2 Bad Weeks turned into 2 Wonderful Years!

2 years ago, Mark and I experienced possibly the worst two weeks in our lives, to present day. It was October 26, 2006 and I was on my way to a check-up. Everything was going as planned and nothing was out of the ordinary. My check-up was the same as usual with the exception of taking a trip upstairs for monitoring and a dose of steroids. After being there for about 2 hours my day turned sour. I found out that I would not be going home that day, or any time soon for that matter. Mark was gone on a det on the ship, Austyn was at Laura's house and Taylor was at school. I frantically started calling people, and had to send a Red Cross Message to Mark. By the time I started making phone calls, I had already been on a heavy dosage of magnesium to stop labor. Anyone who's ever been put on it knows that it's no walk in the park. The drug is awful in every sense of the word. Laura said I sounded like I was drunk. I felt like I was drunk. I was nauseated, but I still had most of my muscle functions. The Red Cross person kept repeating his questions because he obviously had a hard time understanding me. I had a friend get Taylor from school, and before long, I was on an ambulance headed for Fresno. That is the first time I have ever been in an ambulance, and if you have never been in one, let me be the one to tell you that it really isn't all that exciting! lol. The ride was unbearable. You feel every pebble on the road, and when you are already in pain, it doesn't make it any better. The stretcher is not comfortable either. Lay on a piece of plywood for 1 hour, feel every bump in the road and feel every little twitch of the wheel and tell me how you feel! haha. Anyway, we finally made it to the hospital where I would be spending the next week. I was angry, upset and scared to death that I was there. None of my other pregnancies were to this extreme. My blood pressure was elevated, (I'm sure from the stress of the situation). My heart felt like it was going to beat its way out of my chest and I felt sick. Before the end of the day, I had lost all muscle control. I couldn't even open the wrapper on a straw. That's how weak I was. I had visitors, but didn't realize it. I vomited a million times. I couldn't sit up, and I couldn't get up to use the bathroom. I pretty much slept the whole time, and every time a nurse would come in I would ask when I would get to go home and when they would take me off of the magnesium. I was on that dreadful drug for 2 1/2 days. I wasn't allowed to have more than an ounce of drink at a time, and I couldn't exceed a certain amount. They were angry because I wasn't eating. I was angry because the food was disgusting and even if I did eat, it would come right back up moments later. I was angry that they wouldn't let me drink anything. When they finally decided to take me off of the magnesium, I went into labor less than 12 hours later. I had to make a frantic call at 4am to Mark. He rushed the boys to a friend's house and he made the trip to Fresno. He got there around 7AM and Ryleigh was born around 7:31AM. I was relieved that Mark was able to make it there in time. I wasn't scared when she was born. This wasn't the first time one of my babies was born early. I didn't get scared until I found out how much she weighed and saw her for the first time. She was a tiny little thing. She was 17 inches long and she weighed in at a whopping 4lbs 3 oz. Her face was starting to bruise when they showed her to me. I didn't get to hold her or even touch her. They showed me this tightly wrapped bundle with a pinkish purple face staring out at me and they said here's your baby. With that, they whisked her away. I spent the day recovering, and when I finally did go in to see her, I was not at all prepared. She was in the NICU. I've been in a NICU before, but not one like this. There were 8 rows of tiny babies in there. When Taylor was in the NICU, there were only 2 other babies there. Anyhow, I walked in and scrubbed my hands, and they showed us to her crib space. There she was, laying there. This itty bitty little girl. She was only wearing a diaper and oodles of wires connected here and there. She was in an incubator. I cried when I saw her. Her entire face was black and blue. She looked like someone had beat her up. I was never expecting that. The nurses told us how she was doing and asked if we had any questions. I just wanted to hold her. Her skin was so soft, and I could literally hold her in one hand. Mark and I would swap off visiting her because we didn't want to take the boys into the NICU. We didn't think it was appropriate or safe. On Halloween, I had my tubal ligation surgery. That recovery wasn't any fun at all, and let me just say that I would never wish a c-section upon any woman! My incision was only 1 inch long, so I can't imagine an incision from a c-section. Ryleigh did great and was making really good progress until about the 3rd day. She caught a stomach virus that was going around. Mark felt guilty because Taylor had it, and then he had it, so he thought she must have gotten it from him. I never blamed him. That was a very scary time because she was suddenly very very sick. They had even more tubes on her and had her on caffeine to keep her awake enough to not drift into sleep apnea. That was so scary. So, for 2 whole weeks, Mark and I took turns driving to Fresno to visit with our girl, until the day they said she would finally get to come home. I was so excited and nervous. I've never had a baby this small or fragile, much less of this gender. Since the day we brought her home, it has been wonderful and it has definitely been a blessing. We have learned so much from Ryleigh. She is so different from the boys in every way I can think of. She's extremely shy and introverted. She loves to play with all kinds of girly things, but she also likes to get down and rough house with the boys. She is such a great girl, and I feel so lucky to be her mom! Fast Forward to today and you don't see a premature baby in her, with the exception of her size. She is 32 inches tall (almost 3 feet!), she's about 25 pounds and she wears a size 2T! She's pretty normal these days. She sleeps all night, she feeds herself. Her biggest and most exciting milestone is that she is POTTY TRAINED! She is well ahead other babies her age. She started potty training soon after her first birthday. She doesn't talk much, but she gets her point across. She learns words that she wants to learn. For example, she learned how to say "Cupcakes" the very first time I said it to her. lol. She loves and adores animals of all shapes, sizes and species. She especially loves her dog dog and kitties! I often catch her hand feeding Roscoe his food rather than letting him eat it on his own. Or I find her sneaking him cookies from his treat jar. She's still very shy, but she has come a very long way. She's very deliberate about who she will say hi to or smile at. Yesterday we were at Wal-Mart and there was a little old lady in an electric shopping cart thing, and Ryleigh was so fascinated by her. She kept saying hi and waving to her with a great big smile. It put a smile on the lady's face, and that made my heart melt. She's such a lover. She gives hugs and kisses all the time, and if you are hurt she will give you a kiss and rub your back just to make sure you are okay. She loves music and she really enjoys dancing. Sometimes she will 'sing' along too. She still has her hemangioma, but it is doing good. It has lost a lot of color which is an excellent sign that her body is starting to absorb it. So, you see, those 2 short weeks of hell have turned into 2 of the most wonderful years of our lives. I hope you enjoy this slide show of Ryleigh's life thus far!