In Cape Coral, Florida, Amanda Mahr underwent a C-Section to give birth to her son just before Hurricane Ian’s winds hit 150 mph. The birth of Amanda and Matthew Mahr’s first child was anticipated with excitement, but Hurricane Ian totally altered the process. The couple discovered Amanda would require a caesarean section on Tuesday, four days after their son’s due date, after an ultrasound revealed low fluid levels. Their doctor invited the pair to visit out of concern. The emergency room at Cape Coral Hospital approved admission that evening for careful observation.
The couple hurriedly left the home as Hurricane Ian approached and drove through ferocious winds and torrential rain. When Mahrs got to the hospital, she realized that after the storm subsided, Amanda would probably need a caesarean section. However, as the storm changed its path early on Wednesday morning and made a direct hit on Cape Coral, their doctor entered the room and informed them that they were “directly impacted.” We must act immediately. now,” Amanda, 36, informed the locals.
“It was horrifying, very stressful and scary,” she said. “I think we actually had 17 minutes from waking up until they started taking me into the operating room.”
George Bentley Mahr, weighing 10 pounds, 6 ounces, and sporting a full head of black hair, was delivered at 8:49 a.m. “We both looked at each other and time almost stopped,” said 37-year-old Matthew. After grinning, we both began crying.
When the lights began to flash, the couple and George went back to their delivery chamber. Mahrs arrived at the hotel around 2:30 p.m. and was moved into the corridor with other new parents and expectant mothers so they could avoid the possibility of broken windows.
Mahrs could hear the storm’s intensity from the corridor, which sounded “like sheet metal hitting a building,” according to Matthew. All you hear are fragments. It’s one of those situations where hearing about it is worse and not understanding what is happening is frightening than actually seeing it. Both of them are concerned about Amanda’s mother being alone in the home in Fort Myers, their Cape Coral apartment, the one-year-old cat Mazikeen they had to leave behind when they hurried to the hospital. I was very anxious, and childbirth was just a whirlwind of feelings, says Amanda, who owns her own gourmet cupcake business. They discuss how giving birth will impact your body, hormones, and feelings.
So, she continued, “To watch the whole tempest develop up there is almost beyond my capability.
I took it minute by minute and only paid attention to the infant and my instruction in breastfeeding. Unlike some of the other hospitals in the region that were damaged, the couple and George were back in their rooms by nine o’clock. The following day, Matthew visited their house by driving through Cape Coral. Poles stacked on top of one another, broken wires, signs, and billboards that appeared to be dispersed everywhere made the area “look like a monster truck demonstration had gone through the entire neighborhood,” he remarked.
Although Mizakeen was hiding under the crib in George’s new nursery, Matthew discovered her safe but terrified despite two of Mahrs’ apartment’s windows being shattered. The remainder of their home was in decent shape. The couple and George settled in with Amanda’s mother at her Fort Myers home after departing the hospital on Friday. They still don’t have air conditioning in their home, and their neighborhood still doesn’t have power as of Saturday. Amanda sought refuge from the sweltering heat in her vehicle, which she also used as a temporary charging station, as the temperature rose to 87 degrees.
“We’re so lucky. We have the cutest baby, he’s chubby and full of hair. We’re trying our best and just trying every minute.”
Since Hurricane Ian was predicted to make landfall around the time Amanda gave birth, the couple was flooded with questions about whether Ian would be added to their son’s name.
