Remembering...Her Condition

We were blown away by what we were told about Sarala's condition. We had made the decision to go for it in a week and half's time...by Crystal's b-day...to adopt her...regardless of what we were told. It was a decision made after much prayer.... We decided to be obedient...versus "smart".

A medical social worker tried very hard to get us to change our minds. They only decided to give her care after they knew that we would adopt her...that we wanted her.

The outlook was not good. We were told things like..."vegetable"..."extensive brain damage"..."we didn't realize what we were getting ourselves into"..."we were too young"...this isn't just a little premature baby that we were thinking it would be...exact words told to Crystal "this isn't the cute little preemie baby that you're thinking this is"..."you don't live in a city"..."she'll be special needs"....

Only when we received her medical records, which are the size of a book, did we get an idea of how terrible and dire the situation was for Sarala in the beginning. I'm glad we didn't know all of the details until she was in our arms...in our home...HER home.

Here's a run-down from her medical summary:
Born 9 and 1/2 weeks early
Weighed 2 lbs 5 oz
Intraventricular hemorrhage - grade 3
Post-hemmorrhagic hydrocephalus
- These resulted in a resevior being placed in her head a couple days after birth
Drug exposed to meth, marijuana, ecstasy (Mom admitted to meth use 1-2 days before, couple times a week...used intravenously until she realized she was pregnant, then switched to smoking it)
She didn't breath for 30 seconds and was intubated
This is the beginning...first few pages.
She stayed in the NICU for 67 days.

The Neurosurgeon took time out of his own schedule and took/e-mailed us this photo not long after her first surgery. It's one of the most beautiful pictures of Sarala...though sick...broken...she was ours.



Next Post: The journey towards healing begins....