Christmas was on a Monday in 2006. I was pregnant with my first child and ecstatic. Then the Saturday before, I was shopping for Christmas and was having some bad pain and I had no idea what was going on. I got home and sat at the kitchen table and was wrapping presents and the pain got worse. So I called the hospital and the nurse told me to drink eight glasses of water and lie down for an hour and to call if they didn't go away. She said I may be dehydrated and that could be causing my contractions.

So of course I did as I was told. About an hour and a half later the pain wasn't any better. I called back and was told to come in to the hospital. This was about 10:30 p.m. So my mom took me to the hospital. They put me on all of the machines and found out I was contracting. My doctor came and checked my cervix and was 2 centimeters dilated. So they had to call and find me a room at a hospital that had a NICU capable of taking care of a baby who could be born at 25 weeks.

I was then transferred to the University of Virginia Medical Center, which if I may say so myself is a wonderful place. I was then put on magnesium sulfate (that is a horrible drug) and given steroid shots to help the baby's lungs develop quicker. It was the most uncomfortable and scary time in my life.

I was left on magnesium for 48 hours, which is the limit for that drug. I was visited by lots of family and a NICU nurse to let me know how the NICU worked and all of that stuff.

I was crying so hard when she asked if we had any questions I just wanted her to leave. But my dad spoke up and asked, "If the baby is born in the next couple of days what are her chances?" and the nurse replied "50/50" and then she was gone!

After they took me off the magnesium at my 48-hour mark, they checked my cervix, which was at 2 centimeters. The contractions got worse and I told my mom that I felt her feet and my mom said I was imagining it. I still called the nurse and told her and she had the doctor come check me. I had dilated from 2 centimeters to 6 centimeters in 20 minutes and her feet were coming out. I was not imagining anything! So I was told I was going to be a mommy – now!

I was rushed to emergency C-section and my baby girl was delivered at 5:31p.m. Christmas day 2006. She weighed 1 pound, 10 ounces and was 13 inches long – no bigger than a 20-ounce soda bottle.

We went through a lot while in the NICU. Ella was put on a ventilator. I kangarooed her for the first time on the 31st. The doctor found a PDA Jan 7 and put her on medication to close it. And on January 9 they did an echo and the PDA had closed in only two days. Just two days after that they took the vent out and put her on C-pap and Ella did very well. She weighed 2 pounds on January 15.

We were also told she had two brain bleeds, one on each side. She had a grade 1 on the right and a 3 on the left but they had resolved after some time.

On February 16 she weighed 3 pounds and was moved to the Trans Unit. Almost time to go home and on nasal cannula only now, too.

On February 26 she drank her first bottle of an ounce of breast milk. On March 3 Ella weighed 4 pounds, 2 1/2 ounces.

On March 18 of 2007 Ella came home from the NICU still on oxygen and an apnea monitor and weighing 5 pounds, 2 ounces.

Now on this day, January 31, 2009, we have a beautiful 2-year-old, who is so big and so smart and so rotten. That is our story of our preemie and stay in the NICU! Thanks for reading!