So we had just moved from Germany back to the US at Fort Hood TX. We had been trying to have a baby for 6 years! We finally had 1 of our own coming to us in December 2014! Thought she was going to be our Christmas present! We were going to have so many friends and family around to celebrate this monumental milestone in our lives. Boy! Were we wrong!

August 2014. . I was having contractions and they were horrible. I go into the Labor and Delivery and was told immediately I was going to transferred to St. Davids in Austin TX via helicopter. My husband and I were so scared. I was only 23 weeks pregnant. We still had so much more to go in the pregnancy!!! What was going to happen to our little girl. . what was going to happen to me? I remember telling my husband if it came down to it; he better choose our daughter over me. We were very fortunate to have a great team behind us.

The nurses, doctors and specialists were truly amazing and remarkable people. My daughter made her grand entrance into the world at 23 weeks August 17th 2014 @ 1655 via C-section. She weighed a whopping 1lb 6oz and 11" long!!! I remember finally being able to go see her in NICU at 0100 the next morning. She was so little and I couldn't believe she was here. I prayed that she would make it everyday I don't know how many times a day. The doctors and nurses at St. Davids were so encouraging and helpful. My daughter's primary nurses Carla and Sally are the real MVPs. They have become like family while we were there. They helped my husband and I become better parents and learn that we can control everything.

We stayed in the NICU for 143 days! My daughter had a decent NICU stay. She got diagnosed with cytomegalovirus and a few infections while there. She never had any surgeries while there. She's a happy normal child if you look at her. She's small but then again so am I. We still keep in touch with a lot of nurses, specialists and doctors at St. Davids. They were amazing and I can NEVER thank them enough for helping us fight for our daughter.