A few months ago, Aaron and Natalie Martin were busy assembling a nursery for their first child. After eight years prioritizing her students as a Plano ISD second-grade teacher, Aaron said 30-year-old Natalie was excited to welcome her own child into the world.   “Beyond excited. She loved it. Just memories and memories and memories I have of the excitement and the way she just lit up talking about Parker,” said Aaron Martin. No one imagined she wouldn’t get the chance. Natalie died a few hours after Parker arrived four weeks early. “We went in for some lower back pain and just for precautionary and then things sort of decreased from there into an emergency C-section and then some complications is what sort of triggered everything there after,” he said. While the family awaits an autopsy for answers about what went wrong, Natalie’s death comes as several recent studies have highlighted a rise in Texas’s maternal mortality rate. According to a 2025 March of Dimes report, it includes 29.3 deaths for every 100,000 live births. It’s one of the highest rates in the country, though the state says its reporting method differs from others. Worldwide, the U.S. rate is higher than that of many other high-income nations.   “There’s been lots of tears and people there just to offer a hug or offer some words or just pray over the situation or pray over us, so it’s just been an overwhelming support,” said Martin. For now, Aaron said family, friends and community are making sure every need is met. Their world is no doubt dimmer. “She was spunky, adventurous, loved to just laugh, full of joy, always had a smile on her face. Just truly caring,” he said. Still, memories pouring in from far and wide are helping to keep Natalie’s memory alive now and for Parker in the future. “It defines how she’ll continue to be just a beaming light of joy and her joy just radiates throughout the community of just who she was, and I think that she’ll be remembered for a very, very long time,” he said. A vigil for Natalie will be held Friday night at 5:30 p.m. in the parking lot of Citizens Church in Plano. ...read more read less