Old posts - New translations

 Dear friends!

We have new translations of old posts. So I invite you to take a look at our blog archive if you´d like to know a bit more about Vitoria´s first months of life after birth. There are only a few posts, comparing to the blog in portuguese, but they are so special,  because they are about so hard days our beloved daughter faced, and I can remeber God sustaining us all the time. Hope you enjoy it!

Bath time with grandma

Look how lovely baby girl havig a bath with grandma Alice!

Marcela´s Flowers

Dear friends,

I´d like to share with you a video about baby Marcela, who was born in a little town from Brazil with anencephaly. She lived for one year and eight months. Her life was essential to not legalize the abortion of anencephalic babies in Brazil. It is an amazing story. Note that you can turn on English subtitles.

*Please be careful with you tube sugestions of videos, some videos sugested at the end of this one may not be helpful.*

Marcela's story part 2

This is part 2 of the video about Marcela de Jesus Ferreira, an anencephaly survivor.

Marcela's Story

A beautiful sunny afternoon

May the Lord be praised, because he has made clear to me the wonder of his grace in a strong town.

And as for me, I said in my fear, I am cut off from before your eyes; but you gave ear to the voice of my prayer, when my cry went up to you.

O have love for the Lord, all you his saints; for the Lord keeps safe from danger all those who are true to him, and gives the workers of pride their right reward.

Put away fear and let your heart be strong, all you whose hope is in the Lord. Psalm 31:21-24

My hand will be his support; my arm will give him strength. Psalm 89:21

The Lord in heaven is stronger than the noise of great waters, yes, he is stronger than the great waves of the sea. Psalm 93:4

The Lord will give strength to his people; the Lord will give his people the blessing of peace. Psalm 29:11

Flashback

Hello, everyone. This is Vitoria's aunt, Ivana. Most of the posts of this blog have been written by my sister Joana, Vitoria's mom. I haven't been able to translate all of her posts yet, so I know most of you haven't seen Vitoria before her surgery, and also before she was home doing well. I wanted to post a flashback of her 9 months of life, mostly in pictures.

We celebrate every month Vitoria lives like it is her birthday. In the beginning, we celebrated every day, every week. My sister often says Vitoria taught her to live one day at a time, enjoying every single moment as if it were the last. Joana stopped thinking and worrying about the future. She nurtured her present, each and every moment she could hold her daughter, see her pretty eyes open, hear her cry, hold her hand... there was no other way. She learned to trust the Lord with all her heart, and let Him lead the way, otherwise her cross would be unbearable.

We hope this post, which shows Vitoria's rough beginning, may encourage others who are facing a pregnancy full of uncertainties to trust in the Lord with all their hearts, to put their worries in His hands and let Him lead the way.

Vitoria newborn, January 13, 2010.

One day of life, still in the incubator.

Four days of life, out of the incubator and in mommy's arms

First month of life: with grandma Alice, taking a bath.

First Month: meeting grandpa Bruno

With mommy, 24 days of life.

One month

Three generations

Two months

Three Months, a little angry

Three Months: look how chubby she's getting!

Three Months: Breastfeeding

Celebrating Vitoria's 100 days of life

Four Months: Mother's Day


Four Months: Vicky pulled out her feeding tube!
Four Months: Recovering after surgery (which happened on May 19)


Four Months: one week after surgery

Four Months: Feeding tube not needed anymore

Five Months: doing well and going home
Five months after giving birth, Joana is finally taking her baby home.

Six Months: one month at home
Seven Months: trying to crawl

Eight Months: Our God is the God of the impossible

...and today, she is 9 months-old. So young and yet, so full of the glory of God!

9 Months of Life!!!

Our little princess is turning 9 months old today.

Back on January 13 of this year, we had no assurances of her survival. Every minute with her could be the last; every hour she lived was a blessing. She had so many challenges in front of her, infections, saturation levels, apnea, heart rate drops, feeding tubes, general anesthesia for her MRS scan, and surgery. Our little one spent 5 months in the NICU, having her blood drawn everyday, having her poor veins pinched... even a caterer installed close to her heart to receive antibiotics.

Today she is home, eating breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. She tries to crawl, she can almost sit all by herself, and we are so happy to see her flourish and develop.

Thank you, dear Lord, for our Beloved Vitoria de Cristo!

Busy, busy, but with good news

Dear friends,

I apologize for my delay in translating new posts! If you follow Vitoria's blog in Portuguese to see her pictures, you know there are new posts already, which I haven't translated yet.

So I wanted to leave you all a quick note telling you Vitoria is doing well. Joana and Marcelo took her to the orthopedist to see her club foot, and she doesn't need surgery. She started wearing a boot to straighten her foot and in 2 months she'll be done! This is great news. She wasn't very happy during the first week with the boot, and she even had a hard time eating and sleeping, until mommy and daddy saw her little toes were a bit swollen. The boot was too tight. The doctor said they could remove the boot in case something was wrong, so they did and Vicky was able to sleep the whole night again!
Last week she put a new boot, this time not so tight, and she is doing well.

She also started physiotherapy to help her strengthen her back and neck muscles. She goes to the sessions three times a week, so you can imagine how busy mommy is.

Please check Vitoria's channel on youtube. Joana recently posted a video of Vitoria drinking orange juice and I just adore seeing it. She loved OJ from the very first time she tried it, and you can totally tell it by the way she eagerly sucks the nipple of the bottle in this video.

She also received some visitors and even went to her first party. It was a birthday party. Mommy did something with the pictures, and we might not have them to post them here, BUT we'll post the ones that are already on at Vicky's blog in Portuguese.

Thank you so much for your kind messages and your prayers. I've been reading all the blogs my sister follows and I've been amazed by the faith and courage all the parents behind these blogs have demonstrated.

I have also been thinking of how privileged we are for having Vitoria with us, what a gift of God she is to us all. God allowed her to stay, and she's been growing and developing in ways no one (especially the doctors) could have ever imagined.
Every day Vitoria lives is a testimony of God's mercy. It is also a testimony of a mother and a father who decided to celebrate life while life existed, and who were blessed with a miracle called Vitoria de Cristo Schmitz Croxato.