Teenage Mother to a preemie baby.

MissShelby - 10:46pm Aug 10, 2012 EST
Teen mom to 2 girls

I'm 17 and my second child, Emma Kate was born 2 weeks ago at a gestational age of 31 weeks old. At 3am on July 24th, I was 3cm dialated before I got to the smaller, local hospital. After the nurses tried to (unsuccessfully) stop my labor, I was sent via ambulance to a larger hospital that contained a NICU. By the time I arrived at that hospital (a 13 mile ride with contractions and no epidural) I was at 5cm dialated. I was extremely scared and had spells of uncontrolable crying due to the thoughts of having an early baby. I had nothing ready for her yet and she was coming - FAST. I had already felt the need to push before I got my epidural at 8cm dialated. I finally had the epidural kicked in by the time her head was out. I pushed for exactly 15 minutes and Emma was whisked away into the NICU. She was 3lbs, 10oz. She is currently 4oz and breathing on her own. She also ate her entire bottle for the first time last night and is almost maintaining a good temperature on her own. I am very blessed and hope to connect with other young moms and nicu moms.