9 Weeks

We didn't really know anyone who had a premature baby before we had Baby Girl. We had no idea what they were able to do in the NICU, that a baby born at 28 weeks would even be able to live.

Just the other day I was talking about her birth, and how she was 5 days old before I could even hold her. It was the day I was leaving the hospital, and when Dr. Dad and I came into the NICU to say good-bye, the nurse there asked if I had the chance to hold her yet. When I said no, she said she would help me do that before I had to leave. The nurse had to take her, the tubes and wires, bundle everything up and somehow get her over to me without moving her CPAP which was allowing her to breathe. I was terrified and thrilled. Then, when I handed her back to the nurse, we somehow dislodged an I.V. connection and she bled all over my shirt. I left the NICU just devastated, and even though she wasn't harmed, I couldn't believe that would be the memory I would have of the first time I held my daughter. I still have that shirt. I am wearing it in this picture. It's the picture I have of that day.

Six years later, immediately after the birth of Baby Boy, they wrapped him up and handed him to me. I had a c-section, but even as they wheeled me into recovery, I still held him. He was considered full term even at 37 weeks. No tubes, no wires, no CPAP. He was all ours, and we didn't have to ask the nurses to help us hold him, didn't have to hand him back when they felt he had enough.

That is the difference 9 weeks can make.

This is the sixth year we will be walking for the March of Dimes.

We started the walk right after we moved from the Big City and Baby Girl was just 2 years old.

We wanted to do something to raise awareness (and money) for prematurity, and this seemed like the perfect thing to do.

If you would like to help us reach our goal of $1000, you can click on the link in the sidebar. Any donation is appreciated.

Or, you can go directly to our March of Dimes page by clicking here.

Our wish is that every baby gets our happy, lucky, ending.