Abigail by Sabrina Smith (read along books txt) 📕

"I'm pregnant with a baby girl," my mom said, sitting on her bed with the rest of the family surrounding her. My dad sat next to her on the King size bed. "But this baby girl will be a very special little girl. She has a heart defect that will make it harder for her," my dad said. This was two years ago. My parents decided to name the baby Abigail Celeste Smith. Celeste was a family name, and Abigail meant "Father's Joy" which is exactly how my dad felt about Abigail. My family has nine kids, including Abigail. We have both parents, a set of grandparents on both sides of the family, alot of Aunts and Unlces on each side of the family, and a bunch of cousins. Our family is big. Family means alot to us. We have signs that say "Family" on them all through the house. We have a couple that say "Families are Forever". Abigail is a joy and a blessing to our family. The fact that she has a heart defect is hard to comprehend until you hear her breath when she's sick, or when you see how small she is and we tell you she's almost two. Abigail was born on June 8th, 2008. The same day my Uncle Ray "died" and came back to life. I live in Wasilla, Alaska now and forever. I was born and raised here. I have the chance to say "I am a native of Alaska". But Abigail doesn't. Abigail was born in Seattle Children's Hospital in Washington. From the moment she was born Abigail was surrounded by Doctors and Nurses. The Doctors had expected Abigail to be a very sick baby, but by some miracle she was born a healthy little girl. My mom said, "They had no idea what to do with this healthy baby, they were expceting for her to have all sorts of problems." My mom had to go down to Seattle six weeks before Abigail was born. My siblings and I were left up here in Alaska, getting taken care of by our older brother Christopher or our Aunts and Uncles. My dad would alternate being up here and down there, occasionally taking one of the kids with him. Gabe and Kimber went down and visited, and so did Christopher at one point. The rest of us, Andrew, Ririe, Ryan, Katie, and I didn't get a chance to go down to Seattle. When Abigail was born they did a bunch of tests with her mouth. After a little while she wouldn't nurse because she thought, in my mothers words, "That if she didn't open her mouth, nothing would hurt anymore." They also found out that she couldn't nurse properly. She had something wrong with her lip, she was missing a nerve or something like that. My mom had to pump milk for her. Despite what the doctors had thought would happen, that my mom and Abigail would have to stay down there for several months, my mom and Abigail ended up coming home eight days later. Abigail was healthy and was having a great time. This is the kind of baby I want. Abigail rarely cries, she's a really happy baby. She loves to smile and laugh. There is this thing in our family about the "small" girls. Me, Katie, and Abigail all look exactly the same when you put pictures of us as babies together. We still resemble each other now. Just not like triplets. So, Abigail was a healthy baby for half a year. But later on she started having trouble breathing. She caught something called croupe and another sickness and had a VERY hard time gettig over it. One night my parents took her to the hospital. I remember that night cleary. It was December 31st, 2008. New Year's Eve. After that Abigail was in the Providence Hospital in Anchorage for a week, then she was air flighted to Seattle Children's Hospital. She spent a month down there and then had her sugery in February. They had to replace a valve in her heart. After the surgery was completed the doctors were again amazed by Abigail. She was up and about PLAYING after her surgery. They had already spent two months in Seattle. After her surgery they spent an additional month after that making sure that she was getting along. Finally, they let them come back to Alaska. Abigail has had few problems since. Though she still has trouble when she gets sick she is the happiest and smartest baby I have ever known. She is learning sign language because she can't make certain sounds like "b" and "d". She learned to crawl and walk, too. She has been experimenting with talking, also. Abigail loves music. Or, more specifically, she loves beat. Anything with a beat she nodds her head back and forth to, or she might dance. She'll bend her knees up and down to music, or spin in circles. She'll even try and sing along with the words to a song, too. Abigail is growing in size, but is still a runt. It won't matter though. If she is going to be anything like me or my sister Katie, she's going to be a shorty and very skinny. Abigail has been a lovable darling from the start. She will always be my favorite sister. She gives hugs and kisses, and she smiles and giggles. Abigail is an angel sent from heavan. A blessing from God.

Publication Date: 02-09-2010

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Dedication:
To my little sister, Abigail