Morning

We made it through night two. And good news, all three Klekowskis have bathed and slept. Things are looking up.

Eva should be released some time today. Her heart has continued to beat normally, so hopefully all this morning's tests and inspections will go well and we will be on our way home soon.

Yesterday afternoon I talked her doctor in to letting us take her IV out. The IV wasn't connected to anything anymore, but they were keeping it in just in case they needed it later. Once the IV was out, Eva finally had both her feet back and we commemorated the event with a celebratory bounce. The video isn't too clear since it was shot with my phone, but you can hear how much Eva is bothered by being in the hospital.

3 Stinky Sleepy Klekowskis

Well, we made it through the first night in the hospital and it looks like we will be here at least one more night. Eva is doing well and hasn’t had any more SVT episodes. They want to keep her another day to monitor her adjustment to the increased medication. I am not excited to be spending another tortured night in the hospital. I am very tired, emotionally and physically. I really want to be home and hold my baby without her attached to a machine.

Last night Eva and I were awoken at 11:30 and were changed to a new room. The new room is a shared room and our co-tenant requires constant video monitoring, so the lights in her room had to be on around the clock. Also, because we are in the ICU they check Eva’s vitals (temperature, blood pressure, etc.) once ever hour. Needless to say, Eva didn’t sleep much. She was awake from our move at 11:30 pm till 2:00 am. Then was awake from 4:00 am till 6:00 am. Luckily she was happy. She just thought it was midday and wanted to play with her mommy, not sleep.

All three of us (Adam, Eva, and I) stink. We were all in need of bathing on Wednesday morning, but when she was purple we decided the bath/showers could wait. Eva has been sponged off here, but has not had a proper cleaning. Due to the general craziness of our lives and Adam’s alarm not going off, he and I missed our showers this morning. So right now we are three stinky sleepy Klekowskis.

Eva is up to her usual tricks, being cute and entertaining all the nurses. She thinks every janitor, nurse, or doctor that comes in her room is here for the sole purpose of playing peek-a-boo with her. Despite having braces on her legs to keep her from bending her knees and pulling or kicking off her IV she has managed to learn how to roll onto her belly and explore every square inch of her crib. She is having way too much fun to nap and I have given up tricking or bribing her into napping. She has had some of the same nurses from her previous stays and they all remembered her from last time and were excited to see how she had grown. One nurse told me today that she remembered her and said, “she is so alert and observant. This girl is going to go places.” She takes after her mother.

I am trying to stay positive, but feel drained. I just want to be home. I want to sleep and I want my baby to sleep. I am very grateful for Eva’s good spirits and relative good health. Though she is still in the same room, Eva’s status was changed this morning from “intensive care” to “critical care.” So while they are still watching her heart closely, she was able to come off her IV drip and a few other chords.

Thank you for your prayers, they are already working. As I have finished typing this Eva has finally stopped playing and fallen asleep... though as you can see, she is keeping her toy close so that when she wakes up she can get back to business and play some more.

Back to the hospital.

When Corrie put Eva to bed last night, she was extremely fussy. We thought it was just her new teeth coming in and didn't think much of it. At 1:30am I woke up to Eva crying. She was on her stomach and looked frustrated, so I flipped her over and got out her pacifier. She gasped for breath a few times so I quickly picked her up and she fell immediately to sleep on my shoulder. I laid her down and she was breathing heavy. I woke Corrie up, and we both agreed her allergies were acting up, so we went back to sleep. This morning, Eva slept in for an hour. When she woke up, Corrie noticed her skin was really cold to the touch and her feet and hands were bluish in color. At this point, we knew something was up. After consulting with a nurse over the phone, we decided to bring her into the emergency room. Turns out, we made the right decision!

She was in an SVT (rapid heart beat) episode. The doctors tried breaking her out of it with ice, but nothing worked, so they administered a drug to break her out of it. This led to the most traumatic part of the morning. For the next 90 minutes doctors and nurses attempted to place an IV into her hands and arms. Eva was hysterical and so were we. It was so hard to watch our little girl look to us with tears in her eyes, visibly in pain ... and there was nothing we could do but pray. A doctor who attends our church happened to walk into our room as he began his shift. Though they were still having problems, his presence helped calm our nerves a bit. Eventually they were able to administer the drug and she broke out of the episode ... but it only worked for 15 minutes, as she went into a second SVT episode! It was at this point that they decided they needed to admit her into the PICU. They prepared our room and we arrived with Eva still in SVT. Numerous doctors debated what to do next. They decided to up her daily medication and to try the drug again to break her out of the episode. They also needed to do another IV. It was at this point we decided to head to the cafeteria. Thirty minutes later, we arrived back to Eva's room and her heart rate had stabilized. She is now SOUND asleep. From the looks of her (see third picture below), they had to do some handiwork to get her to take the IV and the drug, but she's staying asleep!

For now, they want to monitor her to make sure her heart takes to the increased dosage and that it keeps a regular beat. As long as things go smoothly from here, we may get to go home tomorrow night. Fingers crossed.

Please join us in praying for Eva's little heart. We thought we were out of the woods with all this stuff, but obviously we're not. Her cardiologist didn't seem too phased by any of this activity. Apparently it's all normal for her condition (WPW), but it's still a stressful and traumatic experience every time we come here.

Thanks for all your love and support! We feel so blessed to have such an amazing family and community around us.

Eva eats!

Glimpses.

        Attorney by day, diaper changer by night.

     Depa came to visit!

Pout for the camera. Work it girl!

This one goes out to all the moms!

I grew up with a stay at home mom.

I now see just how much of a true job it was for her to raise all 5 of us. 

I watch Eva half the day on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and all day on Friday. As I write this, Eva is "crying herself to sleep" attempting to take a nap. We had to skip nap time today, so that Eva's parents could have food to eat for dinner tonight. First challenge in shopping alone, what do you do with the baby when your car seat won't fit into the Costco shopping cart? I consider baby bjorning her, but I couldn't stomach being looked at as "that guy" at the warehouse, so I decided to put the entire seat in the cart. Lost between loaves of bread, yogurt, tenderloins and dried fruit, Eva was smiling and entertaining all the shoppers. 

Side note: In my single days I used to think puppies were the best way to pick up chicks ... I now have an entirely new philosophy. BABIES! Every female I pass looks at me with puppy dog eyes as they consider my plight as a lone dad just trying to get by :) I'll need to milk this attention sometime soon!

Back to parenting ... I got all the grocery shopping done, but still hadn't eaten lunch. By the time I got home, it was Eva's turn to eat. She eats. I put the groceries away. I attempt to clean the kitchen. Put her down for a nap. Attempt to eat lunch. She cries. Attempt to watch a show. She cries. Decide to blog. She cries. She cries. Finally get up to quiet her only to find her turned upside down, hitting the buttons on her mobile turning it on and off. Corrie calls. She is on her way home.

Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, I am free at last!

(She decides to fall asleep)

In search of the wildflower

For some inspiration as you read: Tom Petty's Wildflowers

Last Sunday, Corrie had the bright (or not so bright) idea of going to see the San Diego wildflowers in the Anza Borrego desert. We've always talked about making an attempt to see them, but whenever we think of it, the flowers have already bloomed. There's really only about a weekend or two in the entire year that you can see these elusive flowers ... kind of like attempting to find a chupacabra or Corrie's cell phone.

After a 2 1/2 hour drive with a restless baby in the backseat, we arrived at our destination. Only to see ... a desert. The weather was nice and the landscape breathtaking, but the flowers were hiding from us.

The previous weekend, Corrie and I got to attend a conference themed around issues of justice and the role of the Church. Corrie and I used to think we were incompatible because she wanted to be an attorney and I wanted to be a pastor. Little did we know how these two professions could work hand in hand to help bring about eternal change in the world. Confronted with issues of inequality, oppression, violence and abuse, the world is in desperate need of genuine justice. For things to be made right. Corrie and I have been given much in regards to education and opportunities (thank mom and dad!). Inspired by the life of Christ, we want to serve the least of these as a crime fighting justice league.

If you're reading this, you have been give the same invitation to join this league. Opportunities are all around us. We simply need to take the small steps.

While we didn't find the flowers, Corrie and I had an adventurous time driving, talking, off roading, nearly running out of gas and eating world famous Julian apple pie. Pursuing justice is a lot like searching for these flowers. Our hope and vision for what could be motivates us, but the end result is not in our hands. We simply have to make ourselves available and embark on the journey.

Our journey continues this weekend at our church's annual SOMA Conference. My mom (who will now be mentioned as Depa on this blog, the weird Grandma nickname given by my nephew Luke ... thank you Luke for creating a lifetime of non-sensical explanations for the rest of our lives!) is coming down to watch Eva, so we're really excited about that.