Happy Father’s Day

I know that I am late but I couldn’t let this day pass without paying tribute to my husband.  This year Father’s Day was June 20thwhich is also our wedding anniversary.  We had expected to spend the day in the hospital as Karly was supposed to be born on June 18th.  Instead we spend the day at home with our ONE month old daughter and the rest of the family. 

I am so grateful for Dave and for his love of our children.  He is so great at taking time to do one on one things with each of the kids. 

He loves to play video games and work in the yard with Thomas.  He likes having “man time” with him and takes Thomas on afternoon outings while I nap with Noelle.

Everybody knows that Dave is a push over when it come to Noelle.  He lays in bed with her a night reading, singing songs, and making funny faces!  No wonder it takes him an hour to put her to bed…

And little Karly, Daddy is already wrapped around her little finger there’s no doubt about that!

So here’s to my amazing husband, a great dad, and the first man ever to take his shirt off to do kangaroo care in the NICU at St. Joe’s!

Nurses

I am proud to be a nurse!  During Karly’s hospitalization we met many nurses, some good, some bad, some exceptional.  I will leave this experience with a new perspective on many things.  I will never look at a scared parent the same way, I will never look at a sick baby the same way.  I will forever know how it feels to be the family member who doesn’t understand, who’s tired and frustrated, who is just looking for kindness and answers.

These nurses and many more are proof that nurses do make a difference.  These women were there for us during every step of the way.  They helped me struggle through every feeding,  they held our hands when we cried, they answered our questions. They truly made a difference in my life and my practice as a nurse…

 

Reflections

What an experience our family has gone through.  We all felt the stress of it, Dave and I, Michele, Thomas, Noelle, our parents, our friends.  I can’t think of some of the days without tears coming to my eyes, the feelings are still so raw.

After attending church one Sunday while Karly was still in the hospital Michele and I were driving to go and see her and I  started to cry.  Michele asked why and I told her that I was  thinking about all the people who told me that they had been praying for our family and I thought if all those people really were praying for her that she just had to get better.  And the amazing thing is that she did!

Karly has been thriving since she came home.  Today she weighs 6 pounds, 12 ounces.  She has been awake for longer periods of time, she gives an occasional smile, she sleeps well, she eats well, she has survived Noelle’s “helping” for 6 weeks now, and she is just a beautiful baby.

I am so grateful for this experience and would not trade it for anything.  It has taught me a lot about faith, kindness and generosity. 

When we were in the NICU I saw so many babies that were so much worse off than Karly.  We were lucky that we were able to hold her, feed her, and bring her home.  So many families don’t get that chance and I will remember that always. 

I will never be able to thank those who helped us during those two crazy weeks and beyond. 

As always, Auntie Michele really stepped up to help.  She took time off of work to be with Thomas and Noelle when Dave and I couldn’t be there.  She has helped me with anything and everything you can think of.  Cooking, cleaning, playing with the kids, letting me take an afternoon nap, shopping, making sure my dog gets fed because I suck at that, I could go on forever.  I will forever be in her debt for all that she does for us…

HOME!!

The doctors said they saw no reason to send her back to St. Joseph’s.  They thought Karly was ready to go home.  The problem was that Dave and I weren’t ready for Karly to go home!  We looked at each other with fear in our eyes like we had never taken a baby home before.  What if she didn’t eat well, what if she had an apnea spell, what if she didn’t gain weight?  We were so nervous but the nurses reassured us that she would be fine and that preemies thrive once they go home.

So that was that.  After some paperwork and teaching we were on our way home with our 14 day old baby who was weighing in at her birth weight of 5 pounds, 2 ounces.  She was so tiny still.

We were lucky that Michele reminded us to bring the car seat just in case…

Everyone was excited for Karly to be home!

CHO

We arrived at Children’s Oakland around noon on June 9th…

Karly had just taken her first helicopter ride but had only beaten us there by about 30 minutes.  And we stopped at McDonald’s!

It had been a long 13 days since Karly was born.  We weren’t looking so hot.  And for those of you who keep track, yes, my eye was red!

This was Karly’s new digs… A far cry from what we were used to.  St. Joseph’s has a brand new fancy NICU but no ENT specialist.  Oakland has an ENT specialist but an old, stinky, freezing cold, no privacy havin’ NICU! 

We got to Oakland expecting to see our specialist waiting for us.  He wasn’t.  We waited and waited and waited some more.  They told us he was in surgery, they told us he was in clinic, they told use they couldn’t page him.  They told us to wait longer… There we were in Oakland, no idea where we would spend the night, no idea what was going on with our baby.  We were getting really frustrated.

Then these guys showed up from the Oakland Temple mission.  These sweet Elders gave Karly a beautiful blessing and were so kind to us.  I am so grateful for the members of the church who took care of us during this time.

Dave’s mom was generous enough to have called and reserved us a room at a hotel close to the hospital.  But we still hadn’t seen a doctor.  After waiting until 7:00 pm we decided to call it a night and go to find our hotel, get some dinner and some sleep so we could return at 6:00 am when they promised us the doctor would come in.

After a few hours sleep we were back to our waiting posts.  We waited and waited and finally left to get some breakfast at 8:30.  At which point the doctor decided to show up.  We packed up our oatmeal (my favorite food ever) and ran upstairs to meet him.  The first words out of his mouth were, “as far as I’m concerned Karly can go home”.  That’s right folks, after all this drama he said she could go home.  Apparently the doctor at St. Joseph’s was incorrect, the tumor did not have to be surgically removed.  Even though Karly had difficulty breastfeeding she was able to eat well from a bottle and so the risks of surgery outweighed the benefits.  He told us the the tumor was caused by maternal hormones and that it would shrink on it own and most likely be gone completely by her first birthday.  If not, they would consider surgery then.  She would need to follow up with him every few months but there was no need to keep her in Oakland.

That meant two things to me:

1.  I would be attached to a breast pump for the foreseeable future

and

2.  We could be transferred back to St. Josephs.  Yea!!

They had a different plan in mind though…

The Whirlybird!

On the evening of June 8th the decision was made to transfer Karly to Children’s Hospital of Oakland for evaluation of her epulis and possible surgery.  We had been discussing this possibility for a few days so it wasn’t a surprise but I still totally freaked out because Dave was in Visalia visiting the boys for Garrett’s championship baseball game.  They were nice enough to delay the transfer until the next morning so that Dave could get home.

That night I went home earlier than usual from the hospital to pack our bags.  We had no idea what would happen when we got there or how long we would be there.  I packed each of us a few days clothes and returned to the hospital at 5:30 the next morning to wait.

Dave made it back just about an hour before the helicopter got there.

Dave and I have packed up countless little ones and put them into helicopters to be flown to children’s hospitals.  It’s just another day in the ER.  But I always have tried to spend a little extra time with the parents making sure they understand what’s happening, know how to find the receiving hospital, and that their questions are answered to the best of my ability.  That did nothing to prepare us for the day our baby was getting “packaged up” as we call it.

I can’t describe the feeling of helplessness and worry that came upon Dave and I as we watched her get into the helicopter and fly away without us. 

Next stop: CHO…