Sunday, May 27, 2012

My Little Girl is 13

13 years ago today (May 27th) I spent the greater part of the day confined to a hospital bed being pumped full of magnesium and pitocin. They were trying to induce labor and keep my blood pressure down at the same time as I had developed SEVERE toxemia. I spent about 20 hours like that before they decided to do an emergency c-section. My daughter was born via c-section at 6:03 p.m. on May 27th, 1999. She weighed in just a little over 4 lbs and was only 17 inches long. She was delivered four weeks before her due date. We spent almost a week in the hospital before they would let us go home.

The toxemia actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because my lil peanut of a girl would have not survived a vaginal birth. My placenta had slipped down so it was blocking my cervix and the umbilical chord was wrapped tightly around her neck.

The first two years of her life we fought terrible respiratory problems. Because of them she did not sleep through the night until she was 10 1/2 months old. She was four years old before she could blow out all the candles on her birthday cake in one breath.

All of this was after five years of fighting infertility, getting pregnant and having a miscarriage. Now, she is 13, healthy, active and in the gifted program at school. She doesn't look like she was that little or that we went through all that just to bring her into the world and get her through her first few years. She is truly a miracle child that I am thankful for every day I am given with her.