KENTVILLE, NS – “All I wanted to do was hold her in my arms.”
Terri-Lynn Spinney couldn’t hold her baby for two hours after giving birth via C-section at 8:06 a.m. on New Years’ Day as doctors worked to get her newborn daughter – the first of 2018 in the Annapolis Valley – to take her first breath.
And then, after waiting seemingly forever, she was able to hold her daughter Maryn, weighing just five pounds, eleven ounces, in her arms, with dad Matthew by her side.
“Holding her was what I had waited for. That’s what you need, is just to hold your little girl,” she said.
Stealing hearts at four-days-old
Maryn Spinney is just days old and is already stealing hearts at the Valley Regional Hospital, where the first-time parents have been staying since the birth no one saw coming.
After a rocky start, things have settled, and Maryn’s paediatrician has given her a glowing report.
While new mother Terri-Lynn is still experiencing some complications from the procedure, she feels nothing but happiness when looking down at her daughter, swaddled safely in her father’s arms.
“She’s so much like him already – looks like him, and even sleeps as well as him,” she laughs.
Maryn curls up in the crook of her father’s arm, nestling her head against his chest.
“I’d been waiting so long to feel her rub up against me, instead of just Mum,” said Matthew.
Many family members have been to visit the new family at the hospital since Maryn was born, including Terri-Lynn’s parents who drove in from Terre Noire on Cape Breton Island.
Terri-Lynn says her mother burst into tears as she caught a glimpse of her granddaughter for the first time.
“When people see Maryn, they just fall in love – you can’t even help it,” says Terri-Lynn.
A new year and a new family
Matthew glows as he holds his daughter, who’s dressed in a onesie patterned with maple leafs, ready to take in this evening’s World Juniors gold medal game between Canada and Sweden.
“We’re huge hockey fans, so we’ve got her ready to take in the action,” he says.
The couple were celebrating New Years’ Eve the night before Maryn was born, where Matthew’s father joked the couple were in the all clear and wouldn’t be having the New Years’ Baby after all.
“Clearly, he was pretty wrong,” laughs Matthew.
Both mother and father are looking forward to heading home and hope to be out of hospital by Jan. 6, should no more complications arise with Terri-Lynn.
Once they arrive home, Maryn will get to meet the family’s seven-month-old Border Collie puppy, Rawley.
“We’re so excited for our little family to settle in and just be together,” says Terri-Lynn.
“Being home and introducing Maryn to more family and friends is what we’re looking forward to most right now,” says Matthew.
And New Years’ will always be a special time not only for Maryn, who Matthew jokes will always have a countdown for her birthday, but for her parents as well, who have always rung in the New Year surrounded by family and friends.
It’s a tradition they plan to continue for their new daughter, throughout the years to come.
“We’ve already agreed that Maryn will always be surrounded by people who love her on this day,” says Terri-Lynn.
“This will always be our day.”
