The following pictures and report are given by Geoffrey Donnan, grandfather of little Sarah Nancy Card. More may be coming later from the Cards themselves, but given that this was written on the morning after the birth, they are still a bit busy with things.

Statistics: Sarah Nancy Card was born at 10:39 a.m. at the home of her parents, David and Kimarie Card on November 17, 2006. She weighed 8 lbs. 14 oz. and was 21½ inches long. This is the ninth child of the Cards and was delivered with the assistance of David Card and a midwife. Mother and baby did quite well by God's grace and the prayers of many people. After everything was prepared, the older children who had managed to stay awake for the happy arrival, were allowed to come in and see their new baby sister.

Sarah (princess) Nancy (grace) Card will perhaps be nicknamed Princess Grace. Sarah comes from the biblical character who was the wife of Abraham. Nancy comes from my wife, Kimarie's mother.

I heard on the news yesterday that in 1906 over 85% of births in the United States took place at home. My guess is that this figure has now completely reversed. A home birth may be a bit strange to many who will read this. It may seem foolish and unnecessarily rustic in this day and age, but after several children in a hospital environment working around the doctor's schedule instead of the mom and baby's schedule, the Cards decided to try home birth. They found it much easier, far more convenient and much healthier. Instead of laying flat on her back in stirrups for the doctor's convenience, they have given birth in many far more natural positions making the birthing process much easier and causing much less damage to mom and baby. The whole process is overseen by experienced mid-wives. Obviously the Cards have gotten quite good at this since they have had neither miscarriages nor problems along the way for which we are all very thankful to the Lord.

Sarah Nancy Card shortly after birth on November 17, 2006
A little more sedate.
Already hungry and ready to nurse.
Mom and baby doing well, with Debbie Card looking on.
Preparing for the birth of a child at the Cards is a family affair, so it is only fair that those hardy souls who have participation in the preparation for so many months and were able to stay awake till after the birth, get an opportunity to spend some time with mom and their new baby sister. Tabitha (left) and Debbie (right) look on shortly after home birth.
An exhausted David Card who stood with Kimarie's 28 hour labor the whole way, relaxes with son J.D. under arm in the bedroom where the homebirth took place.
Midwife's assistant shows J.D. how to hear his own heart through a stethascope.
Satava-Schaefer-Wessel-Donnan-Card family heirloom cradle used for little Sarah.
To the best of our knowledge, this cradle was first used one generation prior to Geoffrey Donnan's grandmother who lay in it as a baby. We don't know if that was from the German Schaefer side or the Bohemian Satava side. Nevertheless, Geoffrey's grandmother, Lillian Schaefer was rocked in this after her birth in 1898. Thereafter it was used by Lillian for her children after she married Emil Wessel, one of whom was Gloria, who married Dwight Donnan. Geoffrey was in this for a short while as a baby and now several of the Card children have used it briefly, mostly for photo opportunities. However, little Sarah Nancy Card will spend some time in her parent's bedroom. She makes the fifth generation to use this cradle and we hope many more generations will find use for it.. See if you can figure out why some of the Card children who saw the cradle asked why it had four built-in baby bottles. In its better days, the cradle had a windup spring that rocked the baby. It also has a foot pad for manual rocking by a mother sitting at one end. We still have both but have not taken the time to rebuild the spring so it can work again. (Answer to question above: check out the top of the four posts of the cradle. They look like doll baby feeding bottles.)