I was floated down to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit today. The nurse I shadowed was caring for a baby boy that had been born at 25 weeks, and was 1 lb. 11 oz. at birth. The Pampers Preemie diapers, pictured next to my hand for scale, were huge on him. His blood pressure cuff, also pictured, is not much bigger than a Band-Aid.

I was born 6 weeks premature; I spent the first few weeks of my life in a NICU incubator. If I were born today, my chances of survival would be very high, but in 1977, my chances were considerably less. I got sort of choked up a couple times today, thinking that I was lucky to make it, and how terrifying it must have been for my parents.