Happy 1st Birthday Baby Girl!!!!

  My baby is a year old today!!!! :(  January 27, 2010, Leah Suzanne Roach, 5lbs 1oz, was born.  You'd think by your fourth child you'd realize how fast it goes, but this one seemed to go by even faster!!!  She has definately been my saving grace!!  Ronnie was very cautious about having another baby after Hannah.  He didn't ever want the new baby to feel like he/she was our replacement for Hannah.  However, I yearned and yearned to hold another baby and I would cry myself to sleep at night with the idea that I'd never hold or nurse my own baby again.  Ronnie would hold me and tell me that if it was God's will he would give us another child, but he was just not sure it was the best idea.  
  Then when I became pregnant with Miss Leah, I prayed for a little boy for Ronnie and Derek.  Lindsay was still young enough that she didn't seem to "need" a sister as much as Derek thought he "needed" a brother.  And besides I had my two girls even if one was in heaven, Ronnie and Derek would enjoy another boy so much.  However, God knows us better than we even do!  He knew deep down that I yearned for another baby girl to put dresses on and have all the dreams that I had with Hannah, but I never wanted to express this because I feared that Ronnie was right and I was trying to replace Hannah.  But God knew what he was doing, when we found out it was a girl, we all were overjoyed, no one was upset.  It seemed as if we all secretly wanted a little girl.  And she has been everything we've dreamed of!  I was able to nurse her a lot longer than any of the other children.  And she seemed to take right to it, I never had any difficulty at all.  She was such a peaceful baby.  She slept through the night at 7 weeks, loved to be held and talked to, and was always happy. 

Leah's baby dedication

This picture is my absolute favorite of the girls!! 

It was not planned in anyway, they just happened to do this at the same time!!!

Trick-or-Treating is hard on a girl!

 Leah eating her birthday cake

Now, we're entering another stage and she has decided to be very busy and into everything, but she is sooooo smart.  She seems to be able to read right though me.  Our favorite trick, is to ask her if she's sick and she can cough on command.....it's sooo cute!!!  I thank God everyday for such a wonderful blessing!!  Once again he has shown me, he knows exactly what he's doing!!!

My baby turns 6!!!!

      On January 1, 2005 at 7:15 am my first child, a baby boy, was born.  Derek William Roach.  5lbs 19 inches.  But I'll back up a little to explain the picture.  Now every new mother, I'm sure hates their afterbirth snapshot, but really, you have to admit my looks extra horrible.  But I'm willing to show it because of the story.  On New Year's Eve night Ronnie and I went to the local Christian Church to chaperone a lock-in where we were playing a game shock-wave (I'll have to explain it some other time).  The game involves standing up and shouting shockwave for you team to win, well it was my turn to stand up and I would feel a contraction everytime I'd stand, so long story short Ronnie took me home to relax, I was still about 2 weeks from my due date.  By 2 am I was having such sharp pains and they were abnormal to what we had learned labor would be like, Ronnie insisted taking me ahead to the hospital.  By the time we were in the car and on the way the pain was almost more than I could bare.  And with this being Ronnie first birthing experience, he was a nervous wreck!!!  He was driving as fast has possible, well needless to say only drunks drive like this on New Year's Eve and of course we got pulled over.  However, the cop was nice and as soon as he saw that I was in labor quickly retreated to his patroller and escourted us to the hospital. 

  Around 5am the pain, I thought was going to kill me and the nurses kept telling me to breathe.  However, there was no breathing that I could do, there was no relief in between these so called contractions.  Finally, Ronnie had about all he could handle, so he slipped out and called the doctor at home and told him he felt something wasn't right with his wife.  So my wonderful OB doctor came flying in and order blood work and I was immediately prepped for a c-section when my labs came back announcing that my platelets were dangerously low and my liver enzymes were all out of whack.  They had to perform an emergency c-section because I was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome (which to this day is controversial).  The doctor told Ronnie later had he not of called when he did, another hour he would have probably had to choose me or the baby.  I was very, very sick for several days afterwards and don't really remember even takng this picture.  My mother helped me breast feed Derek until was coherent enough to sit up and do it myself.  It was a very scary event for our first born and has severly frightened my family from agreeing with us having more children. But as always, God has proven himself amazing and has always taken care of me!

And now I wonder where the past 6 years have went.....

Derek talking with Papaw Randy on their cell phones.

   And I thank God everyday for my amazing little miracle!!!!