Another update, plus what to do if you want to visit.

Today the doctors did two more ultrasounds (they did one yesterday evening, on his heart). For one, they looked at his head. The other was for his abdomen.

In both, everything showed up normal. This is great news. This means either Ayden's heart defect is not a result of heterotaxy or, if it is, it did not affect any other part of his body. This means no twisted gut, no missing/extra spleen, no extra appendix, etc. Thus, as our regular OB put it way back when, he is simply a normal boy with an abnormal heart.

Of course, Ayden is far from out of the woods and his biggest challenge still looms in the very near future (no surgery date yet, if you're wondering), but him not having to face other physical challenges is a great comfort and a blessing. We are grateful to God for sparing him of that.

For reasons I won't even begin to attempt to explain, Ayden is currently residing in what I call a little plastic tent so that he can breathe in air with lower-than-normal levels of oxygen. This has prevented Allison from getting to hold him and has made getting more pictures difficult. I hope that both of these scenarios can be rectified soon. With the latter, I will post them if I can get them.

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For those of you are in the area, we have no problem with you wanting to come visit either Allison or Ayden. Just be sure to call me first. I will be able to tell you when it's a good time to come, so that you don't show up only to discover that Allison is sleeping or that Ayden is being examined. This will also allow me to spread out the visits so neither of them gets overwhelmed. Ayden especially does not need to be unnecessarily stressed. Besides, you can't get in to see Ayden without being accompanied by Allison or I, anyways. Just call me in advance and we'll get it worked out.

Other important visitation information relating to Ayden:

• No one under 18 is allowed to visit him, per NICU rules.
• If you have recently been sick, think you might be sick, have been around someone who is sick, have contemplated taking a sick day even though you really weren't sick, you are not allowed to visit him, per MAD (Mom and Dad) rules.