National Prematurity Awareness Month

There are some things that I never expected in life.

I never thought that I would be a stay at home, homeschooling mom.  I never thought that I would have 5 children. I never thought that I would live in Hawaii for a time or have friends in France or Russia or that my brother would marry a latina woman...or marry at all, for that matter...I never thought that my mother would battle and survive breast cancer, I never thought that I would still be in the same house 8 years (and 4 more kids) after we realized that we just aren't going to fit in this house

and I never thought that I would have the telephone number for Children's Hospital's NICU on speed dial on my cell phone.

I never thought I would have a premature baby.  That was for other people.  You know, people who were...well, not me.  I  never even really knew anyone who had a premature baby, and I certainly never expected any of my babies to come early.

But sweet baby Hazel Grace did, and now we are travelling that road together.

And Hazel Grace is doing well, she is thriving and getting bigger and more beautiful every day.  She is sweet and feisty and patient and demanding all in the same day...in the same minute it seems sometimes!

And that is exactly what she needs to be and who she needs to be.

Anyway, November is National Prematurity Awareness Month, and so I jotted down some thoughts that I had about our sweet baby Hazel Grace that I thought would apply to all the tiny babies that share her floor at Children's Hospital in DC and that share our experience all around the US and the world:

Don't be afraid

I may not be at all what you expected
but I am exactly what I am meant to be.

I am a preemie.

I will always be your precious baby
But I will forge my own identity.

I'm sleeping now but I can feel you hovering over me,

Don't be afraid.
I am stronger than you think.

I am tiny
But I am mighty.

There is nothing in this world that can compare
To what you and I will go through together
Behind the doors of this privileged place
Because I am
And always will be
Your preemie.