First things first. I gave Jeremiah (my husband) free reign to name our baby and he came up with Sophia Lynette all by himself. Sophia is a name that he just liked. Plus, it's Oprah Winfrey's character in one of my favorite movies, the Color Purple. In case you haven’t realized, my first name is Gwendolynette. Here’s the story of how our daughter Lynette was born.

I started having contractions one Saturday evening in February. My regularly scheduled doctor’s appointment was the following Tuesday morning, and I explained to my doctor what happened over the weekend. She examined me on the spot and told me to take it easy. If the pain kept up or if I started spotting, bleeding, or leaking, I was to give her a call. Later that night after I got home, the contractions were unbearable and I started bleeding. We called the doctor and they said to come on in.

The doctors decided to admit me for observation because of the bleeding. Eventually, I was put on magnesium to slow the contractions and ease my discomfort. Then they gave me two steroid shots for the baby, to help develop its lungs in the event that it arrived prematurely. When I woke up on Wednesday, my personal doctor told me that she had ordered a sonogram and didn't want to release me until we had the sono done.

While the technician was performing my sonogram, he asked: "How many c-sections have you had?" I said: "Two and this baby will be number three". He said: "I'll go get the doctor and he'll be right in." I knew this wasn't good. Both doctors told Jeremiah and I that my uterus ruptured and that I needed to have an emergency c-section immediately. That was at 5:08pm. At 5:57pm Sophia Lynette was born, at only 29 weeks.

Since then, she’s had a really tough time. Born three months premature, she has suffered from heart problems, brain bleeds, respiratory failure, collapsed lungs, a blood infection, surgery to reconnect her intestines, and all through she has been on life support. Oh, and did I mention our home was destroyed by a tornado while all this was happening too?!

It has been an emotional rollercoaster, and it hasn’t been easy. At the time of writing this, Sophia Lynette is off of life support, and her lungs and heart are doing better. The staff and facilities at the Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth have been unbelievable—they’ve provided the best care for our daughter, and that she’s steadily improving is down to their hard work and dedication, as well as the first class facilities they have there.

I’ve been blogging throughout this journey, and being able to share the updates with my family and friends has been quite therapeutic. The journey continues, but thanks to the care and support we’ve received, little Sophia Lynette is making progress, and we hope to be able to bring her home soon.