UNDER CONSTRUCTION....

Camryn's basic story is as follows.

Camryn was born on February 24, 1999, at 8:42am.  She was at 26.8 weeks of gestation, or 13 weeks premature.  Her original due date was May 28th.  Her mother, Corinne, was hospitalized five days earlier with heavy bleeding.  The bleeding was from an apparent placenta abruption, where the placenta pulls away from the wall of the uterus.  The bleeding continued mildly for the five days, but became critical the morning Camryn was born as contractions started.  Camryn came into the world by a vaginal delivery, but after being taken to the operating room for an emergency C-section.  No time for the C-section, and Camryn came vaginally.

She weighed 985 grams, or 2 pounds 2 3/4 oz.  She was immediately placed on a ventilator and received three doses of a drug called a lung surfactant in the next few days.  The amniotic fluid was low during the pregnancy, which contributed to the underdevelopment of Camryn's lungs.  After one week of the high frequency ventilator, she was placed on the CPAP breathing assistance.  After only a few days of this, she started to show signs of an infection.  It was soon diagnosed to be RSV, a virus in the lungs.  She was placed back on a standard ventilator and placed into isolation.  This virus is VERY uncommon in the NICU, but common in toddlers and adults.  It can be very serious and life threatening in toddlers, yet alone premature babies.  Overall, she handled it quite well and within a week was rid of the virus.  She maintained on the ventilator until she was 31 days old, on March 27th, after a few days of steroids.  She was placed on the CPAP breathing assistance for a few days, and was able to get one day's worth of nasal cannula.  She had to go back on CPAP shortly afterwards, and continues to require CPAP (as of 5/16/99) most of the time.

She has grown very well during this time, getting to the 3 pound level on 04/01/99, 4 pounds on 04/24/99, and 5 pounds on 05/08/99.  All her systems are doing well except for her lungs, left kidney, and eyes.  Her lungs just can't quite make it over the edge and still requires breathing assistance.  She will probably come home in June and will be on oxygen and monitors.  She may need to oxygen for as much as a year.

Her left kidney has a condition called hydronephrosis and hydroureter.  This is an abnormality is causing some slight backup of urine in her system.  The main concern here is the possibility of a urinary tract infection, which can be very serious in a baby like Camryn.  There may be a need for future surgery.

Her eyes have a diagnosis of stage one retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).  It's not serious now, and probably will go away.  Continued weekly eye exams will keep close tabs on this condition.  If it gets more serious, surgery could be required to avoid future eyesight problems.

Both Camryn's mom and dad have visited her every day since her birth, now 80 days ago on 05/16/99.  Mommy devotes the most time there, as she is no longer working.  We made the decision it is by far the best for our daughter to have her mommy there every day, and Corinne usually spends 4 - 5 hours there EVERY day.  Daddy works during the day, comes home for a few hours to spend with Corinne and big sister Colette (3 years old), and then makes it to the hospital usually from 7:30 - 11:00pm.  We hold Camryn during the hours that we're there.  For the first two months, we both held her in the kangaroo style, skin to skin on our chests.  Now Daddy mostly holds her in his arms while Mommy continues to hold her kangaroo style.

Baby Camryn and big sister Colette are the loves of our lives, and we as parents devote our lives for them.  We love both of them very much.  Little Camryn obviously still needs special attention.