RJ is our miracle baby in every sense of the word. Due to blocked tubes and issues with my uterus from a previous surgery, we used <a href="https://glowing.com/glow-fertility-program">IVF</a> (with my egg and my husbands sperm)to conceive. Our due date was originally May 12th and because of the issue with my uterus, we would be doing a c section at 37/38 weeks to avoid uterine rupture...well, we didn’t make it to 37 weeks! On January 3rd I went in for a routine growth ultrasound. The ultrasound showed that my cervix was funneling open and I was not a candidate for a cerclage. I spent the night on the high risk OB floor and was sent home the next day with plans to head back the following Tuesday to discuss our next steps to keep baby growing inside happy and healthy. That Monday I called my OB to confirm what I could take for cramping only for my doctor to send me right to OB triage because I likened it to period cramping. In triage I was found to be dilating and was officially diagnosed as being in preterm labor. I was 20 weeks pregnant and placed on mandatory bed rest in the hospital. After weeks of tests, scans, talks with the NICU and MFM doctors I was feeling run down, overwhelmed and ready to go home. RJ had other plans. On 1/29 I began having cramping around 2pm that was inconsistent and annoying at best. Around 8pm it was getting increasingly worse but the nurses were telling me the monitor wasn’t picking them up so at best it was just uterine irritability and not contractions. After telling them something wasn’t right and I wanted a doctor, a doctor came down to check me to find my membranes bulging, on the verge of breaking and I was 5cm dilated. I was moved to labor and delivery where my pain was increasing and I was given an epidural to try to calm my uterus and meds to try to get my membranes to recede. I slept maybe one hour and woke up to my doctor telling me we had no choice but to get RJ out because it was the best chance of survival for BOTH of us as it seemed I had an infection brewing. Looking back it probably would have just made me really sick but 100% would have taken my baby. At 25 weeks and 3 days RJ was delivered via emergency c-section on January 30th. He weighed only 1lb and 15.6 ounces. RJ spent 81 long, hard, scary days in the NICU an hour away, but he is FINALLY home. He is 3 months old (no weeks corrected yet) and he is absolutely amazing. I am so proud of him and my husband and I count our blessings every single day ❤️