I have a baby! A beautiful baby girl! At the moment, she and Jake are sleeping on the couch together and I'm filled with a surge of love and contentment thinking about how the best things in my world are right there in front of me.

Throughout my entire pregnancy, whenever we'd feel the baby kick and squirm in the middle of the night we'd laugh and say, "She does what she wants!" True to form, our baby did what she wanted and Lucy Jane was born early: October 8, 2008. 6lbs 10oz, 18in

Actually, I developed preeclampsia and had to have a c-section a few days earlier than planned. I got really sick, really quickly and sadly, was pretty out of it. We delivered at 6:20pm and I remember hearing her cry and asking "Is that her?" (of course it was her, who else would it be!) As they sewed me up I saw Lucy for about 10 seconds before they whisked her to the NICU. Seven hours later I finally got to hold my baby and that was only because my incredible husband fought the nurses and demanded I get to see her. The NICU is on a different floor than labor and delivery and hospital policy doesn't allow babies to be brought down to mothers. Lucy went to get an MRI at 1:00am and Jake managed to talk the transport nurse into stopping by my room for a quick visit before they took her back to her floor. It was incredible; Lucy knew me at once! She opened her eyes and turned her head right to me and I could see in her eyes she recognized me. Since we still didn't know her diagnosis or if she'd need surgery I wasn't allowed to try to nurse her (they were giving her IV fluids only) so we just snuggled and prayed. 30 minutes later she was taken away.

The next day, we met with the neurologist and got the results of the testing. Lucy has Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum. The brain is divided into two hemispheres (left and right) and the corpus callosum is the "bridge" that connects the hemispheres and relays information back and forth. Agenesis means it didn't form properly and parts are missing. When this condition occurs independently the prognosis is usually very good with individuals having normal intelligence or just mild developmental delays. When ACC occurs in conjunction with other conditions like genetic disorders, the prognosis is much worse. There's no cure or treatment for ACC and the brain can't regrow but it can rewire/reorganize. They ordered an EEG to check for seizure activity as well as complete genetic testing to help determine the severityof her condition. The neurologist said the brain damage appeared to be minimal and the EEG came back normal.

  Right after the EEG with the sticky gel still in her hair

In the NICU. I wasn't able to be with her because I was too sick to be allowed out of bed. Jake, my mom and sister, and his parents took turns sitting with her and sitting with me. I didn't get to see Lucy again until she was released from the NICU 52 hours after her birth.

Jake feeding Lucy colostrum I pumped. He was letting her lick the tiny drops that where left in the bottle so she'd get every possible drop. I would pump, then he'd run it upstairs and feed her. Super Dad! The experts always say for best results to start breastfeeding within one hour of birth and I was scared we wouldn't be able to nurse since we'd gotten such a late start but by a small miracle, as soon as Lucy and I were reunited she took right to nursing and has been a pro ever since her first suck! 

We stayed in the hospital for 5 days, mostly to give me time to recover.  

Lucy is doing incredibly well and we've seen one answered prayer after another. At her one month well check she weighed 10lbs and was 21 3/4in long. On Wednesday we got the results of the genetic testing and everything is completely normal, praise God! We saw an opthomalogist this week to rule out sever vision impairment and everything was normal with her retinas and optic nerve. She's happy and healthy, meeting every developmental milestone a baby her age should, and we've been blessed countless times as we hear about all the friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers that have been praying for Lucy and have been touched by her story. She's a remarkable baby and I can't wait to see what else God is going to do in her life!

July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Happy Fourth of July!