Hotel Rady

Hello....we are writing to you all from our lovely room at Rady Children's Hospital. Kali has been admitted once again for RSV, similar to our experience in early 2011. The diagnosis was confirmed today and we have been banned from having a roommate since it is viral. We even have a giant green sign on our door that warns everyone about taking extra precautions.  We are not sure how she got it, but 'tis the season for colds and flu..

In our waiting time, Matt created this video for Kali's viewing pleasure. She loved it, so we hope you enjoy it too.

Kali Is Home

Today was a long day. The stomach bug whipped through the house with no mercy. Kalista made a good enough recovery that they set her free late this afternoon. We can still hear her stomach gurgle, but she looks so much better than a few days ago.

She made some new nurse friends in the Medical/Surgical Pod, but we hope that we won't have another visit for a while.

Here are a few cute pictures at the baby hotel (aka Rady Children's Hospital):

Welcome back home baby love!

We're Back...Round 2

Just our luck...this is our second trip to the ER in the past two weeks. The first round was the RSV thing and now it's because of the stomach flu. Darn those viruses!

How did it all begin???

It all started Thursday around 10 pm when we noticed that was retching almost every 10 to 15 minutes and then at about midnight she started whimpering and squealing in pain. That is when the diarrhea started and it didn't get better after that. We just thought it may have been from sour milk or something and changed out her bag and tubing on the pump to give her fresh formula instead. We decided to wait and see if it got better since she didn't have a fever or any other signs. Kalista was fine for the morning and even swung on the swings at the park with Matt. By 5 pm, she was floppy and lethargic. Matt said she looked drugged out and zombie like. So...that's how we ended up where we are right now.

We checked into Rady Children's ER Friday night and they examined her and infused her with IV fluids due to apparent dehydration. They worried about her WPW heart arrythmia because her heart rate was at 230 beats/minute and she is normally in the 130s and 180 maximum when she gets super mad. In the end, it was just due to her dehydrated state and they didn't have to give her a drug called adenosine. We were admitted eventually and Jen stayed overnight while Matt went home to rest for work the next day. Kali has been such a trooper through it all. She got poked at least a dozen or more times since they need to take samples to do tests and measure all these different levels from her blood. She has officially become a human pin cushion.
Ouchie wowchie!

It's nice that we have a large room all to ourselves so Kali can rest and sleep more soundly. She is actually sound asleep as we update this blog. She is still a little weak and falls over when we sit her up, but she looks so much better than early Friday morning into Friday night. We just hope that she gets to come home sooner than later.

We can't believe how fast it hit her.

BEFORE (Thursday)

AFTER (Friday)

For sure, she is definitely a lot stronger and more lively today compared to yesterday. She has been giving those lab assistants a run for their money when they come to stick her.


The oddest thing we noticed, since this all happened, is that we have not heard one retch from Kalista. It's like the retching is completely gone. It leads us to believe she might have a reaction to milk or milk-based formula in her stomach. She is doing spectacular on the Pedialyte she is getting right now...no retching or anything. Hmmmmm......explain that GI clinic! Should we try soy?

It's Homecoming Day!

WE'RE COMING HOME!!!

Car seat challenge with her tummy shield

We started our morning with our car seat challenge. We just had to make sure that Kalista can hold her oxygen saturation for the duration that she's harnessed into the seat itself and to see how she would tolerate her tummy shield. She wasn't too fond of the car seat at first, but didn't mind after sitting in it for the required 30 minutes.

Kalista reflecting on all her time in the NICU

When we look back, it seemed like it was only a few days ago that we entered the NICU....but we all know that wasn't the case. Those 3 1/2 months were probably the hardest 3 1/2 months of our lives, but now that Kalista is finally home...it was worth the wait. We really don't even know where to start in thanking everyone at Rady Children's NICU for all the love and support that they have extended to us. In the time of our stay, Kalista has surely built a good size fan club. How can anyone resist that smile....right?

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OUR THANK YOU SECTION:

We would love to thank our primary nurses for their healing hands...Tawny, Kristen, Anna and Marilyn. They have been with Kalista for many weeks, months and even from the very first day she was born. We believe they spent more time with Kalista than their own children sometimes. We cannot thank you enough for everything that you have done for us!

We can't forget our non-primary nurses! We thank you for all that you have done in taking care of our little girl. Let us see if we can make a list of who we have been blessed to work with: Emily, Rose, Linda, Janet, Diana, Tabitha, all the Sarahs/Saras, all the Jennifers, Micaela, Shareen, Lauren, Rachel, Rachelle, Erika, Tamyra, Jack, Suzanne, Heather, Rosa, Jaime, Lindsay, Penny, Mary, Michelle, Amanda, Nate, Tammi, Jackie, Tracy, Amber, MaryAnne, Denise, Dionne, Eleata, Sam, Rosa, Catherine, Lynn, Susan, Marsha, Bryan, Laura, Valerie, Raquel, Nancy, Vicky, Ken, Meg, Gina, all the Amys, Mia, Jill and Jaime. Sorry if I left anyone out or didn't spell your name right...our brains a little over saturated at the moment.

Thank you to all our NNPs: Barbara (at least her hair is thicker than before =) ), Kylee, Natasha, Stephanie, Angela, Stacie, Kim, Carol, Tammy, April.

Thank you to our team of neonatalogists: Dr. DeLaRosa, Dr. Lane, Dr. Wong, Dr. Speziale, Dr. Sutner, Dr. Evans, Dr. Knight.

Thank you Dr. Saenz for your miracle hands in repairing Kalista's omphalocele. We know our journey is not over yet...but we are so much closer.

Thank you Casi, Anne and Adriana for working with Kalista in OT.

Thank you Ruth for giving milking advice because you are our "breast" friend.

Thank you Karen and Linda for making Kalista's PT enjoyable.

Thank you to all of the BAs that have greeted us at the window, given us bottles and labels for the milk factory, buzzed us in and out of the NICU and for working hard behind the scenes.

And lastly, to Jennifer, our social worker, who has held our hand and given us support through all of this, we thank you from the bottom our our hearts.

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We were officially discharged and left Rady's with smiles and joyful tears a little after 1 pm and headed home to begin our new life adventure. This is only the beginning for Kalista Lam!

Kalista's first time out in the real world