WE ARE IN NEW JERSEY!!!!

After so many storms, and what seemed an endless wait, we got the GO! from Cathastrofic Funds. So we got the air ambulance. The news arrived at Wednesday night... By Thursday afternoon I got a call from the hospital saying Deedee would be transferred any minute now... And on Friday Morning, at 11:00am, baby was put in the jet and zoomed over to Newark!

THE TRIP
Mommy reached the hospital after 6am, and baby was prepared for her big day! Everyone passed by to say farewell to our DeeVa, and it all got very emotional. The people from the air ambulance company arrived, and as baby was placed in the gerney she went into a shock... She just stared straight ahead into nothingness, becoming non-responsive to her surroundings. I noticed that as we were in the ambulance, just before we went in the jet. It freaked me out. She would not follow with her eyes any movement, or show sign of being aware... not even showing a grasp. She stared to the front, without blinking, without any movement.

Monitors showed no signs of trouble, so we went ahead and went in the jet. It was a now or never moment... The four hours that went afterwards have been the longest hours of my life. Deedee was unresponsive for almost two hours. Then she started blinking a bit, and moving her fingers a bit... but very lightly. The nurse put Deedee in my arms, so she would be close to me in the rest of the journey until we reached ground. Deedee would not fall asleep at any moment, even if she wanted to... her eyelids kept closing while she fought sleep off. An ambulance waited for us, and so Deedee was moved very quickly to the hospital.

NEWARK ARRIVAL
We arrived at 4:30pm at the University Hospital. Deedee kept on looking shocked and being stunned... When she reached her assigned room and was placed on a bed she looked over at daddy, then at me, and smiled. Finally, a sign of actually acknowledging us! I felt sudden relief! So... Baby was checked, her tube was changed to a smaller one, medicine was placed to lower the throat swelling, and she finally went to sleep a-lot, for the rest of the night... We filled up the admission papers, and stayed for a while. After being sure that everything was fine, mommy and daddy went to their new home to FINALLY rest. It had been a long, taxing day! And still, everything was surreal, unreal... you name it.

So the new chapter on Deedee's saga begins...

They were going to try extubating her today, but decided to give baby more time to get used to the new surroundings, the new staff and so she is completely rested. Extubation has been scheduled for tomorrow. Today she has been sleeping non-stop after watching Fantasia 2000, and she seems calm. Her usual charm is back to normal. Many prayers keep going her way, so there is success in our efforts for her. Fingers crossed on that, and complete faith on what God will do with her in the end.

It all has been His will, what seemed impossible was delivered flawlessly into our hands... Chapter one was closed feeding hope, feeding trust in the Allmigty, feeding belief in what we strongly belief was the only right choice for baby. So many hands have helped in the way, so many people gave us strenght and made us smile through our hard times! We are grateful for everyone who helped, for every prayer, for every kindness. It all has been a collective effort which demonstrated that there are good things in life, that miracles do happen, the good can win over the bad.

We want to thank family and friends for their ongoing support. We want to thank the Rio Piedras's Pediatric Hospital PICU staff for bearing with us and trying out a different way (special thanks to Dr.Diaz, Dr.Garcia, Leslie, Idaliz and Wanda... We will NEVER forget your dedication, your help and your love for Deedee. We made it through thanks to you guys!). And we thank God for allowing us to give Deedee a chance for a better life.

Chapter Two begins now. Let's see how the story unfolds... Step by step we keep on climbing the mountain. day by day a new hope rise.

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