I called Nancy right away. Nancy told me that a baby girl was born and her birth mother picked us on Valentine's Day. Immediately, I thought Valentine's Day is a day of love and this was meant to be. She then sounded a little hesitant and told me that the baby girl weighed a little over 1 lb. She was life-flighted to Peoria hospital after being born locally. She asked me if I needed to talk to JR before we decided to take her. I said I didn't think so. I remember hearing the excitement in JR's voice and knew that he wanted her as much as I did...no matter what health problems she had. Nancy told me that her birth mother named her Juliana.
I called JR back and we both agreed to leave work early and drive to Peoria. Instead of leaving work immediately, I walked around and told everyone on my side of the building the big news. Everyone was congratulating me and was very happy for me. I burst into my manager's office, he happened to be in town that week, and asked him If I could leave a little early today because I was a new mommy. He congratulated me and I left. On my way home, I called my mom, my dad, my brother, my former boss, and two of my closest friends and told them the news.
JR later told me that he was walking around his work in a daze not knowing what to do until he realized he needed to get home.
JR and I met each other at home and picked up Kara and Shawn from the daycare. JR called Grandma Lynne and told her the news. She started crying and asked JR if she could come with us. We waited for about 45 minutes for Grandma Lynne to arrive from Iowa City. While we waited, JR and I kept looking at each other and smiling. We were very happy.
Grandma Lynne later told JR and I that she called her parents (JR's grandparents) right away and told them the news. Lynne is an animal lover and dog rescuer. She has six dogs. She says that she really only has four because three of her dogs are chihuahua's and they really only equal one dog. Anyway, her dogs are like her children. She told us that when she called her parents to tell them the news, she was so excited and shouted into the phone, "We have a baby, we have a baby!". Great Grandma Shirley responded by yelling over to Great Grandpa Bob (her husband), "Bob!!! Lynne got another dog!" Lynne then started shouting, "No, no! Not a dog! A baby, A baby!"
Once Grandma Lynne arrived, we crowded into the minivan and headed out to Peoria. I don't know why, but that drive was the longest out of all of the drives we have made out there. On the way there, we got on the subject of names. It is a bit of a coincidence that JR and I had already decided on the name Anna before we even knew about her and her birth mother named her Juliana.
We already knew her first name, but what about her middle name? Kara and Shawn both have Catholic middle names and I thought that this is what I wanted for Anna, but we couldn't come up with one. Everyone in the minivan was saying Anna's name and random middle names out loud. In unison, there were "nahs" and "hmmmms". Nothing sounded right. I finally said "Anna Faith" and there was silence. I think we all knew that that would be her name. We named her before we saw her. In our hearts we just knew that Anna Faith was perfect.
A small ornament hangs from Anna's incubator. The ornament is a beautiful Angel holding a cross with the words "Faith brings miracles" on her dress.
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