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It’s hard to believe that 11 years ago Megan came in to our life.  Time is really just flying by.  It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time.  That’s to be expected with any first time parents, but Megan made things a lot more interesting.  She was born prematurely at 28 weeks, weighing in at a whopping 1lb 15oz.  She quickly lost 3oz and dropped to 1lb 12oz.  When you’re that tiny, 3oz is a lot of weight.

Valerie had preeclampsia and had to spend a couple weeks in the hospital before they had no choice but to induce labor or we would lose Megan.  We later learned that Valerie’s preeclampsia was due to a blood disorder called Factor V Leiden - she basically over clots.  Thankfully they learned all of this before we had Bailey, so Valerie had to give herself injections every day during that pregnancy.

Megan spent the first 56 days of her life in an incubator.  Every day we would visit her in the NICU.  I’ve never washed my hands so many times in my life, but it was all worth it.  It’s hard to believe looking at her now, but my wedding ring would fit on her ankle.  She was so  tiny - any furry!  At that age they have not yet lost all of their fur, so that was a little interesting.  That’s where she picked up the nickname of “our little monkey.”  It was weeks before we got to see her without all sorts of tape on her face from the tubes keeping her breathing and fed.

Today Megan is a beautiful, normal, goofy 5th grader that I couldn’t be more proud of.  I can’t imaging how boring life would be around here without her.  It’s funny, but all the headaches that came along with the “terrible two’s’ (and three’s!) are gone.  I barely remember that stuff now.

So Happy Birthday Megan, and a huge thank you to the staff at Magee Women’s Hospital for doing everything they could to make sure Megan survived.  We’ll never be able to repay you.