Faith was born on Tuesday, November 18th, 2003 just after 7pm weighing 6lbs 8oz.  She was perfect.  The dream we had been waiting to meet much longer than just 9 months was finally here.  Her delivery was completely normal, and we were none the wiser to how much our lives had really changed with her arrival. 

Looking back it is clear to see that she was showing symptoms from her first few hours of life.  Faith wasn't much of an eater at first.  She seemed to have a lot of mucous in her tummy.  I can remember at least 2 times the nurses had to suck out ickies from her tummy and throat because she was choking.  We just figured she still had some amniotic fluid in her still.  The first two days were pretty normal.  The only thing that was different was that Faith hadn't had her first bowel movement yet.  I kept telling the nurses that she hadn't had one, but they just kept blowing me off.  It was finally time to go home.  It was Thursday, November 20th.  A day I will never forget.  To this point in history, one of the hardest days I have ever had to live.  The pediatrician came in to do our discharge paperwork and to send us home.  I once again told him that Faith had not passed her Meconium yet.  He called for a suppository from the nurses.  They lagged and after about an hour (and a 2nd request from the Dr.) returned with one.  They tried it, and nothing happened.  They tried one more, and still nothing.  They ordered an x-ray to take a picture of her tummy.  The next thing I remember is getting a phone call from the Dr. saying that they were transferring my new baby to Children's hospital for a distended tummy.  This is where it all begins.  Within an hour, Faith was taken to Children's via ambulance.  She was placed in the NICU and that is when we first heard the words "Cystic Fibrosis" (cf).  The hardest 2 weeks of my life began that day. 

During the first two days we pretty much just waited while they did 2 or 3 barium enemas on her trying to see what was going on.  Her colon was so small that they were unable to get past it to see any further up her intestines.  On Saturday November 22nd, at just 4 days old, Faith underwent exploratory surgery to see what was going on in that little body of hers. She weighed a whopping 5lbs 13oz. She hadn't been able to eat for 2 days, and all they knew for a fact was that she had a micro colon.  

The dr.s found that Faith had a blockage in her intestines and they removed the meconium from her intestines.  They were able to scrape it all out, and didn't have to remove any intestine which was very good news.  The bad news, was that her condition was an implication of CF.  They did the blood tests and sent them off to the Mayo clinic.  They said the wait would be 7-10 days.  The next few days were tough on us. Faith was on life support for about 24 hrs.  She was such a trooper for such a small baby.  From then on, things went well.  She started to get better and started to take feeds of pedialite with in a few days.  By December 1st she was ready to come home.  We were thrilled.

On December 3rd we found out that Faith had tested positive for CF.  We had our first clinic appt. on December 5th and she was started on her enzymes and vitamins.  Since then Faith has been hospitalized numerous times.  The first time for eating complications at 2 mos old, which resulted with a diagnosis of delayed gastric emptying (DGE) and reflux.  The 2nd time (7/05) for breathing problems which diagnosed her with asthma.  The many times that followed were all for a cough and a lung infection. Some times her cultures came back positive for Pseudomonas (PA) which is a harmful bacteria to people with CF.  Other times she just couldn't kick the infection on her own. On average Faith has been on iv's every 3-4 months. Since receiving her port in April of 2006 we now are able to do her iv's at home most of the time. This has been such a blessing.

Faith was also diagnosed with Celiac Disease at 18 mos. old.  This was after many months of malabsorbtion issues that her CF drs. couldn't figure out what was going on.  Faith is doing well now.  She has grown out of her DGE, and is on a completely gluten free diet to control her Celiac Disease. 

On February 15, 2008 Faith received a dr report that she has been healed of Celiac Disease. She did not have the gene and is now on a full gluten diet with no more reactions of any kind! Hallelujah!

She is one blessed little girl, and is always a blessing to everyone she comes in contact with.