Mel and the New Normal

One of the things we prayed for while expecting Kat was that she would make it long enough to be baptized. With these things, you don't know, sometimes it's just a few minutes, and they're gone. Thanks to our amazing doctors, she made it 1 day. During this time, Makati Med assisted us in our emergency baptism. We also got her Baptismal Certificate, eventually (you don't really need this, but anything that would remind me of her, I treasure.) J hunted down the priest of MMC though because he was busy making the rounds, praying with patients. But when he found the priest, they were able to do the baptism right away. I would suggest that you have this done, even if you're not super religious (points to self.) It gave me peace of mind that we were able to do that for her.

I've been avoiding it for the past couple of months, but looking thru the stats of my page, there are people who are still reading the page to know more about CDH, our experience in Makati Med, etc. So in between my experiences about restaurants and life, I'll be posting little by little regarding our months leading to delivering Kat. I do admit that it's difficult to go through the materials, but I know that it will help families out there. Part of what made the experience so difficult was the lack of information about CDH, and infant surgery, in general, in Asia and the Philippines. So I hope the entries I will write little by little, help you.

After our third CAS, our OBGYN, Dr. Arlene Bravo, explained that we would have to assemble a team of doctors to work together. Though in the end, only our OBGYN, Anesthesiologist, and Neonat were with us in the delivery room, I would like to think that it was a team of doctors that got us there, to full term. As predicted, we had several complications leading to her delivery, and we are so grateful that she made it to her 37th week. We were also so grateful to have more than a day to say goodbye, have her baptized, take pictures. Since their lungs don't function properly, most CDH babies die within the first few seconds or minutes, or hours.  Though Kat didn't make it, I can tell you, I had the best team of doctors possible here in the Philippines. They were the best of the best. And I will be always grateful for their efforts (which is why MMC is my priority in donating milk). Here is my Team of Doctors, and their contact info. I will have a separate entry for each one eventu...