Baby K arrived 11/1/2008 at 2:22 am
Anya Vivian Kropewnicki
9 pounds 20 inches
We arrived from a 6 1/2 hour flight from Casablanca Morocco to JFK on Halloween, 10-31-2008. We had been checking in with John for several days via email and a quick phone call from Fes and then again right before we left Casablanca. Rachel was to be induced on 10-28, however the baby decided to wait and was happy to remain in the womb for a few more days. The doctor was happy with this arrangement.
We arrived in Boston about 10 pm on Friday the 31st. John called to say that labor was progressing well and it would be a few more hours.
We let ourselves in his home. We snuggled into his extra bed upstairs, now decorated with soft green and browns. Cute stuffed rabbits were hanging from the mobile over the crib and Rachel had prepared all needed supplies of diapers and the like on the changing table.
We settled in and quickly fell to sleep waking about 2:30, which would have been our awaking hour from the previous time change in Morocco. Just as we were talking with curious concern about the progress of delivery, John called to say the baby girl had arrived. He was holding her speaking to us on the phone while the doc was completing a procedure with Rachel.
Then the most lovely sound in the world came from the back ground – the sweet cry of a new baby. Our first granddaughter, Anya calling out to us through the phone.
John and Rachel are thrilled. Rachel is doing well although exhausted.
Anya was barely 12 hours old when we went to visit her in the hospital. She is lovely with smooth cheeks and her little tongue moving back and forth like a spoon. Her eyes were bright with little scuffs of light brown hair on her head.
She sports a monitoring device on her ankle to ensure she stays in the floor with the parents in the Bain Birthing Center at Mount Arburn Hospital in Cambridge. If any babies are taken off the floor the hospital is locked until the baby is found.
Soon she had many visitors. Her Aunt Sarah, Rachel’s sister, and Sarah’s fiance Chris came to welcome Anya into the world. Sarah couldn’t wait to hold her and change her diaper, one of many changes those first few hours. Diane, Rachel’s Mom, came in and richly greeted her daughter and new grand daughter. Mike, Rachel’s Dad, and Debbie soon followed with more hugs, oohs and aahs. When we left, Anya was held by all, wrapped tightly to swadle her in a receiving blanket.
Anya certainly is welcomed into the world with a family of caring, loving people.
Being a Grandma is great. Holding her little fingers while John changed the diaper – Priceless.
Joyce