My family has been involved with the March of Dimes for as long as I can remember. My parents have always been advocates so I recall fundraising and participating in these walks as a small child. I never, ever thought this organization would have such an incredible impact on my family. Ive read that life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. While we were making plans for our second child due in 6 weeks, setting up the crib, washing the clothes, planning a baby shower, life happened. And her name was Addison. She came crashing into our world that New Years Eve night and she's been running the place ever since. I had taken 2 weeks of vacation at Christmas time, and a few days before I was supposed to go back to work, feeling tired and miserable, and not able to find a comfortable position to sleep, I remember facetiously wishing I could just go ahead and have this baby so that I wouldn't have to go back to work and be uncomfortable any longer. That night, at about 2am, as I was sleeping on the couch--the one place I was able to find comfort at that point--i woke up to use the bathroom and noticed a lot of blood. I was terrified. A dear friend of mine had just lost her baby in a late term miscarriage not long before and I just knew my baby was gone. I paged the doctor and waited ever so impatiently for her to call me back. When I explained the situation to her, she calmly told me to get to the hospital as soon as possible. I woke up my husband, told him what happened, and to stay home with our son (who was 3 years old at the time) while I drove to the hospital. That 15 minute drive felt like 15 hours. The whole way, I nudged my belly over and over. I shifted in my seat. I wiggled every which way my body would allow, but I couldn't feel any movement from my otherwise extremely active baby. I parked, walked in, and took the elevator up to the maternity ward. It was such an eerie feeling being there alone in the middle of the night. The nurses were ready for me, they took my vitals, they poked and prodded me, until finally we were able to hear her heartbeat. I was so relieved. But what about the blood? Why was there so much blood? Later that day, my husband joined me. They did an ultrasound, told me my baby looked perfect, was measuring right on target at 34 weeks, and that everything appeared to be normal. They decided to keep me over night for monitoring, and thank goodness they did because, unexplainably, my body began going into labor. The next morning, on New Years Eve 2015, at 34 weeks gestation, Addison Grayce Montville was born at a whopping 6lbs 13oz and 19.5 inches long. The doctor who delivered her found an abruption in my placenta and explained that, had I not gone to the hospital, and had my body not thrown itself into labor, neither I nor Addison would likely be here today. Everything happens for a reason. Addison spent the first week of her life in the NICU. Because she was born so early, she was not quite able to master drinking from a bottle, so she was fed breastmilk via feeding tube. It was so difficult to look at our baby through a porthole in an incubator and not be able to snuggle her every moment of the day. But we are so thankful for the NICU nurses at Riverside, along with the years of research funded by your donations to the March of Dimes. Thanks to them and you, Addison is a happy, healthy, energetic, smart, talkative 2 year old who will be able to live a normal healthy life...with the exception of dating, which her father has banned until she's 30. Thank you for allowing us to be this year's Area Ambassador. We are so honored.