While doing some gardening in their backyard earlier this year, Yazmine, 30, turned to her partner, Mayron, 25, with an idea about their upcoming wedding.

The local couple, who were expecting their first baby this October, had planned to get married next year on Sept. 24, 2022. Organizing a wedding and welcoming a baby in the same year seemed too ambitious, Yazmine had originally thought. But that day in the garden, she changed her mind.

“I just felt like, why wait?” she said. “We wanted our son to be born into a marriage, so I said let’s just get married at City Hall on the same date this year, Sept. 24, and then do a larger celebration next year.”

They excitedly started making plans for an intimate ceremony with Yasmine’s immediate family and to record the event for Mayron’s relatives in Brazil.

But then during a regular appointment with her obstetrician on Sept. 23, Yazmine received some unexpected news. Her doctor recommended that she be induced that afternoon after Yazmine reported she hadn’t felt the baby move as much recently. By the morning of Sept. 24 — the very day they planned to be exchanging vows — they were at the Brigham with the potential for a different monumental moment in their lives to occur.

“I was like, whoa! I wasn’t due for another three weeks, but everything happens for a reason,” Yazmine said. “What’s funny is that we didn’t choose the 24th as our wedding date for any particular reason, but all of a sudden it had the potential to be the date of both our baby’s birthday and our wedding day.”

To help the couple fulfill their original plans, members of their care team and other staff on the unit sprang into action to organize a festive wedding ceremony.

The father of the bride hurried to the couple’s home that morning to pick up her wedding dress and Mayron’s suit. OB/GYN resident Gregory Woods, MD, officiated the ceremony that evening.

Nora Scharf, MSN, RNC-EFM, nursing director for the Center for Labor and Birth, said the care team was delighted to support the couple as they celebrated their love and growing family.

An ‘Indescribable Feeling’

“Our compassionate Labor and Delivery staff quickly brought the idea to my attention of having their wedding on the L&D unit prior to the unexpectedly early birth of their baby,” she said. “The staff were thrilled and excited to help facilitate their wedding ceremony. The joy this sort of event brings to everyone working is tremendous. We are accustomed to the joys of childbirth, but to add a wedding to our day is extra special.”

The ceremony was a success. However, Yazmine’s baby decided he didn’t want to take a backseat to his parents’ joyous moment. And it wasn’t until the evening of Oct. 18 that the couple’s son, Kaleb Gabriel, came into to the world.

Yazmine expressed their gratitude for the outstanding care they have received.

“It means a lot to us that they would do this wedding for us, and the nurses were so nice and accommodating with everything else, too,” she said. “They had really positive attitudes and never made us feel like we were being a nuisance or bothersome about anything. They were genuinely happy to be on this journey with us.”

The happy couple met last year while working at a restaurant together — starting out as colleagues and then friends before their feelings for each other blossomed.

“Once we got to know each other, we realized we had a lot in common, especially our goals and what we wanted in terms of raising a family,” Yazmine said.

In January, Yazmine had a hunch she was pregnant and told Mayron she was going to pick up a pregnancy test at the drugstore. She surprised him later that day with the result, presenting him with a card containing a heartwarming message in his native language, Portuguese — with help from Google Translate — and a jewelry box containing the testing dipstick showing a positive result.

“She told me, ‘Close your eyes. I’ve got a surprise for you,’” Mayron recalled. “When I saw it, I was so surprised and excited. What she did was so sweet.”

This past week, after a short stay in the Brigham’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Kaleb Gabriel arrived home to culminate the couple’s whirlwind journey.

“It feels second-nature to have him home,” Yazmine said. “It’s really an indescribable feeling to be a parent. We look forward to this wonderful journey and give thanks to the doctors and nurses that took extra care of our baby in the NICU after birth.”

Boston 25 News recently covered this story. You can view the segment here.