A little parasite

This is the weekend we found out

Here is the little screamer!

The Birthday Girl!

The Bad Fairy

If you would have told me 5 years ago that we were going to have another baby I would have laughed in your face. We were done, no more for us. We had even given away all of our baby things. One night I was working at the hospital and I had to start an IV on a little, tiny red-headed baby girl. After I was finished, I held her to comfort her. This incredible surge came over me, I KNEW we were going to have another baby. The next day I had a dream of our family with a baby girl. She had dark hair and blue eyes. Her Birthday was to be Feb. the 12th. It was very strange, but I knew it. Keith wasn't so sure. He was getting ready to apply to graduate school, the kids were pretty independent, and we had a lot of fun together. Not so easy with a new baby. I remember sitting down with my good friend Marla, and telling her about the dream. She was very encouraging to me. June 2007 comes around and Keith and I send the big kids away for a few weeks with Grandma's and Grandpa's. We were to leave for a "Trek" (camping / hiking trip) with the youth of our church, for 4 nights in the Mississippi wilderness. It was already very hot, and very humid. We were dressed as pioneers, with long skirts, bloomers, aprons etc. On the second day I got very sick and fainted. After a few hours or so,I was feeling better and able to continue. The following week we flew to Houston where we met up with friends and then continued down to Akumal, Mexico for a full week of relaxation. It was wonderful and couldn't have asked for a better trip. On the last day of our trip I was feeling very sick. I chalked it up to the water. We had been to dinner the night before and thought that maybe we hadn't been very careful. I continued to be sick for a few days after we arrived home. So I made an appointment with my doctor to get checked. I wanted to check my blood and other things for parasites, his suspicion for my illness. The following day I had to drive to Nashville to pick up my Mom who had flown with the kids back from Colorado. When we arrived home there was a call on my machine. It was my doctor, and he needed to talk to me. I called him back and this is what he told me, "Melissa, yes, you indeed have a parasite, it will live in your body for the next 10 months and then will leach off of you for the next 18 years..." I couldn't fathom what he was saying, I wondered if it was that serious, then he said, " Melissa, it's a baby, you are pregnant" I couldn't believe it, but I knew. I didn't tell Keith right away, I wanted to make sure he applied to graduate school before I told him. So at the end of the week I bought a pregnancy test, and told him. I was so scared. My first pregnancy was so terrible and my second was fine, so this one could be anything. It was relatively calm, I even worked up until the first of the year, when riding in the back of an ambulance on a transfer to a hospital 100 miles away, made me stop. We chose not to find out the gender of our baby, and was surprised and overjoyed when she came out screaming on the 19th of February 2008. We now have this big, naughty 3 year old, who is the light of our lives. We can't remember life without her. Some days I would like to give her to the gypsies, but for the most part she keeps me on my toes.

Our little Savannah Grace.