Beautiful

Yesterday morning Jared and I were somewhat numb as we waited for our appointment. We received the phone call Sunday night at 8:30. So between 8:30 Sunday night and 2:00 Monday afternoon we had been through a lifetime of emotions.

Jared spent quite a bit of time Sunday night researching this bizarre horrifying disease that neither of us had ever heard of. The more we read the scarier it became. During our sonogram yesterday they were looking for "markers." Basically signs of the disease. If very many markers were found then they were going to do an amnio for a complete diagnosis. The first image of Anneliese that we saw was her hand. Her hand was spread out with her fingers straight and slightly separated.

I commented to the doctor that her hand was a good sign, right? Babies with Trisomy 18 have clinched fists that are curled in at the wrist. He smiled and said, "you've been reading." How could we not? Her beautiful fingers were the sure sign that she was okay. He looked at the rest of her body obviously but he said her hands and her feet were perfect. He said, "There just aren't babies with hands like that that have Trisomy 18, she had no problem straightening them and keeping them that way."

He reassured us that the amnio was unnecessary if the results wouldn't affect our decision to keep the baby. He said he couldn't tell us her chances were 0% but he felt further testing wasn't needed since she looked healthy and because of her hands.

After the inexplicable relief Jared and I wandered out into the hall and just dropped ourselves onto a bench. We sat there for a while quietly absorbing what we had just been told. Jared finally broke the silence stating that he can't wait to kiss her fingers. Those hands will forever hold so much meaning to her mommy and daddy who had begun to prepare for the worse.