They say that no two birth stories are alike. For Pamela and Sergio Graziano, that couldn’t be more true. The birth of their second daughter was a rollercoaster.
“I felt that I was going to give birth early,” said Pamela. “At 30 weeks, I started having preterm contractions, so I had a feeling that things were going to progress a little bit sooner.”
Five more weeks passed before it was go time – something Pamela said she was grateful for. Though her baby would be born prematurely, every week of development mattered.
“I didn’t expect even at 35 weeks for her to be in the NICU,” said Pamela. “You know, nobody expects that.”
The day before she gave birth, Pamela and Sergio were busy throwing a Good Friday party. Hannah, their firstborn daughter, had requested an Easter egg hunt with all her preschool classmates. Their house had been packed full of guests, complete with a photo booth and a hot dog cart. Needless to say, it had been a busy day and a late night.
“At 4 in the morning, my water broke,” said Pamela. “And I didn’t have contractions, but I woke up Sergio and we called my parents.”
The two headed to Pascack Valley Medical Center, where things progressed quickly. After that, Sergio returned to their house just down the street to grab a few things.
“We didn’t anticipate having the baby, so we had no car seat. I had no bassinet,” said Pamela. “So I said, ‘Go home, get the car seat, clean out the bassinet.’ It was in the basement with the Halloween skeleton in it.”
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Pamela’s contractions returned.
“All the nurses rushed in because I’m very uncomfortable,” said Pamela. “And I’m saying, ‘I have to push!’ and the nurse said, ‘Don’t push because your husband’s not here yet!’ And I hear them saying, ‘Somebody’s running in the parking lot!’”
It was Sergio, sprinting across the asphalt to catch the moment his second daughter was born. They would name her Annalisa.
“As soon as I got over there, Annalisa’s head was like, ‘Hello, I’m here!’” said Sergio.
Because Annalisa was born prematurely, she needed specialized care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) right away.
“All I’m thinking is, ‘We’re having a preemie,’” said Sergio. “Like, are we even going to see the baby? And [the nurses] were just so respectful. They made sure that she was fine before we did skin-to-skin. I was able to cut the umbilical cord still. I thought we were going to lose all of that experience with Annalisa, compared to Hannah.”
“The delivery was wonderful,” said Pamela. “The nurses were very in tune with what I needed.”
Throughout Pamela’s delivery and afterwards in the NICU, the hospital staff went above and beyond to ensure both she and Annalisa received the care and support they needed.
“They were just so wonderful,” said Sergio. “It was a great experience, just one-on-one, little things that might not make a difference to some people, but it did to us. One nurse’s daughter knitted us a bunny hat for our daughter because she was born on Easter weekend. Like to me, that was so sentimental.”
For Sergio, those thoughtful gestures reflected the genuine compassion the care team showed the Graziano family throughout their stay.
“They didn’t make it feel like it was a job,” said Sergio. “They really made it feel like they were there for us to take care of our daughter. To make sure we were okay.”
“There was so much uncertainty and unknown having a NICU baby and having a preterm baby,” said Pamela. “She was being monitored for her heart rate, she had low oxygen, she had a feeding tube… And all of that is very scary. You know, alarms are going off and the nurses just were able to explain everything. They were so calm, so patient. It was such a serene environment when you went in that it felt so welcoming.”
But the support didn’t stop there. The nurses offered encouragement when feelings of frustration and guilt took hold of Pamela.
“I was very frustrated that I couldn’t breastfeed initially, and I had a lot of guilt over having a preterm baby,” she said. “And everybody was just so affirming of my feelings and my emotions. It was very validating. It made such a difficult time a positive experience.”
On Easter Sunday, Pamela and Sergio’s family came to say hello to their newest family member.
“We went in the back room, we set up our Easter dinner, and we all had Easter dinner together without feeling like we were in a hospital because it was just so clean and comfortable and calm,” said Sergio.
For Pamela and Sergio, Annalisa’s birth was defined by the labor and delivery team who went out of their way to make their family feel at home.
“We’re not just a number,” said Pamela. “We’re somebody that they truly cared about.”
Learn more about our labor and delivery services