I have been an avid Babycenter.com lurker. I like to go to the August 2008 birth message boards and see what everyone is talking about. Occasionally, I'll post on one of the boards.
Tuesday, I was looking and saw a post titled: Pray for Kayleigh. It caught my eye and I looked out of curiosity. I found a link to an amazing and inspirational story that was slowly turning sadder by the day. I haven't been able to quit thinking about it since and my heart has ached for this family since. It is a blog like Riley's that I have checked religiously for the last three days. Kayleigh is a little (born at 1 lb 1 oz) preemie girl who has been fighting to survive for the last 6 months. Reading her story and how her parents are dealing with the trials and tribulations of NICU life has made me step back and realize how lucky I am to have a healthy baby girl. I mean, Riley could have been born with many problems due to coming 5 weeks early, but that never really hit home - until now. More and more I have been thinking about how naive I was to think that Riley was going to come into the world a healthy baby girl. On August 15th, I didn't even have one thought that anything could have been wrong with my little girl...not even when she needed help keeping her oxygen levels up.
Every night I find myself hugging and kissing Riley all night long and thanking God that she is healthy and happy. Some nights I have a hard time letting her go to sleep, and most nights Brett and I check on her 4-5 times after she's fallen asleep. I can only imagine what little Kayleigh's family is feeling and thinking now. They can't hold or console their little girl even as she is slowly slipping away. So, during this Christmastime remember what the true message is. Do not let one day pass where you don't hug your children and family and tell them how lucky you are to have them here with you. I know I won't take Riley and her health for granted like I have these past four months.
Here is Kayleigh's story: http://www.kayleighannefreeman.blogspot.com/
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