Pretty in Pink: Astronaut Family Shows Off New Daughter
Rebecca Bresnik gave birth while husband Randy was on a shuttle mission.
HOUSTON, Dec. 8, 2009 — -- Rebecca and Randy Bresnik already have everything they want for Christmas: a healthy baby girl, Abigail Mae, and 3-year-old Wyatt, whom they adopted from an orphanage in the Ukraine a year ago. Wyatt told his mom he wanted a baby sister for Christmas and he got his wish. Rebecca smiles when Randy asks her what she wants. "What more could I ask for? This has been such a miracle."
A miracle indeed, even when she keeps everyone in the house awake all night long.
Abigail was born while her astronaut father, Randy, was high above Earth on his first space flight, riding the space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station. The timing of Abigail's birth coincided with a mission Randy had spent a year training to fly.
The timing was complicated, but the Bresniks are a military family and they say they're well aware many families are separated for months and years. What was stunning to them was the attention paid to Abigail's birth.
Rebecca was in labor for almost two days, one of those when Randy was out on his first spacewalk. She jokes about a newspaper headline her father in-law showed her after the mission which read "Astronaut labors, wife does not."
She laughs now, but she says two days of labor were, well, hard. Abigail was born Saturday, Nov. 21, just after 11 p.m. CST. Her dad was asleep, after putting in a long day on a spacewalk, but he got the good news when he woke up, and had the pleasure of announcing his daughter's birth to flight controllers in Mission Control. She weighed in at 6 pounds and 13 ounces, and was 21 inches long with ten fingers and ten toes. Video was transmitted up to the new dad in orbit.
"She is as beautiful as her mom, and I hope as smart, too, he told ABC News during the mission.
When Bresnik first saw his daughter, he says she took his breath away. "You wish everyone on Earth could see the Earth from space, but they need to know this, touching your baby is even more inspiring, and it is here on Earth, and we should cherish this time because it is the most amazing experience."
Related Stories
ABC News Live