Three years ago today I started No. 29 Design. I had toyed with starting a blog for a long time but it wasn’t until a sleepless night that I finally took the plunge.

My oldest daughter, Anna, is the reason I started this blog when I did. I mention my three children but I actually have four. My first child Anna was born on January 9, 2001. We found out she had some vascular issues while I was seven months pregnant but we wouldn’t know how extensive the problems were until she was born. We were told she would need surgery when she was a couple months old. So we waited for two months with weekly ultrasounds to check her progress and monitor her heart. When I was two weeks away from my due date they saw on the ultrasound that her heart had enlarged. I was induced that day and Anna was born and sent to the NICU right away. Since she was practically full term she was the healthiest looking baby in the NICU but in reality she the most sick. Once her body and heart were working on their own the doctors informed us that she was worse off than they first thought. She would need surgery right away. After her surgery was completed we were initially told it was a success. But during the phone call from the operating room she hemorrhaged and was put on life support. We decided to take her off life support when she was exactly two days old. She died in my arms 20 minutes later. 

We have two days worth of videos and pictures to remember Anna by. We buy an ornament with her name and the year on it every Christmas. Her stocking hangs on the fireplace with the others full of items we donate to Toys for Tots. Every year around her birthday we have a dinner for our friends and family. 

So on January 9, 2012, I was up in the middle of the night on what would have been Anna’s 11th birthday. This time of year is always hard for me and I usually have a couple sleepless nights. I decided that if there would be any day of the year to start this blog it should be on her birthday. It would be a way of starting something new on a day that has always had difficult memories. So by 9 am that day I had my first post up and I’ve been blogging every since!

I never get too personal but every year I consider telling this blog’s background story. Thank you to everyone who reads this blog, comments, asks questions and keeps me blogging. I love doing this and I thank you for visiting and keeping me going!