While I was pregnant I fell twice and I was sure I caused the malformation, however, my midwife, Louise, assured me that it happened very early and I wasn't to blame.

I also had an amnio done and thought it happened because of the long needle. I felt so guilty and I felt so bad for her pain she has had to endure already in her young life. My husband Mark was 41 and I was 36 at the time of Anna's birth. It is said the gene could be messed up because of an older father, but I do not think 41 is old.

I really don't know why this has happened, but God has a plan for our whole family. i felt I should have trusted in Him and not have the amnio, but Mark has a relative with Downs Syndrome, so he wanted me to have it done so we could be prepared if our baby had Down Syndrome.

I had a great pregnancy except for the scary falls. I couldn't wait to hold anna. I had an ultra sound done on my due date and it showed too much fluid in the sac, so Louise and I decided we would have a controlled delivery.

I don't know why they didn't see anything about her head in the ultra sound. Anna had dropped early in my pregnancy, around 7 months.

She had some breathing problems at birth. One of her nostrils was plugged and they had to give her oxygen. She had her first skull x-ray on day 1.

Everyone in the hospital was so nice and no one treated Anna any different or said anything about how unusual her looks were. They gave Mark and I all the information for the Craniofacial Team.

In the next room was a woman who gave birth also, and she has another child who was 3 who had the craniosynotosis operation at a year of age. We have a mutual friend who introduced us right away. She showed me her daughter and how she had been fine through everything. She helped me so much emotionally.

Mark was kind of stand offish because he didn't want to get too close for fear she might die and he would not be able to handle that. She did fine through her surgery on July 5, 2000. Anna was just 3 months old at the time. She has at least 6 more surgeries to go, 1 more skull, orbital bone advance, facial reconstruction, eye surgery, right hand syndactly, friendulum clipped and she has a hernia. Anna's rib cage and breasts are a bit off. On Anna's right hand, her middle and ring finger are fused with another finger tip growing between the two fingers that are fused.

Cat, you can edit what I have written. My sister told me to write a short story, however, that is hard to do. Mark and I have a blended family with a total of 5 children. Jared is the oldest at 17 years, Chris is 15 years, Katie is 14 years, Genesis is 2 1/2 and our Anna, 14 months. Thank you for adding Anna to your website. God Bless You!

Love,

Tammy Baker
6094 Laurel Drive
Paradise CA 95969
(530) 877-5416

PS I will not have the internet after June 18, 2001.

All of the appointments are exhausting!

:) Tammy