This was our first pregnancy and we were not familiar with the birthing process, we had not even signed up for a maternity class. Four days prior on Friday my wife started having major cramping and pain and we did not realize that she was in labor.

We went to the hospital and they sent us home after checking Tonia for hours for signs of labor. To this day we have no idea why they did not see she was in labor.

We went back the next day and they kept us over night. Tonia continued to say she was having contractions but the nurses did not believe it. They could not get them on the monitors. Because Tonia was only 24 weeks along we think they were putting the contraction monitors too high to detect them. Tonia was having the pain much lower.

It was not until late Monday night that our doctor came to check Tonia and discovered she was fully dilated and completely effaced. She was then put on the highest dose of magnesium drip which caused her to have hot flashes and to drink a lot. They finally realized that it had caused her to have stasis of urine putting her at risk of becoming septic, so a catheter was put in.

Ellie was born natural after the doctor broke Tonia's water. The doctors had a lot of trouble getting even one I.V. line started and she had a lot of bruising. After about an hour of trying to get Ellie stable they put her in a travel incubator to be transferred to another hospital. They brought Ellie to our room for us to see her. Tonia was able to touch her and Ellie grabbed her finger tight. We did not realize at the time but this would be the last and only time we would see our daughter alive. She died a few hours later after arriving at the NICU.

The doctor called me just before she passed away to tell me that she had a lot of bleeding on the brain and that she was not going to make it. She died a few minutes later.

We had really only one encounter with Ellie when they brought her to our room and she squeezed my wife's finger, but that one moment from this little precious 1lb girl changed our lives. If we had only known that would be our last. Later that day we were able to hold her and say good bye.

Mark 10:14 He said unto them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such of these.”

Our little angel entered Heaven on May 22, 2001 At 8:52 AM.

Dennis & Tonia Levens