Karma Sue Berry

Little Karma entered this tough world June 4, 2008 at 5:29am weighed 6lbs and was 19" long. My water broke the night before and 6 hours later, she was here. We were so excited to have her but unfortunately she wasn't quite ready and coming 4 weeks early her lungs weren't quite developed. They let me hold her for a few minutes and then Pat carried her to the NICU. The first day she was under a hood that blew oxygen around her. They thought she'd only need that for a day or two, but she had other plans!
Day 2 she was put on CPAP which blows a certain percentage of oxygen directly into her nose and mouth. She wasn't being fed at this time but she was hungry based on the way she devoured the pacifier! By the end of day 2 she couldn't breath on her own anymore even with the help of the CPAP so the morning of the third day she had to be intubated (put on a ventilator). It was very sad and scary knowing that this was the worse case scenario they had given us on day 1. They diagnosed her with premature lung disease and a surfactant deficiency. Surfactant is a lipid rich layer that coats the lungs and acts as a lubricant during the oxygen transfer into the blood stream. Infants make surfactant in the last weeks of pregnancy and hopefully make enough to last them the aprox. 3 days it takes for their bodies to trigger the production of it on a regular basis. Because she was early she had not made enough and by day 2 she couldn't breath anymore. They gave her a synthetic version of surfactant and immediately she began to improve. We did have a scary experience when her tube became clogged by the surfactant and we watched as the nurses rushed to save her. She turned completely blue and flat lined. It was horrible but we were blessed to have wonderful nurses that were experienced, knowledgeable, and calm and everything ended up fine.
Pat was able to extubate her (take the breathing tube out) on day 5 and she spent the next few days learning how to eat, gaining weight, and slowly requiring less and less oxygen. She was finally able to come home after 9 days in the NICU! She is still on oxygen and probably will be for a while. She's on almost the smallest amount possible but is very attached to it. We were sent home with a monitor that she wears at night that warns us if her oxygen levels or heart rate become dangerous. We are so grateful for nurses and doctors that took such good care of her. It was a very scary, sad, and long week and a half but we are so grateful to our Heavenly Father to have our beautiful baby girl home and healthy. We are very grateful also for all of the prayers and support we received! We couldn't ask for better family and friends!
Merik is totally in love and takes very good care of her! He is always asking about her and wanting to check on her! I expected him to not really care about her but he adores her! He has been pretty cranky and clingy but it could be worse. She has had a toothbrush and a ball thrown at her head but they were deflected and she was saved.
We're so excited to have our little family and can't wait to see her grow up!