World Prematurity Day

Today I am reflecting on Rylee and Ayden's birth, and I can't help but be in awe of how far we have come.  We waited over 14 years for our two little miracles, and when the time came, they joined the world 7 weeks early.  My water broke at 32w3d, but with the help of magnesium and steroid shots, they weren't born for another 6 days.  They goal was actually to make it another 2 weeks, and we most likely would have reached that goal if I hadn't developed pre-eclampsia.

For being 33 weekers, they were actually very good sized babies!  Rylee was a whopping 4 lbs 10 oz and Ayden was 5 lbs 4 oz.  They spent 19 long days in the NICU learning how to keep their core body temperatures up and how to suck, swallow, breath so that they could eat.  While it was a very scary and difficult time for us, I know that what we experienced wasn't anywhere near the difficult road that many have in the NICU.  We only had 19 days in the NICU.  Some babies require months!  Some babies never make it home.

Today symbolizes a day of hope, fear, love, loss, and miracles for some of the world's smallest heroes.  I'm so incredibly thankful that we were some of the lucky ones and came home with healthy babies.  Thank you, Jesus.  Now our babies are just 5 weeks shy of their second birthday.