When you get married you think you will start a family when you want to. Well, not so in our case. We got married in 1994 and enjoyed as a couple traveling, with great jobs and wonderful friends. After being married about 5 years we started thinking we were ready to add to our family. After 2 miscarriages we were hit in the face that we would struggle with infertility. I was diagnosed with a condition that does not my body to keep a pregnancy. So in 2003 we were pregnant again. Whit my wonderful Gynecologists, Dr. Jennifer Fuson help I was given medicine to help with this problem. We were so excited to start this journey to parenthood. About 21 weeks in the problems started. I was rushed to the ER @ Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington, KY. I was hemorraging. I knew we had lost another baby. I only knew to keep praying. When the nurse came in to put the fetal monitor on my We heard a heart beat. Thanks to GOD!! I was given medication to stop my contractions. After a week in the hospital the doctors thought the baby was stable for us to go home. I arrived home @ 6:30 pm and by midnight we were back @ the hospital. I stayed for the remainder of my pregnancy which was over Christmas. We made the unpleasant-pleasant. Anything for the health of our baby. My mother and dad visited everyday with my mom fighting Multiple Myeloma herself and my husband stayed nights with me and worked @ our business everyday. The whole time I was praying to make it to my birthday 1-16-2004. This was a big milestone for my baby for development. I was moving along well. I was scheduled to have a C-section on the 17th because the NNICCU doctors felt our baby would fair better outside of the womb. I was beyond scared @ 29.5 weeks how would our baby survive?? I did not make the 17th, my body started going into full toxemia and our baby was in distress. The nurse told us afterwards she didn't think we would survive. At 3:59 am our precious baby was born on my birthday weighing a whopping 1.13 oz.. My Gynecologist who saw me through to the end was there to deliver our son. She was pregnant herself with her first baby. My son was wished off to the NNICU. It would be 3 days before I could see him, and weeks before I could hold him. I stayed in the hospital about a week recovering. Me going home and leaving our baby there was the hardest thing we've ever done. I knew this was the best for him, just leaving that hospital was unbearable. I traveled back to the hospital for morning feedings and then again in the evening with my husband for evening feedings for 53 days. Nobody can tell you how you feel unless they have been down this road. IT is a roller coaster ride to say the least. Some days are bright some days are dark. I remember one night specifically that the Dr's called us at home in the middle of the night to tell us that our son might not make it through the night. He was a very sick boy. He got Sepsis twice and two blood transfusions. So, again we were asking GOD again to look after our son. The days got better the longer we stayed. I realized the closer we got to the door of the NNICU was a good thing. We were working our way out to go HOME. After 53 days we were going home. Terrifying are the only words I have. We are taking a tiny baby home weighting 3.5 pounds home. Somehow we made it through those first months, with the help of family and friends. A first time mother and a micro preemie mother at that, I was calling or texting our family doctor and friend Dr. Stephen Besson all the time. He was so patient and understanding with us. He told us by the time our son was 2 he would be caught up with the rest of the kids. He was right.

Our son will be 14 this coming January. No residual effects of being a micro preemie. When I tell people, especially his teachers they think I am joking, because he is so healthy, active and smart. No, I'm not joking, believe me. I cannot express the gratitude we have for the doctors, nurses that cared for our child. The doctor on the TODAY show they interviewed said it takes a team to care for these children. YES it does.

Needless to say he is our only child.