The Early Show

Songs Celebrating Mothers

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

May 5, 1999 / 12:23 PM EDT / CBS

For Mothers' Day, CBS News Saturday Morning's Second Cup Café heard selections from a new CD called Mother.

From Celtic lullabies to original songs, the songs explore the mother-child relationship. One of the singers has a very special story of motherhood to tell.

Pianist Robin Spielberg became fast friends with Celtic stars Susan McKeown and Cathie Ryan when the trio taped a Christmas TV special. They decided it would be great fun to record an album of songs celebrating mothers and motherhood.

Just as they got going, events took an interesting turn for Robin. "In the process of working on it, I became pregnant. That was just really perfect. All of a sudden, the project took on a very special meaning for me," said Robin.

Robin was pregnant with twin girls. But at a routine check-up in mid-September, when Robin was less than six months pregnant, she heard some bad news. She said, "My husband and I were shocked to discover that I was in labor, in the early stages of labor, so they say. I guess we didn't know enough to be scared."

Robin was immediately rushed to this hospital, where doctors used drugs to try to forestall childbirth. Eleven days later, they were forced to perform an emergency C-section. The first girl didn't make it.

She said "The nurse came in and asked me, 'Do you want to hold the baby?' And I'm--you know, you're on morphine, you're on stuff--and I'm, like, 'Which baby?' You know, like I was afraid to ask. And she's like, 'Well, the baby-- you know, one baby's in intensive care. But the other baby didn't make it. Do you want to say goodbye?' And you know, that was very hard. But I'm glad that I did that. I got to see her and say goodbye. Then, our prayers really began. "

The other baby weighed a mere 17 ounces. Her entire hand fit easily through Robin's wedding band. Doctors gave her about a ten percent chance of surviving. Somehow, she pulled through.

Robin and her husband named their daughter Valerie, from valor, to be strong. Valerie needed all the strength her tiny body could muster, clinging to life only through a jumble of feeding tubes, cables and lung-assist devices. There were dangerous infections, a dozen transfusions, a bout with pneumonia, and, most dramatically, emergency heart surgery on her one-month birthday.

That was very scary. And waiting in the waiting area was just torturous. But she pulled through, and almost immediately turned around and started to act better," said Robin.

Finally there was a light at the end of the tunnel. For Halloween, nurses dressed Valerie up like a snow man, in a tiny costume was borrowed from a Beanie Baby.

Nurses also noticed that whenever thy played Robin's music for Valerie there was an interesting and positive effect on all the babies' monitors.

Because the infants seemed to respond well, Robin's record company donated 50 CDs to the neo-natal unit, where they are still in use today.

As for Valerie, she's home now, chugging a special high-calorie food formula and tipping the scales at a hearty 10 pounds. Music is still a vital part of the program.

When Robin's working on the piano, Val is almost always there, inspiring, delighting and even teaching her mom.

"One thing I've learned is that I'm stronger than I thought I was. My husband is stronger than I thought he was. And there's one baby that's a hell of a lot stronger than anyone thought she was," said Robin.