How can it be? And yes, there is a point to the story.

It seems unbelievable to me that 13 years ago I was given the privilege to become a mother. I had been married for 7 years and didn't think we were going to be parents. And wouldn't you know it, right about the time you make alternate plans, whoop there it is! After you've not conceived on your own after years of free love you begin to believe you will be "a dog person" who leisurely reads the paper all day on Sunday.
By the time I went to the doctor because I wasn't feeling quite right, I was 13 weeks pregnant. Now couple that with a 6 week premature baby and it makes for a pretty short gestation. I love babies! I always babysat any opportunity I could so handling a newborn was nothing new to me.
Except.... this was MY baby. A teeny-tiny little 4 lb. 12 oz fluff. I didn't get to see her for the first 2 days of her life. She was in the NICU and I had blood pressure from hell. I had toxemia and was on an i.v. drip of magnesium sulfate which made me very dizzy,unsteady and groggy. Looking back on video I was a blubbering, nonsensical idiot from that stuff.
We got to bring Audrey home on April 19th. Ron and I were exhausted but thrilled. I hadn't made any hard fast plans about whether or not I would breastfeed. But it became a challenge. It WAS a challenge. First of all, my breasts had enlarged to the size of a small Hempstead watermelon. Easily they were 4 times the size of this newborn baby's head. She was so petite and tired out easily. So I pumped every 2 hours and we would feed her with a syringe that had a curved tip. It took forever!! And about the time it was all cleaned up it was time to do it all over again. Exhaustion was overwhelming. I didn't think I cared whether I feed my baby with formula or breast milk until we couldn't do it.In the middle of our 3rd night home I lost my mind over not being able to feed this baby. I mean what's the value of having huge breasts if you can't even nourish your kid! My mom called the lactation consultant from whom we had rented the pump. I felt like a failure until this kind angel, Sandy Lemke, of Woman's Work in Houston came to my home the next day. She was so gentle,patient and encouraging. Now here's the point to this story. I weighed 2 lbs. 15 oz when I was born in 1967. Miraculously, I had no birth defects or ill effects from being 3 months premature. I was the mother of a precious premature baby who miraculously had no health complications. We were tough. We were fighters. I worked and practiced and learned to feed my child with the parts God gave me and we were finally successful. That same tenacity has served my daughter Audrey and myself well. We are similar girls. We are determined, stubborn, relentless and pertinacious. Maybe that's why we push ourselves to meet challenges head on. Maybe that's why we can do anything we put our minds to (Sometimes it takes me a while to decide what I want to do before I go for it). Maybe that's why we both want to be right.Maybe that's why we want to win. Maybe that's why we try it our own way before asking for help. How can it be that 2 people can be so similar? Maybe that's why God gave us to each other to encourage and push each other. And that is the point of the story.