Welcome Baby Mac!

Michael Anthony Caruso, AKA “baby MAC” was born on Monday, June 15, 2020. He followed in his sister’s footsteps and presented breach, prompting a repeat c-section at 39 weeks. He was 6lbs 12oz and had a full head of hair.

Although his actual birth was uneventful, there were a few impactful events surrounding his birth, including being our pandemic baby, Murphy getting a bacteria infection leading up to his birth, and then passing it to me, all while trying to care for a newborn and a toddler.

Being pregnant at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic had me a little on edge, as there was little information about pregnant women. Naturally, we decided to quarantine as if we were apart of the sensitive population. I wasn’t sure how it would affect me or the baby, so we didn’t want to take any chances.

With Anthony and Murphy’s schools shut down, they were remote learning at home. I was working from home full-time and trying to juggle a toddler, while pregnant. Not for the faint of heart! I ended up going on leave earlier than planned. It just wasn't possible to work and take care of a toddler at the same time. This gave Murphy and I a little more time to “bond” before the baby came. With playgrounds shut down, and no playdates in sight, we took LOTS of walks and did LOTS of crafts.

About two weeks before baby Mac’s scheduled birth, we decided to fully quarantine. This also meant that Anthony would stay at his mom’s until after the baby was born. We wanted to ensure I was healthy when I underwent surgery and that I would not have to be separated from the baby if I contracted Covid. This was ironic, because as soon as we started to quarantine, Murphy became sick. She slowly got worse, and I was on the phone with the doctor every other day. She ended up in urgent care, had many tests done, and was sent home. At one point they thought she might have diabetes. Thankfully, after additional tests (two days before my surgery), diabetes was ruled out. However, two weeks of being sick, we still didn't have an answer.

On June 15th, my mom came to watch Murphy while Joe and I headed to Kaiser in Walnut Creek for my c-section. I was being prepped, and as the surgeon walked in, I had just saw (via my phone) that Murphy’s test results came back positive for c-diff. I had no idea what that meant, and as I was frantically googling I started to panic. The surgeon ended up giving us some time to figure out the next steps for Murphy, and I ended up missing my scheduled surgery time. Thankfully, my mom was with Murphy and she had it all under control. This ended up being a HUGE undertaking and words cannot even begin to describe the appreciation we have for her!

In true Murphy fashion, she had to be the star of baby Mac’s birth. Her sickness greatly impacted Mac’s birth story. From the weeks leading up to his birth, to the experience at the hospital, and the month afterwards. After we told the doctor that Murphy was positive for c-diff, we were immediately treated like we also had the infectious disease. We had special signage on the door and anyone that entered had to be totally geared up. One nurse hated putting on the extra PPE so much, that she didn’t even come in the room … she would just crack the door to check up on us. We were basically treated similarly as if we had Covid. Which I remind you, we were quarantining to avoid this. Thankfully baby Mac was healthy and was able to be by my side the whole time.

We were able to come back home the following Wednesday. It was relieving to be home. By this time Murphy started her medicine and was slowly getting better. Also, during this time, I started showing symptoms of c-diff myself. Yes, I ultimately ended up contracting c-diff as well … it attacked my body while I was on antibiotics in the hospital. Now, I was home recovering from major abdominal surgery AND c-diff. I didn't see this coming. I will say it again, THANK GOD for my mom. Taking care of a newborn and a seriously sick toddler, while recovering from surgery and a bacteria infection was just a nightmare. To top it all off, as soon as I got better, Murphy ended up contracting c-diff AGAIN! The worst part was the medicine. Murphy HATED the medicine and it had to be given exactly six hours apart. Which meant she had midnight wake up calls every night. She also had to be held down, while screaming. One time she even ran out the front door! Four weeks total of medicine, four times a day … it was just awful!

If you are wondering what c-diff is, don’t google it. It’s awful. We have no idea how Murphy even got it in the first place. It is a highly infectious disease and can only be killed with bleach. Lysol wipes and hand sanitizer (which I had plenty of thanks to Covid) does not kill this infection. You know on the bottle of the lysol wipe container, where it says that it kills 99.9% of bacteria? Well, c-diff is that .01% that it does not kill. It also has a higher death rate than covid.

That first month of baby Mac’s life was so HARD on everyone … except for baby Mac. We couldn’t have gotten any luckier. He is seriously the BEST baby. I call him my little unicorn baby. As I write this, he is 2.5 months old and he still loves to sleep. On average, he gives us a seven hour long stretch at night, which has sometimes lasted 10-11 hours. He is smiling at everyone, especially his big sister and brother. He goes with the flow and sometimes I even forget he’s around because he’s just so chill. He is starting to show his little personality and I cannot wait to see what the world has in store for him. He has definitely been our light and joy of 2020.

Welcome to our crazy world, baby Mac!