Imagine

Imagine calling your doctor only to be told that it is only braxton hicks contractions that you are feeling and not to worry.

Imagine reading your "What to Expect When you are Pregnant" book the next day hoping that the doctors advice was solid advice and there was truly nothing to worry about.

Imagine at 10pm feeling the pain in your stomach where your little angel is living you tell your husband to call the doctor.

Imagine your doctor telling you to come in to get checked out ant that visit to the emergency maternity center was suppose to be just one night for observation and it turns into four of the longest days of your life.

Imagine on the fourth day of your hospital stay the doctor comes in with a grim look and tells you that he will have to deliver your daughter within the next hour.

Imagine your husband leaving the hospital that morning after spending the night on a not so comfortable cot thinking everything was ok only to be called on the cell phone and advised to come as soon as possible because his little daughter is about to be born.

Imagine two friends from work stopping in to say hello while the doctor is there and learning that you are about to deliver your baby and they began to hold your hand and cry with you.

Imagine talking with your mother on the phone and she is crying uncontrollably because she left you the night before to travel back home which is 5 hours away and she can't be with you.

Imagine being wheeled to the operating room and you see two of your best buddies from work with the look of fear on there face and just by seeing the horrible reality of the situation sets in.

Imagine after an epidural that didn't work they do a spinal tap and your daughter is delivered without you feeling a thing.

Imagine going into NICU and seeing a 1lb8oz baby lying there and being in so much shock and fear you can't touch her and only for the nurse to intensify your fears by telling you she has a 50/50 chance of living.

Imagine going back to work and your supervisor tells you to leave your problems with your baby at the door when you come to work!

Imagine going through 3 months and two weeks of sorrow, joy and pain all rolled up into one.

Imagine after 29 days of being on the ventilator your daughter finally is breathing on her own with the help of a little oxygen and two weeks later you are informed by your husband that your daughter is being sent to a "step down unit" where she will be treated like a "real baby"!

Imagine after just learning to change your baby diapers and feeding her first bottle you receive a letter in her mailbox advising you that you are two weeks from taking her home.

Imagine frantically running around getting all of the necessary baby stuff (that you were too afraid to buy before due to not knowing the outcome) for that wonderful homecoming day.

Imagine being up all night during the first couple of weeks worried that your baby will stop breathing and thanking GOD for every day that he has given you with your little miracle.

Imagine two months down the road two days before Christmas you have just taken your baby out of her swing and put her into a "real baby" crib and you sit down at your computer to write "Imagine This".