I am still fairly new to Minti, but I really like this website.  It is a great site for parents, especially new parents who can communicate with other moms and get advice and answers to questions.  It's nice to get a little input from other parents besides my mother and mother-in-law, who I have no doubt have good intentions, but a little outdated on their parenting tips.  I just want to thank you all who have answered my questions about parenting and given helpful advice.  Thank you. 

I guess you could say I had a pretty rough pregnancy. After my husband and I got married, I got pregnant right away. We were so excited, because we were afraid I wouldn't be able to have children due to my history of endometriosis. We had delayed our honeymoon since a hurricane hit out home a week prior to our wedding. We weren't at all sorry that we had to post pone it since we wanted to go to Tennessee while there was still snow. We rented a lover's cabin in the mountains, wood-burning fireplace, heart-shaped jacuzzi, and secluded high in the mountains with a gorgeous view. Sounds romantic right? Think again! It was 18 degrees the day we arrived. Being from Louisiana, neither of us were used to weather or air that cold. The 2nd day of our trip, hubby was sick. The 3rd day of our trip, I was sick. And like a dog too. I thought I would have had an easy pregnancy since I didn't have a bout of morning sickness, no nausea, and no pregnancy discomforts at all. Well, at 5 months pregnant in the mountains thousands of miles away from home, I got pneumonia. I was hospitalized for a week. So much for our honeymoon. So we get better, come home, get diagnosed with gestational diabetes, not a big deal. I watched what I ate and didn't have to get insulin. So I'm 30 weeks along, leave work early for a routine check up at the ob who decides to do an ultrasound since my stomach wasn't quite as big as it should be. I find out I have no amniotic fluid, baby is breech and the cord is wrapped around her head. The doctor wants to admit me immediately and to the nearest hospital with a NICU, which is 20 miles away. I was by myself, hubby was at work and I had to drive myself there. Imagine how scared I was, going into the dr's office just for a check up and had to be admitted. So I get to the hospital, put in a room right away and closely monitored. The doc then decides to keep me hospitalized until I have the baby which we're thinking at this point will be for 2 months. The doc says no way, baby cannot make it without any fluid past 34 weeks.  To make matters worse, my boss calls me in the hospital only three days after I've been admitted to tell me they have to let me go for having to take an exhausted leave of absence.  Never mind the fact that I'm fighting for my daughter's life.  It was a company policy that  you are not guaranteed employment if you take more than 6 weeks leave. So I stayed in the hospital, worried about losing my insurance, worried about income, worried about the baby, and bored out of my mind for 3 weeks.  Then  the baby's heart rate starts to drop and they do a c-section. I was given 2 epidurals because the first one didn't take and after the 2nd time, I still felt it when they cut me open. I was in tears and trembling in pain until finally they gave me something. Sad thing was, after that I was so drugged up and loopy I didn't remember much. I just barely remember them bringing her to show me and then they took her away. I cried. She stayed in the hospital for 10 days.  came home on Father's day. Now she is healthy and happy. I just hope I don't have nearly this much trouble the next time around.