Mary-Anne's contractions were coming fast and furious. "Breathe, breathe!" we shouted and she would respond "I don't want to do this any more! I'm going home".

The nurse examined Mary-Anne and we were told that she was only 1 & 1/2 to 2 centimeters dilated! All this work and we haven't even gotten that far yet! Mary-Anne rolled her eye in disbelief I'm sure thinking "This is for the birds!".

We had a slight scare when the baby's heart rate dropped for some unknown reason but the nurse there, quick as a whip, noticed what was going on and summoned a team to assess the situation. Mary-Anne was given oxygen and an IV was set up "just in case".

But things picked up rapidly. In about another hour, her water broke and I summoned the nurse. Mary-Anne was now 5 centimeters dilated! Great progress! Just like her Mom! But she did not want to hear that. At about 11:30 she proceeded to be 6-7 centimeters dilated! The nurses gave her some pain reliever and that helped but it seemed clear that it would be any minute now!

By midnight we all knew that we would not make it till the morning and we all laughed about the fact that the baby would be born on the tax deadline date of April 15. Well maybe Mary-Anne wasn't laughing. Anyway we proceeded with the coaching and breathing.

In the next few minutes things started happening even quicker and by 12:15 we were moved to the delivery room. The nurses told us that the baby had had a bowel movement and that, while common, they would need a pediatrician at the birth to make sure everything was going alright.

Mary-Anne was dying to push and started doing so flawlessly. Bobbie and I were with her in the delivery room coaching her onward and by 12:36 AM Danielle Rosemary DeFaria announced that she wanted to see the outside world!

Danni was then taken by the nurse and pediatrician and checked out. Everything was fine and everybody there eventually got to see the baby before going home. Danni then went to the nursery and Mary-Anne to her room. The nurses informed me that I must go home and I could return at 9 AM the next day.

One final note: the middle name of Rosemary was chosen to honor both of our grandmothers, Rose Faria and Mary Shaw.

I don't really know what else to say and I'm being long winded anyway but I felt that I just had to describe the events of today. I hope you have enjoyed my little story.

P.S. At least all of the baby girl clothes we have received will be put to good use!