16 Sep Best Laid Plans…

Before I was born, my mom stayed at the Ronald McDonald House when my brother had open heart surgery. When I was 14, my sister and her family stayed there when their twins were hospitalized. In June 2020, it was my turn!

My husband Joe and I were so excited to start our family. When we found out I was pregnant, we were over the moon excited! When we were told we were having triplets, wow, what can I say, it was a lot to process. We were excited, overwhelmed and probably in a bit of shock. We took everything in stride and enjoyed each other’s company as much as possible because we knew that soon our life was going to change dramatically when our three babies came home.

In my mind, my delivery was hopefully going to go according to plan. My C-section was scheduled for June 30th. Joe would be with me for the delivery. I was feeling great. I had wonderful support from my husband and family. Well as the saying goes… the best laid plans of mice and men….

One week before my C-Section at 10:00pm that night my water broke. My triplets had a vastly different idea about when they wanted to meet their mom and dad. We rushed to our local hospital where it was decided that I needed to get to Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo. Now, that sounds like it wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but it was foggy out. We couldn’t Mercy flight to Buffalo. We had to Trans AM Ambulance Service to Buffalo, I was 6 centimeters dilated and stressed out of my mind.

I was in the ambulance, surrounded by 2 paramedics who kept reassuring me that they have delivered babies before and not to worry. “Not worry”, this was not helping. All I could think about was I was not going to have my babies in an ambulance. My husband was following us in his car with my mom. This was not the calm delivery I had envisioned. We made it to the hospital just in time. They rushed me into the elevator. It was a very packed elevator – me on the stretcher, the 2 paramedics and the driver from Trans Am, my husband and a doctor in scrubs asking me all sorts of questions, who turned out to be my anesthesiologist! Still not the calm delivery I imagined. I signed the final consent form at 2:25am and Luciano was born at 2:59am, followed by Charlotte at 3:02am and Benjamin at 3:04am. My husband, Joe, was there.

A couple of days later, I joined my husband at the Buffalo Ronald McDonald House for some much needed sleep and rejuvenation. There are not enough good things I can say about the Ronald McDonald House. Staying there was such a blessing, we live about 1 ½ hours away so making the drive each day or having to pay for a hotel to be close to our babies was not something I could imagine.

The staff at the Ronald McDonald House went above and beyond. They treated us like family and genuinely cared about us and our babies. The Ronald McDonald House became our safe place to go after an exceptionally long day at the hospital during such a stressful time in our lives. It really was a home-away-from-home for me and my husband. A place to decompress and be taken care of. A place where there was a meal waiting for us each evening, as well as breakfast foods and “to go” meals for the hospital readily available. The staff at the Ronald McDonald House took care of us so  we could take care of our babies. They made such a difference in our lives. And many years ago, they made a difference in my sister and mom’s lives. We cannot thank them enough.

– Angela Cottone