Becca Freitas couldn't contain the joy in her voice.
"She smiled at me for the first time," the 22-year-old said Tuesday. "She was so glad to see me."
Freitas was talking about her baby daughter, Keilani Rose, born seven weeks early on Aug. 29 with hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid inside the skull.
When Freitas was 20 weeks pregnant, she and her husband Kyle had to make a heartbreaking decision.
Knowing their daughter would be born with the disorder, Freitas was advised to terminate her pregnancy.
"We just couldn't do it," Freitas said. "We couldn't kill our baby."
Her delight Tuesday in Keilani's first smile reinforced the Freitases' decision.
When Keilani was five days old, the 4-pound, 9-ounce baby was flown to Los Angeles in a private jet for surgery to put a shunt in her brain to relieve the buildup of fluid.
Last Friday, Oct. 23, Keilani, now up to 6 pounds, 12 ounces, underwent a 90-minute procedure in Reno to repair her esophagus.
"She has trouble keeping her food down," Freitas said.
Becca and her 23-year-old husband have kept a vigil at Keilani's bedside in the neonatal intensive care unit at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno.
If Keilani's recovery keeps progressing, the Freitases may finally be taking her home to Carson City within a week.
"It will be the happiest day of my life when she gets to come home," Becca said.
After the grim diagnosis and the Freitases' resolve to give birth to Keilani, Becca said the days leading up to her arrival were "pretty scary."
"We did a lot of research to be as prepared as we could when she finally was born."
She said Keilani still wears newborn-size clothing.
"She's such a sweet baby. She looks exactly like both of us together. She's got tons of brown hair and big gray eyes. She's just a little, tiny girl."
Freitas said the little family has received immeasurable support from their families, Ed and Cathy Freitas of Indian Hills, and Tena and Gary Yarbrough of Gardnerville.
Kyle and Becca are Douglas High School graduates.
A fundraiser is set 1-5 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Carson Mall, east entrance, to help with medical bills now totaling $500,000. The family also has set up a bank account.
Becca said she and her husband have insurance through their work at Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Nevada, but much of the treatment has been out of network which only pays a certain percentage.
The Freitases are encouraged by Keilani's progress.
"She's made great progress. The doctors said she'd never be able to see, you can just tell that she can see. They told me she'd never eat by herself and she does that. A lot of kids have hydrocephalus and have developmental delays and turn out just fine," Becca said.
They have never regretted their decision.
"We can't imagine life without Keilani," Becca said. "We love her and we're going to give her as much help developing as we can."
