March For Babies

When she was born we were told that she may never walk, but she runs. When she was born, we were told she may be blind, her favorite color is pink. When she was born, we were told she may lose her hearing, but she sure knows a few select 4 letter words!

She is my daughter. She has a name and it is Tobbie Ruth. Her name was chosen by Michael and I. Tobbie is after my grandfather that I adore and Ruth was Michael's great-grandmother that he misses dearly.

When she was born, we didn't know if she was a boy or girl until about an hour after her birth. As soon as we found out, I felt she needed to be named, I couldn't bear the thought of having to name my child if she had already passed away. Michael got to go in and see her first. When he came back to my room to tell me about her, he was so strong for me. I remember him telling me that she had a head full of black hair, and she did. She weighed a whopping 1 pound 9 ounces and was 11 1/2 inches long. When they finally let me go in to see her, the nurse looked at me like I was crazy because I said, "she looks like a baby." All the pregnancy books make them out to still look like aliens at 24 weeks. She was so beautiful and I didn't want to leave her side.

At nine days of life, we flew her from Okinawa, Japan to Fort Lewis, Washington. She stayed there until April 17th, just a few days before her due date, when she was discharged.

Thank you March of Dimes for all your research, you've helped my daughter and you've helped me to have a successful pregnancy that resulted in Tobbie's lil brother!






And thank you Karen for the amazing logo you made for our team. We were even on the six o'clock news because our shirts stood out!