The Baby's Here!

We are so proud to introduce everyone to the newest member of our family -- Liza Kate Lewis was born last night at 6:57 weighing 5 lbs 7 oz and stretching 18.5 inches. She's such a little peanut. And she's perfectly HEALTHY! Sara feels strong and is doing great. I'm so thankful that my girls are ok and that our family is complete. Wow.

Liza gets her middle name from my dad's mom, Kate Lewis. My grandma was so strong and truly was the matriarch of the Lewis family. She took care of everyone(grandchildren, cousins, etc.) and always made sure that we were ok. Liza started making sure Sara was ok long before yesterday. This pregnancy brought Sara's cancer out to a place where it could be found early. Then, Liza made it through some tough weeks when Sara started her chemo. Despite all that, she literally came into this world smiling. "Kate" just seems like the perfect middle name for the little baby who watched out for her mommy before coming into this world, was strong enough to endure a tough pregnancy, and smiled when we met her.

Thank you to all of you for helping us get this far. Your support, well-wishes and love gave us the additional strength we genuinely needed. Sara's battle is not over, obviously, but we know she'll be ok. We'll just tackle the remaining 5 months of treatment as we did the past 3. The only difference is that we're now a family of four!

The baby turned!!!

No more breech! Thank god!

Closing Ceremonies of Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk

Sara and I talked tonight about the good things that happened to us this summer. We were able to come up with several without much effort. Despite all that's happened, there we were standing in the kitchen smiling as we remembered the happy times from the last few months. While this wouldn't be a summer to repeat if we had the choice, we did actually manage to enjoy ourselves. Pretty cool.

At the top of the list was the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk. The whole weekend -- from the opening ceremonies, to my 16 mile walk with Deborah on Saturday, to the closing ceremonies at Soldier Field on Sunday -- was emotional and inspiring. The weekend was a big milestone for us and now that it is over, we can begin focusing on the home stretch.

Just briefly, Sunday's experience was very special. We changed into our pink shirts and filled the car with our signs and other gear. As we got close to Soldier Field we saw the line of walkers getting close to the finish line. (Kleenex moment #1). After we parked, we saw hundreds of people waiting on the lawn for the ceremony to begin. Families were having picnics, listening to music, and clapping for the walkers. Everyone was waiting for, among other things, the big moment the walkers would approach the stage and hold up a shoe to salute the brave people fighting breast cancer. (Kleenex moment #2). Then we saw Deborah. I can't adequately put into words what I felt when she embraced Sara and Margo, so let's just call that Kleenex moments #3 through #100!

Eventually it came time for Sara to walk out on stage with Deborah. I saw them holding hands and crying. Then I heard Margo atop my shoulders say, "There's mommy!" I went numb. That was the moment when this event, Sara's battle, and the love all around us broke me. Everything went silent for (what felt like) a minute as I thought about the enormity of what we've been through and how thankful I am to have my two smiling girls with me. The adrenaline of that moment was the most intense I've ever felt. I flipped Margo off my shoulders and gave her an enormous bear hug. I'm surprised I didn't crush her! I engulfed Sara with a similar hug when she returned from the stage. I hope these pictures that I've attached give you a sense of the emotion from that amazing day.

And now we can strictly focus on the baby for the next few weeks. The induction has been changed to August 23. Everything's fine -- the doctors just don't think we should wait that extra week. Sara's fourth round of chemo (which was supposed to be today) was postponed so that she can be strong on the 23rd (and before). The baby can come at any point now, so we are packing Sara's bag tonight and putting it by the door. (Doesn't that just conjure up the image of 70's sitcoms where the very pregnant wife wakes her husband asking for water and before she can ask he's out the door in his boxers, suitcase in hand, wife at home getting her own water?!). Yep, that'll be me.

Anyway, hopefully my next post will be from the hospital on the 23rd. With any luck I'll be wearing more than just my boxers.

Brian

Kick Off of The 3-Day Cancer Walk

This morning was amazing. Incredibly emotional. We got out of bed at 5:30, woke Margo and headed over to Northbrook Court for the opening ceremonies of the 3 Day Cancer Walk. Several thousand walkers and supporters were already there. We were completely blown away. Our families and some special friends were also there waiting to hug, kiss and support us. I can't adequately express the flood of emotions that overwhelmed us at that moment. I've even got tears in my eyes right now as I look at the pictures and write this post.

Our cousin Deborah (hugging Sara and Margo in the picture) is officially the highest fundraiser for the Chicago Walk. She raised just over $25,000 with all of your help. (I know we've said it so many times but again, THANK YOU!). To recognize that accomplishment the Walk organizers asked her to carry the "Friendship" flag today and on Sunday during the closing ceremonies. She will also get to sleep in the "fancy" New Balance tent tonight and tomorrow at the campground. (She'll have an air mattress, pillow and a light -- never before did that seem "first class" but for this 60-mile walk, it certainly is!).

We'll stop at a cheering station later this morning to see Deborah and tomorrow I'll be meeting up with her to walk 15 miles (just like our training session a few weeks ago). On Sunday a big contingent of the Lewis and Fishman clans (and friends) will go to Soldier Field at 4:30 to watch the walkers enter the stadium and achieve their goal. We'll also cheer for Sara who will be up on stage fulfilling one of her many goals -- successfully fighting this disease while growing our baby! If anyone wants to come along, we'd absolutely love it. It will, without a doubt, be an emotionally-inspiring afternoon.

After the weekend we'll be one step closer to baby! Oh, speaking of the baby, you can mark your calendars for August 30! That's the date the doctors will induce. And by the way, if you can think of good-luck tricks (knocking on wood, rubbing two sticks together, throwing salt over your shoulder, etc.) that might encourage the baby to turn around from the breech position in the next 3 weeks, go ahead and do them. We'll take any help we can get at this point!

That's it for now. I'll post again over the weekend.

xoxo,
Brian