This is Lucy Dodgen

1 day old

1 week old with all her einas

This is the letter we received from her mom Linda:

Lucy was born just over a week ago with esophageal atresia. What this means is that her tummy and her mouth are not connected. She is missing almost 6 vertebrae worth of oesophagus - a long gap. This condition is often associated with other problems but in Lucy's case she is perfect in every other way. She does have an extra set of ribs though!
My attempt at explaining all the einas and tubes:
The big yellow tube is the feeding tube that goes directly into her stomach The cut down her front is the where they went in to put the feeding tube in The "lion sticker" is a heart rate monitor The white cord wrapped around her foot is measuring her oxygen saturation levels Her drip is in her head. They alternate between hands, feet and head to give the veins a break. She was getting glucose, protein and fats through the drip but these have slowly been reduced and she should be off the drip in a couple of days. She has also had an antibiotic (just in case) through this drip.
The tube in her nose goes down the back of her throat and is a constant suction which makes sure that saliva and secretions don't go into her lungs.
She is doing well and putting on weight nicely. She will stay in NNICU for the next 6 weeks or so, during which time we are hoping she will grow nicely and that the gap between her tummy and her throat is a bit smaller. The surgeon wants to reassess our options at that stage. Either
1) she will have grown nicely and the gap will be small enough to operate (unlikely)
2) she will have grown nicely and the surgeon will use a relatively new stretching technique to try and bring the two ends closer together which involves an op to put in "stretching stitches" and then another op to close the gap
3) we will leave her to grow some more and reassess again in another couple of weeks time.
Thank you so much to everyone for their incredible support during the longest week of our lives.
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers
Lots of love
Jarrod, Linda, Jack and Lucy
xxxx

We are all keeping Lucy in our thoughts and prayers.
The Pomario Family send all our love and best wishes
Love Leigh, Kim and Natalia XXX