December 8, 2004
Subject: Jessica Anderson's 6 Week
Collage & Update
Greetings
to Family and Friends,
We hope
that this note finds you all Happy and Healthy and rested
from Thanksgiving and anticipating a “Family and
Love-filled” Christmas. We certainly have so much to be
thankful for this Thanksgiving and Christmas. Jessica has
been an answer to our prayers and she continues to be a
blessing.
Attached is a collage of Jessica at 6 weeks of age that
includes a picture of her with her Aunt Nadean and one with
her with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson. Sandy’s cousin
Stephanie Dyson, who is living in Australia with her family,
has put the collages together. We correspond to them via e
–mail; however, we are anxiously looking forward to their
return to Alabama to live this coming May.
This past
Monday, December 6th, Jessica was 6 weeks old.
She is growing and she brings us unconditional Love and days
full of Joy. She is more alert and observant as every day
brings awesome new beginnings, changes and surprises. Those
people that meet her
still
comment that “She looks like her Daddy”; however, most folks
also see
certain
features similar to Mommy too. Most importantly, Jessica is
growing and developing her
very own
person with unique features, expressions and a load of
personality. She is very healthy and has gained weight
rapidly. Her appetite is “Hearty” to say the least…but then
again, her Mom’s appetite was and continues to be quite
hearty during and after her pregnancy. Most importantly,
they both are healthy and growing
extremely happy.
Jessica’s
arrival has truly been a “Life Altering” occasion that we
will treasure forever. “Free Time” takes on a new meaning
and is a rare commodity these days. We both find ourselves
spending the few moments of “Free time” still gazing at our
beautiful Daughter while she sleeps so restfully. “Sleep”
for Mom and Dad is
another
rare but much appreciated pleasure that we are blessed with
occasionally. Jess is sleeping sometimes as much as 4 hours
at one time…J
We thank
you all for your prayers, visits and well wishes throughout
the pregnancy, delivery and these first few weeks of
Jessica’s precious life. Please visit our family website at
www.anderson-news.net for pictures and updates. We love
hearing from each of you either through e-mail, phone or
your visits in person (Jessica’s favorites are those in
person…when she is awake.J)
During
this holiday season, our family will not forget the true
meaning of Christmas and the gift provided to us by God…the
life of our precious Baby Jessica.
Our Love
and Blessings to you all,
The
Anderson’s
November 9,
2004
Subject: Anderson News Website
Updated with Pictures of Jessica's arrival
We have really
enjoyed being Jessica’s parents the first 2 weeks of her
life…she is such a joy and a constant reminder that prayers
really ARE answered…in God’s time.
Jessica had
her 2 week check-up Monday, November 8th (1 day after
her actual Due Date) and the results were very good! We were
happy to hear that she gained weight and is now 6lbs. 2 oz!!!
She is doing very well and is changing and revealing new
expressions every day. We were very happy to get her home from
the hospital but needless to say, we really do know the meaning
of “Sleep Depravation” but we are thrilled and enjoying meeting
her every need for feeding and other necessities. When Jessica
is fast asleep, we still have a hard time sleeping ourselves
because we can’t stop looking at her in awe and with so much
gratitude.
We were
blessed with a visit from Sandy’s Mom, Betty, and Sister, Lynne
who is Jessica’s namesake. They were a tremendous help with
everything from cooking to caring for Jess and even took her in
their room a couple of “Sleepless” nights. We enjoyed them so
much.
We do
apologize for duplication in pictures or overloading your
computer with too many pictures. We have been taking turns in
the sleeping department and I think that we both had the same
idea of pictures to send. Now that we have the website up, we
will be able to keep updated pictures posted and you can look at
them at your leisure.
Thank you all
for your calls, notes and prayers. We love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Sandy, Bob &
Jessica
PS – for those
of you that have been asking about the first additions to the
Anderson Family our Shelties, Sadie who is now 13 and Sydney who
is 5, they are doing great and they have accepted our little
bundle of Joy. Sadie is very
Protective
of Jessica and Sydney is very
Curious.
October 28, 2004
Subject:
Some pictures of Jessica Lynne
Anderson
Greetings
to all,
Thank you all for all of your prayers and best wishes that
you sent our way while we were eagerly awaiting Jessica's
arrival, during the 2 week labor process and up to and
including the final moment of her birth which was on Monday,
October 25th at 11:30 AM at St. Vincent's Hospital.
Bob and I are so thrilled to be parents and although we are
a little "Sleep Deprived" we are still floating on some
cloud up there around the 9 million mark as opposed to
"Cloud Nine".
Bob will be posting pictures to our Family Website very soon
and you will be able to view them at your leisure. I will
post some descriptions/narration on each picture on the
website. www.anderson-news.net
We would love to hear from you either by e-mail, phone (205)
824-7277 or a visit if you are in our "Neck of the Woods".
We'd love to see you and introduce you to Jessica Lynne.
Just give us a call if you drop by and we can direct you to
our home. We want to make sure that Jess is ready to see
you. Between her beauty naps and feedings, she is quite the
busy lady...
With Love and Thanks,
Sandy
October 22, 2004
Subject: Great news about
Jessica's pending arrival...
Good
evening,
We had another Doctor's appointment this morning and found
out that the Doctor will "augment" Jessica's delivery on
Monday 10/25/04 if she doesn't come over the weekend. Her
weight now is expected to be 6 lbs, 14 oz and Sandy is 90%
effaced and about 3 cm dilated. The Doctor said that since
she has been in labor with consistent contractions for
several days now, he would break her water on Monday to
augment the labor, if necessary.
We are thrilled and I have attached a couple of pictures
that I took of Sandy tonight. She has been keeping the
stopwatch/timer with her at all times and she is holding the
latest pictures of Jessica's Ultrasound.
Note: Pictures number 803 and 804 were taken when she was
experiencing an unexpected BIG contraction and number 805
shows that she made it through with a smile.
I hope that, with this news, we both should be able to sleep
a little better tonight...
Thank you all for your encouragement and prayers. We will
keep you posted.
Bob
October 21, 2004
Subject: Anderson's are
anxiously awaiting the arrival of Jessica Lynne Anderson
Good
Day to all,
We are
really getting close to the arrival of our “Miracle
Baby” Jessica Lynne Anderson. Although her due date is
not until November 7th, Sandy has been having
regular contractions and is dilated more than 2
centimeters. Since she will be 38 weeks this Sunday, the
Doctor will not try to prevent her delivery. The last
ultrasound showed Jessica’s approximate weight at 6lbs 7
oz and the results of the Non stress test and the
amniotic test were excellent. This is great news and we
are so excited about her arrival. We haven’t gotten very
much sleep since Sandy’s contractions are still very
regular and they tend to keep her up at frequent
intervals during the evening. Since we have already had
some “Dry Runs” to the hospital, we are ready for the
“Real Thing”. The Doctor recommended that we come in
when her contractions are very intense and 5 minutes
apart or when her water breaks. Since Sandy has a high
tolerance to pain, we don’t want to wait too long but we
are carefully watching and waiting.
We
have taken quite a bit of pictures and I will be
updating our Family website very soon so you can see the
progress and events during the pregnancy. Most of you
know that this has been a very
short pregnancy since Sandy only
discovered that she was pregnant on June 3 and she was
already about 4 ˝ months along. We really didn’t think
that it was possible but we are so very thrilled and
blessed.
Thank
you all for your good wishes and prayers during this
exciting time in our lives. We will keep you all posted.
Sincerely,
Bob
October 19, 2004
Subject: Update on Sandy and
Baby Jessica Lynne Anderson
Good
Morning,
Well, it
was a fun evening for us. Yesterday, we went to the
Hospital at around 7:30 AM. for Sandy’s exam. She was
having contractions most of the weekend. The contractions
started to get around 5 minutes apart around 9:00 AM while
we were at the Doctor’s office. They sent her to the Triage
area to monitor fetal heart rate and contractions...both of
which were
strong and consistent!
Her contractions averaged around 3 minutes apart most of the
day and they gave her a shot for the pain but that did
not
mitigate the contractions. They allowed us to walk two 30
minute intervals around the birthing suite area and the
nurses were surprised at the pace that she was keeping. I
had to slow her down before she started doing gymnastics to
expedite the dilation process.
At around
7:00 PM, the Doctors gave us the option to go home to try to
rest and Sandy was really interested in getting something to
eat besides the scrumptious "Ice Chips" that were offered to
her all day. Her contractions continued to be regular;
however, since she has a very high tolerance for pain, she
was able to get some sleep last night.
The Nurses
believe that she will be delivering in the next 24 hours and
want her to track her contractions and return to the
hospital when the severity increases or her water breaks.
Thank you
for all of your Prayers, thoughts and best wishes. We will
keep you posted.
Bob
October 14, 2004
Subject: UPDATE - Jessica wants to
arrive soon
Good Morning to
all,
Well Bob & I had our first "Dry Run" to the Labor & Delivery
Room last night...or early this morning. Around 1:00 AM, my
contractions were regular and about 4 minutes apart and I called
the Doctor's office after 1 hour of the contractions getting
closer and closer.
By the time I got hooked up to the triage room monitor, the
contractions were steady at 2 1/2 to 3 minutes apart. The gave
me another shot of Brethine and that slowed them down. The
Doctor on call examined me at around 6:00 AM and she sent me
home to rest since I was still only 2 centimeters dilated.
They would like for Jessica to wait until next week and she
would be in her 37th week and then would not be considered
premature. I do have my scheduled Doctor's appointment tomorrow,
Friday, October 15 to have another Ultrasound and Non Stress
test. I'm hoping that our Little Jessica has gained more weight.
On our last visit and Ultrasound, they estimated her weight to
be right around 5 pounds and her Heartbeat is very strong. I
think that our little girl is going to be a very strong and
talented athlete...much like her DAD!
We will keep you posted. Thanks for all of your prayers and best
wishes.
Lots of Hugs and Love,
Sandy, Bob and Jessica too!