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