I had a great pregnancy. No morning sickness and just a feeling of complete happiness. I even traveled with my husband to Scotland and stayed for a month when I was 25 through 29 weeks.

When we got home we started working on the nursery right away. We finished the nursery early and there was nothing to do but wait for our little girl.

The morning after the nursery was officially ready my water broke. I was asleep when I woke up to feel the bed soaked. In the labor classes they told me the pressure from the baby on the bladder can sometimes cause accidents. I told myself that must be what happened. Just to be safe, though, I called my husband. He came home immediately and ushered me off to the hospital.

The doctor did an ultrasound, which revealed that I had lost most of my amniotic fluid. Our little girl would be born anytime. They administered steroids to speed along her lung development and fluids for me. They were able to keep her in for two more days, during which I had to have antibiotics to fight off infection as the baby is at risk without amniotic fluid.

My husband and I were naïve. We thought that we would be bringing our little one home as soon as she was born. We had never heard much about premature babies. When the doctors started filling us in on the road ahead, which included the NICU, feeding tubes and many other hurdles; the enormity of the situation left us breathless.

I was 32 weeks when Jadelyne came into this world. She weighed 3 pounds, 10 ounces. She was breathing on her own and I was able to hold her. My husband was then allowed to carry her to the NICU. Jadelyne was put in an incubator for about a week until she was able to gain enough weight to regulate her body temperature.

The NICU was a scary place for a new mom. I spent all my waking hours there until the last week when I was able to move into a room one floor above. Every time I came around the corner into the NICU I held my breath and prayed that my little girl was OK. She was, and came home after only 23 days in the NICU.

Jadelyne is now 9 months old, and weighs about 18 pounds. The tree is all ready with lots of presents for our beautiful little one's first Christmas. There has been no medical problems at all; she is a healthy, chubby little girl.