Hi. Welcome to my very first blog post!

My name is Edna. Six and a half years ago, I started looking for a site that offered people dealing with any kind of challenge some inspiration and encouragement.

My challenge was that I was single and a soon-to-be mom, facing something that was scary and overwhelming: my water had just broken, but I was only 24 weeks pregnant. I wanted to gain insights and maybe even laugh a little as I learned better ways of coping with uncertainty and stress.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time. Soon after I started searching for this magical site, I went into labor and gave birth to a little girl who was three months premature and weighed less than 2 pounds. Suddenly, my life had changed so completely and acutely there was no time for reading; there was no time for anything.

This is what I heard when I regained consciousness from the emergency c-section: “The prognosis for your daughter is grim. We recommend you enjoy whatever time you have with her.” The nurse clearly did not want to be the one telling me this. She actually ran away after giving me the news, I think terrified I might ask her what she meant.

I knew what she meant of course. But not right away. First there was a moment when the external world went blank. It got so quiet I could almost hear my soul surrender to this awful, yet unavoidable truth.

And then it was over. I blinked and the world came back into view. I felt the tubing taped to my arm, saw monitors blinking and nurses taking notes, and I understood that life as I knew it had ended. A new life, unknown and unknowable, had begun.

Fast forward to today, April 17 – my birthday! Thankfully, the doctors were wrong. There is nothing “grim” about my daughter. I named her Alia, which means “gift from G-d” because that’s exactly what she is. Bringing her into the world is by far the most important and meaningful thing I have ever done. She is my pride and joy. It hasn’t been easy though. (Is there a family on the planet that can say raising children is?!)

My daughter brings a unique set of challenges with her, but I decided to share our story because it feels like everyone’s story—it’s about the human spirit. In my case, the hero is the underdog of all underdogs, starting out life too soon but fortunately too stubborn to accept the risks related to that. I watched as she struggled second by second to breathe, impressed beyond words by her full-body focus on the effort. For 92 days, I witnessed the elemental drive to survive, and it changed my life.

Since those days in the NICU when my daughter’s most frequent visitor besides me was the hospital’s chaplain who came to pray for her (thank you!), we have gone through our share of challenges, achievements, insights and miracles. Some are silly and some distressing, but each experience has pushed me to a richer understanding of our life and how to better enjoy it. And I realize that’s what I was looking for in the first place.

So I am starting this blog as a way to encourage others to continue feeling hope for a better future, in spite of the setbacks you encounter along the way. I look forward to sharing our story with you. Some days were tough, that’s for sure. Like the day after my daughter was born, when my boss sent me an email saying there was no place on her team for a single mom with a sick baby. But some days were profoundly rewarding, like finding a new job and going on to raise millions of dollars for a wonderful cause.

There are people we met along the way who gave me a chance and more importantly, believed in my daughter; and there were those with smaller agendas, blind to the potential standing in front of them. For lack of a better strategy, I clung to my hope for a better future for both of us, and we are living that future right now. Alia is a beautiful little girl, ready to change the world with her creativity and her charisma. To this day, I hold in my mind (desperately? fiercely?) a space for my daughter to thrive. Our friends and family live in this space, and I invite you to join us. It works!

Let’s help each other. I will write about what we’ve been through with the hope that the more of our story you learn, the more confident you feel about tackling your own challenges. I love quotes and have collected many to boost my spirit, so I’ll sprinkle some in along the way. I also used to be a dj, so you can expect some lists of feel-good songs, too. Please write to me and let me know what you think of my posts. I look forward to hearing from you!