The Journey Begins

Psalm 139:14; "I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works, and my soul knows very well."


With open arms, Brandon, Kaleigh and I welcomed our sweet Makenna Coe Lawrence on November 30th, 2010 at 7:51 pm. As many of you know, this moment of meeting your precious baby is one that cannot possibly be described in mere human words. From the minute Brandon and I caught a glimpse of those chubby cheeks, button nose and slitted blue eyes, she captured our hearts.


I must admit, the early hours of Makenna's life now seem like a blur. I recall being wheeled into the closet-like post-partum room and being utterly exhausted. We had arrived at High Point Regional Hospital that morning around 6:00 am for a scheduled induction. Needless to say, it was a long day of labor and I was just thrilled to finally have met our daughter. We were blessed to have many of our immeadiate family members at the hospital for Makenna's arrival. Late that evening, everyone had a chance to share their kisses and were heading home to catch some rest.  


It was around 11pm that night...I'll never forget the moment. I was sitting in my bed holding Makenna in my lap. She was staring up at me in her diaper and hospital shirt which was busting at the seems. Poor little thing was so swollen from the trauma of birth; and, she was a big girl to begin with! She had the most piercing blue eyes. Brandon was sitting next to me. Then, it hit me. Slowly, the tears started forming in my eyes and rolling down my face. I remember looking down and Makenna and just losing control. I had the most overwhelming emotions hitting me all at once. Now, maybe some would say it was just new mommy hormones. But, I beg to differ. My world broke into "pieces."


Brandon asked, "Mir what's wrong?"  All I could say, "I'm worried about Makenna. Babe, I just have this feeling." Now, the doctors had already checked out are little girl, and had given a clean bill of health. We'd even been to a special maternal/fetal medicine doctor at Baptist after an early ultrasound had revealed an echogenic focus on Makenna's heart. They checked her out system by system and drew special blood tests from me. The specialist then told me to STOP worrying--the lab work looked great and Makenna had no abnormalities they could detect via ultrasound in any system of her body. We'd slowly come to believe this and were relieved when the last few ultrasounds showed no remnant of the little "white spot" they originally visualized.


I called my sister even though I knew she'd be sound asleep (she is currently working crazy hours in her first year of residency at UNC). I had bugged her with pregnancy questions several times as this was now her area of expertise. As she picked up the phone, I voiced the same helpless words to her, "Mel, I'm worried about Makenna."
Brandon and Melissa did a wonderful job helping me sort through my thoughts, and I ultimately decided to mention my concerns to the nurse. Trouble is, I had a very difficult time putting my feelings into words. 


What I wanted to say is, "In my heart, I have this tugging. God is whispering to me. I know I'm holding a very special baby in my hands."




And I WAS


The Four of us enter this journey full of faith, joy, hope and anticipation giving thanks for the marvelous opportunity God entrusted to us.