Everyday Miracles, An Excerpt



Claire's Battle with CDH
By Andrea Stenlund

To me, my little Claire is a miracle. She has gone through more in her life as a baby than most adults do. She is my hero, my strength, my motivation to make it through each and every day. 

It started when Claire was around six and a half weeks old. She started acting differently. She was usually a good nurser, so when she started not wanting to eat, it sent up red flags. Then, eventually, she started to vomit which lasted almost twenty-four hours. I was thinking maybe she just had a stomach bug that her sisters gave her possibly, but when we woke up on Sunday morning, I felt something was terribly wrong after she vomited up bile. I called my mom to come stay with Claire’s sisters because I felt it was urgent and wanted to bring her into the emergency room. So, I took her in. They tried to set up an IV at the first hospital because of dehydration, but they couldn't get it in; at least three or four nurses tried. They did x-rays, and that's when they had a diagnosis. The ER doctor told me she had a diaphragmatic hernia. I had no idea what this was. He explained it to me a little bit, but told me we had to be transferred to St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota so they could perform an emergency surgery. I had no idea it was this serious. I held her and tried to keep her calm. They didn't want me to try to feed her due to her upcoming surgery.

We rode by ambulance which seemed to take forever, and we were brought into the ER in this hospital. They got the IV in instantly and hooked a breathing tube up because her oxygen level was low. Her heartbeat was also extremely high, so they were just watching that. We were transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). She was hooked up to so many machines; to this day...I'm still not even sure what exactly was going on.

When we were transferred to the top floor, it completely hit me; and, I fell apart. As they were doing more IVs, I had a complete breakdown. The nurses were wonderful though, and the doctor I talked to really helped me calm down and understand everything that was going on. We waited all night...couldn't feed her anything...and she was so upset with me, but I would not put Claire down for anything. She needed me, and I was determined to be there for her regardless of anything. Claire had surgery Monday morning at seven o’clock in the morning. It was a couple hour surgery, and it was a complete success. Luckily, they could fix her hernia with her own diaphragm instead of using a foreign material. While she was in surgery; they were setting up her room with ventilators, and other machines that would help her heart and her lungs. Once I got to see her in the recovery room...she wasn’t hooked up to anything! No breathing machines, nothing! They were absolutely shocked and said she was a complete miracle. We only stayed in the hospital one more day and were free to go home. 

We were so blessed, and Claire is a complete miracle. As of today, she is doing great. Her lungs are fully developed, and her heart is almost completely fully developed. You would never know she had such a major surgery and ordeal if you didn't see the scar on her abdomen. Every day, I am grateful and thankful that my Claire is still with us!

To read the rest of the stories, you can find the anthology on Amazon! Be sure and leave us a review there and on Goodreads! 

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