Rissy Noel

3 Months	July 2, 2000 Rissy with her elder brother Alo who loves Rissy soo much!

Reanna Rosary Noel (Rissy) was born April 27, 2000 at 7:04 am here at St. Luke's Hospital, Manila, Philippines. Although she weighed a mere 5 lbs 3 oz., she's healthy and very pretty too! We roomed her in and it was funny because all she did was sleep. She never cried at all. We noticed her stomach was unusually big so when a resident doctor came in to check on her, we asked about it and she said it's okay and we only need to burp her more often as she seems to be full of air. So we dismissed our worries and took her home after 3 days at the hospital and everything went well although we had difficulty feeding her because she's too small. We had to feed her using a dropper because she cannot suck. Thank goodness we found these newborn-size nipples at the mall and she was able to suck on it. In a week's time, she began to increase her intake of milk.

Going into her second week of life, she began to weaken. She would refuse to feed and would sleep all the time. Her stomach continued to bloat and became unusually large and stretched that you can see the veins so red through her skin. Come May 9, she was already asleep the whole time. She never even cried. When she would wake up one time or another, she would just grimace as if in pain but no sound would come out. She refused to feed and would vomit greenish substance every now and then. She already developed chronic diarrhea that her bottom was so sore from the constant exposure to her stool. So first thing May 10, we brought her to the ER of St. Luke's Hospital. The doctor took one look at her and said there's something very wrong with her stomach and they needed to do some tests. She was immediately admitted and they put this long tube down her throat. Then they extracted her blood several times. They also pricked her heel for blood sugar. She was x-rayed 4 times and they kept piercing her hands and feet with needles for the IV. They had such a hard time finding her vein that Rissy's hands and feet were already riddled with needle marks and are already black and blue. As painful as it may seem, she never cried. But you can see she wanted to. She just couldn't anymore because she was so weak. You can see the pain in her face but there was no voice to let it out. Everything was like a blur for me and my husband. I kept crying and was so confused.

Finally, after almost five hours of trying, they found her vein and they started feeding her intravenously. They put her in the nursery on a warmer and monitored her. She was put under observation and was placed in the isolation room of the nursery because they still do not know what is wrong with her. By this time, my eyes were already hurting because i haven't stopped crying since we brought her to the ER. The day passed and the following morning, Rissy's pediatrician informed us that it could be intestinal obstruction or there might be an infection in her intestines but they are still unsure of it. He referred the case to a pediatric surgeon and they decided it best to operate on her. So they scheduled her operation at 6pm that same day, May 11. Since she was not yet baptized, we looked for a priest and found the hospital chaplain who baptized her in the nursery (around 11:30am) before her operation. It was so very difficult, seeing your child lying there, very weak and helpless, tubes and gadgets attached here and there to her tiny body. Her baptism was such an emotional ceremony, only my husband and I were there (plus the chaplain, a sister and the nurses)...

They started the operation around 6:45pm. The operation lasted for only an hour-and-a-half but It was the longest wait of our lives. After the operation, they wheeled her back into the nursery. I heard her crying then... she was crying! i never heard her cry that loud before! she seems okay... but she has a colostomy. an opening at the side of her stomach where they brought out part of her large intestine so she could relieve herself there temporarily instead of through her anus. This was done to remove the stress from her large intestines and let it rest before they fix it. Final diagnosis was rectal stenosis. The end part of her large intestine is too narrow for the stool to pass through so it all gets stuck inside. That's why her stomach became so large. We brought her home May 19, the day before my birthday, and she will be scheduled for another operation (2 more, actually) to fix her intestine and close her colostomy. It took practice for us to get used to taking care of her, cleaning her colostomy and all.

3 weeks old

Truly, Rissy is a miracle. The doctors were saying she was already at the borderline where her intestine could've ruptured. If it did, she would've been poisoned by her feces and she could've died. They said most babies never make it after four days without treatment. But Rissy lasted for two weeks! She is so strong! What made her hold on? What made her so strong? I believe the Lord willed for her to live because He has great plans for her. She truly is a blessing to us! Now we know why we named her Rosary... you see, before her confinement, we weren't that religious. We often forget to say our evening prayers and we never pray the Rosary. We just went to mass every Sunday and that's about it. But when she was confined, we started our Rosary because we were desperate for help. Up to this day, we pray the Rosary every night before we go to sleep to thank the Lord for all the good things He has given us. So you see, Rissy is our angel because she suffered to bring us back to God. She put her life on the line to save us.

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June 17, 2000 during her (2nd) baptism (this time at the Church)

Last month was supposed to be her next operation but things came to a halt when we started feeling uncomfortable with her pediatric surgeon. He scheduled Rissy's operation without even seeing the plates of her diagnostic x-ray and distal colonogram (like barium enema). He seems to be making decisions here and there without any straight answers. So we sought a 2^nd and 3^rd opinion. Now they had additional findings. Rissy seems to have sacral agenesis wherein some of her sacral bones (the bones at the end of our spinal cord that has all the nerves) are missing. That out of 5, she only has 3. Her manometry is scheduled next week (anytime after August 13) to check for continence. We're confident she will soon have her colostomy closed and will be able to tell me "mommy, pupu!" Those simple words will make me the happiest mommy in the whole world!!!