Congratulations Elena Sonnino for winning "The day I become a Mom" contest. 

Thank you to all for sharing your stories with I AM Modern Magazine. Here is Elena's story:

It was early in the morning and I was getting ready for my class of students to arrive for the day.  Prior to that morning, most of my mornings had started at the Genetics and IVF center in Fairfax as we were getting ready to use a donor egg, since my body decided to shut down and go into early menopause after having been through chemo.  I had been told that I could not have a baby, and that even if I could get pregnant, chances were good that it would not be a viable pregnancy.  So before starting the real cycle, we were putting my body through a practice month. 

That morning, I picked up the phone and one of the doctors was on the line.  I knew something was up because I usually only spoke to the nurses.  She had news.  I was 5 ½ weeks pregnant.  I cried.  I cried a lot.  According to all the things I had been told, this baby would not make it.  But in that moment the doctor said one thing that turned me into a mom:  I could either grieve for this baby now, or I could enjoy it and cherish it every day and hope. I chose hope. 

The rest of the day was a blur- there were more tears...though these were tears of joy.  There was excitement, there were phone calls, and then there was the journal.  On my way home from school, I bought a journal to write letters to my baby. I spent 9 months writing letters- describing my excitement, telling the baby just about everything that was in my head and my heart.

After months of hoping, that decision to hope became a reality: on November 6, 2004 my little S came into this world.  Despite all the odds, she was born 7 lbs 7 oz at 6:06 pm and was soon surrounded by her parents, her grandparents, and her god parents. The next morning, S and I woke up in our hospital room, to a bright sunrise, and before I knew it, I was singing, “you are my sunshine, my only sunshine.”
Life was good, I had become a mom.