VIDALIA &8212; On March 28, nine months after she became pregnant, Holly Birely and her husband, Dustin, brought home a happy, healthy 6-pound, 10-ounce baby girl.

And though those nine months were anything but easy, they are just happy to spend the Easter holiday at home with friends.

Jenna Grace Birely was born three months premature on Dec. 30. She weighed just 1 pound, 11 ounces.

Her twin sister, Jadyn Elizabeth, died Jan. 1.

While the Birelys described losing Jadyn as devastating, they said they were counting their blessings.

&8220;At least the Lord let us bring home one,&8221; Holly, 23, said. &8220;It doesn&8217;t take away the pain, but, looking at her (Jenna), I kind of forget how bad everything was.&8221;

Jenna spent 88 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Jackson University Hospital. Holly and Dustin lived in a nearby Ronald McDonald House.

In the beginning of February, the doctors felt Jenna was out of the woods so Dustin, 28, started spending some time back home, working and getting the house ready for Holy and Jenna&8217;s return.

Not that his job at Bug Busters was in any danger of not being there for him. Dustin said Ricky Smith, the company&8217;s owner, continued to pay his salary throughout the ordeal, among many other things.

&8220;I just can&8217;t think anybody else I could have worked for would ever do that,&8221; he said. &8220;Pay me, let me use the company truck &8212; and company gas &8212; he was fine with it.&8221;

Though Jenna&8217;s medical bills covered by both the family&8217;s coverage and a special provision of Medicaid for any baby born under 2 pounds, there were still plenty of expenses to go around.

Thanks to the community, however, those weren&8217;t a problem either.

Between fundraisers and a medical expense account at Concordia Bank and Trust, several thousand dollars was raised to help the young family keep focused on getting Jenna healthy.

&8220;It&8217;s just a blessing that people did what they did,&8221; Holly said. &8220;This is an amazing community.&8221;

And healthy she is.

&8220;I took her to a doctor in Natchez and he said she is exactly what a newborn should be,&8221; Holly said.

And while there are regular checkups in Jackson, those will decrease in frequency as Jenna grows up, the Birelys feel they are ready to enter back into normal life.

Part of a normal life with a newborn baby is, well, being with that baby all the time, a luxury they didn&8217;t have in Jackson.

The day they brought her home was the first time the Birelys were allowed to hold their baby without any of the monitors or wires she&8217;s been attached to since her birth.

&8220;Until we put her in the car seat, she had been on monitors,&8221; Holly said. &8220;So it was a very good experience to hold her.&8221;

The verdict?

&8220;She&8217;s perfect,&8221; both parents agreed.