July 18, 2007

Oh Molly! The day you were born was one of the greatest days of my life! I've been waiting so long to finally meet you! I was due on June 22, which was a Friday, but you had your own plan and decided to hold out a little longer. I went into the hospital early on June 25 to be induced- I was tired of waiting for you to come out! I wanted you NOW!

Mommy and Daddy debated long and hard about what to name our new little baby. We didn't talk about names until we knew that you were a baby girl. We orignially really liked the name Charlotte. We considered names like Hadley, Mary, and Carolyn, but just didn't feel that any of those were right. While I was pregnant, you were a maniac! You'd flip around and kick me like crazy - I needed a name to capture your maniac side! We decided that maniac Molly would be perfect! I love the name Molly and although Daddy once had a dog named Molly, we knew you'd be a beautiful little Molly. We also wanted to include Meme and Grandma somehow into your name, so we chose Carolyn as your middle name. Carol for Grandma, and the Lyn was for Meme's middle name, Lynn. I couldn't wait to meet my Molly!
Then, when I was just about to start pushing, I panicked and thought, "what if this baby is a boy??? We don't have a boy name!" And Daddy and I thought for a minute and shouted out names like Henry, Brady, David. Nothing decided for sure, you were ready!
When you were ready to come out, you were such a quick and easy labor! I was thrilled to meet you and hold you all night!

Daddy went home to sleep and take care of Sarah and Bronson, and you and I stayed in our room together. I woke up often just to touch you and look at your beautiful face. You are so tiny!

At 3 a.m. that first night, a nurse came in and woke me up. She wanted to talk to me about a possible problem. Mind you, I was still pretty drugged, half asleep, and alone. This woman felt it imperitive to discuss a problem right then. She said there was a small hole near the bottom of your spine. This could be indicative of spina bifida, which could mean difficulties in life. She suggested that I schedule a catscan and other tests to identify the problem. Then she left.

My






World







Crumbled...




I was alone with my tiny new baby, sad, worried, and anxious to have answers. The next day, I explained it all to Daddy, who, strong support system that he is, calmed me and reassured me that everything would be okay. I went home and researched everything I could about Spina Bifida. I read that it was possible you may not walk, have difficulty with coordination, potty training issues, etc. I was devistated. We scheduled an appointment with Dr. Shollenberger and took you in immediately.

She looked you over and reassured me that although you had a small hole, your spine seemed to be fused and you had good strong movement of your legs. She still scheduled more testing at the Cleveland Clinic, but she felt confident that worse case scenario, you'd have some coordination problems. We left feeling a little better.

I took you to get more testing done and everything came back normal. I was elated! I worried a bit about possible problems you'd encounter as a result of this, but I was grateful that you would walk! You are my miracle and I love you more than you will ever know!