Inside the Children's Hospital

Episode 69 | Liza's Story - A daugther with Lyme Disease "I don't think I would have ever done the work on myself had it not been for my daughter's struggle." Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist talks with Liza Blas from Very Happy Stories. We talk about: +How Liza found her purpose and began her own healing journey +Liza believes her daughter's highly sensitive characteristics played into her...

"Being a child life specialist with this population is not just about supporting them through their hospital experience, its about preparing them for the rest of their life." Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist talks with two child life specialists, Katie and Jessica, from the transplant team at MedStar Georgetown Hospital .  These essential members of the care team talk about: The ways they de...

"We had to learn everything we could because our son's life was literally on the line."   Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist talks with Todd and Morgan who just a few weeks after the birth of their first child were faced with the truth that he had a life threatening condition called Biliary Atresia. The cure? A liver transplant.   Despite the many challenges they faced, Todd and Morgan talk ab...

Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist is interviewed and asked about ways to support children of chronically ill or medically complex children.  Questions that Katie discusses include: +How to have hard conversations with children +How to keep siblings included and understood +When is the best time to have a baby after having a child with medical needs Madeline is the host of The Rare Life podcas...

"I think this may be a parent's worst nightmare."   Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist interviews Holly, mom to three children living in Northern California. Holly's son, Austin, was typical until just after his 1st birthday, then started regressing in gross motor including balance and weak tone and eventually spasticity, which is their biggest concern to this day.   Holly has a sense of humor...

Mijha and her husband live in Atlanta with their three daughters—ages 9, 5, and 8 months at the time of this conversation with Child Life On Call. Her middle daughter, Violet, was born with challenges that became evident only months after birth, leading the family on a journey through genetic testing, therapies, advocacy, and acceptance. Violet's Early Story Violet spent two nights in the NICU aft...

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"It's been rough. It's like your heart is in two different places." Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist interviews Madeline, a mom from Utah that shares her son's experience with having a rare form of skeletal dysplasia and how her daughter has dealt with their journey. Madeline is host of The Rare Life podcast which was inspired by her son, Kimball after his arrival into the world. In this epi...

Annie, Certified Child Life Specialist interviews Lindsey, mom to Memphis a son who suffered from Infant Botulism. Lindsey is an experienced mother of three when her son, Memphis, came into the world. She breastfed him like she had her others and when he started refusing to nurse and acting sleepy, she took him urgent care. After two urgent care visits had concluded that Memphis had a cold-virus,...

Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist interviews Dafne, The Chronic Illness Coach.    Dafne is mom to three college-age kids and she and her husband live in Houston, Texas. In this episode, we talk about how her children all suffer from chronic illness: Juvenile Type 1 Diabetes, Juvenile Psoriatic Arthritis and Juvenile Ankylosing Spondylitis. She describes how: *Finding a medical team who includ...

Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist interviews Shay Shull from Mix & Match Mama. Shay is a cookbook author, lifestyle blogger, travel agency owner, wife and mama who loves making every day special for my family. Shay is mom to four kids and she and her husband live in McKinney, Texas. Today, we talk about her daughter Ashby and how their family copes with Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome (KTS). Ashby...

Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist welcomes back Shani (a.k.a. Child Life Mommy ) to the podcast.  Shani is a Certified Child Life Specialist who has a private practice in Northern California  and you can learn more about her community-based program in a previous episode here.   But, today Shani puts on her "mom hat" and talks about the journey of having a child with learning differences like...

Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist interviews Amanda, mom to two micro preemie twins born at 23 weeks.  Amanda and her husband met at Baylor University and had a normal pregnancy and delivery with their first son. Their second go at getting pregnant was not as easy and included fertility treatments, bed rest and an traumatic, emergent c-section at 23 weeks. She describes how: *Her faith was in...

  Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist interviews Effie Parks, mom to Ford who was born with a rare disease called CTNNB1. Effie is the host of the Once Upon a Gene podcast and in this episode she shares about her journey into parenthood and what it's like raising a child with special needs. She describes how: she learned to advocate for her son's needs self-care is non-negotiable she came to th...

Katie Taylor, Certified Child Life Specialist interviews Dana Burnett, Certified Child Life Specialist for the Bougier City, Louisiana school district.  Dana talks about her child life journey up until this point and how she has transitioned to supporting K-8th grade students through 1:1 interventions. She focuses on serving students with chronic illness, children facing illness and loss, and chil...

Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist talks to Danielle, mom to Della a daughter with Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis. You may know Danielle formally as Danni Starr, the media personality, but she is also momma of two girls, one of which suffers from invisible, chronic illness. Danielle takes us through what the journey to a diagnosis was like (spoiler: it wasn't easy), how their entire family copes...

Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist interviews Teresa, a mom of a teenage daughter with Spina Bifida.  With no signs of abnormalities during her pregnancy, Teresa was shocked to learn that a fatty lump on her daughter's skin at the base of her spine would lead to a diagnosis of spina bifida occult with a tethered spinal cord. Teresa walks us through the shock of the diagnosis and the power that...

(This episode was developed in partnership with Aflac. I was compensated for this episode, but all opinions are entirely my own. #ad ) In this episode, Katie Taylor, Certified Child Life Specialist talks about the importance of a community for caregivers. She interviews Nichole who shares what her son's experience with cancer has been like. Sara Stewart, Child Life Specialist at Lurie Children's H...

In another version of "Katie and Jamie's Top 5" these two friends and child life specialists try to lighten the mood by talking about our favorite things of 2020. We can all admit the year was...meh... so why not chat about some of the good parts. Jamie and Katie talk about fun things like their favorite lounge wear, shows to binge, holiday traditions and more game-changing revelations like favori...

In this episode, Annie, Certified Child Life Specialist, talks to Eilieen. She is the amazing mom of a determined, fun loving, 4-year-old hero named Brady. Brady was diagnosed with Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (RDEB). While he inspires all who meets him, his favorite thing is just being a typical boy and being treated as such. After a move from Texas to Colorado to find the best care...

Katie talks to two Certified Child Life Specialists and military spouses, Savannah Self and Lisa McWhorter about ways to support military families. From long waits in military hospitals to helping children navigate the deployment of parents, child life specialists have an important role in helping families cope. A lack of consistency in providers due to moves across the country, and the world, is...

Meg, is mom to four children one of whom is living with syndromic craniosynostosis. Her daughter, Avery, who is now six-years-old is proof that children are resilient and capable of so much. She discusses the exhaustion that comes from being the caregiver for a child who requires around the clock care. Meg attributes family (20+ cousins!) constantly surrounding her with love to be one of the bigge...

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Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist, talks with Jamie Gentille, Director of Child Life Services at Inova Children's Hospital and Dr. Jody Thomas, from the Meg Foundation for Pain , in this episode. Dr. Jody Thomas is a licensed clinical psychologist, and specialist in pediatric medical illness and trauma and the founder of the Meg Foundation for Pain. She discusses the mission of their organiza...

Spit up, and even reflux, can be a common problem for infants, but what happens when it's more than that? In this episode, Amrita shares with Katie, Certified Child Life Specialist, about what happens when a child's reflux became severe and leads to a three-week hospitalization, a feeding tube, and ongoing support from developmental therapists.  This is the reality of severe gastroesophogeal reflu...