Anna Kate has arrived!!

Our new family, Brent and the girls!

Anna Kate and I....6 hours after birth.

Brent and his newest little girl.

Anna right after birth, you can see how swollen she is and lethargic.


Before c-section in our room...We are dressed and ready to have a baby!!

What an incredible week it has been for us! A week ago on Thursday I thought my water had broken, so I called Brent's mom Judi and to play with Little Miss while I go get checked out. I did not call Brent because my Grandfather had died on Tuesday his memorial was scheduled for the next day and I did not want him to take some precious time off to come the the hospital for a false alarm. So I parked and walked into the hospital, told the nurse check in person I was here to get checked out ...she asked me my name....and then the tears began...she just asked me my name and I started to ball. So they put their arms me and we walked back to a beautiful birthing room. Shortly after this, I started to bleed. So it is a good thing I went in. It is now about 10:45. The nurse told me to call my husband it looks like the baby is coming TODAY! Called Brent and he rushed over from Oberlin, about 40 mins. He arrived, and so did my dad. Mom made arrangements at school to get up here. I went in for the c-section at 1. Anna was born at 1:26, after we screamed "its a girl!!!" I said "sisters!!!" and started to cry again. This c-section was so much better than Elizabeth's..it was almost fun?? The unknown c-section fear was not there. Anna cried for a split second then she was super quiet. We were concerned, the doctors finished putting me back together and we went back to the beautiful birthing room....for a loong time. We waited there with Mom,Dad, my Grandparents Beep and Gwee for 6 hours. Our visitors left and finally Anna came to our room along with 2 Pediatricians. We held and loved Anna while they expressed their concerns of Downs Syndrome. Anna exhibited several features that indicated Downs. This was an incredible shock. I am only 29, we do not have it in our family. We were floored and honestly frightened. Anna was incredibly swollen, her face was pushed up making her eyes look very puffy, her neck was swollen...she did not look like herself. Brent and I took the news with tears and the incredibly need to educate ourselves on Downs Syndrome. I was thinking, wow maybe this is why I worked with special need children, maybe this is the path we were meant to walk. We can do it. Elizabeth will be a wonderful big sister and we will be strong parents. We agree to some blood tests to "confirm" the pediatricians suspicions. The first results would be pretty instant, they performed an EKG to look for heart troubles. Which is apparently a common worry associated with Downs. Her heart looked healthy and strong. The next results are a blood test that we would get back Sat at 3...it was Thursday night. It was one long wait. Meanwhile we had tons and tons of wonderful visitors to brighten our day. We were both exhausted but the visitors were wonderful. Friday night about 9:30 Brent came home to water our band new yard...and my room phone rang and 2 nurses ran in to get the important phone call. It was the Pediatrician with "some good news this evening." The blood test results were in early and there is no Downs in this test! I sobbed so loudly and the nurses hugged me. I called Brent sobbing to share our good news. He left the lawn and came to the hospital. It was astonishing, it seemed so eminent just two days before. Anna's muscle tone was improving and her swelling was going down. We were discharged on Sunday afternoon, still waiting chromosome testing. Which we just received these results yesterday that those were "normal" chromosomes! We still have one more test result we will receive next week. Anna is growing...she has gained a whole ounce every day since Sunday, she is thriving and a good sleeper (I feel like I need to say for now...I don't want to jinks our rest). Elizabeth is adjusting, she loves her little sister and she is a great helper....a little jealous but a great help. I am healing and Brent has held us all together this week.

Here are some pictures of the last few days....