
Angelina won 2nd for "Cutie with a Hat"
I'm 26 and I live in Los Angeles, CA. On March 17, 2005 (yes, St. Patrick's Day) I gave birth to Alexander Jesse after 18 hours of labor at 36 weeks. He tried to escape at 31 weeks but 3 rounds of terbutaline made him change his mind. He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 22 inches long, a lot of baby for someone my size and being early! He is now 4 and brilliant, stubborn, and sweet, and just too precious for words. We lost 2 babies after that, one at 7 weeks, the other at 15 weeks that I ended up delivering at home. We just about gave up on anymore children when we came back from Hawaii and, SURPRISE! TWINS! After a couple weeks we found out we lost one, vanishing twin syndrome which is apparently common, but we still had a lucky contestant!
Angelina Catherine was born on May 17, 2008 via emergency c-section. I had an umbilical hernia that became incarcerated and basically my intestines were about to rupture. They tried holding me off as long as they could but all the stress on my body threw me into labor. She was almost 10 weeks early and was 3 lbs. 7 oz and 16 inches long. She spent 46 days in the NICU and is now home and thriving fantastically. She is 28 months old now and is pretty healthy. She has recently had some digestive trouble and battled severe dehydration. They believe she may now have a nutrition absorption problem, so she has issues absorbing fats and proteins. She is a true miracle though. I had these two little miracles after being told I would NEVER be able to have children and if I did manage to get pregnant, I would never stay pregnant. Well, we sure proved them wrong!
Between my 4 pregnancies I had many pregnancy symptoms and problems, I worked in a hospital (covered Peds, NICU, and adults) with nurses and social work for 2 years, so if you have any questions, just ask. I love to travel and be outdoors. My life pretty much revolves around my kids at the moment but I will be returning to school. I like to meet new people as well as interesting ones. I am currently working as an assistant manager at Starbucks. Its fun, but it definitely has its days. Hopefully getting my next promotion in January to Store manager.