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6 Years Ago Today

 

 

 

 

It does not seem possible that 6 years have passed. It seems too fast.
6 years ago today Hannah Grace entered our lives. She came into the world, just like she lives it, with much drama! (sometimes the drama is a good thing!)
On Monday, November 18, 2002 I had a routine prenatal check-up. At that appointment the doctor noticed I was measuring too large for how far along I was. I believe I was measuring 41 weeks at 37 weeks. They decided to order another ultrasound. Wednesday, November 20, 2002 I went to my doctor's office for my ultrasound. It was quiet in the room, too quiet. The technician then asked us to wait while she spoke to the doctor. We waited for what seemed like hours and KNEW there was bad news...we could just feel it. The doctor came around the corner, one I had never met, and asked us to come with him. He then gave us the news. They believed Hannah had something called Duodinal Atresia, bascially meaning her stomach was not attached to her intestines. He said with this condition comes many other conditions. They were sending us to see a specialist the next day so someone could properly explain to us what was wrong with our baby and what to expect. We were devastated! The only thing we knew to do was pray, so pray we did. We prayed a lot!! My parents came to up so they could go with us to the appointment, they didn't want us hearing the news alone. God knew what he was doing!! At 5:30am on Thursday, November 21, 2002 my water broke (2 1/2 weeks early)! We were so scared. We hadn't seen the doctor yet, we didn't know what to expect or what was going on. At that point, we had to be ready for what ever happened. Hannah was born that afternoon, with much drama in the delivery room! Besides Jeff and I there were 8 other people in the room watching Hannah be born. She was 8lbs. 9oz. when she was born (2 1/2 weeks early!!) and she would need that weight for what would come. I had about 10 minutes with my baby before they rushed her off to the NICU. After they x-rayed her abdomen they brought her back to me and said 'we do NOT know what is wrong, but there IS something wrong. Where do you want to send her?' SEND HER??? We had to choose, Boston or Lebanon. We chose Lebanon only because we figured there would be less traffic going back and forth. So, Jeff wheeled me down to the NICU to say good-bye to my baby. Here she was only a few hours old and they were taking her from me. It was the most HORRIBLE feeling in the world. I sat in the NICU and watched them buckle her in to the isolette. The transport nurse said 'I'll take good care of her, I promise' and then they left. I said good-bye to Jeff next, he would follow the ambulance, the hospital needed a parent there to sign papers. There I sat, alone, no baby, no husband, not knowing what was going to happen. Jeff called at 10pm that evening and said the doctors ran all kinds of tests, did x-rays, ultrasounds, etc. and found out it was NOT Duodinal Atresia after all. PRAISE GOD!! Before he even told me what it was, I KNEW she was going to be ok. Hannah had a baseball sized cyst on her left ovary. When they did the prenatal ultrasound what they were seeing was the cyst, not a space between the stomach and intestine. When Hannah was 24 hours old she underwent surgery to remove the cyst and the surgeon attmpted to repair her little ovary.
Have you ever REALLY experienced God's peace??? I have. It was AMAZING, during this whole ordeal, never ONCE did I worry, sure I was scared for my child and what might happen, but it was not worry. It is really hard to explain, but through it all there was such a heavenly peace that I had never known before. It was only by God's grace and strength that we made it through that difficult time.
Now, life for Hannah hasn't been sunshine and roses since then, she's had other surgeries, other illnesses, allergies, and an immune defeciency, but she has to be the happiest child ever. She does not let anything get her down. She just keeps plugging forward. She has a flare for the dramatic (which would probably be an understatement)...who wouldn't after all she's been through! But, the thing that gets me is that she has a relationship with God like noone else I know. She KNOWS Him in such a special way. I believe that is because HE was there every step of the way holding on to her when I couldn't.
Until she is older and we find out if her ovary will be functional, the only thing left behind to remind us of what happened is a 2 inch scar on her abdomen (which went from one side to the other at birth) which she affectionately calls her 'BABY LINE.' Other than that scar, you would never know all the things she went through in her tiny life.
We are SO grateful and SO thankful to God for all He has done in Hannah's life and for the plan He has in store for her. He has AMAZING things planned for her!!! She is our Thanksgiving miracle and we are so very grateful.
HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY HANNAH GRACE...WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Our little Cub turns 3!! (double post)

WOW! That is hard to believe, but our little Cubby is THREE YEARS OLD!
I felt really bad that we were not able to do the usual party for him, but since I injured my back I haven't been up to doing much at all. But, my parents did come up and we had a special celebration anyway...then, yesterday, on his actual birthday we had another celebration with Grammie. All in all, I think he had a VERY happy birthday!
Oh, and yes, he is QUITE the ham!!

Fun in the Fall

 

Well, as it stands my kids are STILL horrified of Halloween. All of the spooky things send them running for the nearest rock to hide under. So, we generally take them to the church Fall Festival so they can have some dress-up fun, then on Halloween we head to Pastor Geoff's house and the Scalera's house for some non-scary fun. This year the girls wanted to hand out candy and actually this is the first year since we moved to our house we actually have KIDS on our street besides our own. So, I agreed. But, they didn't just want to hand out candy, they wanted to be a witness, so they found a neat poem and made little pumpkin buckets with a poem about being a light for Christ. I was very proud of them! Unfortunately, only one little girl came to the door...they were very excited to hand her a bucket with candy, but they were a little disappointed they didn't get to hand out all of the buckets. Still, I told them God was proud of them and so were we! Our little missionaries have decided that Pike ST is their mission field...HOW COOL IS THAT!?!?!? and I wonder, what would happen if we all took their initative -- the desire to win their street for Christ? What would the world look like?? I wonder if that is why Christ said we need to come as little children...they get it, fully and completely and don't care what anyone else thinks! What would happen if we had the same conviction? I believe we could change the world, one neighbor at a time! I am just glad I get to go along with my children for the ride!