Then We Were Five

The last 7 months have been a very long journey for Nathan and I. We found out in December we were expecting and decided to wait to tell because we were still dealing with how we felt about it. It was a time of excitement and fear but it what was what we had been praying for so we decided to take one day at a time. It was March before we even told our parents that we were expanding our family.

We thought Mother's Day would be a great time to tell that we were expecting but Alli decided that she couldn't wait and arrived at 30 weeks.

We were living in London when I went into labour and living so close to the hospital gave her the best start because she was able to be born quickly (by cesarean).

Allison Faith's first photo

She came out crying and flailing and was off ventilation less than 12 hours from birth and hasn't been put back on it. She has a feeding tube in her nose because the suck/swallow/breathe response isn't fully developed until 34 weeks.

After the birth we had to set to pick out a name - we thought we had more time. So as I lay in the recovery area Nathan and I brainstormed. We wanted a simple name that wasn't too popular and I remembered a few weeks back Nathan and I talking about Scott (a man he went to medical school with) and his wife Alison. The name stuck with me and when I brought it up, Nathan loved it too. Faith was what got us through these stressful months so it her name fell into place easily.

Every day she gets a little bigger, a little stronger, and the doctors don't seem to have any concerns about her. This is such a different NICU experience (as compared to last year) when everyday was so stressful, and everyday brought more bad news.

I'm not scared walking into Alli's room, wondering what I'll be told, instead I feel happy. I'm overjoyed that Nathan is with me full time and that we can support each other. We are are thrilled at having a little girl (even though we were so sure it was another boy) and my heart swells a little more each day that I have her in my life.

She is perfect and we are so thankful for this gift. No child could ever replace what we have lost but having her and hearing the doctor talk about WHEN she goes home, has made us realize that she is what was missing and we feel complete with her here.