Somehow night three is already upon us, how quickly it has come.   Ana and Claire are sound asleep right now, so it’s a perfect time for me to let my mind wander and reflect.

First, with Ana’s ITP not rearing its head, the entire pregnancy and delivery took on a completely different tone than the previous.  Aside from the higher frequency of blood tests, everything has just been normal – a welcome change from the fear and uncertainty of before.

Three years ago or so, while still actively dealing with the ITP, we saw a specialist in St. Louis who asked us if we were wanting to have more kids.  Given her condition, we had made the assumption that David would just be an only child, that it was a given that we were done.  Two words from that specialist came as a relief and quickly changed our minds: Why not?

The next couple years were frustrating.  It took over a year of trying to finally conceive David, so we were prepared for the second one to take some time too.  But two years in this go-’round and we were still nowhere, so once again we were coming to the conclusion that it just wasn’t meant to be and David would be our only child.

Fast-forward to this past fall when that elusive Positive test came back; to say we were excited would be a gross misunderstatement!  Once again we got to picture David having a sibling to grow up with; a brother or sister to share his childhood with, to become friends with.  It still brings a smile to my face.

Ever since we decided to start trying for a second one, we had talked of wanting another boy, for whatever reason.  Maybe it was because of how much fun we’ve had wtih David, that we know what to expect from a little boy, who knows.   We were both just hoping for a little boy.  To be honest though, during the pregnancy, I was slowly coming around to the idea of having a little girl.  We already have a taste of what raising a little boy is like, why not experience the other half? I remember thinking.

As happens during those long nine months, picking a name becomes a pretty high priority.  When picking names for David, David just seemed obvious to us.  It was almost without question – we have so many good friends named David that we just knew that’s what we wanted his name to be.  This time around, we quickly settled on Claire – we both really love the name.  But after going through thousands of boy names, we just couldn’t land on a suitable one.

We went into the operating room on Tuesday without having a boy’s name picked out.

So here we find ourselves, parents to a brand new baby Claire.  In less than 12 hours we should be leaving the hospital and introducing her to her home.  The past few days have been both a rush and calm at the same time.  The glut of information thrown at us isn’t moving as fast as the last time, we know now which bits and pieces are important and which are not.  We have quickly fallen back into a rythm.

David is a true joy to watch interact with Claire.  He is just bubbling with enthusiasm to hold her, to care for her.  I really enjoy just sitting back and watching him interact with her.  He’s going to be bouncing off of the walls tomorrow when we bring her home, and I can’t wait to see it.

I think that wraps it up.  I’m typing this at 2:30am, after sitting in the quiet for two hours with my new baby girl.  She’s precious, we love her dearly, and we are now an extremely blessed family of four.

For those that are curious about her middle name, Eliana, it is hebrew in origin, meaning God has Answered.

David is constantly asking if we can bring her home yet.  Just a couple more days, buddy…

This afternoon, one of the nurses asked if David would like to help give Claire a bath.  He declined but watched from his front row seat and became quite distressed when Claire began crying.

The nurse suggested he hold her hand, so he offered it to her and she immediately got quiet.  He didn’t let go through the rest of the bath.

Aunt Maria brought David back up to the room after his afternoon nap, within minutes of entering the room Claire was in his lap.

It goes without saying that this has been a big day for big brother David.  He has hardly been able to contain himself these past few days, particularly last night.

We were very curious how he was going to react when he was able to actually see and hold the baby.  I think it is fair to say he has fallen in love with Claire already.  He goes just minutes without holding her before begging to do so again.