A week ago, we welcomed a baby girl into the world. Mimi Angeline French. Firstly, SHE is a SHE! and we were thinking we probably were having a boy. And secondly, she shows no signs of Down Syndrome...which we were sure "he" had.
We arrived at the hospital last Thursday morning for a planned c-section. My belly had remained rather small til the end... so it felt strange to walk into registration saying I was having a c-section. I thought because of the circumstances about our baby, there would be a stressful energy at the delivery. It was so peaceful in actuality. The doctor (Kara Jones- who had delivered Max) giving me a kiss and hug before we walked down the hall to the operating room...and none of the nurses seeming phased by Down Syndrome at all. Everyone seemed excited just to find out if we were having a boy or a girl.
When they pulled the baby out they held her over the curtain for me to see and the baby was tiny and screaming...they told me it was a girl and I just cried. The nurses and NICU nurse and doctor, said, "Maggie, she shows no signs of Down Syndrome at all." She kept crying...the most girly cry!
The staff was amazing. Allowing me to hold her as they sewed up my tummy, allowing her to go to the recovery room with me, and everyone, and I mean everyone saying how pretty she was, and everyone calling her "peanut." (she was 6 lbs and 19.5 inches tall at delivery)
It is fantastic to have a little girl. We had picked the name "Mimi Angeline" (Angeline after my Godmother)- but didn't think we'd really have the opportunity to use it. She is SO tiny, so lovely, curled up in a little ball, I carry her around the house like a tiny doll. She looks at Max like she can't wait to do kid things with him, and she loves me to whisper sweet things in her ear.
I had hardly any girl clothes, hardly any girl anything...but people have brought us things. Suddenly the house has bits of pink everywhere...and it seems the house is glowing.
Each day I realize what it will mean to have a girl, and it feels like I have the best of both worlds with my little boy and little girl. I am tired, exhausted, and so happy too. and thrilled. beyond belief.
