RIDGECREST — It’s a truism that everything grows, but when Jenna Birley was born weighing 1 pound 11 ounces, she had a lot of growing to do.

Holding up a five-by-eight photograph of her daughter, Jenna’s mother Holly pointed to the photo and said, “When she was born, she wasn’t much bigger than this actual picture.”

It’s hard to tell these days that the 3-year-old running around her parents’ living room was ever anything other than a full-term baby, but her three-month early entry into the world is exactly why Birley is this year’s ambassador child for the River Cities March of Dimes.

Jenna’s story began Christmas Day 2007, when Holly — then 28 weeks pregnant with twins — began to feel strange.

Her husband, Dustin, has blood pressure issues, and based on his description of how he felt when his blood pressure was acting up Holly thought she might be having similar problems.

After going to the hospital and being sent home, the next day Holly spoke with her doctor, who said her urine tests indicated pre-eclampsia, or pregnancy-induced hypertension. Her blood pressure was 200 over 110.

“He said, ‘You are going to have those babies within a week. We have to get you to Jackson, because there is no way they can be born here,’” Holly said.

So Holly was transported to University Medical Center in Jackson, and after she was put on a magnesium drip, her blood pressure fell back into normal range.

“Then I got up, took a shower and my blood pressure shot right back up,” Holly said.

That forced the issue, and that morning, at 11:31 and 11:32, Jenna and her twin Jadyn were born.

But because of their prematurity, Holly wasn’t able to see her children for the first 24 hours.

“That was the scariest (time) in my life,” she said.

The doctors told Dustin and Holly that at 28 weeks, the babies had a 90 percent chance of survival but a 50 percent chance something was wrong.

For Jadyn, that 50 percent chance came in the form of respiratory problems, and she lingered two days before dying.

A week later, Jenna was diagnosed with the same problems.

“I called my church family and got everybody praying, and when the tests came back later, they were negative,” Holly said.

And aside from an infection Jenna developed later, she has been surprisingly healthy for a premature baby, not even having the vision problems preemies often experience because of the time they have to spend in high oxygen environments.

“I took her to the eye doctor, and he kept on saying, ‘I am so amazed because there is hardly ever a preemie who doesn’t have vision problems,’” Holly said.

It was a month before Dustin and Holly were allowed to hold Jenna, even briefly, and because the baby was on a ventilator she was two months old before Holly heard her cry.

“That was the most beautiful sound I have heard in my life,” she said.

March 28, eight days after her due date, Jenna went home.

“They gave her to us, and she didn’t have any monitors or anything,” Holly said. “That was the longest trip I have ever taken — I just watched her.

“It was a long journey.”

Since then, though, Jenna has grown and is completely developmentally normal.

She likes to swim, ride her bicycle, play with her younger sister, Jillian, who is 2, and sing in the children’s choir at Faith Tabernacle Pentecostal Church.

“There have been a lot of folks who have prayed for her,” Holly said.

The River Cities March of Dimes will be Oct. 24 at the Riverview RV Park in Vidalia. The fundraising goal for this year is $22,000.

The mission of the March of Dimes is to reduce premature birth, infant mortality and birth defects, March of Dimes Cenla Division Director Lauren H. Sullivan said.

“We give grants to community partners throughout every state, to those who are either doing research or something in the community to help educate the community on reducing your risk of premature birth,” Sullivan said.

For more information, contact Sullivan at 318-448-8294, or go to www.marchforbabies.com.