On this day......

On the radio or the news sometimes they do an "On this day..."segment where they talk about events that happened on this day any number of years ago. Well, today is October 29, 2008 and on this day three years ago Alexandria Mae Hunter was born. It was a day that I don't think any of us that were there will ever forget. She wasn't due until Thanksgiving, but I started to get real sick and was admitted to the hospital several weeks before. I was admitted on Friday Oct 28th and Saturday the 29th the doctor had convinced Andrew to convince me that a c-section was necessary and it needed to happen soon. It took Andrew longer to convince me of this, but as I quickly got worse and felt awful I understood the urgency. We waited as long as we could for my parents to make the drive from Alabama and as I was being rolled into the operating room I was told they had arrived. I don't remember much from the operating room but I do remember them bring her to my face and letting me kiss her tiny cheek. Then they quickly took her away. I woke up with my mother by my side. Soon the pediatrician was in my room telling me lots of things I didn't understand, until he told me he felt like she would benefit from spending some time in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which this hospital did not have. At that time I had no idea what was really going on, but Allie was born 5 lbs 5 oz and her lungs had not developed completely yet. She was not breathing well and there wasn't much they could do at this hospital. So, my tiny baby was rushed via ambulance to a hospital an hour away in Columbus, GA. She was born on Saturday and I was not released from the hospital where she was born until Monday the 31st. I got there that night in time for a feeding and got to hold my baby for the first time. She spent a week in the NICU. She had good days and bad days, but the day we got to drive her an hour back home was one of the happiest and scariest days of our lives. Now here we are 3 years later and if you looked at her now you would never know what she went through the first week of her life. Andrew and I could not be more proud of our little girl, she's so smart and has so much personality. Her height and weight are all just right and she has not had any serious problems as a result of all that. It's a story Andrew and I love to retell, she's our little miracle baby.....and she's three years old. I have a feeling it doesn't get any easier with every year.