This Clinic Monday-- Eight Years

Clinic Mondays. We go to Vanderbilt packed, ready to to return to 6C, should Ayden's pediatric cardiologist discover something that we didn't or couldn't during our week at home.

Ayden started his cardiac clinic afternoon with a chest x-ray, which didn't indicate anything worrisome.

"Praise the Lord!"

He then was weighed, and he didn't actually gain very much; he was 5.1kg, and last week's was 5.0kg. Because he only gained 0.22 pounds, his feeding regiment increased more than the original scheduled amount.

Ayden also endured the torture of having his blood pressure taken 100 times. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration (though not much of one). For some reason, they have to have a blood pressure for both legs and both arms. His first blood pressure is usually the best one. They always write that one down. Then they move on to the next appendage, and it never comes out good. They then try again, which means that Ayden begins to catch on, and he starts to squiggle. When they come up with yet another pressure they don't believe, they decide to try a different limb. By this time, Ayden gets mad. Anger, of course, creates high blood pressure. They decide that the machine they are using is not the best choice for Ayden, and they get another blood pressure contraption hooked up to him. Eventually, they realize that things aren't going well, and they try to distract him with a mobile that sings and dances, but Ayden will only be duped for so long before the whole process begins all over again. Today, they had to abandon taking his blood pressure until the END of the visit, and they got two good ones immediately. Phew! Even I sweat!

"Praise the Lord, O, my soul!"

Besides a clear x-ray, the other exciting news from today is that Ayden did fantastic on his bottle feed! Not only was he enjoying his Cheez-Its, but he was coordinating his suck, swallow, breathe. He even got angry with me when I took the bottle away. Ayden can now have 10ml by bottle before every feed. His doctor also moved him to twenty-four hour bolus feeds, so he will be eating on a typical infant schedule.

"Praise the Lord, O, my soul;
and all that is within me!"

So we left our packed bags in the car, and we pray for another healthy week!

"Praise the Lord, O, my soul; 

and all that is within me,
praise his holy name!" 
(Psalm 103:1)

 Ayden, I love your daddy too. Happy 8th Anniversary, Bryan!
We'll celebrate as a family together!