Announcing Annie

So yeah, I have a ROCKSTAR cervix!  After all of the fuss, here I was quickly approaching my due date with no real signs of labor.  Perhaps the bedrest helped, or maybe the daily doses of Progesterone and Procardia did the trick.  Or maybe Annie could hear what she was going to be surrounded with and said, "No WAY am I going out there!"  Matt is utterly convinced it has always been this way, and that all of this new-fangled technology does nothing but create alarmists out of us!  Whatever it was, my new sedentary lifestyle meant that I got out of an entire summer of mowing the lawn (Whoo-hoo!), packed on the most pounds of any of my pregnancies (Boo-hoo!), and ended up being induced.  Annie was being evicted from her quiet place, and we were finally going to meet this little lady, who had already begun to change our lives.
    With the grieving stage behind me, I had accepted the fact that Annie had Down Syndrome and a heart defect and was ready to move forward.  I had done a lot of research into what to expect at birth due to both.  Because of the ASVD defect, it was highly possible she would be blue from a lack of oxygen, and might be sent to the NICU until she was stable.  Some classic physical features of Down Syndrome include: an upward slant to the eyes, low muscle tone, flat facial features with a small nose (a missing nasal bone was one of her ultrasound markers), small ears....  Annie has nearly all of them, and she's a beauty! :)
     To be totally honest, as ready as I finally felt, I still, in my vain humanity, clung to the anxiety over what others, especially those who didn't know yet, would say or think.  Already a mama-grizzly, I wanted nothing but the usual celebration at her birth. No pity.  It may sound silly that I even thought this way, but in this age of social media and status updates, I wondered, "How do we announce something like this?"  That darn elephant still loomed!!  Don't get me wrong, I was in no way ashamed of Annie, but I wanted people to know her first, not her diagnosis.   I wrote the following to our family, friends and fellow prayer warriors first:
 
    "For this child we have prayed, and the Lord has answered our prayer." -1Samuel,
1:27  (This has become one of my favorite verses!)

    Sweet Annie is here!  Our little lady, Anne Marie Viertlbeck (named after her 2
beautiful Grandmas, Marilyn Ann and Patricia Marie) arrived on November 4 at 5:38 p.m. weighing in at 6 lbs and 13 oz. 
    I'm still in awe of the amount of support and love we received from each of you
throughout this pregnancy.  Your prayers, your love, your friendship, your
concern and your help literally sustained us through a very tough few
months..... I like to think of you all as "Annie's Army!"
    Despite being born with an extra chromosome (her "designer genes") and a heart
defect (which we will hopefully have mended in no time!), to us Annie is sheer
perfection!  Please, please don't pity us....CELEBRATE with us!  She is LIFE in
all it's beautiful, baby-girl glory, and will no doubt teach this family about
unconditional love, acceptance, patience, and that wonderful childhood innocence
that most of us seem to lose along the way......
    I admittedly spent a lot of time during this pregnancy consumed with fear,
feeling overwhelmed and anxious about the future, but already I've asked myself,
"What was so scary??"  Yes, Annie will bring with her some unique, sometimes
big, challenges, but we accept them and will grow from them, fully confident
that God will equip us on this new journey.  (and btw, show me a kid who doesn't
bring a challenge at some point in their life, and I'll trade you one of ours! 
Lol).
    Instead, please pray for the nearly 90% of mothers (yes, 90!) who find out about
their baby's "diagnosis" during pregnancy (just like we did), yet make the
choice to terminate.  They let their fear and a worldly idea of "perfection"
win, and choose not to meet their "Annie."  It makes me so sad for them.  If
only they realized what they're giving up!!
    Look at this face and tell me she wasn't worthy of life??? 

     And please pray for all of her doctors and therapists, present and future, who will be treating her. 
   
    May God bless you all for the love and generosity you have bestowed on our
family.  I promise you, we will never, ever forget it......and nor will He.  ;)

"The pain that you've been feeling, can't compare to the joy that's coming!"
-Romans 8:18.  (another favorite....and so prophetic!!  We are FULL of joy!!!)

Thanks be to God!
Maggie & Matt