Early Arrival

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There are some dates I will always remember.

 July 16th, 2011 – The day I found out I was pregnant 🙂

March 28th, 2012 – My due date

September 12th, 2011 – The day I finally was able to share the news with my coworkers and friends.

February 18th, 2012 – My first baby shower 🙂

Audrey tummy

This picture was taken right before I went to my baby shower – almost 8 months pregnant.

February 22nd, 2012 – the day I was hospitalized with pneumonia 🙁

February 24th, 2012 – The day I was released from the hospital. I still had pneumonia, but was okay to go home and rest.

February 27th, 2012 – My water broke at 2:50 AM and my daughter made her grande entrance into life at 1:03 PM…one whole month early.

Since I was a first time mom I really didn’t know what to expect. I mean, here I was sleeping somewhat soundly since being released from the hospital and then I had to go “pee” myself in the middle of the night…quite frankly I was a little annoyed. However, when I realized I actually didn’t feel the need to tinkle, but continued to do so anyway…oh and then there were the contractions – yeah, let’s just say I caught on quickly to what was actually going on.

I remember looking over at my sleeping husband and thinking, “It’s not time yet – she’s too early”, but ready or not – she was coming and very soon since my contractions were coming about every 5 minutes. My poor husband shot out of bed when I told him the news and while he was scrambling around to get ready I called my doctor.

Once it was confirmed that we were indeed having our child that day and I was admitted (or as I like to call it “booked and processed”) the nurse informed us that we would not be allowed any additional family members in the delivery room as there would be many people present to attend to our daughter’s premature birth.

I was totally fine with it just being me and my hubs in there – that had been our plan any way since I couldn’t guarantee how nice I would be in my moment of glory 🙂 What I hadn’t counted on were the ten or so other people who would be joining us, but quite frankly I don’t even remember them. I was too focused on delivering my daughter and I was grateful that there were going to be so many hospital professionals to make sure she was healthy.

I do, however, remember thinking we weren’t prepared…literally, we weren’t expecting her for another month so her crib hadn’t even been set up, but all that wasn’t important right then and there…meeting our daughter was 🙂

I have heard my fair share of horror birth stories, and a few that went off without a hitch. I’m lucky that my birth experience can be filed under the latter category. I guess things went so well that all these extra “peeps” that had joined in on all the birthday fun decided it was safe to bail within minutes of my daughter’s birth. One minute these people were hovering over my sweet little girl, the next she lay abandoned on the warming table with my thoroughly perplexed husband looking over her wondering if he was suppose to pick her up or not…he did, like a pro 😉

Our little pink bundle of joy may have been a little on the light side, weighing in at five pounds and some change, but she was healthy and that’s all that mattered. She and I had our first sleep over in my hospital room that night and were given our discharge papers the very next day.

Audrey 1 week

 My daughter – 5 days old

I had been warned that my daughter might experience some developmental delays because she was born prematurely. Thankfully, she hit all of her milestones at around the same time her little friends had 🙂 Aside from needing to gain weight in the very beginning she passed and continues to pass her check-ups with flying colors. Premature or not I feel very fortunate.

Audrey 5mths  Audrey 1yr

 My daughter – 5 months old                                            1 year old

Today, my daughter is a beautiful, smart, funny, active, chatty, imaginative, and most importantly healthy little girl who brings us so much joy and has taught us so much such as multi-tasking and patience. But most of all we have become better people and the family we had hoped to become and we couldn’t be more thankful.

Audrey 2yrs

My 2 1/2 year old toddler
 

If you have an early arrival story of your own that you’d like to share or even tips for moms with preemies we’d love to hear from you.

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Stephanie Cullum
Hey y’all! My name is Stephanie, a stay-at-home mommy, former teacher, Gemini, lover of books, quirky shoes, jeans (I own like twenty of them), coffee, travel and good food…oh and I’m also a wife and mother to my one and only daughter – she’s two and cute as a button! I’m half American and half German, born in Argentina, and grew up in Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore before moving to Dallas to go to college (go SMU). Needless to say I’m not a native to the Rio Grande Valley, but my husband is. He enticed me down here with the promise of good Mexican food, beaches, and close proximity to a foreign country – so here we are six years later and I couldn’t be happier calling the RGV home!

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