"PISTOL ANNIE" BY ABBEY AHERN
This is the story of an incredible little girl named Annie Ahern. I’m Abbey, Annie’s mom, and Robert is her dad. Annie has two big sisters, Dylan and Harper Lou. Robert and I have known from the beginning of our marriage that we both wanted a large family.
When we found out we were pregnant with our third child we were overjoyed. This pregnancy was so different than the previous two because the kids were so much more involved. Dylan was 4 now, so she really understood what was happening. She was getting a new baby! She told us of all the ways she was excited to help with her new sibling. Harper was only 2, but she fed off her big sister’s excitement. She tickled and kissed my growing belly every chance she could.
Robert and I went to have our routine prenatal ultrasound at 19 weeks. These ultrasounds are not super exciting for us because we never find out the gender of our babies, but this one was a bit different. After the technician was finished, she excused herself and told us she would be back with a doctor.
When the doctor came in and spoke with us, our world changed forever. He told us that our baby had anencephaly, a neural tube defect that occurs in early pregnancy. Our baby was lacking a major portion of brain and scalp, and this was a condition that was “incompatible with life”. We were stunned. The first question I asked him was if our baby was a boy or a girl. I wanted every second we had with our baby to count. He told us we were having our third baby girl, and we decided to name her Annie Rachel Ahern. Before long we were calling her our little “Pistol Annie”.
I scoured the internet for anything I could get my hands on about anencephaly. I wanted to have an idea of what we were in for. There were days where I just laid in bed, googled, cried and slept. At our very first appointment after our ultrasound we inquired about organ donation. We were fervently praying for God to heal her, but if this was to be Annie’s fate, we wanted to be able to help others in need who were desperately praying for a miracle.
We asked several different medical team members about the possibility of donating and every time the answer was, “I’m not sure how to go about that. I’ll do some research and let you know.” Robert and I couldn’t believe that no one knew how to go about doing this. Surely this had been done before. We quickly found out that infant organ donation had not been done before, at least not in Oklahoma. We were put in touch with Life Share, and through their hard work and preparation we were able to plan for the possibility for Annie to give this gift.
Annie’s medical team helped us plan for every possible situation. We had to make several difficult decisions that no parent should have to make. During all the planning I could not help but feel like I just did not have the strength to do this. Robert and I have an unreal support system, and we never went a day without prayer. Often, I would cry myself to sleep only to wake up to a text or email from a friend telling me they were thinking of our sweet girl and they loved us. Annie’s birthday was rapidly approaching, and all we could do was trust that God would take care of us.
We arrived at the hospital on the day of delivery at 5:00 a.m. on June 26. Our family met together in the hospital chapel and held a prayer service. There were tears and heartache during this time because all the unknowns were still looming. We prayed for joy to overwhelm us, we prayed for healing, we prayed for peace, and we prayed for time with our girl.
Then we went upstairs to prepare for delivery via C-section. During the surgery my husband kept his face pressed against mine. We prayed and loved on each other until we looked over and saw our little girl on the warmer. Annie Rachel Ahern was born at 8:36 a.m. She was here, she was beautiful, and she was ours.
Annie’s birthday was awe-inspiring. The only tears that were shed from the moment she was born were tears of joy. Every single family member was able to hold her and feel her warmth. Annie’s sisters got to spend some precious one-on-one time with her. Harper kissed her little cheeks over and over. Dylan wanted to read her baby sister the book “Heaven is for Real; For Little Ones”. This is a children’s book that tells us all about heaven, and Dylan wanted Annie to know how wonderful it was so she wouldn’t be scared to go there.
The perspective we were given through this time from our girls was astounding. Dylan spoke God’s truths boldly into our lives, as only a 4-year-old could. When she saw my pain during my pregnancy, she lovingly reminded me that Jesus came to us to take away the darkness. Dylan knew where her sister was going, and she was genuinely happy for her.
That night Robert and I were spending some quiet moments with Annie. I heard her gasp and I knew it was time. Our family gathered around us as we held our little girl. I thanked God for giving her to us, I told Annie I loved her as many times as I could, and then I saw her leave.
Annie passed away at 11:34 p.m. the same day she came to us. We were given the most incredible 14 hours and 58 minutes with our daughter, and every single prayer was answered. God had given us time, peace, unbelievable joy, and he had healed our girl and taken her home. Annie was taken to surgery a short time later and became the very first newborn infant organ donor in the state of Oklahoma.
We knew that Annie was not meant for this earth. Her story has made such an enormous impact emotionally and spiritually on us, our family, and our friends, that it only made sense to let her make a physical impact on someone as well with the gift of organ donation. Although we miss her dearly, we cannot deny the significance of her tiny life and the effect it has had on the world.
To read Abbey Ahern’s blog, Tomorrow Will Be Kinder, go to: https://abbeyahern.wordpress.com/
When we found out we were pregnant with our third child we were overjoyed. This pregnancy was so different than the previous two because the kids were so much more involved. Dylan was 4 now, so she really understood what was happening. She was getting a new baby! She told us of all the ways she was excited to help with her new sibling. Harper was only 2, but she fed off her big sister’s excitement. She tickled and kissed my growing belly every chance she could.
Robert and I went to have our routine prenatal ultrasound at 19 weeks. These ultrasounds are not super exciting for us because we never find out the gender of our babies, but this one was a bit different. After the technician was finished, she excused herself and told us she would be back with a doctor.
When the doctor came in and spoke with us, our world changed forever. He told us that our baby had anencephaly, a neural tube defect that occurs in early pregnancy. Our baby was lacking a major portion of brain and scalp, and this was a condition that was “incompatible with life”. We were stunned. The first question I asked him was if our baby was a boy or a girl. I wanted every second we had with our baby to count. He told us we were having our third baby girl, and we decided to name her Annie Rachel Ahern. Before long we were calling her our little “Pistol Annie”.
I scoured the internet for anything I could get my hands on about anencephaly. I wanted to have an idea of what we were in for. There were days where I just laid in bed, googled, cried and slept. At our very first appointment after our ultrasound we inquired about organ donation. We were fervently praying for God to heal her, but if this was to be Annie’s fate, we wanted to be able to help others in need who were desperately praying for a miracle.
We asked several different medical team members about the possibility of donating and every time the answer was, “I’m not sure how to go about that. I’ll do some research and let you know.” Robert and I couldn’t believe that no one knew how to go about doing this. Surely this had been done before. We quickly found out that infant organ donation had not been done before, at least not in Oklahoma. We were put in touch with Life Share, and through their hard work and preparation we were able to plan for the possibility for Annie to give this gift.
Annie’s medical team helped us plan for every possible situation. We had to make several difficult decisions that no parent should have to make. During all the planning I could not help but feel like I just did not have the strength to do this. Robert and I have an unreal support system, and we never went a day without prayer. Often, I would cry myself to sleep only to wake up to a text or email from a friend telling me they were thinking of our sweet girl and they loved us. Annie’s birthday was rapidly approaching, and all we could do was trust that God would take care of us.
We arrived at the hospital on the day of delivery at 5:00 a.m. on June 26. Our family met together in the hospital chapel and held a prayer service. There were tears and heartache during this time because all the unknowns were still looming. We prayed for joy to overwhelm us, we prayed for healing, we prayed for peace, and we prayed for time with our girl.
Then we went upstairs to prepare for delivery via C-section. During the surgery my husband kept his face pressed against mine. We prayed and loved on each other until we looked over and saw our little girl on the warmer. Annie Rachel Ahern was born at 8:36 a.m. She was here, she was beautiful, and she was ours.
Annie’s birthday was awe-inspiring. The only tears that were shed from the moment she was born were tears of joy. Every single family member was able to hold her and feel her warmth. Annie’s sisters got to spend some precious one-on-one time with her. Harper kissed her little cheeks over and over. Dylan wanted to read her baby sister the book “Heaven is for Real; For Little Ones”. This is a children’s book that tells us all about heaven, and Dylan wanted Annie to know how wonderful it was so she wouldn’t be scared to go there.
The perspective we were given through this time from our girls was astounding. Dylan spoke God’s truths boldly into our lives, as only a 4-year-old could. When she saw my pain during my pregnancy, she lovingly reminded me that Jesus came to us to take away the darkness. Dylan knew where her sister was going, and she was genuinely happy for her.
That night Robert and I were spending some quiet moments with Annie. I heard her gasp and I knew it was time. Our family gathered around us as we held our little girl. I thanked God for giving her to us, I told Annie I loved her as many times as I could, and then I saw her leave.
Annie passed away at 11:34 p.m. the same day she came to us. We were given the most incredible 14 hours and 58 minutes with our daughter, and every single prayer was answered. God had given us time, peace, unbelievable joy, and he had healed our girl and taken her home. Annie was taken to surgery a short time later and became the very first newborn infant organ donor in the state of Oklahoma.
We knew that Annie was not meant for this earth. Her story has made such an enormous impact emotionally and spiritually on us, our family, and our friends, that it only made sense to let her make a physical impact on someone as well with the gift of organ donation. Although we miss her dearly, we cannot deny the significance of her tiny life and the effect it has had on the world.
To read Abbey Ahern’s blog, Tomorrow Will Be Kinder, go to: https://abbeyahern.wordpress.com/
