Two years ago, November 1st was more than just the beginning of “30 Days of thankful “for me. Halfway through October back in 2011, I was 24 weeks pregnant with my twin daughters and during a routine checkup, I found out I was in preterm labor. I was admitted to labor and delivery and advised of what to expect. I was given steroid shots as a last ditch effort to mature my girls’ lungs, their only chance at survival if my labor couldn’t be stopped. I spoke with multiple perinatalogists who all painted the same bleak picture for me … “At this point, we just want to try to keep you pregnant until November.”
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| A hospital craft to keep spirits up. |
And for two weeks, I went back and forth from L&D to antepartum. I contracted and contracted. I was monitored. I was pumped full of fluids and went through three different types of medicines to get my uterus to calm down.
Then along came November 1st. My girls and I defied the odds.
Always Thankful
Being thankful for the blessings in our life shouldn’t just happen in November. It shouldn’t just happen for Thanksgiving. But our lives are busy and we often get swept up in everything around us. We take the littlest things for granted. In 2011, I learned the hard way what it means to take things for granted. Spending three straight months in the hospital with my family torn in pieces, facing all of the percentages of what could go wrong, I learned to be grateful for each and every day. I learned to be grateful for the little things, the tiny moments that slip by us any other day.
My girls were not born that November and no matter how many years I get with my happy and healthy daughters, I will ALWAYS be grateful for that. I won’t play the “what-ifs” of how life would be different if the doctors were right. I mean we did still have preemies and our lives were still turned upside down, but I’m humbled by knowing how lucky we are.
So when you count your blessings this Thanksgiving, don’t forget the little things.
Tags: Heather C.
