Imagine giving birth to a 41 week baby girl, weighing in at 8 lb 10 oz!

Imagine this little girl being an "easy" baby and toddler.

Imagine waiting another 6 1/2 years before conceiving another baby.

Imagine expecting this pregnancy to be as easy and typical as the first.

Imagine praying the baby comes the end of February instead of the March due date to miss birthdays so the baby won't have to share.

Imagine two days after Christmas to be spotting and leaking water and knowing you are!

Imagine 4 hours of phone tag with the your doctor's nurse about what you should do!

Imagine finally going to see the doctor and he tells you that 75% of these cases deliver in a week and you can't even comprehend what he said!

Imagine at 4 being given a stress test.

Imagine at 6, being told your blood pressure is too high, the baby is breech, you are leaking, you are having mild contractions, the baby is under stress and you must deliver by C-section or risk loosing the baby!

Imagine your dear husband crying as he calls your mother and his to ask for prayer for you and the unborn baby!

Imagine the intense pain like a hot knife cutting your stomach when you come to and your husband telling you that we have another little girl.

And after you ask if you can name her the name you picked out you just want pain killers!

Imagine seeing your baby girl and how tiny she is and can't believe she has so much hair already.

Imagine her not eating for the first 3 weeks because of NEC scares and only having TPN to help her survive.

Imagine giving her her first bath at a week and struggling to hold onto her because she is already a fighter!

Imagine your little preemie being a month old and still in the NICU and you are diagnosed with thyroid cancer!

Imagine a week later going under the knife again to have your thyroid removed.

Imagine seeing a friend's baby in the NICU weighing the same as yours did at birth...1 lb 13 oz and thinking yours wasn't ever this little, was she?

Imagine bringing her home weighing 4 lb 9 oz and having a monitor that scares you even if it isn't going off.

Imagine it going off and you can't get her to respond until you turn her over!

Imagine her sister giving up doll clothes for her baby sister to wear because they are the only clothes that fit!

Imagine big sister's dolls being bigger than the new baby!

Imagine people sending you condolence cards at your baby's birth!

Imagine 15 churches around the country praying for your baby!

Imagine after your preemie is home not even 2 weeks, you have to have radiation for your cancer and can't be around her or her sister or your husband for 3 days!

Imagine that baby crawling by 10 months, 7 1/2 corrected age, sitting, eating table food, laughing.

Imagine the two girls laughing and smiling at each other.

Imagine the baby crawling into her sister's room to try to pull up on the bunk bed!

Imagine how selfish you were and angry that it wasn't what you expected or prayed for.

Imagine thanking God for every single minute, even the worst because those moments made the best ones possible!

Imagine crying as you read these imagines and realizing how blessed your little preemie is!

Imagine how precious each day is.

Dusti, Mom of FT Hailee, now 8 years old
and 28 week Kalli now 10 months old.
Married to a great husband of 12 years!