As I sit here with my little girl in the NICU , I never thought I would be sitting here writing my daughters birth story. But God had other plans for us. Tuesday October 30 started like any other morning for me , I woke up ate some breakfast had some cramping in my lower back and thought nothing of it. Went to watch Greys Anatomy on the couch and took a nap for about an hour. I woke up to use the bathroom and as soon as I stood up I realized something was wrong at 32 weeks and 2 days I felt the woosh of my water breaking and tons of water down my legs to follow. I called my husband and told him my water broke. As we got to our local hospital I was very worried as I knew my hospital couldn’t deliver me this early and didn’t have a NICU on site. Arriving at the hospital I was assessed and told I was one centimeter dilated and me and baby were stable enough to be transported to the nearest Children’s Hospital which is about an hour from our home. The hour ambulance ride was the longest ride of my life I went from one centimeter and no contractions to 3 1/2 centimeters dilated and contractions 2-3 min apart. By the time I arrived to the hospital the team took my to my birthing room and placed an epidural and after that things moved pretty quickly. At this time it was about 7pm and I was about 6-7 cm dilated and 100 percent effaced. Then for the next few hours we progressed very slow at 1am on the 10/31 The doc came in and told me it was time to push 2hours and 18 min later my husband and I were blessed to meet the sweetest girl we have ever met. Our daughter Natalie Ann born at 7 lbs 8 ounces, and 19 3/4 long. She has a long stay ahead of her as she was 8 weeks early but doctors are optimistic that she will leave and have no deficits. As for our family we are so blessed to have Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin close to our home where she is staying. I pray for all moms dads and children who stay in the NICU for long periods of

time I admire your strength.

Thanks all for reading. :)