It's hard to believe that November is already here. In but a few days, my sweet Little One will be a year old.

I started taking on the NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) Challenge back in 2007. My blog began as a way for me to keep in touch with friends, family and students since I had moved to an island far away from the life I once knew. Though I enjoyed blogging, I found myself sometimes in a rut and was lacking interesting things to blog about.

Enter NaBloPoMo. The challenge to post every day for a month was great. Oh, and it was definitely a challenge!

Last year at this time, I was in a hospital bed and hoping to keep my unborn baby inside me for as long as I could. The doctors and nurses kept telling me that "every extra day inside makes a world of difference". So...there I was, on strict bed rest and blogging from my hospital bed. I blogged about reading devouring the entire Twilight series (all four HUGE books) in less than a week. What else is a bedridden pregnant woman supposed to do when she's not even allowed to leave her bed other than to go to the bathroom? :) I even blogged about all the delicious hospital food (Ha!).

As I look back at some of the posts from this time last year, I cannot believe what we went through. Just going through last year's posts made me cry. It was a scary time for us. With Hubby being on the Island (6 hours away from Toronto) and me at Mount Sinai Hospital, it was HARD. Some days I thought I'd "hang in" there and Little One (or "Junior" at the time) would stay put until term. Though the doctors told me that she would be born very early, I kept thinking that twenty-something weeks was just too early and I was convinced that I'd deliver her at thirty-something weeks.

When the doctors, specialists, Neonatologists, pediatricians, and other staff at Mt. Sinai came into my hospital room to talk to me about the realities we may have to face with having a very premature baby, it was all a blur. The information just went in one ear and out the other. It was so scary to think of what could happen if a baby is born so early.

Anyway, I'm sitting here writing this with Little One turning a year old in a little over a week. In some weird way, I think NaBloPoMo helped me get through the craziness of last year and Little One's early arrival. NaBlo helped me get my feelings, fears, and worries about delivering a preterm baby out in the open. It helped occupy time time while on bed rest. It also helped me by having family, friends, and fellow bloggers offering experiences and sharing support.

Here's to my third year of NaBloPoMo. I will certainly try to post every day for the month of November. Posting will most likely be when Little One is in bed for the night though. If you are participating in the NaBloPoMo challenge, let me know and I'll try to check out your daily posts.

xo