Malea Mary Walker

We were so happy to have Malea become a member of our family. It was definitely an adjustment at first, but totally worth it. I feel like I really found my purpose in life when she was born. I just couldn't stop staring at her. There is nothing like holding a newborn baby in your arms and knowing that you had a hand in creating him or her.


When I was in labor with Malea and my water broke, I was told by the nurses that I had the meconium stain, which means that she had pooped while in the womb. This is usually not a good sign, as it usually indicates that the baby is experiencing some kind of trauma. The nurse said it was "pretty bad." As a result, we had to have a respiratory therapist there and ready as soon as she came out in order to clean out all of the meconium from her lungs. Gratefully, the respiratory therapist was able to clean out all of it from her lungs, and most of it from her mouth (there were a couple of little episodes where she "choked" on it, which gave me quite a scare as a new mom). As the respiratory therapist was cleaning her out, he made a comment about a little dimple Malea had on her lower back just above her butt crack. I didn't think too much about out, until the word "spina bifida" was spoken. Then I was super anxious. The nurses tried to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal, but I think they were down playing what a serious thing it could be. The pediatrician we chose for Malea (Dr. Nielsen) came to the hospital in order to check things out. His initial diagnosis was that it was a sacral dimple, which meant that it was not spina bifida. However, he did have us take Malea to get an ultrasound done on her back just to rule out a tethered spine (which at the time I also did not understand the seriousness of). He said that the sacral dimple was the deepest he had ever seen without it going all the way through to the spine. After a very traumatic ultrasound (more for me than for her) where she peed on the table, they also ruled out a tethered spine.

Although Malea started out with a couple of small issues, everything turned out fine. We are so grateful that she is healthy and happy.