I was 28 weeks pregnant and woke up to go to the rest room as I had many nights before. This time I felt different and ran to the restroom. I was bleeding! I yelled for my husband and we were out the door and to the hospital.

When I arrived, the labor and delivery nurses hooked me up to a monitor. My baby's heartbeat was strong, but I began to have contractions. I was in the hospital three days then sent home to be on bed rest.

On July 4, 2000, about a week later, I began to bleed again. My doctor was not sure where the bleeding was coming from and kept me in the hospital for two weeks. During this time I was on magnesium and other medications to stop labor. My husband and I were so scared. This was our first baby and we did not know what to expect. The doctors found out that my placenta was a little low, and as my stomach stretched, blood vessels broke and caused the bleeding, which then caused the contractions. Through it all, my little girl had a strong heartbeat. She would kick the monitor each time the nurses checked her heartbeat. I was given steroid shots to speed up her lung development.

After the two weeks, I was sent home to be on bed rest again. I had a monitor at home to keep track of my contractions. My parents and other relatives stayed with me during the day. On July 27, 2000 my contractions increased and the medicine was not working. My doctor sent out a pump to put in my leg so the medicine would enter my bloodstream faster. That did not work either. I was 32 weeks along and was having nine contractions an hour.

At 6 a.m. the next morning, I was in Labor and Delivery and began pushing. At 6:16 a.m., my beautiful baby girl entered the world at 4 pounds, 1 ounce and 17.5 inches long. Alexis Lorin (we call her Lexi) cried before the doctor could even suction her nose and mouth. Thanks to God and the steroid shots, she was breathing on her own and was in the NICU for three and a half weeks to learn to suck, swallow, and breathe while taking a bottle.

She is a healthy, happy 1-year-old now. She is not walking on her own yet, but will be any day now. No one would ever know she was born eight weeks early.