We were very surprised to find out via ultrasound at 9 weeks pregnant that our baby had anencephaly. We were scared but chose to love our baby fully. Little did we know just how much we would come to love our baby and just how much a blessing she was. She was the ultimate gift from God! Many people have much sympathy and feel sorry for us, but we feel so lucky and blessed. This baby was so darn precious!

We welcomed our bundle of joy on Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 at 2:09pm!

My husband and I held her in our arms as she was welcomed into heaven at 4:30am on Wednesday, March 21st!

Paige Frances was such a beautiful baby! She was such a joy and such a blessing! She did so well during her time here! We are so proud and honored to be her mother and father!

Although we greatly wanted more time with her, God gave us the time we needed with her. She was born vibrant and very alive. Paige was very pink at birth. Immediately she started making sweet, strong noises. How amazing it was to hear those noises. She continued to coo and make sweet noises throughout most of the day.

Many of our family and friends were at the hospital for her birth and we proudly showed her off. Our priest came and baptized her in our recovery room. At 12:30am on Wednesday I held her skin to skin for almost 3 hours. I will never forget how precious and special those 3 peaceful hours I had with her were. During that time Daddy was sleeping, but then I woke him up so I could rest for a bit. He was then able to hold her skin to skin for over an hour and he will always treasure that time. About 4:20am Paige let out a few strong cries, the first time she actually cried. She was letting us know that Jesus was about to call her home. At that point Daddy and Paige joined me in my bed and he and I held her together as she breathed her last breath and her little heart beat its last beat. She went fast, she went peacefully. For that we are very thankful. Yes, it was very tough to hold our daughter in our arms and watch her pass from this life, but at the same time we felt so much love and felt a great peace after a bit. We cannot even describe how much we loved and of course continue to love Paige. We would do it all over again! She was so worth it!

Paige truly was beautiful. She was born at 37 1/2 weeks via c-section. She was 19 in. long and weighed 4lbs. 9oz. She had perfect feet and hands. Her lips, nose, cheeks and ears were as cute as could be. Occasionally she would open her right eye and show off her sparkling blue eye. Her left eye was protruding so we kept an eye patch over it. We kept a hat on her head as most of the top of her head had exposed brain tissue. Although her eye and top of head definitely looked different, when we saw her without the hat and eye patch, we were not frightened by it. She truly was beautiful.

We chose to donate any organs possible. We were able to donate her liver to be used for Liver Cell Therapy. The liver cells are used for children 0 - 5 years who need liver transplants. The Liver Cell Therapy is used to keep these children alive until they are old enough and strong enough to receive a liver transplant.

We had a full Catholic funeral mass for Paige and buried her in a local cemetary. It was a very nice service. We now look forward to one day being able to meet up with our precious child in heaven.