Another visit to the hospital

Day one hundred sixty seven: Three months have passed since our last visit to the local children's hospital for Ariel's abdominal ultrasound and bloodwork, so this morning we went for another round. The difference between these two visit was HUGE! 

Jason wasn't able to go with us. Sad. But thankfully my mom was able to come as a second set of pin-down-the-toddler hands. However, we might have been okay on our own!!!

First thing, we woke Ariel up, dressed her, and loaded her in the car. Notice there was no breakfast - she isn't allowed to have anything to eat or drink for 4 hours prior to her ultrasound. This usually contributes to the beginning of a bad day. However, she didn't let on that anything bad was happening. She was happy and cooperative from wake-up to the hospital.

Her ultrasound went better than I can remember it ever going. She laid on her back and let the tech take all the "pictures" she wanted. There was some crying because it took a while and didn't make sense to her, but there was much more calm time than crying time. This is a big improvement. She just sucked on her finger and was comforted. We talked about the pictures on the walls and Gram rubbed her legs. We hardly had to hold her down. We kept our hands in "pin-down" positions, but hardly had to actually restrain her. We listened to the windchimes on the ceiling (distraction tool). She even held my hand some. Sweet little girl.

Bloodwork was next. There was enough wait time between the two that she was able to drink almost a whole cup of juice and some milk to get something on her stomach. It was also my uneducated attempt at hydrating her a little to make the bloodwork process go more smoothly. She was content all the way until the needle was inserted in her skin. She didn't flail the way she used to - she just cried and said "all done" in a very upset way. After it was over, she even said good bye and waved at the tech.

She was wonderful! She is wonderful.

I was warned that she would be extremely difficult to restrain during her ultrasounds for months to a year. Maybe I am getting ahead of myself, but maybe we are done with that period. This actually makes me pretty sad - one more sign that my baby is growing up. Obviously, growing up is the healthy thing to do, but I just thought I had more time.

Thank you, God, for how smoothly today went. Thank you for helping Ariel to be more comfortable and calm. Thank you for tools of comfort like a sucking her finger and holding mommy's hand. Thank you for comforting and calm medical technicians. Thank you for hospitals geared JUST for children. Thank you milk - filling, healthy, and quickly ingested. Thank you for Gram being available to help a potentially day ruining day turn out great.  Thank you, God, for caring about my little girl. Please help me to adapt to the fact that she is growing up and her needs from me are changing.



What's this about? I decided on my birthday to make a commitment to being intentionally thankful. I challenged myself to post one thing I am thankful for everyday this year.