I have absolutely no inspiration today whatsoever so I’m going to tell you a story.

Once upon a time there was a girl, 21, lets call her Nonny, and a boy, 24, lets call him Hubby. Nonny met Hubby and knew from the first time she spoke to him that she was going to marry this man. Plus she had been secretly lusting after him for months and using her crafty womanly wiles she engineered a meeting and the poor man had no chance.
So the young couple fell in love (he had no choice in the matter) and were blissfully happy together, he was gorgeous, kind, funny, intelligent and he had a pretty cool car too which he later had to sell because VW Golf Convertible with no boot space whatsoever and prams just don’t mix.

Nonny’s parents however were not so chuffed with her choice of beau, for various reasons they were not happy at all. They wanted her to marry a nice island boy and build a house next to theirs and not move to the big bad mainland (which I would quite happily have done because I could stay on that island for the rest of my life and never want to leave) but horror of horrors, Hubby was not a nice island boy, he was a nice boy but not a nice ISLAND boy and he was only in the flipping air force which meant Nonny could have ended up in the ass end of anywhere, which I did a couple of times and it wasn’t fun.

Anyway, Nonny and Hubby got fed up with the moaning and thought “Stuff this” so they ran away. They eloped and got married in Cyprus without telling anybody. It was the most romantic thing in the whole world and I have never regretted doing it for a single minute. Nonny wore a pretty white dress and Hubby looked so handsome in his suit and she thought her heart would burst from the sheer happiness and she knew she would be with this man for the rest of her life and even though sometimes she could cheerfully pound his head with the nearest sledgehammer, she still knows she would die without him.

So Nonny and Hubby returned to Nonny’s island where they were pretty much the major gossip for all of 2 weeks until someone ran over a sheep or something and everyone, including Nonny’s parents realised how happy the couple were and gave them their blessing (and now they flipping love him, he can do no wrong).

7 weeks later Nonny found out she was pregnant! Oh yes folks, it gets better….17 weeks pregnant!
Hubby got posted and Nonny had to drag her big pregnant ass down to Northumberland. She was so homesick, she missed her friends and family so much and her old job and her beautiful, beautiful island.

9 weeks later Nonny went into premature labour. Nonny Junior was born on October 26th 1997 at 26 weeks weighing 1 lb 11 oz.

Nonny knew she was pregnant for 9 whole weeks!

My baby was so tiny. Hubby could fit his wedding ring over his arms and legs, you could see through his skin and he sounded like a baby bird when he tried to cry. He was this tiny, wrinkly, bald, skinny little thing but right from the beginning he was beautiful.
He had tubes and wires everywhere, the special, tiny premature nappies came right up to his armpits, he was covered in fluffy downy hair and he was the most beautiful thing I have ever, ever seen.

I remember one day standing by his incubator and this nurse saying to me “it’s such a shame, you want a normal baby you can cuddle and show off don’t you” and I just thought, you stupid stupid cow, how dare you talk about him like he’s a disappointment and as if I would swap him, he’s perfect and he’s mine and I wouldn’t trade him for the world

Now Hubby can be stubborn and Nonny is the most stubborn person ever and Junior displayed this trait from the very beginning. He was determined to live and grow stronger and he overcame every single hurdle thrown his way. He was truly a miracle. Nonny and Hubby were so blessed with this amazing little man. Within a few hours he was breathing for himself which meant his lungs were not damaged by ventilators. He thrived and grew stronger every day and pretty soon he was allowed out of the incubator for cuddles and those precious, precious 5 minute cuddles a day kept me going when I had to leave him in hospital and drive home at night sobbing because I couldn’t take him with me.

For 3 months Nonny and Hubby watched him grow bigger and stronger in that hospital and when eventually, he was allowed to come home, weighing just under 5lbs, well, what an amazing feeling that was and then all of a sudden it was 6 months later and he has turned into this big fat, jolly baby and life was good!

And now, all of a sudden it’s 9 years later and he is this amazing little person and sometimes Nonny thinks “where did the time go” but she never, ever forgets to count her blessings and give thanks for all the wonderful things and people in her life (in between going shopping and getting drunk with her girlie friends).

THE END