Happy Birthday Norah!

Our beautiful baby girl, Norah Cynthia is ONE today!!

A year ago I barely slept throughout the night while I had increasing pain on my left lower side. I was exactly 36 weeks pregnant. I was scheduled to have an amino on 4 days from that day to see if Norah's lung were mature enough to deliver her and find out all that was going with our little girl. Jason and I were both ready to have her on the outside and start getting the pressure off of her little brain. I called my OB right away in the morning and managed to drive myself to her office. I remember curling up in the chair and using the wall to rest my head on as I waited to see the doctor. It was quickly decided that I would go check into the hospital. Once settled into the hospital, I went for an ultrasound to check on our little girl and to see how my uterus looked. I had a csection with our son and a uterine rupture was a possible cause of this pain. There was no longer a "weeks gestation age" to go with Norah's head measurement, and it was unclear how thin my uterus was becoming. The one thing I knew for sure is that the pain wasn't getting any better. All things pointed towards having a baby. Norah was born Monday evening by csection. So scared that I would lose my baby after she was born, I was thankful and filled with joy as I heard her cry and held her for the first time. She was whisked away to the NICU and I went to recover.

We experienced many ups and downs that first month, but once we finally brought Norah home we fought hard to keep her home and healthy. Norah is thriving. We were prepared for the fact that we may not be bringing home a baby from the hospital and we did. We were told that our child may have a poor quality of life and never reach some of the basic infant milestones. Norah is full of life, smiling followed by sweet giggles, clapping her hands and learning to crawl. While she may not be reaching her milestones when she's expected to, but she's getting there and working hard everyday.

Norah truly is a miracle, God is good. He has made this precious baby girl and has a plan for her, and He is giving us this amazing opportunity to be her parents.