Becoming a Grandma early...

I became a grandma at the age of 38. My eldest daughter, Summer, graduated from high school. She decided to stay around her hometown and work a few months then left us in Jan. of the following year to seek her new world. She drove to Texas from Ohio and moved in with relatives and worked for them. About the time spring rolled around she called us and said she was moving to another state with a boyfriend and that she was pregnant. They drove to Tacoma Washington and looked for jobs. She delivered a premature baby boy 3 months early due to difficulties in her pregancy with her amniotic fluid not building up enough. It was a rough time and the baby, Noland, was so tiny at birth. Almost 3 pounds. They kept him for 6 weeks in the neonatal unit and when he was just over 5 pounds we flew him and his mom and dad back to Ohio to live with us. We already had 2 teenage daughters and a 10 year old daughter living at our home. This was to be a new challenge. But we fought to prove we could bring in an extended family and we nurtured this new baby boy as if he were our own. My own brothers were still having more children of their own. There I was 38 and presenting my new grandson to my family for them all to accept. Noland changed our lives profoundly and taught us to open our eyes to small minded thinking. He pulled us through alot of tears and much laughter over his tiny premature life.