Rowan Darlow Rowan: Warrior Princess

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Here is some back story to how Rowan’s journey in the NICU started.
Mother’s Day 2021 my water broke, or I was very sure it had. I tried convincing myself I was just losing my mind cause who wants to face the alternative of possibly losing their child at 21 weeks and 2 days?!
Finally on Monday I went in to be checked. The hospital confirmed my water had indeed broken and sent me via ambulance to Duluth. Once in Duluth I was monitored over night and, long story short, sent home to hopefully not go into labor until she was at least 24 weeks.
After almost 3 nerve wracking weeks at home we reached the 24 week mark and I was admitted to Duluth Hospital to receive some steroids for her lung developemnt, antibiotics to prevent infection, and be monitored in case she came early. The goal was to get to 34 weeks but that was just not going to be the case. At 25 weeks and 5 days I started having cramps and mild contractions. Some of them got pretty bad but they weren’t consistent enough for them to risk checking me. With ruptured water the risk of infection was soooooo high. Around the 26 week mark the contractions chilled out and I thought we were good to go. I was wrong of course and just a few days later they started back up, worse than before. Finally by Thursday afternoon we found they were very consist and close together. They decided it worth the risk to do a sterile speculum check and saw hair! That prompted a physical check that found I was dilated to a 4. Queue a room change and Dad rushing to drive down for delivery. I was given magnesium to help protect Rowan’s brain if she did indeed come that day and the magnesium actually stopped things for a time. We settled in to pass the night and eventually the contractions started back up so there was nothing left to do but give birth. We had done everything  to give her the best chance possible and it seemed to have worked. Rowan was born at 4:05am at exactly the 27 week mark. She was just 2lbs 6oz and she came out crying and active! She was transferred to the NICU to keep growing and fighting.