It's amazing how fast our girl is growing!

It's also amazing how much can change in 9 months. Carm's series of appts. at Yale last week were the complete OPPOSITE of everything we experienced that horrible day in March. It was almost as if there was a note in the system that said, please don't screw up again with these folks! So they were a little late getting us into the first appt. but they had Elmo going on the TV and Leona, the US tech, was terrific and so blown away by Carm's patience and cheerfulness as she sat through hundreds of photos of her belly. She was a little thrown by the slimy stuff, especially afterwards when they wiped her down- but she sat right in my lap, watching her show, talking up a storm and it was painless. We gave her a bunch of stickers for that one! The Dr. came in with another Dr. to review her scans and the tech. did such a good job this time, they didn't need to take any more. So the news is that everything looks the same as it did 9 months ago. The kidneys and liver are the same- but the good news is that her kidneys have grown!
We headed back to the waiting room and she got to do some coloring and then they took us in for our next. appt (25 minutes early!!)- Our favorite nurse, Angel was on service again- Carm weighed in at 27 lbs and is 2ft. 10 in. tall! She did pee on the potty for them and even let Angel get 3 blood pressure readings. We met w/ the fellow (whom last time she was hysterical over) and this time, they both had grown- I think he was more comfortable with children who are maybe not so comfortable. He brought in another fellow who is really good with blood pressures and after a total of 7 readings they got what they needed and a GOOD READING! Finally. That was one of our biggest concerns; high blood pressure. So the Dr. came in, after returning from maternity leave and she seemed a bit more compassionate, i'm sure also now being a parent of a little girl has changed things for her. So she was able to get in touch with the UAB (University of Alabama, Birmingham) who is doing the test for ARPKD as part of their research and because there is no family history, they want to also do the test on Mike and I. We are going through with the insurance, paper work process now, which has proved to be quite time consuming with levels of miscommunication I can't begin to explain, but we will get through it. One day at a time. So, if we can get this approved, Yale will do the draw (take our blood) and then we will be responsible for getting it to UAB and they will run the 3 tiered test to look for the gene that causes this and within 20 days we should have some sort of answers. Well, there is an 85% success rate. That's better than nothing!
Anyhow, it was definitely a "most improved" visit, all around. Afterwards we headed to Peppe's pizza for lunch. Carm had clam pizza with her Daddy and loved it. We have another appt. set for June, pending results from the genetic test and they do want her to see a GI doc. but we are going to hold off until we can also get through this testing period.

It's all good. We can do this.

Word of the day.

Non-causal synchronicity. Just maybe nothing happens for a reason or nothing is related.

Pretty Blue Eyes- Ava Grae

So Carm and I went over to Katie & John's for a visit on Sunday and took a few shots of gorgeous little Ava Grae. She is getting so big & officially crawling! Carmen is so cute when it comes to Ava....and she loves their cat Cole- we brought some of Carm's hand me downs- everytime I go to put something on her and it's too small, she says "Give it to baby Ava" she's such a good sharer- Anyhow, here's the little gorgeous gal.