Camille, My Camille

It is every couple's prayer that their would-be children would be born normal i.e., without any physical or mental anomalies. We were no exception. But as fate would have it, our second child, Camille, would be born with congenital deformities. She had cleft palate and bilateral cleft lip. You could just imagine the emotional and mental anguish my wife suffered from the day she learned about the condition of our baby who was diagnosed with such deformities when she was still six months in her mother's womb. I had to be strong for my wife so I could somehow alleviate her suffering. When Camille was finally delivered, she had another abnormality which was not detected by the ultrasound.
Since Camille was not brought to my wife for rooming in because she needed to stay in the nursery intensive care unit, my wife was not able to see her condition and I did not know how to tell her about it. I was afraid she would be devastated if I would tell her that our baby had deformed lower arms. She had somehow learned to accept about Camille's craniofacial deformity because she knew we could do something about it so it could be corrected. But with this new deformity, I didn't have the heart to inform her. But tell her I must do. I wanted to ask God why we were given with such hard a trial but my faith would always prevail. It was His will and we had no right to question Him but accept it.


The ensuing months were very difficult for us mentally and physically.  Camille had to wear a prosthetic palate and use a special bottle so she could be properly fed. I had to carry her in an upright position every time I would feed her so that  she wouldn't suffer from nasal regurgitation i.e., when her milk comes out of her nose during feeding time. Yes, I was the one who would feed Camille because my wife then was still recuperating from her caesarean section operation. I remember that while we were still waiting for her prosthetic palate to be delivered,  I had to feed Camille using a dropper so she would not choke.


Months after she was born, Camille underwent two reconstructive prostethic surgeries to remedy her craniofacial defects. The procedures were successful (thanks to Dr. Hector Santos who operated on Camille pro bono at St. Martin de Porres Hospital in San Juan) and we knew that this would help lessen Camille's inferiority complex. Everytime we see her smile, we know that we have somehow managed to be successful in making Camille's life normal.


We had learned to accept that we could do nothing about her lower arms' defects that's why we tried to instill in her unwavering faith in God and positive outlook in life notwithstanding her physical defects.


I have always known that God has given us Camille because He knows that we would be good parents to her. It is our privilege to have been chosen by God to be Camille's parents because through her we would be able to share with her the great love He has for all His children. And as far as we're concerned, all our children are normal because in the eyes of God nobody is abnormal.