Special Day

Last night, on January 21^st we celebrated the second annual “Clara’s Special Day.”  It marked the two-year anniversary of Leah’s first thyroid surgery when she was 24 weeks pregnant with our little girl.  Clara was a trooper through the three-hour surgery and within an hour of exiting the OR her heartbeat was back to normal and she was squirming and kicking away, a wonderful uncomfortable comfort for a pregnant mom.  That first night post-surgery there were a frightening couple of hours when it looked like Leah may have been going into pre-term labor.  It turned out to be dangerously low calcium levels caused by the surgery that was causing contraction like cramping.  Those two hours were scary and ended up being just the start of a very scary time for us. 

As much as we were worried about our little peanut then, the baby was still a mystery, we didn’t even know if it was a boy or girl.  So now, in retrospect, that day grips and twists our hearts- because now we know that was Clara in there, full of sweetness, mischief, silken curls and denim blue eyes, a girl who loves spaghetti, puppy dogs and reading books out loud to herself.  She is a girl who finds comfort in the little tag on her blanket, her brother holding her hand, a slice of banana bread…and the thought that things could have gone a very different way that night in the hospital fills us with gratitude and fear.

Now, we will commemorate this day every year.  It is a chance to remind our baby girl that she is strong, she is blessed, that she is loved.  There are going to be many times she will need to remember to fight, to kick, squirm, to not let heartbreak or failure stop her heart from beating, stop her from living life to the fullest.  We can’t protect her from the hurt of the world, but we can circle around her and dance, proclaim with joy how happy we are that she is here, that she is strong…that she is ours. 

To celebrate, we babysat a friend’s dog for the day, ate some cupcakes (Leah’s healthy version…shh, don’t tell) and we danced and danced.  Mark and Leah decided the doxology was the appropriate song for blowing out the candles and as we finished singing Ben added a couple hallelujahs of his own.  Hallelujah, stay strong Clara Elizabeth Grace and never stop dancing.