Put on your safety glasses, onion dump...

I wanted to share this with the imgur community, I have been a stalker on imgur for some time now, and I really wanted to share this story with everyone. This is my beautiful wife, we have been married a little over 3 years now, the baby she is holding is my beautiful girl, she was born at 1lb 15oz. (Keep in mind I am a bit new at posting though.)

My wife had a placental abruption from a pretty rare case of placenta previa. (For a few ladies and some gentlemen out there, that's when the placenta covers the opening = no way for baby to come out.) It increases the chance of abruption, which happened.

Mom had a C-section and the baby was then helicoptered to an advanced NICU where she could recieve the help she needs.

This is my baby, struggling to beat her heart and breath. Babies this young are not designed to live outside the womb at 27 weeks gestation. (JSYK, I already told Nessy he couldn't have the tree fiddy.) This is her with the breathing tube in which they took out immediately because she was doing so well and then put on a little CPAP. In case you are wondering how small she is, that is a Micro-Premie Diaper and it is big on her.

Hello World! This is my girl opening her eyes for the very first time. Mom was over at another hospital recovering from her C-section while dad (me) was with the baby. Sure enough, when mom came to see her baby she started talking to her and consoling her, and her immediate reaction was to look up at my wife and open her eyes. That is when I truly knew what a miracle she was.

This is mom and baby reunited.

Even though there was a lot of challenges along the way, there were even moments we thought she might not make it, she kept going. Here is her taking her first bottle. (Before everything was through that tube in her nose.

Finally success, this is her in her car seat about to go home, she was about 3lbs 15oz at this point, it was a serious struggle to cope, but her stay was one of the shortest of 27 weekers, only 57 days in the NICU.

Here is a picture of her derpin out at mom and dad when she first came home.

This is her not so derpy in probably one of the most peaceful sleeps of her life, no more getting poked by needles or prodded by all sorts of things, we could tell her immediate change of mood. Life doesnt stink nearly as bad as it did for her. She is the best baby in the world, she is adorable and she is my world!

I want to really shout out to all the NICU moms and dads out there, and from my point of view, definitely the dads. It is hard. It is so hard, you wont get much sleep (But try to force yourself). STAY CALM, you wont make it any easier if you start freaking out, many dads in the NICU tend to lose it after a while, DONT, it is your job to keep calm, ask questions, learn about what is going on in the care of your son/daughter. Remember, your mate is hurting badly too, be there for them, show them you aren't going anywhere, that you love them, that you will all pull through. It is OK to have your feelings, share them, but don't act out.

Be prepared to experience some horrible things, I am not joking when I say, you will only see horrors in the NICU. I sincerely have PTSD from this whole situation, to be honest, this is the first time I have looked back and really faced these pictures, and it is honestly the hardest thing to remember. But it is also one of the best moments, because it made us stronger. Learn to laugh when possible, in the beginning it is a serious situation, but when things calm down, laughter and joking around was certainly a good defense mechanism. And thank God for games on mobile, there was a lot of time waiting, a good distraction can be necessary at times. Get out of there every once in a while. If you are like us, we knew we wanted to be there 24/7, but don't be, take a small portion of each day and go out and do something, when something bad happens though, that's when you can stay all day. They will happen, expect it. It is a roller coaster, there are many ups and downs, go with the flow, you can't fight it.

My wife and I have never been close to each-other, we learned to rely on each-other and to be there for our daughter. Please, take this situation and make your relationship stronger from it... So many fathers leave their mates after the NICU, so many rooms we walked by were always empty with no parents in them.

Finally, I would like to shout out to the medical professionals, they were wonderful and helpful. I cant imagine the grief involved in their job and the comfort they try to give to the parents. Take it easy on them in this situation too, understand in the beginning they are just doing their job, they can't get too attached, understand that and accept it, their job is hard, make it easier on them, be reasonable!

Thank you for listening. This has literally been a good therapy session for me.