by Lani Derrick posted in Products

Did you know that 1 in 10 babies in the United States will be born prematurely this year" The March of Dimes strives for a world in which every baby has a fair chance of surviving and thriving, yet this is not the reality for many moms and babies.
The scariest moment in my life was when my doctor told me I was dilated to 3 centimeters. I immediately burst into tears. What would normally thrill parents-to-be gave me an enormous sense of dread. I was just shy of 31 weeks pregnant, and I was terrified.
I immediately thought of all the things I had been doing that week. It was spring break and my toddler and I had been adventuring around. Had I done too much" Had I somehow caused this" What would happen if they couldn't stop the labor" Was my baby going to be healthy" I had so many scary questions that the joy of her coming birth was overshadowed by fear.
They held off my labor for 4 days and my daughter was born at 31 weeks and 2 days. We received permission for her to stay at the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the same hospital as me, instead of being airlifted to another hospital downtown. The staff in the NICU was amazing -- they educated me and answered every question I had. Having been a pediatric nurse for over a decade, it didn't prepare me for these moments and questions.
We spent 5 weeks in the NICU. The nursing staff and doctors were amazed at the progress our little girl made, and how q...