Personal Stories
Having a baby was something I thought I’d never experience. After four surgeries for endometriosis as a young woman, pregnancy seemed like a long shot. So, I nearly had put the idea out of my head! Once I married my husband John and 3 years later became pregnant, the idea still seemed impossible; I remember calling my parents and telling them we were expecting, and my Dad said, “You?!” Never say never!
Much happened during that time of carrying our son, including the quickly progressing lung illness and death of my mother, Joan Patitucci. Mom was convinced I was carrying a girl, until during the last days of her illness, unable to speak, she wrote, “It’s a boy.” Soon after, I watched, great with child, as my mother’s urn was buried in the ground, unable to comprehend how I would give birth on the heels of such a death and such a loss.
John Peter Redmond came into our lives soon after, and we were indeed changed again forever. Since he is a special needs child, God has challenged us and loved us through much. One of the many gifts of this child is the songs his presence has inspired me to write. I hope that these songs convey some of the emotions that all parents, particularly parents of special needs children, experience in those rare moments of reflection. I also hope that as you listen, that the peace, hope and comfort of God Himself will carry you and encourage you in this journey we all call parenthood.
“This is a miscarriage” – those were the words that my doctor abruptly spoke after my 12-week pregnancy ultrasound. My husband fainted to the floor and we were on a new and uncertain road to parenthood.
A year later, we were expecting again and had made it all the way to 38 weeks without any bumps in the road. The morning before Thanksgiving 1996, I woke to a sensation that the baby wasn’t moving around. We went to our gynecologist’s office in NYC for a regularly scheduled check-up thinking that the baby must just be sleeping. He put me on the ultrasound table and then said “It’s as if someone turned the lights out.” Our baby had died in utero and I had to be induced into labor and deliver the baby. Our daughter “Miya” was stillborn on Thanksgiving Day, about 28 hours later.
One year later found us giving birth to a healthy baby girl (now 9) and 3 years later to another healthy baby girl (now age 6). Happily ensconced in motherhood and so very thankful for my children, I would spend hours nursing them to sleep and singing them lullabies. After becoming friends with two other women through marriage and my church, Renee Redmond and Mindy Sax, who are both professional singers, we were able to share in our feelings of being blessed as mothers and musicians.
We decided it was time to give the world a lullaby album that all ages would enjoy listening to and that was neither syrupy nor boring. We wrote original lullabies and arranged some favorites, doing all the writing, recording, mixing and mastering between our motherly duties and much of it after the kids were all in bed. It took us two years because of Mindy’s son Kenny’s birth and surgeries, and my husband’s busy tour schedule. My husband John Patitucci is a Grammy award winning jazz bassist. He helped us greatly by engineering, producing, singing, playing multiple instruments and babysitting during our meetings!