Camila Marie

After Camila was born she did great the first two weeks. In the NICU they call this the “honeymoon period.” Four days after she was born I was discharged from the hospital to go home. Oh man, was it difficult to leave and go home so far away from my baby. I cried when we left. And cried some more when I got home. I was still recovering from my c-section so I couldn’t just hop in my truck and drive an hour and a half to go see her. I had to wait for my husband to get off work and come home to shower and go up to the NICU in the evening. After 9 days I finally got to hold my baby girl. I had to wait this long because she had jaundice and was under the bilirubin blue lights and she was on minimum stimulation, which means the nurses only got into her isolette when absolutely needed (to give her meds, change her diaper, etc.) When I finally held her I was so overjoyed. They slid her right into my sports bra and put her tiny little head on my chest. Camila could fit into the palm of my hands. She was so tiny. She had some bruising from delivery on her legs but after day nine it started to heal up. And she looked like a little doll. It was crazy that this tiny little baby on my chest was mine and she was breathing and her heart was beating. It still just amazes me how tiny she was. After I held her for about an hour she began desatting and the nurses told me that is her way of telling us that she’s ready to go back to bed. They helped me put her in bed and she was just resting. She was in the jet ventilator so you could see her chest rising rapidly with the breaths the machines were giving to her to keep her alive. The medical machines they have for such tiny humans really is incredible! My husband and I knew we needed to head home because at the NICU she is in is pod style and parents can’t stay the night. The next morning I called to check on Camila and was told she opened her eyes for the first time that morning. So crazy! 10 days old and finally opened her tiny little eyes! Beautiful baby girl. When babies are born as early as Camila was the eyes are fused together, and one day they just pop open! The doctors warned me that most times it’s one eye at a time but Camila opened both of her eyes at the same time. I will continue her journey in my next post. As I said before, reliving this is very emotional for me. Such a strong baby girl. -Camilas Mommy

 Hello everyone!  I have never blogged before so I guess I will jump right in.. I have been urged to begin a blog to help other parents that are in the same situation as I have found myself in. I had a beautiful baby girl, Camila, born October 14, 2025. She was born as a micro-preemie at 24 weeks and 3 days gestation. She weighed 1 pound and 3.9 ounces. I suffered PPROM which means premature rupture of membranes or my water broke extremely early. I also had IUGR (she was in the 5%tile at birth) and a sub chorionic hematoma. I was hospitalized at 23 weeks and 4 days and spent that time being constantly monitored and checked multiple times daily. I was put on antibiotics to prevent any infections and to protect Camila and also given a round of steroids just in case she was born early that would help her little lungs survive. At 10:21 pm on October 14 I was having my routine nightly monitoring and we heard a “pop” on the moniter and I immediately started leaking a huge gush of water (what was left of my amniotic sac) and mecconum (baby pooping in womb) and had very bad contractions. I was rushed to labor and delivery one floor down and given magnesium to try to stop labor, but that did absolutely nothing. The doctor came in and told me my baby heart rate was elevated and she was stressed and I needed an emergency c-section immediately. I was wheeled into the operating room and given my epidural to numb the lower half of my body and by 10:58 pm my baby girl was born. I glanced over and saw the neonatologists rushing her out of the room straight to the NICU. I have never felt so numb and just checked out in my life. I knew that the doctor could come back with bad news at any moment. While the other doctor was stitching me up the neonatologist came back in and told me my baby girl was stable, was intubated, and doing well. At that moment I finally FINALLY sighed a breath of relief not realizing the journey I had ahead of me. My husband went to see our baby while I was in recovery and she was just in her isolette resting. I didn’t get to see her for 15 hours later.  The next afternoon after the anesthesia and morphine wore off finally I rang my nurse call button and they wheeled me down to lay eyes on my beautiful tiny precious baby girl. It was never terrifying for me to see her. I was so happy she made it through the night.  She was diagnosed with chronic lung disease very early on and she also had a PDA. Other than that she was doing great. For being born so early and so tiny she came out a feisty little fighter ready to take on the world. Shes had her ups and downs and that’s why they call it the NICU roller coaster. Such a crazy ride that makes you feel things you’ve never felt before. There’s days I found myself yelling at doctors or nurses over the phone or in person because I didn’t agree with what they were doing to my baby girl. ( Now the doctors have it in her daily notes that “Mother knows daughter well.” I have learned more in the last 6 months of my life about a world I knew existed but never thought I would be apart of. Do you remember maybe 10-15 years ago when all Walmart registers had the teeny tiny preemie diapers glued to a donation box? Those diapers use to terrify my and I always thought to myself that I just couldn’t believe babies could be born that small. Well I will tell you now they indeed can! My baby was born wearing the smallest diaper available and it was to big for her! So… I’m going to leave this first post here. I’m going to continue to post more and more of our journey because today April 16, 2026 we are 184 days into our NICU stay and still have 2-3 months left before we make it home. I’m going to continue to tell Camilas story little by little everyday. It’s more emotional than I thought it would be reliving all the things we have went through. But it also makes me realize DAMN! My daughter is the strongest human being I’ve ever met and she’s only 10 pounds. More tomorrow. -Camilas Mommy