Baby of the Week!

Well in case you missed it - Anna was featured as the Baby of the Week in Sunday's paper(The Beacon). Our practice does a weekly ad spot featuring a baby delivered by one of their docs. I sent her info in on a whim, and wouldn't you know it, a week and a half later, there she was! I've tried to take a picture of the paper since I don't want to mess with scanning it. The subtitle says "Delivering Miracles Daily" If they only knew what a miracle she was.....

Today was our ultrasound on her "spine dimple" and guess what.....she's perfect! The dimple is only skin deep and doesn't effect the spine at all. Everything "inside" looked normal!! Praise God for this special Christmas present who is by all means perfect in our eyes and I know perfect in His!

Anna's Dedication

On Sunday, December 9, we dedicated Anna to the Lord in our Kinetic service at Atlantic Shores. She was the only baby being dedicated so Pastor Ira asked if my dad, who is a minister, would like to pray the prayer of dedication. It is always special when my dad prays over my girls and he was very thankful to have been asked.

The ceremony was short and sweet, but powerful in meaning. We are dedicated to raising Anna with a knowledge of the Lord and will pray that she will one day soon choose a relationship with Him. We are so thankful for our church family and the love we are surrounded by. I love knowing my girls are growing up surrounded by other moms and dads that love on them and kids that are being raised in the same manner. I don't think I previously mentioned this, but every pastor from Atlantic Shores visited Anna when she was in the hospital. Some of them even came twice. You know when you are leaving and the woman at the front desk says - Oh I know who Anna is - The clergy came and the clergy came to see her-that your church has left an impression. Thank you all for the love you have already lavished on little Anna. She's starting to return it with big smiles and sweet coos. Praise the Lord!

Anna's dress was also worn by Erin on her dedication, as well as me on my dedication, and also my mom on her dedication. I'm so thankful for all of the sentimental things my mom has saved.

This is Getting Old....

No, I'm not talking about blogging, or my face....I'm talking about Doctor's appointments. Poor little Anna, as if she hadn't already been through enough - now they are throwing something else at us. We went for her 4 month checkup on Wednesday and I wasn't able to see our normal Pediatrician since she is out of town. So, I had to explain in 2 minutes Anna's whole situation to a new Dr. I wish they would read the charts before they came in to the room so they'd have a clue what's going on(can you tell I'm still perturbed?) So this Dr. was very incriminating of me(or so I felt). She was worried about Anna's weight, Anna's uvela, Anna's bottom - it felt like she was just trying to find anything wrong that she could. So I was dissappointed because Anna only weighed 11 lbs 8 oz, and I was hoping for at least 12 lbs. Instead of encouraging me with the progress we had made, she suggested adding some formula into her diet - which is fine - but it just makes me feel insufficient.

And the newest worry is a small section at the top of Anna's bottom crack(to put it nicely). It is the area directly below the spine which is soft. The Dr. thinks there is the possibility the spine may not have formed all the way and just the skin is covering the hole. I truly don't think that is the case, and I'm not really worried about it. But the Dr. was throwing around the term Spina Bifida - but wouldn't explain it to me because she didn't want to worry me - as if hearing the words didn't already do that!

So once again, we need prayer. We'll go to CHKD to have this spot ultrasounded on the 17th. I honestly don't think there is a problem, but we have to be sure. Please pray that the ultrasound will show no concern and Anna will stop having to go through all these things. Pray for me too - it is all becoming overwhelming and I truly dread going to the Doctor's office now and I'm just ready for a clean report for Anna! Thank you friends for allowing me to vent a little and share this info with all of you! Lots of Love!

Playdates for Anna!

Anna has gotten to go on a few playdates this week - well, more like sleepdates. I forgot my camera for the first one, but she hung out with Kayla, the newest addition to our Bible Study class. She is 3 weeks old. Then today, she hung out with Kylee and her friends, Sienna and Sydney. All 4 girls weigh about the same weight and all favor the color pink. It was a fun time talking about eating and sleeping! I enjoy getting to have playdates with babies again, there is so much less conflict resolution!

And by the way,Anna went to the Dr. yesterday and she is up to about 10lbs6oz and slowly being taken off her meds. He said her heart sounded perfect and her healing was textbook. Praise the Lord she is doing so well!

Tummy Time

Anna enjoying tummy time with Daddy and Erin.....
Anna over tummy time....Time elapsed 1 minute 30 seconds!

We'll have to work on this tummy time thing, she's not too fond of it yet!