Back on Thanksgiving day in 2000 I was pregnant and It was so early in my pregnancy I was barely showing.   Long before I became pregnant,  Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday.  I think because I love food so much, but on this day I wasn't thinking of food, I was thinking about what was going to happen to my baby.  I was preparing to deliver my baby girl early.  My blood pressure was so out of control and the baby was starting to show signs it was affecting her as well.  She was small, even for her gestation age and the doctors were worried.  So around 2 pm in the afternoon, I was rolled into the operating room for an emergency C-Section, and very soon after my daughter Emily was born, weighing only 14.7 ounces and 10 inches long.  She was so small they tried to prepare us for the fact that she may not survive her birth, she might not cry,  She did both... months were spent in the hospital, surgeries, infections, 180 days in total she fought for her life, and she WON.  Today, she is an 18-year-old National Honor Society member high school senior, who has been accepted into Fairleigh Dickinson University, with an impressive 4-year merit scholarship.  She is amazing, and for all her inner spirit, and an intense will to live, we also know that she would not be here today if not for the March of Dimes and all they have done to improve the chances for micro-preemies to survive.  We are beyond thankful and this year's walk is our 17th one.  We knew we had to give back.  We knew how blessed we were. Please.  Please help us?  Please donate to our page and help our family's team help other parents and premature babies.   The ultimate goal is to help babies be born healthy and to stop other parents from having to lose precious days of their babies lives in the hospital.  I feel like I blinked and Emily's now 18!  I know though many parents don't get to experience the joy of bringing their babies home or watching them grow up, like we were blessed to be able to, we walk for healthy babies, we walk for sick babies and we walk to prevent the heartbreak of a baby born too soon and too sick to survive, and we remember the precious gift of our Emily so we keep on... Marching for babies.  Please donate to our team or join our team and help us give March of Dimes the chance to help even more babies.www.marchforbabies.org/meliwil

March for Babies 2019

 We went to the March for Babies kick-off dinner just last night. Then this morning I read an article about a baby born weighing only 10 ounces who was leaving the hospital!!  It was a great reminder of why we walk.  We walk to help babies be born healthy & to give babies who weren't a fighting chance. March of Dimes concentrates all its efforts on research and support to do just that! So when you see my post again this year, remember this sweet baby & my Emily too. They both benefited from March of Dimes. I guarantee someone you know (other than Emily) has too. If your baby got an Apgar score at birth- they have! It isn't hard to give $5 or $10 to our team, when you think about it in those terms. It wasn't just someone else's baby, it was yours too! Love you all for all your support every year! XO Emily graduates high school this year, still can't believe it! I know she would love if all of you would make this year's "Team Emily" fundraising for March of Dimes, our best one yet! Call it an early graduation gift?

 https://www.marchforbabies.org/Meliwil