Carey Wickersham - The Wonder Within You: Celebrating Your Babys Journey from Conception to Birth

You know how when youre pregnant, it seems as though delivery day will never come?

Well, I feel like Ive been pregnant for about twelve years, because thats how long Ive been laboring over this book. Believe me, I didnt conceive, carry, contract, or deliver my baby alone. I had loads of help. A doctor and a sonographer, along with midwives, coaches, advisers, tech supporters, back rubbers, dinner makers, tissue holders, intercessors, nurses, friends, organizers, marketers, mamas, and miracle makers all walked in and out of my life during my babys decade-long gestation. Most of them helped me for one reason alone: they want moms to know how amazing their babies are so they can better nurture new life.

So thank you, Hope and Hannah. You are forever in my heart. If it werent for you, I wouldnt have taken the first steps to research the beginning of life. This is your legacy to the world.

Marty, Abby, and Daniel you are my greatest loves and my best teachers, the reasons I get up in the morning and fall into bed exhausted at night. Im so glad you are mine.

Dad, you have believed in and supported me from day one. Your sweet pea is forever in your debt.

Mom, thank you for dreaming with me and raising me to love babies. I hope your vision for this book comes true, and that you witness it happening from heaven.

To Mandy and Jenny and Heidi and Kathy and Irene Im glad were on this journey together. You make it so much richer.

Jeanette Burlbaw I remember the day I met you. You introduced me to my boy in 3-D, and it changed my life. How could you have stuck with me for so long? You and your magic wand inspire me and thousands of other moms... daily. Thank you from all of us.

Dr. Kristen Wootton not many women get to have their friend deliver their baby. But thats probably how all your patients feel. Thank you for having the best bedside manner ever and for teaching your residents to have the same respect for women that you have.

Jill, you make what I do look so much prettier. You shine it up with graphics and video and organization until it sparkles. In a pinch, youre the one I run to and learn from and laugh with, and if all else fails, we just yell, Galen!

Thanks to the patients at Prenatal Imaging Centers in Kansas City who gladly shared their stories and baby images with me. And thank you, Lisa, for helping me get all those consents!

Thanks to Dr. Dan Gehlbach, Nicolas Rodriguez, and Sheryl May from Midwest Reproductive Center for the information and images of baby in weeks two and three.

Thank you, Wade Sisson, for the hours you spent designing my website. Your friendship and expertise bolstered a lot more than my SEO!

To Cathy Gordon and the midwives and mamas at New Birth Company thanks for being quick on the draw whenever I needed help or advice. You girls rock the cradles and rule the world!

Thank you to Jeanette and Mark Littleton and the writers at the Heart of America Christian Writers Network (HACWN). Your conferences taught me the basics of book writing and encouraged me along the way.

To my editor in shining armor, Brandy Bruce. If I had half the organizational skills you do, I could whip a thousand repetitive redundancies with one sword tied behind my back. I obviously dont. Thankfully, you slayed a lot of those fire breathers for me.

Thank you to Larry Weeden and Allison Montjoy at Focus on the Family. You believed, let me dream big and vent, and carried on with the message.

To Linda, Nancy, Jackie, and Stephen at Tyndale House you guys got in my canoe when I was paddling upstream and installed a 250-horsepower engine. Im so thankful, as my arms were really tired! You are a great team!

To my tried and true agent, Les Stobbe. Did ya know when you signed me that I would be this much trouble? Thanks for your advice and for helping me fight. I always knew if my passion got me in trouble, youd just come in with a bucket and bail me out.

To my mama-friends and their mama-friends, who had their babies imaged and responded to my pleas for stories and took me to tea and listened and prayed and asked and cared and shared my questions and dug up answers... thank you. As mothers, you all pitched in to help me get er done. Without you, I couldnt have. So heres to you and all your babies!