So far so all is well..

Camilla has done well today. Presently she is peacefully sleeping with painkillers being administered throughout the day. Her surgery was performed early this morning to close her PDA (Patent ductus arteriosus). The size of which was quite large, as everyone kept mentioning. One doctor said it was the size of her Aorta, which is a testament to how strong Camilla actually is to have been doing so well thus far. This morning we showed up around 6:15 at the hospital to see her before she was intubated and speak with the doctors. Doc Weiner was on hand to oversee things and do the intubation. He showed us her x-rays as well, that showed her left ventricle was in fact enlarged from before due to all the extra pumping of blood it had been doing. Her lungs were also congested, abdomen slightly distended and a concern for her kidneys and intestines should we wait longer to have the surgery. Dr. Walters (who hails from Houston and went to school at Baylor), performed the surgery leaving us very confident with his capabilities and the necessity for surgery.

We just came from the NICU and left her looking very peaceful and well attended to. She was responsive to our touching of her toes, and vital signs slightly improved as we sang to her. Tomorrow we should have a better idea of where she stands when she begins to wake up. She has a difficult little journey for a couple of days, though should thrive post recovery.

Thank you everyone for supporting us through prayer and keeping up with us. Fr. Ed Friede even showed up and anointed her the night prior. We know many people locally, nationally, and as far as Rome and Medjugorje are offering prayer and support for her. It's really humbling how good the support has been, particularly our families.

Good night

Christi Bill and Shrubby

Camilla's surgery

Buon Domenica,

Camilla is scheduled to receive what is called a ligation tomorrow morning at 7 am. It is surgery to close her PDA which is a duct outside of her heart. In utero is diverts blood around the lungs as they are not in use yet. If it is open, it circulates blood back into the heart after it is pumped requiring the heart to do more work. We all have it when we are born, and it closes usually within hours after birth on it's own. Little ones born as early as Camilla aren't always capable of this, so medication is administered. If this does not work, as in Camilla's case, surgery is performed at some point to amend this. Camilla's is now.

Prayers are what we are asking for. Though this surgery is routine, it is still surgery on the heart of a 3 lb. little girl, who is just getting over a staff infection.

God bless,

Bill

Getting through a scare

First things first: Camilla is doing much better, but she gave us a scare this week. When we arrived on Wednesday at noon, Camilla couldn't have been doing better. She was alert and chipper and the doctors were complimenting her on how well she was doing. However through the course of the afternoon she started to show signs of distress, subtle at first, but then getting worse and worse. The doctors ordered a battery of tests including x-rays of her chest and abdomen, bloodwork to check for infection of various kinds, and even a spinal tap to rule out meningitis. By the time the nurses were doing these various tests, Camilla was so sick that she didn't protest in the least--didn't cry, didn't even squirm when they were drawing the blood. That was probably the scariest moment for me--seeing how sick and unresponsive she had become in such a short period of time, and that she kept going down. I'm grateful that I was there throughout this whole time, and that Bill was able to get to the hospital very quickly from work so that we were together with her for all of the procedures.

Thankfully, the nurses and doctors were so attentive to those first small changes in Camilla's behavior that they were working as fast as was humanly possible to find out what was really going on and to treat it. I have only the highest praise and respect for all of the nurses and doctors in the NICU and the way they took care of Camilla (and of me and Bill) with speed as well as with great compassion.

Once the tests were done they started her immediately on antibiotics, and after that Camilla started to show signs of improvement. We found out very quickly that it was almost certainly NOT meningitis, and then her blood culture came back positive, probably a staph infection. This is the most common infection in the NICU--it's a bacteria that lives on our skin, and she was susceptible to getting the infection because she has an IV in her arm, giving the bacteria a way to get inside. The antibiotics are very effective in treating this kind of infection, so she's already on her way. Through the rest of Wednesday night and the day Thursday she gradually improved, showing more signs of her usual spunk and movement and alertness. She's looking more and more like herself, and hopefully she'll be all the way back by the time we go in to see her today.

One other result of trying to figure out what was making her so sick was increased attention to the duct just outside of her heart which is still open. Camilla had another echocardiogram yesterday, and her doctors are consulting with a surgeon and a cardiologist today to discuss the possibility of surgically closing the duct. It looks very likely that she'll need to have that done, probably next week after she's through the worst of the infection. This is something we were really hoping to avoid. As far as surgeries go, it's very routine and babies tend to recover from it very well, but it is still surgery--including the need for intubation and general anesthesia. It would also mean another temporary setback for Camilla's progress, though a permanent step forward. Please do keep praying for her: for full strength and health after this infection, for the duct to close, but if it doesn't, that she would come through the surgery well.

Camilla's first clothes

Camilla and the snoedel

The green object in with Camilla which looks a little bit like a ghost is what is known in the NICU as a snoedel (pronounced snoodle). It's from the Dutch word meaning "snuggle", and is basically Camilla's first blankie. A local 4-H group makes these and gives one to each parent of a preemie, telling us to put it right against our skin and wear it for a time. Inside the fabric is a piece of pure lambswool which is very absorbent. The snoedel absorbs the scent of the parent, and then is put into the isolette with the baby. The babies can all already identify their parents by their scent, so the snoedel is meant to be a comfort, something to bring a reminder of our presence even when we can't be there with her. We put this one in with her today, and as soon as we did, Camilla opened her eyes wide and started to squirm around, seeming to recognize the scent. Something to melt a mamma's heart...

Today's update

Great news! As of early Sunday morning, Camilla weighs 3 pounds!!! That's 2 oz. more than her birthweight, so that's a big achievement for her. In addition, as you may notice from the photos, we can see what she looks like much more clearly now. That's because on Friday, the doctors and nurses decided Camilla was ready for a challenge and so took her totally off the CPAP (the bigger mask which covered most of her face, but which also did more of the work of breathing for her), and put her full-time on the nasal cannula. That's also a great step ahead for her.

How big she really is