Mari and Jonah received the exciting news they were expecting a new baby to add to their family. In December 2022, they received even more exciting news that it wasn’t just one baby but two. During this time, Jonah, who was a paramedic with AMR Hemet, received a job offer from the city of Berkeley Fire Department which meant they would have to relocate to Northern California.
On February 1, 2022, with Mari being at 12 weeks of pregnancy, the Lopp family moved up north, leaving behind their entire support system. Jonah started the fire academy on February 7th. On June 24, 2022, after completing 20 weeks, Jonah fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming a firefighter.
From the beginning, Mari’s pregnancy had its difficulties ranging from morning sickness to extreme tiredness and periodic bleeding. At around 20 weeks, Mari caught the flu and a few weeks later started experiencing contractions. In addition, although Mari was vaccinated, she contracted covid six weeks later. In order to care for the kids while Mari was sick, Jonah took a week off from the academy and then ultimately contracted covid himself. On July 1st, at 33 weeks of pregnancy, Mari was hospitalized for high blood pressure and was in preterm labor. Although she was already dilated to a 4, they were able to slow down the contractions and dilation. Further, they gave Mari steroids for the girls’ lungs since they would be preterm and she was released the following day. On July 4th, Mari was readmitted to the hospital for high blood pressure, dizziness, nausea, and consistent painful contractions and was released on July 5th pending test results. On July 6th, at almost 35 weeks, the doctor confirmed Mari had pre-eclampsia and they needed to induce labor, she was admitted back into the hospital at 8:30 p.m.
On July 7th at 4:41 a.m., Ollie arrived weighing 5 lbs 8 ounces, and at 5:03 a.m. Bailey made her entrance weighing in at 6 lbs 7 ounces. Both girls appeared healthy with the only issues
being their inability to maintain their body temperature and healthy sugar levels. On July 9, 2022, Ollie and Bailey were discharged from the hospital and arrived home to meet their siblings, three-year-old Henley, and five-year-old Jacey.
Jonah’s new schedule at Berkeley Fire started the week of June 27th, working 48 hours on and then four days off. Although he had not earned any paid time off and worked for just a week, Jonah was fortunate that he was able to take three weeks off in order to be with Mari and the kids. Jonah returned to work on July 20th and he would only work another seven weeks before Bailey’s health deteriorated and she was hospitalized. Although Jonah has yet to work long enough to earn vacation or sick time, Berkeley Fire has been very accommodating in meeting Jonah and his family’s needs.
