She was scheduled to be born today, Sept. 2

The clock has not yet hit 4:00 a.m. as I write on this Labor Day. While I was lying awake in bed and trying to get back to sleep, I realized that five years ago today I was having trouble sleeping that morning too.

My husband and I were staying in a hotel in Newark, Del. anticipating that we would meet our precious little girl for the first time that Sept. 2 day.

We had been on a pretty wild ride that summer since first learning of Adria's spina bifida diagnosis when I was five months pregnant. Pictures show that it was a fun summer of celebrating my little brother's high school graduation, decorating the nursery, enjoying family cook-outs at my aunt's pool, and sailing on the Chesapeake Bay for the first time.

Celebrating with my siblings in summer 2008 just after my youngest brother's high school graduation, which was just a few weeks after learning about Adria's spina bifida.

Sailboat ride on the Chesapeake with Ade, two days before my scheduled C-section on Sept. 2. Yes, the people on the boat were a little nervous once I told them how soon I was due!

It was also a summer packed full of doctors visits and regular sonograms checking our baby's progress. A summer of educating ourselves on what to expect in this next phase of life. I had to look further than the What to Expect When You're Expecting and The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy books I had been reading to learn what I could about how to care for a baby with myelomeningocele spina bifida. I tried to prepare myself for what her life could be, but the unknowns were so vast.

Most of our education was gained from meeting with multiple doctors in various specialties - from high risk OB/GYNs to pediatric Neurosurgeons, Urologists, Physical Therapists, Orthopedics and more.

We transferred my care from the Annapolis maternal fetal medicine specialist to Delaware Center for Maternal and Fetal Medicine, part of Christiana Care at the Newark campus. We made this change largely for insurance reasons, because it was better to stay in state, but also because of the center's great reputation and close proximity to A.I. DuPont Children's Hospital in Wilmington, Del.

It was during this time when we learned that only six babies had been born in Delaware with spina bifida the previous year and fewer than that so far in 2008.

My doctor at DCMFM was Philip Shlossman, M.D., who we both liked because of his laid-back and often humorous bedside manner. He was critical in helping us navigate many major decisions we faced.

One major recommendation he made was that our baby girl be delivered with a scheduled C-section. Not because of any complications I was having, but this would be best to reduce and prevent further damage to the spina bifida sac and spinal cord that protruded from her lower back. The C-section would be scheduled several weeks before my actual Sept. 22 due date in order to avoid me going into labor and to ensure all the doctors needed for this special delivery would be available.

This would be a specialized team both at Christiana Hospital and A.I. DuPont Children's Hospital. The plan was for Adria to be delivered at Christiana and shortly thereafter be transferred 20 minutes up the road to the Children's hospital for her spina bifida closure surgery.

We were nervous that Sept. 2 morning but also very excited to meet our firstborn.

However, because my due date was still several weeks away, Dr. Shlossman performed an amniocentesis on me at 7:00 a.m. to test if our baby's lung were fully mature for the early delivery. They stuck a freaky big needle in my belly to get a sample of the amniotic fluid, and then we waited for what seemed an eternity but was really a couple hours for the test results.

Results came in, and baby's lungs were not quite ready... We would go home and they'd let us know when to reschedule.

Honestly, we were very disappointed. Our anticipation of meeting her was so high, and we had been planning on this date for months. I know most mom's don't get to "plan" their delivery, but still I was ready to meet her!

That night, I wrote this in my journal:

"It may seem odd to say this, but I was really hoping to be lying in a hospital bed tonight. My little baby girl was scheduled to be delivered today via C-section. Ade and I had prepared ourselves, got the house ready, and packed our bags for the next week or more expecting to be up in Wilmington while she recovered from her Spina Bifida closure surgery... Though we know that's best for her to wait, the news was hard to take after preparing ourselves for her arrival today. I  love feeling her inside me, but I am very much ready to see and hold her."

That's okay though, God already had her birthday planned and it was not for that day.

My mom took this photo the morning of Sept. 2, 2008 before we went in the hospital. I thought it would be my last pregnant photo with Adria, but I ended up having another week to get a few more.