Welcome Kieran!

8 lbs 12 oz

21 inches

Words cannot express how happy we are to have been blessed with a baby boy. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would be holding a baby in my arms in May, I don't know if I would have believed them. Last August 13, our pastor came over for dinner and we spoke to him again about the fact that since miscarrying in 2009, we had not been able to conceive. Our conversation, gave me a little hope.

After Mass, on the Feast of the Assumption, I knelt before a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and implored Mary to intercede for my husband and me. I promised her that if we were blessed with another baby, I would do all that I could to try and raise the baby to be a great saint who would bring greater glory to God.

Two weeks later, I was overjoyed to learn that my husband and I were expecting another baby. The next Sunday, I knelt at the altar rail and I received the blessing for expectant mothers from our pastor.

At eight weeks, I visited the doctor. He did an ultrasound and told me that I had a subchorionic hematoma. He went on to explain that this meant that the baby had a 50/50 chance of survival. If the hematoma started to bleed and disturbed the baby, then I would most likely miscarry. He told me to take it easy (keep my activity level to a minimum, etc.) until the baby was 12 weeks. I went home determined to follow the doctor's orders as best I could with seven children in the house. I also called our pastor and left a message, asking him to please pray for this baby. At the same time, I trusted that Our Blessed Mother would protect my little one.

A week or two later, I found myself in the hospital due to a DVT (a.k.a. a blood clot) that was moving in my right calf. Much to my dismay, I was prescribed an anti-coagulant and told that I would need to take it twice a day until my baby was six-weeks old. I don't like to take medicine, especially when I am pregnant. This time, my husband called our pastor and asked him to pray. I prayed a Memorare and trusted that Mary would take care of our baby.

As my due date approached, a friend at our parish asked me who we were choosing to be the godparents. I told her and then explained, "Regina prayed for my husband and me to have another baby, even when I could no longer do so." Our friend responded, "We have all been praying too." My pastor reminded me of this fact after Kieran's baptism, saying, "We have prayed for this baby for a long time."

As I lie here nursing Kieran, I am so thankful for our pastor's, our family's, and our friends' prayers for our little boy. I am thankful that God has blessed us with another child.

May Kieran and all those who prayed for him become great saints!

I know that Mary will help us.