Thank you!

I haven't had time to post for quite a few days now, and I was shocked and pleased as could be to see that you've been checking up on me. It's nice to know!

We've had rotten weather for the last ten days or so. Today the sun was out long enough that we were able to get most of the ice off the driveway and the walks - finally. My Jeep is covered in a fine film residue of the solution that is sprayed on the highways to try to keep the roads thawed. If we get above freezing temps tomorrow, I think a trip through the car wash is a necessity.

Although I could carry on about what's been going on around the home front, I'll save that for another time. This time I've got to tell you a few things that fit under the heading of.....

NEWS FROM THE NURSERY

Some of you may have heard about this by way of ABC Evening News with Charles Gibson.

You see, last Tuesday we had an ice storm. I couldn't make it up the small hill to get to the main road and ended up staying home. Four wheel drive is nice, but it isn't worth a darn on ice. So, I heard about this on the news, just like everyone else did.

You see, this post is to introduce those of you who might not have heard about it to our new Warrior Baby. And, this time, I can even tell you her name - something I never do on this blog. But, her name has already become familiar to folks through media coverage. Her name is Dorotea. The name means, "Gift of God".

Dorotea decided to make her entrance into the world very early. In the middle of a crippling ice storm. Air Care with their team of NICU trained flight nurses couldn't get clearance to fly. The mobile NICU trucks got called back in. Dorotea was struggling to survive in a small county hospital just under 50 miles away.

Two of our doctors refused to ignore this birth. County hospitals seldom are equipped to deal with babies born so incredibly early. We deal with it every day; a county hospital might only see a birth like this a few times in their whole existence. And, when they do, the prognosis is generally not good - only because they are not equipped to deal with the needs of most neonates.

The docs decided to take the chance and they drove in one of the docs personal vehicle to make sure this child had her chance to survive. They made it. Surfactant was given to Dorotea to improve her pulmonary system. And, Dr. Dagle was able to get her tubed - and then he hand-bagged her for the return trip to our NICU when the weather eased up and the local ambulance crews were able to run.

These doctors took some pretty good risks to make that trip. It's one of the reasons I'm proud to be a small part of the team that cares for these babies.

I'm not sure how long the news stories and videos will be up, so I'd suggest you take a look at them very soon. There is a news story and video on both of these.

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/12377996.html

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/12519791.html

And, the ABC news story: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=3989070

I'll fill you in on other nursery news another time.

Welcome to the world, Dorotea! (And, yes, she's absolutely beautiful, a fantastic fighter, and things looked really good today. But, understand, she's got a long way to go before she's out of danger.