I was lying on my bed with my hair up in a ponytail, feeling relaxed after coming back from my trip to Rio de San Marcos. I checked my calendar and saw it was Tuesday, Aug. 15, which reminded me there was only two weeks before school started. It coincidentally was also the day of my mother’s checkup appointment. Even though school was starting soon, I didn’t worry. Little did I know, it was her last checkup appointment before my sister was born.

Normally I would go with my mom to her appointments every week, but that day my mom had left without me because I had chores to finish. Later that day I found out she had gone by herself and that’s when I started to get nervous. My heart started beating faster. I felt terrified, as if something was going to happen.

Then my dad burst into the room with his phone in hand. I immediately stood up and gave him all of my attention. My mom was on the line, my heart raced and I thought ‘What happened, is she OK?’ That’s when I heard her through the phone in tears telling us she had to go to the hospital. She didn’t have enough amniotic fluid for my little sister to go full term.

Our whole family was a wreck, eagerly waiting to see what would happen next.

A week later, I was in my parents’ room watching TV when my brother ran to the room clutching his phone. This time, it was my dad calling my brother to tell us my mother was going to be having a cesarean section. His voice, blaring through the speaker, sounded like it was on the verge of tears. Blood rushed through my veins as my heart started beating harder.

While my brother was driving us to the hospital, I kept thinking about how excited I was to finally meet my new sibling but was also worried she was going to be born premature. Was she going to have many complications? Were they going to let me see her?

The day my little sister was born, the doctors didn’t want to take any chances and decided to bring her into the world a little too early.

Kayla Emilia Rosas was born a premature baby on Aug. 19, 2017. That was one of the happiest days of my life.

Because Kayla was born early, she was put in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where she would stay for around four to six weeks. A few days later, I was able to see her and I was overjoyed. She was such a tiny thing and I kept thinking about how beautiful she was.

A month after she was born I finally got to hold her and I felt terrified. She was so tiny and fragile that I didn’t even want to hold her because I felt that as though I’d break her like a glass doll. At the same time I felt excited because it was the first time I was able to have her in my arms.

After a month and a half, Kayla was able to finally come home on Wednesday, Oct. 4. I was so thrilled to have her home because I was able to see her every day.

Despite her being born two months early, she will give me the chance to be able to witness her grow and learn to walk, crawl and do everything else for the first time. Every day we’ve had her home is another precious moment I get to keep. Although she is only just nearing her first three months of life I look forward to seeing her experience everything the world has to show her.