She's One-of-A-Kind!

This morning, Reagan visited Duke University Hospital to congratulate her pediatric surgeon on his successful removal of her neck mass. Dr. H. informed us that Reagan has a rare condition identified as “Infantile Hemangiopericytoma”. Reagan can say this three times fast – Can you? As proof that she is truly a unique child, this condition has less than 100 reported incidences throughout the world. The good news is that there is a very low probability of the neck mass reoccurring. We will be doing periodic scans and X-rays to make sure it doesn’t.
Throughout this entire experience, we have been humbled by God’s provision for her health and each of your prayers and words of comfort. We are looking forward to dealing with the more mundane issues of raising a daughter, such as her vanity as identified by the picture attached. Stay tuned for much lighter blogs of Reagan Madeline Barnes.

Happy 2 Weeks, Reagan!

Tomorrow is Reagan's 2 Week Birthday! We apologize for our absence from the blog this past week, but as you can imagine (and relate if you are parents as well), we have been very busy! Besides having her days and nights mixed up, she has been doing very well. Thank goodness, Grandma Gayle and Larry are visiting from Minnesota and helping with night shifts. Daddy Dan is getting back into the swing of things with classes, and getting prepared for finals next week! See the pictures of her first bath, first tummy time, and first swing! Thank you to so many of you who have communicated your continued support and prayers.

Mommy and Daddy Take Me Home

Today is such a great day. We arrived at the hospital this morning expecting a few more days in the Pediatric ICU, only to be told that the surgical team thought Reagan was doing so well that she could come home this evening! We were thrilled! We can't stop watching the video monitor of her sleeping in her crib upstairs. This is the most amazing feeling ever. Oakley is curiously optimistic about his little sister. We have our first appointment with her pediatrician tomorrow. We will be visiting Dr. Hoehner, the pediatric surgeon, next Friday morning to learn the pathology results of the neck mass. Please continue to keep Reagan in your prayers this week. We have been humbled by the overwhelming support of calls, emails, messages, meals and offers. Thank you. We remain awed by God's blessings.

Out of Surgery

At 11:30 am, Reagan underwent surgery for removal of her neck mass. Due to the complexity of the mass and its location, buried beneath her neck muscles and various blood vessels, it wasn't until 4:00 pm that Dr. Hoehner entered the waiting room to provide the answer of the day: Reagan is doing well. We won't know the exact cause or nature of the abnormal cells for another week or so, but as of right now they are removed from her body.
We are including before and after photos of her neck to demonstrate the marvels of modern medicine. Thank you all for your prayers and messages of support and deliveries of food, both seen and unseen.
Seeing how many doctors were involved in the deliberations surrounding our little girl and her ability to confound them all, we are certain that we have a very special girl.

Surgery Scheduled for Noon Tomorrow

Update: Reagan will be in surgery tomorrow around noon. The team at Duke still is not certain what the mass consists of exactly. They do know is that it is heterogeneous in nature. They hope through surgery that they will be able to remove it. As you can imagine, we are relieved to have some direction and action with this, but extremely worried for our sweet baby girl. On a positive note, we had a wonderful day with her today. She was sweet, adorable, full of precious noises, and simply doesn't know how to cry. We ask for you to please keep Reagan in your prayers. Thank you for all of the supportive emails, texts, and messages.

Waiting for Reagan to Finish with her MRI & MRA...

Thank you for all of your prayers. The support has been wonderful. We have been waiting for Reagan to come out of her MRI/MRA for the past hour or so. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.

Email Sent Out Last Night

Family and Friends:

Ali and I are proud to introduce Reagan Madeline Barnes as the newest addition to our family. On the evening of Feb. 11th,Ali began contractions and we carefully followed them on an Excel spreadsheet; we’ll be happy to share the data. We arrived at Rex Hospital at 12:30 a.m. and Ali delivered within five hours.

Reagan’s stats are as follows:
· Born: Feb. 12, 2010 at 5:06 a.m.
· Weight: 7lbs, 4oz.
· Height: 19.5 inches
· Eyes: Blue
· Hair: Light brown with little waves
· Head Circumference: 30cm
· Epidural: YES
· TV Show playing in background during delivery: Fox News
· Ali’s swear word: Oh Shoot!

“The little Gipper”, as she refers to herself, was so excited about following her daddy's footsteps to Duke that she checked herself into the Duke University Hospital's Pediatric ICU on Saturday evening. She is presently awaiting an MRI for a mass on the base of her skull, which has caused her parents some consternation. However, we have peace knowing that her every hair is numbered and that she is being cared for by her Creator.

For pictures and updates, please follow along on her very own blog: http://babybarnesandus.blogspot.com/ These updates may not be made quickly as we are still spending our days and evenings at the hospital. Any notes of encouragement can be sent to us or to Reagan at her email address: Reagan.barnes@gmail.com.

Finally, we thank each of you for your thoughtful messages and ask that you keep Reagan in your prayers. We apologize for not communicating with each of you individually, but the intense nature of Reagan’s first few days have been overwhelming and we are giving her our undivided attention. Please forward this email to others, as we are certain we have inadvertently missed someone.

With thankfulness for our gift, we are,
Dan and Ali Barnes.

Pictures from the Krispy Kreme Challenge

Dan ran a race this past Saturday, where you were asked to eat a dozen doughnuts midway through the race!! See the pictures!

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Roanoke Baby Shower Pictures!

In early January, Shana, Courtney, Stephanie & Emily threw me a gorgeous shower in Roanoke, Virginia! It was a great day...check out the pictures!

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38 WEEKS - Anytime Now!!!!

"Wishin’’ and hopin’’ and thinkin’’ and prayin’’ Planning and dreamin’ each night of her charms. That will soon be in our arms... :)"

As I wait in the nursery with lullabies playing in the background, I wonder when she will arrive! We have the bags packed for the hospital, the shelves stocked in the kitchen, and all of the toiletries stocked up for months! We have planned for all that we possibly could.


We have been trying to keep social...Dan is at the moment running in the Krispy Kreme 10K. http://www.krispykremechallenge.com/ He will no doubt be coming home feeling a little "off" (they make you eat a dozen doughnuts 1/2 way through)! He and another Fuqua student, Evan, are braving this 30 degree morning to find out what this very popular national event is all about.



Later on today, I have my last shower. It has been postponed twice due to the uncharacteristic, North Carolina snow and ice storm from last weekend. This shower is hosted and attended by girls that are in Dan's program at Duke or the wives/girlfriends of students (we call them "Partners" at Duke). I don't have pictures from the Roanoke shower yet, but will post both as soon as I do!

We will be posting her arrival on facebook, on this blog, and via email to many as soon as possible. The email will come from HER newly created email address. Keep watch for this: she will have the same last name, of course, but I cannot reveal the first name yet!

Thank you for all of the gifts, cards and prayers. Please continue to pray for her safe arrival, whatever that takes! We are so amazingly blessed and are in awe of this joy and wonder, and are so eager to meet her and share her with all of you!

Tick-Tock! :)