As a type 1 diabetic, I knew my pregnancy was gonna be a long, rocky road. And it was! I went on modified bedrest at 20 weeks for preterm labor, and then at 30 weeks I went on hospital bedrest for preeclampsia. A few times over the next 4 weeks my doctor thought he was going to have to deliver, but we managed to hold off with medication and rest. However, Saturday, December 11, 2004 at 7:45 am, my daughter's heart rate dropped into the nineties for four minutes. The nurses called my OB and started prepping me immediately for surgery. It was all such a whirlwind. But, at 10:12 am, Jordan Michelle was born at 34 weeks gestation. She was pink and screaming, her APGAR scores were 9/9, and she was just gorgeous. I lay on the table absolutely relieved. They handed Jordan to my husband and I got to look at her face for a few minutes. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. They took her to the nursery for a weigh in and my husband went with her. Everyone in the OR was saying, "Oh, your daughter is perfect, she's a take-home baby!" My obstetrician, on the otherhand, was not so optimistic. "No, I think she'll be in the NICU for a while. Remember, I had to give you steroids for her lung development and your blood sugars were pretty fragile during the last few weeks." We had spent months preparing ourselves for the worst, so somehow I wasn't quite as worried. They took me to recovery, and shortly after my husband came in and told me they had to intubate Jordan. My heart sunk. They had tried oxygen and CPAP, but she needed an ET tube. She had an umbilical line with a swan catheter, which scared the heck out of me. I didn't get to see her for almost 48 hours because I was so sick. Seeing her for the first time was heartwrenching, but somehow amazing. Here was this perfect little person hooked up to all these tubes. She was HUGE compared to the other babies at 6 lbs 2 oz, and 17 in long, but that was because of my diabetes. She had lots and lots of dark hair, and was soooo jaundiced! She was doing quite well, but gave the neonatologists quite a scare. Those next few days were a blur, but on tuesday morning I walked into the NICU to visit, and to my surprise... she was extubated and breathing on her own! I got to look at my daugher's beautiful face, and really see it... for the first time. They also removed her umbilical line, and it took them four tries to put in a peripheral IV! That was awful. I held my daughter and looked at her face... I knew i had been holding heaven. They told me that while she was intubated, she kept trying to pull out her ET tube... so they put mittens on her. Then she started to pull off the mittens and then pull at the ET tube! Dr. Manginello, our wonderful neonatologist, said, "Boy, she's got a 'tude!" They said they were going to try and start nipple feeding her later that day, but they weren't sure how well that was going to go. Later that night I came in, and they said she had eaten the whole bottle, (hey, it was only 1 oz, but that's a lot!) and was looking for more. She hasn't stopped since. They did lots of tests, cranial ultrasounds, a battery of x rays, bloodwork, an echocardiogram and lord knows I can't even remember what else. Miraculously, they were all fine. She had a minor PDA which closed by the time she was 2 weeks old, and was jaundiced, so spent a few days under her bililights. Miraculously, on Sunday, December 19th, just 8 days later, Jordan came home and spent her first christmas with her mommy and daddy.

My little preemie with a 'tude is now 4 months old, and has more rolls than a bakery. She smiles and laughs, manages to puke on my work clothes every day, and loves her bathtub. She is always looking around for daddy, and coos at grandma. She keeps me up all night listening to her babbling to her mobile in her crib, and I love every second of it. I don't know what my life would be like without her, and I don't want to find out.

I know I got very lucky, and comparatively my story is minor compared to those of others. I attribute most of Jordan's success to the diligent care of my OB and perinatologists, and the wonderful neonatal care of Valley Hospital's Dr. Frank Manginello (Ridgewood, NJ) and the wonderful staff of the NICU.