Thank You!

I wanted to write a post and say Thanks! The last few days have finally felt normal to us, not having to worry about appointments and tests, or the "bili blanket" We have enjoyed being home with no place to go!

Thank you all for your prayers and support! We are not out of the woods yet, but we are close and we are so thankful for the love and support we received and continue to receive while going through the last 3 weeks. All the cards, calls, emails and prayers, We feel so blessed to have a huge circle of support through our friends and family!

THANK YOU!

As you may have noticed, I have taken tons of photographs of the girls when I can the last week or so. I LOVE photography and I LOVE having two of the most adorable subjects in the world to photograph. Isabelle is seriously the easiest kid in the world to photograph, well next to Calista who just sleeps through the entire shoot. I didn't have to bribe Isabelle once to take any of her pictures, she just wants to take pictures with her sister. Anyway I have had some request to post more pictures, so I created a little slide show with some of my favorite pictures, some I have already posted and some I haven't. Enjoy!


(If the slide show stops, just refresh the page, it should start back up again...)

No News Is Good News...I Guess?

***UPDATED*** We just got a call from the doctor at 6:30PM Her lab tests are IMPROVING!! some more minor than others, but an improvement enough not to transfuse! YAY!! and he is comfortable enough to let us go til next Tuesday to retest. YAY!! They gave us specific instructions on what to watch for to make sure she is doing OK, and as long as she does well we don't have to go in til next Tuesday, what a HUGE relief and praise!!

We didn't hear back from the doctors today, so I am guessing no news is good news. I know that they ordered up a different set of test then normal and that our regular pediatrician was going to meet with the other two specialist before calling me. So my guess is that the lab work looked fine enough for us to go another day until hearing from him. So we are waiting patiently till tomorrow and will update you as soon as we know anything...

Calista is 3 Weeks Old!

Calista is 3 weeks old today and I am happy to report that the "bili" is no longer an issue for her, however the red blood cells are, I don't have the results back from toady's test yet. They started taking blood from her veins today and not from her heel anymore. That was hard to watch, but it should give us a more accurate result. We are waiting to hear back from the doctors this morning on what the latest plan is... I will keep you posted....YAY for no more "bili" problems! It's baby steps, but I'll take it!


Here are a few snapshots from this week....


...and here are the first of many duck pictures of Calista.... I also attached the one of Isabelle at the same age. If you aren't familiar, we took pictures of Isabelle and this duck each month of the first year of her life, to watch her grow, since they change so quickly. I am so glad I did it! It was so fun to put all of Isabelle's pictures side by side at the end of the year and see how much she had changed....

Calista at 2 weeks

Isabelle at 2 weeks
Freddie, Jeremy and Calista....

Danyka, Issy and Calista
Isabelle proudly feeding her baby sister a bottle...
This was too cute not to post, Issy and her friends playing dress up!!

Waiting...

I haven't updated because we continue to wait and the news we have gotten is somewhat the same and what is new is confusing.

Calista's lab work over the weekend didn't change much from Friday. Over the weekend her reticulocytes had shown no improvement of making new cells and her red blood cells count continued to drop slowly. So I went in prepared for transfusion this morning.

This morning the red blood cell count continued to dropped slightly from yesterday but her reticulocyte count went up slightly, which means that her body is now starting to make new red blood cells. Because the reticulocytes changed from over the weekend they want to give it another day to see if the red blood cells will start climbing up, so no transfusion today. They are monitoring her each time we get a test to make sure her body isn't in distress since the red blood count is still dangerously low, they are just checking to make sure her heart isn't working faster to pump blood through her body then it should for her size and age, and making sure she is getting enough oxygen pumped through her body. So we continue to wait patiently and trust in the Lord. It is amazing to me that every time we go in prepared to do the transfusion, her lab work changes just enough for them to feel comfortable to put it off another day.

I wanted to share this verse with you,

Psalm 139:13-14

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Once this is all over with and the antibody stops fighting Calista, she will be fine and I know this, it still doesn't make this process easy or fun, or make me worry any less, but I know that God is faithful in the plans he has for each of us and that he knows Calista inside and out because he made her and he knows exactly what she needs.

Tired

We were at Kaiser for 4 hours this morning, waiting for all the doctors and specialist to come up with a plan. Calista's "bili" is back up and her red blood cells are still low, dangerously low and a transfusion is the best option for her because of all the damage the antibody has done to her red blood cells. We are going to continue to test through the weekend to make sure she stays stable and possibly transfuse on Monday unless something changes.

Back On The Rollercoaster...

Calista's "bili" is still dropping it is now 10.3 and our pediatrician wants to stop the use of the "bili blanket" for 24 hours to see how her body does on it's own. We will go back in and retest the "bili" again in the morning to make sure she doesn't spike back up. This is exciting, but also scary to me.

The new issue, which isn't news to us, they have been warning us this may happen... Calista's red blood cell count is dropping quite rapidly each time they test it. Today it dropped down 8 points (she was below normal already) they are now concerned enough that if the number is still down tomorrow she will need to be readmitted and have a transfusion. I feel like we have been making great progress and today took a huge step back. We don't want to have to readmit Calista and it also terrifies us that she may need a transfusion.

I feel a little overwhelmed today, (could be my lack of sleep) Taking her off the blanket overwhelms me, because it is working. The idea of a transfusion overwhelms me especially since we can't designate blood for her. You would think I would be a little more at ease about it having worked in the blood transfusion industry. Please continue to pray! We appreciate it more than you know!

Freddie and DeAnna

Calista is 2 Weeks Old!

Calista is 2 weeks old today! and finally we have a day off of testing!

Calista is 6lbs 13oz as of yesterdays weigh in. She eats well and sleeps a ton! She makes the cutest little snorting sound when she is mad and she LOVES to be held! Even when she is sleeping she doesn't like to be left alone. She also loves her big sister. When she is alert and Isabelle is around she loves to look at her and if she is crying and hears Isabelle's voice, she usually settles down. We are enjoying having her home and apart of our family!

I am going to do a weekly post for Calista on Wednesdays like I did for Isabelle her first year. We will continue to give you updates on her "bili" tests every other day now. Thanks for praying for our sweet little girl!

A Great Day!

Today Freddie went back to work, and the girls and I had our first outing together, a trip to Kaiser for Calista's daily appointments. I was real worried if we would make it on time and how we would do parking and managing a 3 year old while taking care of a newborn doing lab work. Surprisingly, everything went great! Calista slept the entire time even through the lab work, and Isabelle was a perfect angel the entire time! What a blessing! I did bribe her with a lollipop, but I think she just really loved helping me! She is such a great big sister and we have learned that if we give her little jobs it makes her so happy.

Calista's "bili" number is still dropping it went down .5 today! So it is now 12.2 and we don't have to go in everyday now!! We get to go every other day! So tomorrow will be our first day since Calista was born that we don't have to go anywhere!! YAY!!

And get this... both girls are napping right now, it seriously is a great day!

Mommy and Calista

Freddie helped me take some pictures today of Calista and I. I had some ideas and set up the shots and he snapped away. He did a great job, even coming up with a few of his own ideas.

The doctor reminded me today that we can have her off the lights for 30 minutes at a time to feed her, but I usually just wrap the blanket around her while I feed her, I guess her body needs the breaks now and then. They get real groggy being on the lights, so I justified using 10 minutes of off the light time to take a couple pictures.

Dropping!!

She got a sticker today cause she got poked twice, it says Lab Star!

Today Calista's "bili" dropped .3 to 12.7!!! All I can think is PRAISE GOD! It is such a relief that her number is FINALLY dropping!! We go in again tomorrow and if the "bili" is still dropping we can then start testing every other day! Keep praying it is working!!!

Calista and Daddy

I have all these photo ideas floating through my head and I can't take many pictures cause Calista needs to be on the "bili blanket" all the time. I have been able to work around the blanket for the most part, but I snuck in one picture here real quick.

Here are a couple I took of Calista and Daddy... More later....

If you noticed, Freddie still has his medical bracelet on... We don't need them anymore cause Calista is no longer in the hospital, but he said he wont take it off until she is all better. I thought that was so sweet!

Creeping Towards Progress

Aren't baby feet the most adorable ever!! If you look closely at Calista's heals you can see some of the places they have been poking her. We counted last night and she has 10 sticks in each foot so far. (Now one foot has 11)

At our appointment today, her "bili" count was 13 she went up only .4 which is pretty good. It means the home therapy is working and since she is just creeping up slowly they are willing to let us keep trying phototherapy at home until we get to 15. The doctor hopes that since she is getting older and the average time it takes for this antibody to run it's course in a babies body is 3 weeks, that the "bili" number will start to come down. We have heard this before, but it is encouraging to us that she only went up slightly since yesterdays test. Our hope is that tomorrow it will be no more than .2 if she has to go up at all. Eventually she should start coming down the closer she gets to 3 weeks old.

The other exciting thing is since we are the first to try this at home treatment for Kaiser Sacramento, hopefully if all continues to go well other families might be able to treat at home too. What a blessing it has been for us to be at home with our precious little girl!!

Another Night...

Right before we left for our appointments the "bili blanket" light bulb burned out. Thank God it didn't do that last night in the middle of the night. Freddie was able to go get a new one while I was at the appointment with Calista.

Calista's "bili" went up to 12.6 that is less than one unit in 31 hours. (It had been 31 hours between tests) That means that the "bili blanket" is helping although the number is up. They decided to let us try again tonight and hope that the number doesn't go up more. My guess is that they will readmit her if she gets to Fifteen. Twenty is when we hit the "danger zone" She has been on that blanket 24/7 and in a window when the sun is out!

I was even able to work around the lights and take some pictures for her announcement today. I have been dying to take pictures of her!

It is so nice being home with her, we are able to get a lot more rest not having to run back and forth to the hospital and we have more time with Isabelle which she loves! Isabelle and I even went to get yogurts today just the two of us for a special treat, while Daddy had some bonding time with Calista at home.

Isabelle was afraid of Calista yesterday but has warmed up to her. She even got to play with her while she was alert this morning and she even got to hold her for a bit this morning.

Here are some pictures from today....

Good Morning!

Click on the picture to see it larger...

We had a great night last night, Calista was up twice, not to bad. We enjoyed a wonderful morning just the 4 of us! We are getting ready to head out to our appointments this morning. We are praying that the home phototherapy is working so we can keep her here! We will update you this afternoon on the appointments.

Thanks for your prayers!

I posted a picture of Isabelle when she was just born and one of Calista so you can see the difference. You can defiantly tell they are sisters.

To Diaper or not to Diaper....

Well, now that we're home we don't have nurses to change Calista's diaper. Somehow I got elected (paper, rock, scissors) to change her diaper. It wasn't that bad, actually it was pretty easy. I noticed that she has a hairy butt, is that normal? Any ways I was pretty proud of my first diaper change, so I took a picture. (the label faces up right?)

-Freddie

Here's some other pictures as well.

Picture of her on her "biliblanket".

Proud Big Sister!

SHE'S HOME!!!!!!!

Arriving home!!

She is finally home! We were able to get a "bili blanket" and take our sweet baby girl home!! We are to keep her on the blanket 24 hours a day and put her in indirect sunlight as much as possible. We go back tomorrow morning for an appointment and lab work, and as long as her "bili" number stays about 12 or less we are good to continue home therapy. When we left the hospital and all the nurses in the special care nursery, I cried, I didn't think I would cry leaving the place, but I am so grateful for the care we all received while there!!

Please continue to pray for Calista.

Here are a few pictures... We will post more later!!

Calista in her car seat

Calista all set up with her "bili blanket"

Hope once again

When we came back for the 9am feeding. I walked in and calista was off the lights. All the nurses were so excited to see us. The pediatrician was writing orders to discharged us with phototherapy equipment. Kaiser has never done this before but the pediatrician is fighting for us to go home and come back and test daily. When the kaiser rep came in to get the order she faught the doctor and the entire nursing staff vouched that I know how to do their job as well as they do. They have seen me do it for 9 days now. We are still not sure if this is possible. We are waiting to see if kaiser will allow us to take home the equipment. We met with the pediatrician and he is confidant that she is beginning to make progress even with last nights spike, all the other labs are looking better. Posted be DeAnna via Freddie's phone

Numb

Calista's "bili" jumped to 11.8 they put her back under the lights this morning at 7:30. We got to hold her for little while before the orders were written. We are waiting to hear from the neonatal specialist and the pediatrician. We expect her to be under the lights another 48 hours before they take her off and start testing again.

Not Tonight

Calista's "bili" is up to 9.2 and even though it is within the range they wanted for us to go home, there were a few other factors that made them decide to keep her at least til morning. We will retest in the morning at 6am and if she stays the same or lower we can go home. If she goes higher, we go back under phototherapy, again. I am fearing the worse. She jumped up 1.2 units in under 8 hours after being off the lights and letting her body work on it's own, that isn't very encouraging. It seams that her body isn't ready to fight this antibody without the lights.

This was the third time we got our hopes up that we might be able to take her home and had to leave her there again. I can barley keep it together. Each time I walk out of that hospital without her it breaks my heart even more.

Please pray that her little body can fight this antibody on it's own. Pray that the "bili" number will be the same or lower tomorrow morning and pray for Freddie and I to be prepared for however long she needs to be there.

Thank you!

DeAnna

6PM

Tonight at 6PM Calista will be getting another lab test done. If her "bili" values are only up less then 2 units she gets to come home. We are NOT getting our hopes up! (too late, but we are trying...) We are praying that they are not up, but we are also trying to stay grounded just in case. Please pray!!! It can take up to 2 hours for us to get the results back, I will update you either way when I can.

We spent most of the day with her and just got home to spend sometime with Isabelle before going back for the next feeding. She was alert for some of the time we were there and we had so much fun fighting over who gets to hold her!!

Stay tuned, we will keep you posted!

We don't send them to school from here...

Calista's "bili" is down to 8! Just one unit lower but still good. She is off the lights and we are going to retest at 6pm. She is expected to go up a little. We are hoping no more than one unit. Please pray for that! We are enjoying cuddling with her this morning. I love the way she smells. Her night nurse Ife (the one who drew the eyelashes on her glasses) she has been cracking us up all morning... We have been waiting to meet with the doctor this morning, and Ife has filled us in on Calista's labs and anwsering our questions. I asked her how long she thought till we can take her home if her labs continue to look good. She said "we don't send them to school from here." We laughed so hard. So far it has been a great day.

Posted by DeAnna via Freddie's phone

Waiting...

This morning they will be taking Calista off Phototherapy for the 4th time. I am very nervous about that but at the same time I am excited. My fear is that the antibody is still strong enough to take over her body once the lights go off. We are prepared that this process could take another week of going back on and off with the photothereapy. But the excitement is that I get to hold her as long as I want while the lights are off. I told Freddie that I plan to be there all day today as long as those lights are off. I can't wait to get my hands on her this morning and continue staring at her and memorizing every little part of her.

I can't tell you what an amazing husband I have. It has been a rough week for us. But he remains calm and my rock. He knows when to make me laugh, the other night he made me laugh so hard I could barley walk, it was exactly what I needed. He has gone to some of the late late night feedings and brought milk I pumped so that he can have some bonding time with Calista and I can rest. I think that is so precious. I have fallen more in love with him this week!

We plan to be at the hospital all day today, so we will try to keep you posted via Freddie's phone if we can.

Thanks again SO MUCH for all the prayers, emails, calls etc. It means so much to us! It is amazing to me to see how faithful GOD is in providing for us in times of need and we certainly are blessed by the friends and family we have in our lives! Thank you!

One Week Later...

Calista is one week old today!

My Mom is leaving today, so she went with me to the early feeding to see Calista one last time before leaving. While we were there they were circumcising baby boys and we talked to a Daddy and his newborn son. After we got home I realized I knew that baby. The Daddy was telling us his name and about his brothers and after thinking about it, it all added up. My friend Melissa who was pregnant the same time as me, had her son! So when I returned for the next morning feeding this morning, I went to visit her. He is precious! Melissa is planning to come meet Calista later today at one of our afternoon feedings. What a small world.

Calista's "Bili" number is down to 9 and her reticulocytes dropped 50% since yesterday morning and her bone marrow is starting to act like it should. ALL GREAT THINGS! A sign that the antibody is starting to die. They are keeping her under the U.V. light until tomorrow morning and then we will start the 12 hour blood tests to make sure the antibody doesn't start acting up again. She is doing great otherwise, looking pink again. She was alert for a while when we were there so Freddie and I got to enjoy watching her look around and make noises for a little bit. There are moments that I feel like I don't know my baby or she doesn't know me. I am there every 3 hours but she is usually asleep and stays asleep while I feed her and then I have to get her back under the lights, so we don't have time to play or cuddle. I know she knows me, but I feel like I am missing out in some way because we aren't with her all the time and we miss those moments.

I had to make a doctors appointment for myself today because I am having some issues since the surgery, nothing major, but it was a reminder that I need to remember to take better care of myself. Today has been the hardest so far on my emotions also. I think a combination of reasons. My Mom leaving, it being one week from when she was born, not feeling good, and doing this everyday going back and forth is wearing me out. My good friend Tennielle reminds me that moments like these are a temporary inconvenience to a long term pay off and that is helpful to remember. This isn't going to be our life forever. She will be home soon and life will be boring again. I am so thankful that Calista isn't in pain and that she is healthy otherwise. I also know that God has a plan for our family and I am faithful that He knows what He is doing!

Keep Praying!

Pacman

Pacman is the analogy they have given us to explain what the antibody is doing in Calista's body. It should eventually die but it can take up to three weeks. The antibody is going through and chomping at her red blood cells and making them split in half. There is more to it than this. Her bone marrow is playing a role in this as well as many other components of her blood that are being effected by the antibody. We learned a little about what all of this means today when talking to the doctor and looking at her labs from the past week.

Right now, the photo therapy is suppose to help with the jaundice that is being caused by all the splitting cells. It seams that when we take her off the photo therapy the antibody is still in full force which is why her "bili" is going up.

The plan is to continue photo therapy and retest in the morning. Once the number drops more than it has we will start testing her again every 12 hours after the number drops to see if the antibody is dying. Needless to say. She isn't coming home anytime soon.

This is hard on all of us, we really want her home, but of course we don't want her home before she is ready. If her "bili" gets into the 20's that is where major damage can occur. So for right now. We continue to go every 3 hours for her feedings and for short cuddles. While she is under the lights we only get to hold her during the feeding times. I think this is harder on Freddie since I am the one feeding her. Really it is just a matter of time and we are faithful.

I can't even begin to thank you all for all the prayers and well wishes, it truly helps!

So Far So Good Today...

Calista's "bili" Number is down to 11.4 this morning and she is looking more pink today!

Alema is back today too! We were so excited to see her! She said that she called yesterday to get the updates on Calista, which made us feel special.

We are meeting with the pediatrician at 10:30 this morning to discuss the next plan of action. We know we wont get to take her home today but it was a better start this morning then yesterday. We are real anxious to hear what is next. we'll keep you posted!!

Keep Praying!

Here is a picture of Isabelle and the craft she proudly made for her baby sister this morning. So cute!

Our Precious Isabelle

For an update on Calista scroll down to the next post....

Snug as a bug in her bed with her friends!

Isabelle has been making me smile all day, so I thought I would give you an update on her. She is GREAT! She is a little more wound up these days with all the excitement and the spoiling from her Grandma and Grandpa G and Nana! But she is a happy girl! A typical 3 year old girl, trying to express herself!

She doesn't understand why we are coming and going so much and crys when we leave sometimes but she is super excited to see us when we come home, which helps me so much more than she knows.

She isn't real interested in Calista or even where she is right now, but that is understandable. I think she will get it more when she gets to finally come home.

Freddie was able to take Isabelle to a birthday party this weekend and they had a great time. We try to spend as much time as we can with her when we are home.

I am so thankful to be the mommy of two precious little girls!!

Here are a few pictures of Isabelle from this week...

Playing with her current favorite toy, Pop Beads.

Helping Daddy in the garden...

Isabelle and her baby sister... earlier this week in the hospital...

This was a funny moment, Isabelle was mad at the nurse for making her sister cry...