Hello all! My name is Mercede (Sadie for short). I am an 18 year old college freshmen from Minnesota. I find myself very bored at times and I have been talking to a new friend and she told me it was therapeutic for her to blog so I figured I'd give it a try! This entry may be kind of long because I want to share everything right now that has happened up to this day! So here is my story... I have one little brother named Dalton. He is 15 years old and just got his LEARNERS PERMIT yesterday!!! WOOO! (kinda scared about that). I live in the twin cities in my dad's apartment (he travels for his job so he's not here too often). I moved here for college. BUT, I'm not really looking to make this post all about me and my life. This is to tell the story of my amazing miracle baby sister! In September-ish, my dad told me that his girlfriend was pregnant. This was awesome news for me because I have wanted another sibling for quite some time now! But on the other hand, this was some scary news. I'll tell you why in a little bit. This pregnancy was a miracle from the start because it was "medically impossible" for my dad's girlfriend to get pregnant due to blood clots in her uterus and for other reasons (not quite sure what they are). Due to the blood clots, it was a risky pregnancy. There was only a 30% chance that this baby would make it. Also, whether or not this baby makes it, she will not be able to get pregnant again. They found out that the blood clots disappeared during the pregnancy! This was kind of a touchy subject to talk about, but secretly I was super excited and had faith that this baby was going to make it, even with the small chance of survival. They found out it was going to be a baby girl! So now I was super excited because I already have one brother, I would like a sister!!! Well, on the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday (November 28th, 2014), my dad's girlfriend had to be rushed to the hospital because her water broke at 22 weeks. I had no idea what was going to happen at this point! But we all stayed strong and prayed like crazy. She had to stay in the hospital until the baby came. She received steroid shots to help mature the lungs of the baby just in case she came early. After some tests, they found traces of Trisomy 13, which is life-threatening. They said that it didn't show up on the ultrasounds so it may have just gotten into the placenta and not affect the baby at all! They would have to wait until she was born to find out whether or not she had Trisomy 13.. After some research of baby girl names with special meanings, they came upon a name that meant "warrior of God" and thought that was very appropriate since this little miracle baby was a work of God. So, the name was chosen. Brielle (pronounced Bree-El) Leeann <3 On Friday, December 12th, my boyfriend and I stopped at the hospital to visit with my dads girlfriend and keep her company. We visited for a while and then we headed to my moms house. The next morning (12-13-14), I got a call from my dad saying that Brielle was born at 2:44am, 24 weeks and 3 days gestation, at 1 pound 10 ounces and 11.881 inches long! She was breathing on her own with a cpap over her nose for oxygen. My brother and I got to go in and see her and even got to touch her little hands! Such an amazing experience, and such a tiny little peanut! Since her birth, she has overcome many things! Trisomy 13 test came back NEGATIVE!!!! WOOOO! :) She went down to 1 pound 5 ounces. She had to have a tube down her throat to help her breath, had to be put under the blue light for a day for jaundice, had to be on the oscillator for a while, fluctuated in weight, had to get fluid out of her lungs, and had trouble with her heart flap reopening, draining blood into her lungs. Since then, she has amazed everyone in overcoming these obstacles! She is now just over a month old, opened her eyes on new years eve, doesn't have a tube breathing for her, has a feeding tube down her throat into her tummy, has been eating really well, has a big-girl cpap in her nostrils, went up a size in diapers (they were SUPER tiny!), and drum roll please...... SHE IS OVER 2 POUNDS NOW!!!! :) She sometimes has "spells" where she forgets to breath but she pulls out of those pretty quickly. She is filling out very nicely! You can no longer see her ribs like you could at birth. I haven't heard anything about the heart flap thing lately so I'm thinking it closed by itself! My dad has gotten to hold her once now last Saturday (he travels a lot so he isn't able to hold her much), and her mom has gotten to hold her more than 5 times. They call it kangaroo care because it is skin on skin, which helps her feel their body heat and heart beat! She thrives from that :) I will try to post some pictures once I figure out how to work this site more. And hopefully I can keep up on blogging :)