The Story of Us

A little backstory on how we came to be Neely's parents: Derek and I met in the fall of 1997 at college, where we were both members of the school's dance team. Even though we spent two hours a day in the same room together, we weren't exactly friends. In fact, we hardly spoke during the entire first semester of our freshman year. Then second semester came, and the dance team took a trip to Disney World. During our trip, Derek and I found ourselves seated next to each other during dinner one night. We started talking, then decided with a few other people to spend the rest of the evening checking out Epcot. A couple flirtatious days later, and we were a couple.

We were married on March 10, 2001, after 3 years and 2 weeks of dating. We had a beautiful wedding, and have been blissfully happy ever since. After almost two years of marriage, we decided we were ready to add to our little family. About four months after that, we found out that we were, in fact, pregnant with our first little miracle. After a heavenly and wonderfully uneventful pregnancy filled with happiness, adorable maternity clothes, and lots and lots of chocolate, Neely Katherine entered the world with a bang. My pregnancy ended on a tad of a scary note. I had come down with pre-eclampsia during the last few weeks of my pregnancy and after a week and half of bedrest, was induced at 37 weeks. During labor, my blood pressure skyrocketed, causing me to have seizures. I was given an emergency C-section and luckily, sweet Neely was never affected by it. I was unconscious for the first 19 hours of her life, but I made it out A-OK too. We had a bit of a long hospital stay, but when we finally came home, life with Neely started, and it has been the sweetest life I could ever ask for.