Aaron has arrived!

Aaron Makaio Schneider was born today at 4:30am, at 25 weeks and 4 days old.  He weighed 1 lb. 9 oz. and measured 11.5" long.

Aaron means "mountain of strength" and Makaio is Hawaiian for "gift of God."   He is already proving to be both, breathing well, taking food in, and moving a lot.  At the time I am writing this, he is 2 days old and has had 2 very good days with minimal distress or complications.

He has already changed all of our lives for the better by his being here with us and eliciting so much love from our hearts.  We thought we had a pretty full life before, but it looks like God thought we might have room for more.

Here he is right after he was born and then later on Day 1 under the blue lamps that help his liver/jaundice.

He is currently at St. Elizabeth's NICU in Brighton, MA.  He has a lot of work to do, but he seems very peaceful, focused and up to the challenge.

Here are a few videos as well--password will be "aaron" for all videos from here on.

Aaron under the lamps from Schneidimotos on Vimeo.

Aaron under the lamps (2) from Schneidimotos on Vimeo.

Alison meets her brother for the first time from Schneidimotos on Vimeo.

Welcome to the family, Aaron!  We love you so much already!
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(Copy of email sent out)

Hi Family & Friends,

It has been almost exactly 24 hours since we went to the hospital with some minor bleeding and mild contractions.  It’s hard to believe what has happened since then.

Those minor conditions turned into a critical situation within a few hours, and our Baby Boy Schneidimoto was born by emergency c-section at 4:30am this morning, at 25 ½ weeks.

He is yet to be named, weighed in at 1 lb. 9 oz. and measured 11.5”.  He is beautiful and showing a lot of strength and courage.  He was able to be transferred to St. Elizabeth’s NICU in Brighton about 2 hours after being born, and was even taken off the ventilator within a few hours of the transfer.  He was given a tiny CPAP machine that forces him to breathe quite a bit on his own, and is doing well.  The amazing nurses and doctors in the NICU said he had a “good start” and “a very good day,” both miracles considering the circumstances.  He spent some time under the lights for some jaundice this evening, but his vital signs are very good right now.

That said, it is quite a lot to bear and process to see a baby this small and fragile.  It is (hopefully) going to be long road with many ups and downs over the next few months.

But Dan and I were both struck by the overall peace that God provided for all 4 of us throughout every stage of this day.

Much of this peace was provided through all of you, whose love surrounded us and supported us from afar and near.  On yet another of many days in our lives, we are so immensely grateful for all of you, sending your genuine love, prayers, thoughts, and energies our way.  I apologize in advance if we aren’t able to reply to your individual emails, texts and voicemails, but please know that we so appreciate reading them!!

Also, if we had plans in the coming days, we’ll need to consider those on hold for the moment.

I was fortunate to be allowed to transfer to St. Elizabeth’s as well, to be with him, and my recovery has been very smooth so far.  Thank goodness for pain meds doing their jobs!  I believe that I will be discharged on Saturday sometime.

I was pretty tired when I put together this email list tonight, so if you know of anyone I’ve left off, please feel free to forward this and future updates onto them, or send me their emails.

Thank you again for being the best friends and family we could ever ask for.  We love you so much and don’t know where we’d be without you!

Will send more updates as they come.

Love,

Leah and Dan (& Alison, who had a very good day thanks to some amazing friends, and will be visiting tomorrow morning)