Sara is chugging away on her protein formula this morning.

Our Baby Girl Sara's surgery went extremely well yesterday. Doctor is very pleased. God is Good! She didn't sleep much last night due to no food yet for her since Saturday July 4th...that should change sometime today.

THANK YOU family, friends, and all for your Prayers, Love, Messages and Well Wishes. Gratitude and bear hugs.

Our sweet baby girl Sara

Hello family and friends, Well since Sara's last surgery in February, God continues to show his powerful hand and Sara continues to heal and grow beautifully.

She does continue to get sick with bronchiolitis however thank God our last episode was the first week of April when we were in the hospital for 6 days, yes, we were there during Easter however she was discharged the next day and has been better ever since. So far this is our longest bout without being in the ER or admitted into the hospital since April. She is recently recovering from an ear infection that mom caught in the very early stages. Sara has been receiving twice daily rectal therapy from mom, which is preparing her for her next surgery and believing and praying this is the FINAL surgery for a reallllly lonnnnng time! We are seeing the surgeon the beginning of June and should be receiving our surgery date then. Otherwise, we have been taking Sara out more little by little and enjoying our family time together.

Sara is still not comfortable being on her stomach for lengthy periods due to her open heart surgery but that's ok, she is beginning to master other activities like trying to self-feed more with the spoon and continues to hold her own bottle during feeds. Sara loves to smile at just about everyone and really loves to interact with her big sister Madison. Sara is becoming more independent playing with her toys and even tries to stand up more on mom when mom is holding her, and always giggling with daddy. She is a blessing to us all. We pray you all are healthy and doing great in your own lives. We love you all! As we've said all along, our sweet baby girl Sara is going to be an amazing testimony for all of us to share!! -God Bless

Our Baby Girl Sara's Surgery went extremely well yesterday. Surgeons anticipated a 6 to 8 hour surgery; however once in the surgery room, the surgeons were presented with only a 3 hour surgery procedure. God is good! As we've said all along, our sweet baby girl Sara is going to be an amazing testimony for all of us to share!

Thank you for ALL your love and support throughout Sara's journey.
God Bless.

~o~

Nuestra hija Sara esta recuperandose bien. Una cirugia que los doctores decian que iba hacer necesario 6 a 8 horas, nada mas fueron 3 horas. Dios es bueno! Como hemos dicho desde el principio, nuestra bebe Sara va a ser un testimonio increible para todos nosotros para compartir!

Gracias a todos por sus oraciones y amor hacia Sara.
Dios los bendiga.

Hello All, hope you find yourself doing great. We have been getting ready for our Baby Girl Sara’s upcoming surgery in a couple of days.

Sara continues to stay home daily with mommy, not only to remain safe from illnesses, but to also prepare for her next surgery. A few weeks ago, Sara was back in the emergency room 2 times for bronchiolitis…again! Because her upper airway is smaller than most infants her size, it does not take much for her to get sick. At least no more fevers this time, Thank You God!

At almost 6 months old, this will be Sara’s third surgery since birth. The surgery will be to repair her fistula and will require two doctors to operate. Her urologist will repair her urethra and her gastrointestinal (GI) surgeon will reconstruct her rectum. This surgery can last anywhere from 6 to 8 hours, meaning we will be separated from our Baby Girl during this time.

We are longing for the day we can venture out as a family of 4! Big Sister Madison is so anxious in taking her Baby Sister out to enjoy the air outside, even if it’s sitting next to each other in their baby jogger double stroller. We continue to believe that God’s by our side and in complete healing of our Baby Girl Sara.

Thanks for being a part of Sara's journey!

Our sweet baby girl Sara has been doing so good following open heart surgery. We pray you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Sara continues to grow; however last week Sara had a cold which turned into upper respiratory and congestion issues, landing us in the emergency room (ER) on Christmas Day. NOT the place we wanted to be celebrating her first Christmas; however we knew she needed medical attention. Being diagnosed with bronchiolitis and congestion, we were sent home with 2 medications and Sara began to feel better instantly! Sara woke up with a fever the next day so we gave her some Tylenol, however the fever came back Monday morning, so Sara was admitted back to the ER since we knew something else must be going on. Sara has not been having any fevers at all. After several hours of testing Sara for blood, urine, kidney, echo on heart, chest x-rays, it was discovered Sara had a DOUBLE ear infection, with her ear canals inflamed, also her white blood cell count was high (from her ear infection), so we were admitted into Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children to monitor her symptoms. Doctors plan we can go home in a couple days.

Praying and believing for a speedy recovery for our little princess. She is doing great and continues to respond to treatment. Praise God!

Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers, support, and for sharing our story. We are overwhelmed how many people who don't even know us have helped us.

God Bless!

Our sweet Baby Sara continues to do beautifully since her open heart surgery. We've been home a week now and continues to progress with eating, sleeping and growing. This week’s follow up appointment with her pediatrician, the Doctor said Sara is a miracle and just cannot believe how far she has come along! The Doctor mentioned about being emotional over Sara and questioned "are you sure she didn't get a new heart? Her heart sounds wonderful!" The Doctor also mentioned that Sara's new middle name should be "fighter".

WOW, as parents, what comforting words to hear from the pediatrician!! Sara has now gained 1 pound and has grown 1 inch in length since surgery. God is good! As we've said all along, our sweet baby girl Sara is going to be an amazing testimony for all of us to share!!

~o~

Nuestra hija Sara sigue recuperandose muy bien desde su cirugía de corazón abierto. Hemos estado en casa una semana y Sara esta comiendo, durmiendo, y creciendo de lo mas bien. Esta semana tuvo una cita con su pediatra y dijo que Sara es un milagro y no podia creer su progreso! Su pediatra se puso emocional y cuestionó "¿están seguros de que Sara no tiene un corazón nuevo? Su corazón suena maravilloso!" La doctora también mencionó que el segundo nombre de Sara deberia ser "luchadora".
WOW, como padres, sus palabras fueron reconfortantes! Sara ha subido una libra y ha crecido una pulgada de largo desde la cirugía . Dios es bueno ! Como hemos dicho desde el principio, nuestra bebe Sara va a ser un testimonio increíble para todos nosotros para compartir!!
  

 

Early Christmas for us and Praise God Sara has progressed beautifully and can go home now. Praying and believing that God is control. Planning on next surgery to be in about 8 weeks...plenty of time for our sweet baby girl to recover at home. Couldn't be happier to have her home for Christmas! Thank you for ALL your love and support throughout Sara's journey.
God Bless.

~o~

Gracias a Dios, Sara se ha recuperado de su cirugia de lo mas bien y estaremos en casa para celebrar la Navidad juntos en familia. Su proxima cirugia sera aproximadamente en 8 semanas. Gracias a todos por sus oraciones y amor hacia Sara.
Dios los bendiga.

Sara is healing from her open heart surgery and is enjoying watching cartoons in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU). Thank you everyone for your prayers, support, and sweet messages. It makes our long day in the hospital much brighter. Please feel free to share her story.

~o~

Sara se esta recuperando de su cirugia de corazon abierto y esta disfrutando de dibujos animados en la unidad de cuidados intensivos cardiovasculares. Gracias a todos por sus oraciones, apoyo, y mensajes. Nos han animado durante nuestros largos dias en el hospital. Por favor, sientase libre de compartir nuestra historia.

 

Since the surgery, Sara has been able to eat several times now and is being given pain meds as needed. She is recovering really well. Praise the Lord!

We just wanted to say how much we appreciate everyone's prayers and generosity! Putting ourselves out there like this not something we are very "comfortable" with, but you have been so kind.

 

Happy that our Baby Girl Sara had a successful open heart surgery today. Thank you JESUS for guiding the doctors and your everlasting love! Baby Sara is resting and recovering.

Sara had a nice quiet day today. She slept a good amount of the afternoon, as she gets ready for her procedure tomorrow.

Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers, support, and for sharing our story. We are overwhelmed at how much everyone has wanted to help and how many people who don't even know us have helped us.

Today our baby girl Sara of 3 months will be getting admitted into the hospital for her open heart surgery. We believe and have faith that God is in control.
Thanks for your prayers.

Sara had a nice quiet day today. She slept a good amount of the afternoon, as she gets ready for her procedure tomorrow.

Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers, support, and for sharing our story. We are overwhelmed at how much everyone has wanted to help and how many people who don't even know us have helped us.

"Our Miracle"

Our sweet baby girl Sara was born on August 26, 2014 at Winnie Palmer Hospital, with a rare condition called Cloacal Anomaly, which affects 1 in 50,000 babies. Throughout the pregnancy, we were never informed about Sara's medical condition, which required immediate surgery after birth and being admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for approximately 2 weeks. Talk about a shock to our family! The only concern that we were aware during the pregnancy was a potential risk to one of her kidneys not fully functioning, which it turned out to be that it never developed, which is known as a Multicystic Dysplastic Kidney. Babies with cloacal anomaly have risks of other congenital abnormalities and in our case, Sara’s heart has been affected with the most common structural abnormality, which is called a Ventricular Septal Defect, a hole in the heart between the ventricles.

After being sent home, a little over a week later, she contracted the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). She was taken into the Emergency Room and was in the hospital for a week. We were faced with another life-threatening situation since Sara has been diagnosed with congenital heart problems and remains in need for supplemental oxygen.

So after this emotional roller coaster of seeing everything our precious baby girl has gone through, we are now getting prepared for her open heart surgery in a few weeks to prevent her from going into Congestive Heart Failure. We are praying for a successful surgery as she will need more surgical procedures in the near future.

Although the total number of surgeries and hospital stays are not determined at this time, our number one priority is to get Sara as healthy as possible. In the meantime, Dana has taken a leave of absence from work to care for baby Sara and all her doctor appointments.

Sara has come a long way since birth, but still has a long way to go. Unfortunately, she will need more procedures in the near future. WE BELIEVE WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE! Thank you in advance for all of your prayers and support, and thank you for reading our story. God Bless.

We know Sara is our testimony to share with others. “God, who has begun a good work, will complete it…” Philippians 1:6

God Bless. –Mauro, Dana, Madison, Sara

*********************************************************************************

"Nuestro Milagro"

Nuestra hija Sara nació el 26 de Agosto de 2014 en el Hospital Winnie Palmer, con una rara condición llamada ‘Cloacal Anomaly’, la cual afecta a 1 de cada 50,000 bebés. A lo largo del embarazo, nunca fuimos informados acerca de esta condición médica. Sara requirió cirugía inmediata después de haber nacido y estuvo ingresada en la Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos Neonatales durante aproximadamente 2 semanas. Esto fue una sorpresa inesperada para nuestra familia! La única preocupación de la cual éramos conscientes durante el embarazo era un riesgo potencial de que uno de sus riñones probablemente no iba funcionar correctamente, el cual resultó ser que nunca se desarrolló, lo que se conoce como un riñón multiquístico displásico. Los bebés con esta condición, también tienen riesgos de otras anomalías congénitas y en nuestro caso, el corazón de Sara se ha visto afectado con la anomalía estructural más común, que se llama una comunicación interventricular, un agujero en el corazón entre los ventrículos.

Después de ser enviada a casa, una semana después, nuestra bebe contrajo el virus respiratorio sincitial. Fue llevada a la sala de emergencia y estaba en el hospital por una semana. Nos encontramos con otra amenaza a la vida de Sara ya que ha sido diagnosticada con problemas cardíacos congénitos y permanece en necesidad de oxígeno suplementario.

Así que después de estos momentos críticos y emocionales al ver todo lo que nuestra bebé ha tenido que pasar, ahora nos estamos preparando para su cirugía a corazón abierto en un par de semanas para evitar insuficiencia cardíaca congestiva. Estamos orando por una cirugía exitosa ya que ella necesitará más procedimientos en el futuro.

Aunque el número total de cirugías y hospitalizaciones no se determinan en este momento, nuestra prioridad número uno es que Sara se mantenga lo más saludable posible. Mientras tanto, Dana ha tomado un permiso de ausencia del trabajo para cuidar a Sara y llevarla a todas sus citas medicas.

Sara ha recorrido un largo camino desde su nacimiento, pero todavía tiene un largo camino por recorrer. Desafortunadamente, ella necesitará más procedimientos en el futuro cercano. CREEMOS QUE CON DIOS TODO ES POSIBLE! Gracias por adelantado por todas sus oraciones y apoyo, y gracias por leer nuestra historia.

Sabemos que Sara es nuestro testimonio para compartir con los demás. "Estando confiado de esto, que el que comenzó en vosotros la buena obra, la perfeccionará ..." Filipenses 1:6

Que Dios los bendiga. –Mauro, Dana, Madison, Sara