Rewind to 2006, a friend of mine asked me to come assist at check in for a March of Dimes walk. I showed up in the early hours of the morning and assisted her. It was the first time I had seen photos of these ever so tiny babies who were now toddlers participating in a walk. Little did we know that one day we would be a Parents to a premature baby and that March of Dimes would be such a big part of our lives. When we were blessed with Presley on April 24th, 2015 weighing in at 3lb 5 oz. We were meant to be part of March of Dimes, we were meant to share our story, and we were meant to help families, babies, and parents who are treading through the unchartered waters of being a premature parent. When I checked into the hospital with complications, I never thought that we would be having a baby prematurely. In fact, the morning we delivered Presley I asked the Doctors if I should cancel my appointments for work that were booked for the next day. I recall the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit doctors coming into our room with a couple of the NICU nurses. If I am being 110% honest I cannot remember all that we discussed but that they did say they would be caring for her when she came. Surprisingly this did not send me into a tailspin because I just knew we were not having a baby this early. Events with my son’s delivery were so calm, and so normal, I just knew that things with Presley’s delivery would be the same. I was so confident in this that I did not even wake up Ryan who was taking a cat nap in the chair next to me. Things changed rather quickly and our little one, Presley decided she was making her debut and she was arriving shortly. In that whirlwind I do remember calmly being told “Ashley, your baby will be here soon. She is going to be very small. She may or may not be breathing well on her own.” and the words that stuck out to me the most was..... “You will not be taking this baby home with you for a little while, because she is going to need the help from the NICU team.”. It is crazy to me how things come full circle.....I say this because in this unchartered territory, in the midst of the chaos I was wheeled to the NICU entrance on my way to meet Presley and the very first thing I saw was a huge MARCH of DIMES banner. In that moment that was the ONLY familiar thing to me as I scrubbed my arms and hands down for three minutes before being allowed to enter the NICU. As I stared at the sign that I can picture vividly I remember repeating in my head “you have a premature baby, you have a premature baby, what now???” I am certain I looked like a deer in head lights passing and staring into the isolates of what had to be the smallest babies I had ever seen. When we stopped at Presley’s isolate, and I was shocked. Shocked to see how small she was, shocked to see the tubes all over her. I found myself nodding to the nurse as she explained how to open the holes of the isolate to touch her for the first time, but only briefly. The next battle we had to cross was explaining to our son what was going on. This proved to be very difficult for me because Mayson had a bond like none other with “his baby.” He woke every morning and kissed my belly, and went to sleep each night doing the same. When he noticed there was no longer a belly he was ready to meet his sister immediately. Little did we know it would be almost a month until he could see her. Once that day came everyone made it so special. Mayson met her through the glass doors of the NICU. I imagined the first time of them meeting would be so very different than what our reality was. For him, meeting her through a glass door and a glass window didn’t matter, and that night it didn’t matter to us either. The love he had for her was possibly the sweetest thing I had ever seen. This tiny baby had made such an impact on our family and friends.....and I knew that all of the other tiny miracles could make a huge impact on our community if we worked to make this happen.