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Welcome, Mary Brooke!

Our sweet daughter made her grand entrance into the world early Saturday morning, November 16. I went to bed around 11 pm and woke up just after 12:15 am when my water broke. We quickly packed bags and got Olivia ready to drop off at a friends house on our way to the hospital. It was so surreal! We made it to the hospital a little after 1 am and things moved pretty quickly from there. Mary Brooke was born at 2:34 am via c-section, weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 19 1/4 inches long. She's a pretty good size baby for being born at 36w2d. She has done amazingly well and we are so grateful!

Two big things about her birth I want to share. Both point to the goodness of God and the fact that He is in control of all things. I had prayed from very early on in this pregnancy that my water would break in the weeks leading up to my scheduled c-section. Reid and I both talked often about how we would love to have that experience and it be exciting, not terrifying like last time. In the grand scheme of pregnancy that was really a small detail, but God can do anything. It was just one more way He has used Mary Brooke's arrival to bring beauty from ashes. The second thing is that when the doctor delivered Mary Brooke the cord was wrapped around her neck three times, basically forming a noose. He told us today how dangerous that could have been. I really was surprised she came as early as she did. But, now thinking about it, clearly God knew what we didn't, was in control once again, and allowed her early delivery to keep us from what could have been a very devastating situation. Today I am in awe of the many ways God has shown His character to us through Mary Brooke. She is such a treasure, our precious gift, and we love her dearly!




















Comments

  1. Congratulations, she is beautiful! What a sweet story!

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  2. So, SO happy for you!!! What does Olivia think of her little sister?

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  3. Many congratulations on your fifth little girl! :) :)

    She is gorgeous and a true miracle.

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  4. Praise GOD!!! I have prayed many a prayer for you and yours and am so happy to be able to share in this glorious celebration!!

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  5. Congratulations! She is beautiful and I love how the Lord was in every single detail!

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  6. Congratulations!!!!! I'm so happy that I checked your blog tonight on a whim. And I'm so happy Mary Brooke arrived safely & soundly! What an amazing story. My own son was born about 10 days before his due date and had his cord double-wrapped around his neck. I never stopped to think about how his "early" arrival could've spared us from something worse. God is always is in control. And I'm sure that it must bring a smile to your face to see your last post titled T-3 weeks, when God knew it was actually T-3 days. :) Again, I'm so very, very happy for you!!

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  7. Congratulations, I'm glad it worked out well.

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  8. What a beautiful baby! Congratulations to you and your family!

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  9. Congratulations! So happy for a wonderful experience. Sounds like God's hand was all over your family

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  10. Mare- congratulations to your precious family!! So thankful that all went well and that your experience was one of beauty and grace. Thinking of you always- Mary Jo Wilmot Thicksten

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  11. Congratulations!! Glad everything went well. Such a beautiful addition to your family :)

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Past Posts

Mary Grace

At 2:00 am this morning, our sweet Mary Grace was welcomed to Heaven. We found out this afternoon that she had a large brain hemorrhage. Reid and I spent three precious hours holding our daughter tonight. The nurses wrapped a pink bow around her little head and we swaddled her in a soft pink elephant blanket. During those hours, we told Mary Grace how proud we were of her fight, how she fulfilled our dreams of one day having a daughter to call "Gracie," and we even took a little nap, snuggled together as a family. If we told her we loved her once, we told her a thousand times. We prayed over her and gave her back to the Lord. We miss her more than words can say. I feel like we were punched in the stomach today and left with the wind knocked out of our lungs. Its so hard to understand "why?" in all of this. Tonight when we left the hospital, Reid turned on this song by David Crowder Band and we listened to it on repeat the whole way home. Its the exact state of our

One day at a time

For the first time in my life I feel like I'm truly living one day at a time. Reid and I had a pretty good day yesterday. We were able to sleep in which was wonderful. Reid made us lunch and we sat outside in the backyard. It was a beautiful day and being outside did a lot of good for my mental health. :) There were still a lot of hard moments as memories from the night before would come rushing back to mind. We miss our sweet babies so much. Olivia had a good day yesterday. It was uneventful (which is a very good thing in the NICU) and they were able to turn down some of her medicine. We call every morning to check on our sweet girl and her nurse was quick to tell us how feisty our daughter is. We picked up on that in her first day of life, but it was funny to hear that someone else had observed the same. We are so in love with our feisty little Olivia. After we left the hospital, Reid and I went on a dinner date. It was so good for us to get out and feel like we

Madelyn Barrett

I really don't even know where to begin or how to write this post. I've put it off for several days hoping that maybe if I let things sink in a little more it would be easy. This will never be easy. As you know, we welcomed three beautiful little girls into the world on Friday afternoon. We had hoped to continue to "buy time" and hold off on delivery for several more weeks. God has always had a plan much bigger than either Reid or I could ever imagine. I have to chose to believe, everyday, that somehow this all fits perfectly into that plan. We knew from the time of her delivery that Madelyn was struggling the most. The circumstances surrounding her birth caused a lot of trauma to her tiny body. After a day of fighting for a positive outcome, the neonatologist came to visit with us and told us it was time to let her go. Late Saturday night we went to the NICU to hold our precious baby for the first and last time. She was absolutely perfect and looked just like h

Surprise!

God has blessed our family with quite a surprise! Olivia is getting a little brother or sister in early December. We are thrilled! As of today I am nine weeks along. We went to the doctor several weeks ago and were able to see the tiny bundle and hear the heartbeat. Everything looks great and we are so thankful! I'll share more details in the next few weeks. :)

The babies are here!

Friends and Family, Late this afternoon we became the proud parents of three little girls. Madelyn Barrett: 1 pound Olivia Bain: 1 pound, 5 ounces Mary Grace: 1 pound, 10 ounces The babies are stable in the NICU  tonight and we are hopeful that God is going to move mountains as they grow and thrive. Madelyn's (Baby B) amniotic sac ruptured on Sunday night. We had a sonogram done each day this week to check her heart beat, fluid level, and position. The doctors told us Friday morning that she was not likely to make it and that delivering her was not an option as it put too much risk on Mary Grace and Olivia. Once again, we were told to wait and see. Around 4:30 Friday afternoon I delivered Madelyn. The NICU team was here immediately to begin working on her. When the doctor checked on the status of the other girls, he saw signs of infection and he immediately performed an emergency c-section to deliver Mary Grace and Olivia. We have seen the Lord's mercy through each to