"The Goose" Turns 2!

I know this all sounds a little repetitive and common, but especially this year, the March of Dimes has more meaning to us...even though everything is going great right now with this pregnancy, anything could happen at any time. I'm already 24 weeks, but it truly is a comfort to know that if Catie and Kelsey do decide to grace us earlier than expected, we will be well prepared for them, medically.

Watching my friend Teresa and her husband Jeff go through what they went through after their 2nd daughter, Anna Grace, was born is an experience I won't soon forget.

I remember the morning of March 23, 2006 when I got the phone call at work from Teresa that she "had the baby last night." She wasn't due until July. She left work early on the 22nd because she just wasn't feeling well - typical for a pregnant woman, right? Wrong. Turns out she was going into labor at 23 weeks along. She had already been out of work a few weeks earlier because she was so dehydrated she had to be hooked up to an I.V. at home.

Teresa and Jeff held on tightly to the 50/50 chance doctors gave Anna to survive just after she was born. Each day she survived, the chances increased by the tiniest bit in her favor. By the 2nd week, Teresa and Jeff could be "cautiously optimistic."

ANNA GRACE - 1 WEEK OLD

Within the 111 days Anna was in the hospital, she withstood a battery of tests, tubes, monitors, surgeries, etc. Her first pictures looked more like a pile of wires than a baby. Jeff and Teresa still have a picture of baby Anna on their fridge from when she was 2 days old. It's a daily reminder of how far they've all come as a family, and how lucky they are.

Anna's tiny 1 pound, 9.5 ounce body had to be resuscitated on a daily basis no fewer than 4 or 5 times a day. At two and a half weeks old, she went to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester to undergo open heart surgery.

The first time Teresa got to hold her daughter was just after surgery for about 15 seconds when the nurses changed her bedding. Teresa and Jeff had to wait to hold her for any extended amount of time until she was 53 days old. May 14th. Mother's Day. She had to weigh at least 4 pounds to come out of the incubator. Anna's nurse fudged her weight - she was actually 3 pounds 12 ounces.

ANNA GRACE - 2 YEARS OLD
Anna "Goose" (affectionately named that after she was born by her big sister Samantha) just celebrated her 2nd birthday! Thanks to the advancements in medicine to help premature babies, made possible through the March of Dimes, Anna Grace is a smart, spunky, beautiful little girl who makes everyone she meets smile and laugh with her personality!

Since Anna was born, we have participated in the March of Dimes Walk America, now formally known as the March for Babies. This year, this walk is even more special to Thom, Hailey, and me as we are expecting our twin girls in July. Multiples have a reputation of arriving as many as 6 weeks early, if not more. It's nice to know that the March of Dimes is there, enabling medical staff to do all they can with modern advancements in medicine, to give premature babies a fighting chance to survive.

BIG SISTER SAMANTHA & MOM TERESA

Please help us raise money for the March of Dimes on behalf of Anna by donating right on my website at www.marchforbabies.org/MorganKrauss. If you prefer, you can always donate cash or write a check (made out to the March of Dimes) and I'll happily hand it in the day of the walk.

If you would like to sign up and join Team Anna to walk on April 27, 2008 at 10:00am at Delaware Park - Parkside Lodge, go to http://www.marchforbabies.org/ and click on "Join a Team" and join in the fun on Team Anna!!