A miracle baby

Twenty-five years ago may seem like a long time to some but to me the memory comes anew as I ponder the significance of this particular Monday. Today is Monday, May 19th. On this particular day my family honor's my eldest daughter as she celebrates this her 25th birthday.
It was on this date that my beautiful bride (sitting here next to Kas) finished the long process of her labor and delivered a beautiful baby girl, Kathryn Jean (why we call her Kasi is another story for another time). Kasi was born a month premature, which was a good thing as she weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces at birth. If she had gone full term she may have been close to 10 pounds. Since she was born premature she was covered with very fine hair all over her body which, we were told, was typical of premature babies. Now some of the rest of the story.
In 1983 I was in the Navy and stationed at Great Lakes, Illinois. The nine months in which Marcia carried Kasi were not easy ones. During three months of that time I was on board a Naval ship called the U.S.S. Belleau Wood. From October of 1982 to January of 1983 I was on board the ship augmenting ship's company assigned to Surgical Cadre 13 stationed out of Great Lakes, Illinois. It was while on board the ship that I found out that Marcia was having difficulties with the pregnancy. Little did I know to what extent those difficulties were.
Initially when Marcia went in to the navy doctors to be tested she was told that the tests came back negative regarding her being pregnant. Initially the physicians thought that she may be having a hysterical pregnancy. They gave her all sorts of medication to see if they couldn't get things to work properly for her. All this was done at Navy Regional Medical Center, Great Lakes, Illinois. The physicians were not sure exactly what was going on so at some point they decided to perform an exploratory laparotomy to see what was going on. One of the things the physician did just prior to her getting prepped for surgery was to check her abdomen. It was at this point they were able to detect a fetal heartbeat. The doctors asked Marcia if she heard "that", her reply was sarcastic and said "yes, it's a heartbeat." That is exactly what it was. The surgery was canceled and the butt covering began.
As Marcia had been prescribed several different medications that were contrary to her being pregnant the doctors were pressuring her strongly to abort the baby. They sat her down and showed her pictures of what may happen to the baby if she allowed her to go full term. She was shown pictures of babies with misplaced appendages and other complications. Marcia was able to stay strong through this time and through prayer and support from her family she made a very important decision of keeping our baby and seeing it through to full term.
Once I returned from the Philippines Marcia and I went to specialists in Milwaukee to have an ultrasound and amniocentesis done. The navy was very supportive in allowing us to have the extra testing done. We found out from the results that the baby appeared healthy and that the baby was going to be a girl. Marcia and I were very excited at this news.
Yes, there were some other complications regarding the pregnancy but the final result was a beautiful baby girl. Kasi was our first miracle baby. When she came out all her appendages were checked as well as every thing else. We were told that every thing looked ok with the exception of her toes which appeared to be webbed. Unfortunately for Kasi, webbed toes were inherited from me. Everything else with Kasi was perfect. She truly was a miracle baby.
To my gorgeous 25 year old daughter- Happy Birthday.... we'll celebrate your birthday sooner than some think....love you.... daddy.....jsf