Salani's Birth Story

Allow me to introduce the newest member of the Fuimaono crew

Salani Janeen Fa'afetai Fuimaono

Born December 31, 2019
@ 6:10pm in the American Fork Hospital

American Fork Utah.

6lbs 2oz. 19 in.

Birth time 1810 (6:10pm)

Gestational Age 37.2

Salani - after her Grandpa Viiga's village in Samoa and because Aljay and Ah Chu planned it out to match with Baby Alofisula's name lol. 

Janeen - after my Aunty Janeen who I could always turn to for anything! Since I was in Hawaii, Aunty Janeen has been like a second Mom, best Aunty, and coolest friend! She has the biggest heart and I hope baby picks up on the same traits. 

Fa'afetai - because each of our girls has one of their great grandma's names and it felt like a good pattern to follow. Fa'afetai is Aljay's maternal Grandma. I met her once before she passed. 

Nickname(s)?
Aljay initially called her Baby Lani, but I keep calling her Nini/Nini girl. We'll see what sticks once we get her home lol

Who does she look like? When she was first born she looked just like Metuli and Viiga (see first row pics below). But a few days later I realized how saiga she was. Saiga like Leila but with Sefa's palagi nose lol. She was born with a good amount of pretty black hair. Oh and hairy shoulders and back 😊

So here's how everything panned out for our little one's big debut...

Dec 31 - 2:30pm

I went in for my usual NST and midwife checkup. During the NST they took my blood pressure and it was high. I rested for a couple of minutes and then they checked it again. It was still high. So my midwife came in and said she felt it was best that I go straight to the hospital and deliver. The concern was that I could have seizures or even a stroke with those type of blood pressures. 

I took a minute to process everything, then quickly started making the necessary arrangements.

3:30pm

• Texted the Bishopric (because we were having our Ward New Year's Dance that night and the RS was in charge of the food)
• Messaged my RS presidency - because I was supposed to do the koko rice lol...had the pot ready to go and everything 😄
• Texted my boss and coworkers to let them know that I will be out for maternity leave.
• Tried to call Aljay but his phone was dead...buuuutt shoutout to Lahjval for my cool Christmas present that came in clutch haha here's what happened...
• Vjal had me as a pixie and got me a Amazon Echo thing for Christmas. You know..one of those things that you call 'Alexa' and then give a command. He set it up for us on Christmas and had me download the app. It was set up in the kitchen where we mostly used it to play music, check the weather, stuff like that. So when I was trying to call Aljay, there was no response and I figured his phone was dead. I sat in the car for a second trying to figure out how I was going to get a hold of him. So I opened up the Echo app thing and used the "announce" feature to send messages to all my Amazon devices. I wasn't sure if it was working or not so I just kept sending messages hahhaha. A few minutes later Aljay calls me and goes "I GOT YOUR MESSAGE!" LOL...All my messages were being displayed on the TV and on the echo device. So cool!
  So at home Leila first saw it and ran to Aljay and was like...
• Leila:  MOM IS HAVING AN EMERGENCY C SECTION BECAUSE OF HER BLOOD PRESSURE!
• Aljay: How do you know all this!?
• Leila: It showed up on the TV! It said 'message from Sandra'. I don't know how she's doing it! 
• Too funny...Anyways...so Aljay quickly starts looking for his phone charger to charge his phone and tells the kids that I'm going to have a baby. So then all the kids are running around like a bunch of wild animals, Aljay's trying to figure out things, and I'm sitting in the car outside of my Midwife office trying to figure out who to text to make the koko rice for the ward dance LOL. 

Moving along....

4:00pm 

I'm checked into the hospital. It's literally right next to my midwife office but I spent a bit of time in the car gathering my thoughts, making arrangements, praying, etc.

Shortly after I get in and changed into the hospital gown, Aljay joins me. Teki had given him a ride to the hospital. Britt got off from work and went straight to the house to watch the kids.

6:00pm

I'm in the Operation Room and we're having a baby! It was all so quick yet not as traumatic as the last time I had a C section.

Overall Experience with the Operation

The experience was by far the smoothest delivery we've had! I had a midwife there the whole time who was also in the OR with us. The anesthesiologist was so kind and gentle. The doctors and staff were all so chill and made me feel at ease. Being at 37 weeks, I was a bit more at ease knowing that she is considered full term and will be ok, but the staff really helped us to stay calm. 

During the operation I was awake, conscious, calm, and able to move my arms around. They brought baby to me after she was cleaned up and let have some skin-to-skin time while they sewed me up. Aljay was there for me the whole time and even face-timed the kids while we were still in the OR. I didn't feel all woozy and incoherent so that was a huge win!

It was all a confirmation that our decision to change providers and the hospital to deliver at was a good decision. Both Aljay and I felt good about the whole experience. 

7:45ish pm

We're done with surgery and now settled in the recovery room. Baby and Mama are doing okay. Aljay stayed with me until 11:30pm and then headed home to have few New Year's fireworks with the kids. 

The second night in the hospital baby was admitted to the NICU nursery because her oxygen was a little low and she wasn't eating as much. She was a little drowsy from the magnesium they gave me prior to surgery. So we both were recovering from being drowsy and sleepy. But she did really well with her oxygen, feeds, and glucose levels.

How are Mom and Dad feeling?

We are truly grateful that baby is healthy and doing well. We couldn't have asked for a better staff to take care of us and better family and friends to help us through it all. 

It's not easy with Aljay and I having to balance work, church, kids, recovery, and a new baby all at once. But we know Heavenly Father is so loving and mindful of our needs. He has placed the right people in our lives to help carry us through it all.

And once again our hearts are overflowing. These babies have that magic that makes our hearts grow. Melanie Wellman worded it best..

"Why does the birth of a baby bring such great joy? Perhaps because a new baby can be a symbol of hope. There’s something about a brand-new life full of possibilities that invites us to ponder what life might hold for that child and what wonderful things he or she will accomplish."

She was talking about the birth of the Savior but I think it applies to all babies that come into this world. We feel so blessed to be given this beautiful spirit to care for, nurture, and love. 

The kids haven't been able to see her since she has been in the NICU, but they are so excited and we can't wait to have everyone under one roof. Everyone including me. See my blood pressures haven't been looking to good even after delivery. So I've had to be  on close monitor for a few days...I'll write a separate post on it though. 

Until then, we are just grateful to have a healthy beautiful baby Salani. 

*Oh and I'll add more pics once I get them from Aljay