I found out I was pregnant July 4th 2016! We were nervous but all around excited! When I was 6 weeks pregnant I got my first ultrasound done due to complications I had been having. I wasn't able to keep food down and I had abnormal abdominal pain that wasn't common for pregnant women, Casey and I beat it through that and I was finally able to keep food down. Nathan and I decided we couldn't wait to find out the gender so we went to our doctor and got a test done that could reveal the gender early but also rule out some other major concerns we had. When I was 13 weeks pregnant we found out it was a little girl!! We were beyond thrilled! That was until a couple weeks later where I was taken to the hospital for heavy vaginal bleeding. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified. The hospital did an ultrasound where Casey seemed fine but with the amount of blood I was losing they told me there's a chance I could lose Casey. When I went to see my doctor they did another ultrasound and they discovered I had placenta Previa, stage 2. there was good and bad news to being told this. Bad news first: I was placed on bed rest for about 3 weeks, if I reached stage 3 I would be placed in bed rest until I relieved Casey, if my placenta did not flip back I would have to automatically have a C-section. Good news: thankfully we found this out early I was roughly 16-17 weeks so there was still time for my placenta to flip back, with all the knowledge I was given we were able to prepare ourselves for worst case scenarios. Let's fast forward to when I was 20 weeks, around this time you usual go in for an anatomy ultrasound. Most women only go once maybe twice, Casey and I went 5 times; due to Casey being so tiny and stubborn like her mommy my doctor wanted to ensure that Casey had all her fingers, toes and that she was gaining weight. We finally got released from seeing a specialist December 23rd 2016 just in time for Christmas! By now I'm roughly 29-30 weeks pregnant and the day after Christmas I started having what felt like contractions but they were about every hour or so, my doctors told me just to keep an eye on them and if they persist to contact the office back. My Braxton hicks contractions were off and on for about 2 weeks. Casey and I made it to New Year's Eve and things started to feel normal, normal in the sense where I felt like I'd finally get to enjoy my pregnancy! The following weekend January 8th Nathan and I had our walk through at Tradition medical center, that day I felt off but I did the best I could to push through. This night I started feeling contractions again only this time they were 20-30 minutes apart so I started a log and charted them down, January 10th 2016 I woke up around 3am with sharp pains in my abdomen. The Pains were coming roughly every 10-15 minutes. The pain faded and I was able to go back to sleep only to wake up around 730 for work to the pain being back and just not feeling right. I called my doctor and they were able to get me in later that day, when I went into the office they did an exam and told me I needed to go to the hospital and to go right up to the maternity ward. My mother, boyfriend and his mom met me at the hospital and when I arrived they did another exam and told me I was 5cm dilated. I was admitted and put on multiple medications to try and slow down my contractions and the birth of Casey. Unfortunately everything the hospital tried did not work, I had jumped from 5 to 8cms in 2 hours. My contraction went from being every 10 minutes to every 5-7 minutes, at this point it was a waiting game. We knew Casey was coming we just didn't know exactly when. On January 11th at 8:09am, 32 weeks pregnant Casey Rose made her arrival, 8 weeks early. Weighing 3 pounds 11 ounces 17.5 inches long. My perfect little angel was here. I only got to see Casey for seconds before she was taken to the NICU. Casey was put on oxygen and hooked up to multiple tubes, it was roughly 3-4 hours before I was able to go see her and about 6 hours before I got to hold her, they allowed me to hold her and do skin to skin for 30 minutes. I got discharged from the hospital after 3 days but Casey had to stay, getting to go home without her was one of the hardest things I've ever had to endure. Casey spent 3 weeks in the NICU at Tradition Medical Center. She had fantastic nurses who I could not thank enough for their hard work and dedication. One of the nurses gave me a journal where every day I would write down my feelings, Casey's progress, questions for the nurses/doctors and a note to Casey. I spent every day at the NICU watching Casey grow stronger, each day I watched her overcome another milestone. Casey got to come home on February 1st 2017, Casey weighed 4 pounds 11 ounces when she got to come home. Casey is loved by everyone around her, anyone who meets her adores her! Casey is the strongest person I know and she's only going to get stronger! With Love, Chelsey Persechino- Casey's Mom