Adulting: not as fun as it looks

It's been a bit of a nutty summer around here. While we are glad we bought a house, it came with a fair share of issues, which have caused me a fair share of stress, creating a whole new set of issues.

1). Stress + Christine = physical ailments/trips to the doctor! Maybe I'll get into the details in a later post. Apparently I'm fine, but do have some anxiety.

2). Shortly after we moved in to the new place we discovered that the fridge had been leaking water. It permeated the wall and the floor behind the fridge, resulting in moldy carpet and a potentially moldy wall. We worked quickly to remove the carpet and install new flooring, thanks to the in-laws. Only after most of the work was done did someone ask us about home insurance...being first-timers with a house and home insurance, it never crossed our mind. That whole situation was extremely stressful to me, and grew to an even more intense situation when we discovered a few weeks later that the cupboard next to the fridge was filled with mold and rotting away. $

That's all fixed now. I don't want to talk about it anymore. $

3). The week between mold discovery and mold removal/wall replacement the AC quit working in the middle of the night. It gets hot around here, so it was an issue. $

4). The day of the boys' birthday party, the doorknob came off in Justin's hand. It just came right off. $

5). For about a week we thought Justin might be diabetic, based on results from blood work done at his annual check up. However, after repeat blood work, we were informed he is no where near being diabetic; that he must have simply had an outstandingly sweet breakfast the morning before his first draw. Sheesh!

6). It's monsoon season in Arizona. You may have seen some pictures on various weather media showing the dust storms, also called haboobs, roll through. They're usually accompanied by thunder, lightning and rain -- intense rain -- and, of course, wind -- strong, gusty wind. There are usually flash-flood warnings because ground is so hard and so dry the rain has no where to go. You may remember the floods that devastated Mesa and other areas last year.

We've been hit by a monsoon almost every night for a week. It was so windy Saturday, the large Mesquite tree in our front yard was uprooted and fell directly on top of BOTH our cars. Yep, both. I rarely leave my car outside, but had moved it out to gain more space for painting the hutch. $

Justin's car is a work car, but we are still responsible for the deductible. $

Friendly neighborhood folk came by throughout the night to alert us to the downed tree. Another neighbor brought over his chainsaw in the morning to help free our rides, and a friend came later in the morning to help move the wood away, finish freeing the cars and clear off the driveway.

We're grateful no one was outside and we're very thankful the tree didn't hit our house. I'm even more grateful the cars are drivable and the repairs aren't enough to total our car (read: I don't want a new car payment right now).

7). To top it all off, though, my hairdryer started smoking Monday morning. $

Adulting isn't all it's cracked up to be. I guess Billy Madison was right when he said to a little third-grade boy who was eager to grow up and go to high school that he should, "Stay here. Stay as long as you can. For the love of God, cherish it. You have to cherish it."

On a more serious and important note, however, I was reminded in all this by a dear friend that we are to "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work in you so you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." -- James 1:2-4.

Man, oh man, did I need to be reminded of that in the midst of all these trials!

I was (ok, I am) having trouble considering all these things pure joy, but I am so grateful I serve a God who knows every hair on my head, who graciously offers a peace that passes understanding, who upholds me with his righteous right hand and who says, "fear not, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God, I will strengthen you and help you!" -- Isaiah 41:10.

I need all a lot of strength and peace these days, that's for sure.

With that said, we should highlight some good news:

1). As of yesterday, we are officially out of our lease in our last rental. Whew! 2). The boys are healthy, Justin and I are healthy and 3). we are blessed with amazing friends and neighbors. 4). We're thankful for family who call to check in on us, pray for us and 5). even offer to fly down and help out the day the tree fell on our car (my bro Joe is pretty neat).

In other good news, 6). Emmett's enlarged kidney has officially decreased in size to a normal range so he has officially graduated from regularly scheduled urologist appointments. Yay! 7). He also seems to have outgrown his cow's milk protein, corn, soy and who-knows-what allergies. No more bloody poop! He's eating all regular food now and we aren't avoiding anything.

8). We've been blessed with the opportunity to buy our own house and make it a home!

I suppose the good does outweigh the bad! If you think of us, please pray for us!

PS -- All things happening at once has reminded us of September 2010 when both our cars were in accidents the same week, followed by Justin getting rear-ended five days later in the rental car he was driving while his car was being repaired! Hopefully that's all for now, for later and for a long time!

Update on Life

Boo!

Did I scare you with a new post?

I know it's been a while, but we BOUGHT A HOUSE so things have been a little busy.

I wrote the following family update in April to send along as a substitute for our absence at the Gin-Loo, a family gathering named after my grandma (Nanny) Virginia (shortened to Gin), and her twin sister Looie (real name Lois). A little more name trivia...their baby sister, my Great Aunt Pat, was actually named Florence, but having been born on St. Patrick's Day, she was always called Pat.

And now you know.

I thought I'd share the update here as it more or less encompasses everything I've simply not posted here. I've left out some details, such as names of businesses, but if you know us, then you can fill in the details for yourself.

Enjoy!

Hello to all Gin-Looers! We're sorry to miss the gathering, but Justin and I have recently decided to try Adulting. It's true; we've put on our big-boy pants and are buying a house. No, that doesn't necessarily mean we'll be in Arizona for a long time, it simply means we've decided it's time we had a place of our own.

Justin is still working for the same large retailer, covering all the stores in the state of Arizona. He still occasionally oversees his old district, extending from eastern Washington over northern Idaho and all of Montana. It keeps him busy, to say the least! Justin received, in March, a regional recognition at a conference, an award for which he wasn't present to receive as he was off earning his daddy of the year award -- an honor bestowed upon him for his coming to my rescue when the boys and I were all struck with a terrible stomach bug (a bug which Justin himself suffered the previous week/inflicted upon the family in the first place). 

I, Christine, am thankful for Justin's hard work, which allows me to stay at home with the boys. I do still work a few hours a week for the specialty foods and produce grocer for which I did marketing in California. The market has allowed me to stay on as recipe developer and (amateur) food photographer since 2012, seeing me through two sessions of maternity leave, as well as our moves to Washington and Arizona.

Rolin, who has been dubbed Relentless Rolin, is a full-blown 2-year-old with a passion for popsicles, the library, playing with the neighbor kids, the outdoors, "Big Hero 6," rocks, "Uptown Funk," bicycles and popsicles. Did I mention popsicles? If I didn't, he will. And then he will again. Someone give that kid a popsicle already! Wait, he already had one today? Yes. Well, he'll ask again for one within the hour anyway, and he won't care what you have to say about it. Either way, the rule is one popsicles a day, OK? 

Rolin can act bashful at times, but won't hold back once he's warmed up. He has a happy personality and is usually game for going with the flow. He talks a mile a minute and constantly surprises us with new words and phrases. This zealous boy is chomping at the bit to play with brother Emmett, while Emmett seems perfectly happy to sit and smile whilst Rolin screams, "Baby Emmett!!" in his face and pokes at his eyes. Emmett nearly outweighs Rolin, however, so I'm sure Emmett will have his payback one of these days.

Sweet 9-month-old Emmett is now pushing four teeth all at once, but is taking it like a champ. He already has two bottom teeth; the newcomers are all on the top. He's nearly crawling, and there is money on the table saying he'll be completely mobile by the time of the Gin-Loo. Emmett, too, has a cheerful, go-with-the-flow disposition (thank you, God!), and is usually happy to share a big gummy grin with anyone who offers him a grin first. Though he's had his fair share of ailments, from a slightly enlarged kidney to a cow's milk and soy protein allergy, and from the dreaded RSV to a terrible stomach bug, he is overall in good health and we couldn't be more grateful. He has, however, given my mama heart a good workout! 

If you want more updates, check out our family blog: theteamthompson.blogspot.com. This blog, unfortunately, has been neglected as of late, but not without good reason. Yes, some of you have more than two children, and, yes, I'm sure that makes you feel more crazy and busy than people with only two children, but two is still enough to make me feel like I'm living in crazy town/slowly turning into the Wicked Witch of the West. As a result, my bloginess isn't as blogful these days. Hey, if someone asked you for a popsicle at least 27 times a day, you might feel the same. I'm sure my updates will become more frequent soon. Well, maybe as soon as I'm done reading the "Outlander" series. 

Please feel free to come visit us anytime! 

Our love to you all,

Christine, Justin, Rolin & Emmett

Thompson visit -- April 2015

Lee and Karen came down to visit during their spring break!

They arrived the day before Easter, so it was nice to have family around for the celebration. We went to church in the morning and then to a friend's house for brunch, complete with a bit of swimming. It is Arizona, you know!

The Thompson men!

Cute!

Grammy, Rolin, Justin, Lee and Emmett. Only Rolin and Emmett's outfits were planned, the rest just happen to match beautifully!

Thanks to cousin Maggie, the boys had cute matching Easter shirts this year :)

Emmett and me after church. Love those teeth!

Please get your sunglasses ready for this next picture....my skin...it reflects light. 

I was the designated swimming adult...that's about all the further Rolin and I got in the water...it was chilly in the pool! 

Daddy and his boys. And a garbage can. 

Back at home, grammy and Rolin played egg hunt over and over and over. 

Rolly, me and Emmett. And a garbage can. 

We generally go on a little adventure when parents are in town; this time we returned to the Tonto Natural Bridge, about a two-hour drive north of us. Justin, Rolin, Emmett and I had been in October...Rolin may only be two, but he has an impressive memory and talks about the "cave" all the time, so we knew we had to go back. We also knew it was a place the Thompsons would like to explore!

Looking through the hole, you can see light on the other side -- it's not a cave, but a bridge. You can walk right over the top of the arch/hole, and we did!

It's a long, tricky hike to the bottom, but we all made it. Lee was a champ/hero and carried Emmett in the hiker pack all the way down and up, then down and up again on the other side. I worked with Rolin, who was also a champ, even though his little legs turned into cooked spaghetti noodles near the bottom.

Hiking down side 1.

Down near the water at the bottom. 

Rolin and I were hiking partners. 

Karen and I helping Rolin down a large boulder. 

Taking a breather at the bottom.

Underneath one side of the bridge at the bottom. The water is very clear!

Heading up side 2.

The rest of the week was filled with house hunting (yes, we're looking to buy a house!!!) and playing outside in the warm weather (before it gets too hot).

We also toured the Thompsons around Sun City in the hopes of encouraging them to buy a retirement home in sunny AZ with the rest of the snowbirds. To help with the luring, we stopped at my parents' new place for lunch and a tour of their rec center.

Hanging out at the Casa de Emerson II in Sun City. 

A special thanks to Grammy and Grandpa for watching the kiddos when Justin and I went out to visit houses. We also had a date night! We hope you can make it back down again soon. 

That time I spoke too soon...

We were clear of sickness for roughly a week.

Then we were all hit with the stomach bug.

Most likely because Justin sat on the plane next to a lady who went barf, barf, barf all the way home.

Emmett got hit the hardest The poor baby pooped and vomited (not as much as pooping) for more than a week. He was fine for about three days -- had all his energy back, his diapers looked normal again -- then he poo-exploded and vomited all over me again.

Soooo...we headed back to the doctor; not just because of the return of the symptoms, but because his poo and pee had blood in it. Blargggg!

Apparently that can happen after a wicked round of the runs and dehydration. I was glad to know it wasn't too alarming to the doctor, but I was still unnerved after seeing the blood. They ran some tests anyway, because he was clearly very sick...lethargic and just plain miserable.

He's all better now and has been for about two weeks (knock on wood). The only thing we're all battling now is allergies.

While we're talking about pee and kidneys...

Emmett did have an ultrasound on his kidneys in early February. All signs show improvement, so that's great! The larger kidney shrank a bit, but is still larger...by a hair, really. No need for concern! They do, however, suggest we go back to get it checked again when he turns one.

Anyway, poor Emmett has had a rough few months. And so has my mama heart.

Month of sickness

We are glad January is over. Yes, I know February is over as well, but it was most of January that was no fun, and it took the last half of February for me to recover!

We started the new year by transitioning Emmett to formula. So far, none of my irrational fears have come to fruition, thank goodness. He's still as chunky as ever and it appears he still loves me; he has entered the phase of babyhood where he loves to plant big, sloppy and lingering kisses on my face. I call them kisses, anyway. Emmett's dimply smile could melt a glacier. I do love him so.

Around mid-January I noticed a few small red bumps on Rolin's face that I immediately attributed to bugs. After they started to multiply, I started to get concerned, but also figured it was a little reaction to climbing trees or maybe even to lime yogurt (citrus gives him a diaper rash...so it was a logical assumption, I thought). As soon as the spots made the hop from right side of the face to the left and began to take on a more blotchy appearance, we headed to the doctor.

Long story short, we stumped the doctors. The rash was confined to his face. It kind of itched, but he wasn't bothered by it. He hadn't ever had a fever... They sent pictures of Rolin to an infectious diseases doctor, became worried it could be a form of measles, then had us go next door to the lab to have some blood drawn for testing. Rolin rocked the lab procedures...left his mask on the entire time we waited, as well as during the test, and he hardly cried at all as they stuck him with a needle to draw samples.

That was a Friday, of course.

At the doctor. He was "getting milk out..." 

He'll be angry about me posting this picture someday, I'm sure. 

On Saturday he spiked a 102.7 degree fever and was mopey. His dots began to fade, but he also developed a wicked cough and runny nose. At our follow-up appointment Monday, after reviewing the blood work analysis --- he was totally fine; great white blood cell count, etc.,  --- a nasal swab determined he had RSV. A look in his ear lead to the discovery of an ear infection. His first ear infection ever!

The rash? It was chalked up to just being part of the virus. A mystery, in other words.

Emmett, so far, by then, was ok. He had had a bit of a cough for a couple weeks, but he wasn't wheezy or miserable. With Justin being out of town, the doctor asked if I had any family around who could help me keep the boys separated for a few more days.

I called Gigi on the way home, and she graciously came to my rescue.

We were sent home with prescriptions for Rolin's ears and also for albuterol to use in the nebulizer as a breathing treatment. A few days later, Rolly was improving, but developed a nasty, yeasty diaper rash from the ear antibiotics, the poor dear.

By the following Friday, Emmett was coughing worse. His eyes were watery and his nose ran nonstop. He never had a fever, so I just sat with him in a steamy bathroom and kept the humidifier on at all times. That night he coughed so hard he barfed up his bottle on me. Twice. Justin got called just after midnight regarding an emergency at a store in Tucson, so he had to leave. At midnight.

In the morning Emmett was wheezy...I had my neighbor come over to confirm the wheeziness; partially because Justin was gone, partially because I had had little sleep and partially because I was sort of at my wits' end from all the coughing, barfing, snot, breathing treatments and so on. Emmett had been short of breath for a few days, and I was beginning to worry I'd overlooked too much and he was developing pneumonia.

That's a mom's brain for you.

Wheeziness confirmed, I made my first ever trip to an urgent care center. I was sort of nervous about it, but we received excellent treatment, I couldn't have been happier about our experience! The practitioner who saw Emmett even called me about a week later to see how things were going. #impressed.

Miserable peanut at urgent care.

Emmett started to improve, thanks to the steroid they gave him at urgent care. By the next day, Super Bowl Sunday, he was in great shape! A little tired, but doing much better (which was great because we were hosting a Super Bowl party at our house!). I thought he would get worse again after the steroid wore off, but by the middle of the week he seemed to be healed.

Go Hawks! Em felt better!

Suddenly, however, the following weekend, his health regressed; he was wheezy again and simply looked miserable. He also cough-barfed another entire bottle all over me, this one going directly down my shirt into my pj pants, down my leg into my shoe. So I called the doctor again.

Yeah, I wear shoes with my pj pants. So what?!

My darling husband offered to take Emmett to the pediatrician where it was confirmed he did in fact have RSV (still...apparently it can last for a couple weeks, with symptoms ebbing and flowing as Emmett's had). Justin took him back mid-week for a follow-up where it was confirmed Emmett now had an ear infection.

I was so grateful for Justin's offer to take Emmett to the pediatrician. I'd been there so many times in the last two months...it was almost too hard to take him up on his offer since I'm the one that usually takes the boys; I knew what I wanted answers to, I knew what had already been asked, I knew what time Emmett had medicine and what he had, I knew the timeline of his symptoms...

But, letting Justin take Emmett was a learning experience for the both of us. I learned to let go a little, and Justin learned that you take a prescription to a pharmacy and that medicine for an ear infection is not administered in the ear.

The boys appeared to be over the worst of it by Valentine's Day weekend, which was perfect timing as that was the weekend Joe and Brianna came down to visit. Whew! Now it's March. After a week of complete health, however, both boys are suffering from either allergies or another cold. Just like everyone else in Arizona. At least, for the time being anyway, no one is wheezy or barking like a seal.

Emmett's Insides, Part II

Remember two years ago when I wrote about our adventures with the pediatrician and Rolin's cow's milk protein allergy?

It's Emmett this time. He has it too.

His is worse, though. Rolin's didn't show up until he was about four months old (that and we didn't know any better).

Almost one month to the day after Emmett was born, his beautiful, seedy, mustard yellow, perfect-looking breast-fed-baby poop turned dark green.

I hoped and prayed it was simply an imbalance in foremilk/hindmilk, though I knew that wasn't going to be the case. He was a champion eater.

He pooped frequently and most of them were mucusy. As predicted, a stool sample left at the doctor's office came back positive for blood.

So I cut dairy out of my diet.

Green, blood and mucus continued so we tried eliminating dairy and soy. I told the doctor that eggs upset my stomach sometimes, so she suggested taking it easy on eggs. I also told her I ate peanut butter every day, so she suggested trying almond butter instead. She also mentioned corn is becoming more of an issue with babies.

After two weeks of no dairy, soy, eggs, corn, peanuts or coconut (my own hunch), diapers started turning yellow again. Hallelujah!

The celebration was short-lived. I introduced some of those items, all except dairy and soy, back to my diet, and the nasty green poo returned.

So I cut them all again. It didn't work this time. Except for three random days after Thanksgiving when he had beautiful, seedy, mustard yellow, perfect-looking breast-fed-baby poop again. The only thing I had done differently leading up to that time was I had no wine or beer.

I also started being suspicious of strawberries, tomatoes, grapes...

Dairy and soy are in a lot of food (there is soy in the gum brand we chew), but corn is in everything, guys. Corn syrup, cornstarch, corn oil...did you realize baking powder is cornstarch?

All this nonsense was driving me insane. Not only was I hungry all the time, my physical and mental health were starting to take a turn. Crazy diets can mess with your flora, man!

Changing Emmett's diapers filled me with dread. Sometimes I would tell myself the poop looked yellow, only to have my balloon of hope popped when I'd ask Rolin what color it was and he'd say, "green!"

Two-year-olds don't lie when it comes to color-coding poop.

Some days were filled with tears which welled up out of frustration, confusion, obsession, terror, anger, doubt, feelings of failure/poor parenting, empty hope...

Overall, Emmett is a growing, thriving baby. His reactions could be worse (Google image search it, if ye doubt the claim). He only had a couple eczema spots (Rolin had many) and he was generally happy (but boy, can he scream). His spit up was never projectile, though there was quite a bit of it.

We made several trips to the doctor, who had a child of her own with cow's milk, soy and corn allergies, so I trust her assessment in this situation. She said she would support me continuing to breast feed or to move to formula. That may make a sane person feel better, but it was around Christmas time my mama heart could take no more of the nasty poops. I was fearful, nervous, obsessive, getting more gray hair and, most of all, joyless.

This situation was robbing me of my ability to experience and appreciate the joy surrounding me: my two beautiful, smart, growing, curious, amazing boys. I would have to almost daily look in the mirror and tell myself to snap out of the funk I was in; to put on a smile and go be silly with my 2-year-old; to believe Emmett was going to be ok and go scoop him up and kiss him all over because he is mine and I can, and should, do that instead of being afraid to love him wholeheartedly because I was terrified I was slowly killing him. I've been in a bad place. The past five months had flown by and all I can really remember about them is green poop. That's no way to live life.

Two weeks ago, after he had about nine water-like green poos in one day, followed by a day of bloody poo, I knew it was time to do formula.

Another reason I was dreading formula was because the transition with Rolin was awful. Rolin thought we were trying to kill him. Joe and Brianna were visiting that weekend and can attest to the terribleness of it. We tried sippy cups, spoons, syringes, real cups, several different brands of bottles...he simply would not drink it, not to mention I became super engorged and uncomfortable for about two weeks. But, in the end, Rolin drank it and my boobs recovered. All was fine; Rolin was even allergy-free by 15-months-old.

Emmett is now on Alimentum, the liquid kind because that's the only corn-free formula. His poops look a lot better now, which is the overall goal. He fussed a little at the first bottle and denied the second bottle until it was mixed with breast milk. By the forth bottle he was flapping his arms in hungry excitement at the sight of a bottle of straight formula; he hasn't given breast milk a second thought since. Whaaaat??

Yep, he hardly batted an eye. Weaning has been a lot easier on me this time too, which is a huge relief. Now I just need to come up with $11 extra a day for the next six months to feed the kid (insurance denied our request because Emmett is gaining weight. Another story for another time).

I could go on about this -- it was for five months, after all -- but I'll stop here. Many of my acquaintances and relations are tired of hearing about this, I'm sure, but I thank them for their listening, patience and support!!

From November -- already two months ago! 

Embracing the moment. Picture taken at post time.

Emmett's Insides, Part I

I expected things to be fine at my 36-week ultrasound, as they had been in previous ultrasounds. There is, of course, always a little bit of anxiety leading up to ultrasounds, but I was more looking forward to getting a new picture of the little baby.

After the tech finished the ultrasound, I was moved to the exam room to wait for a midwife. As we wrapped up our discussion "normal" pregnancy ailments, such as extremely achy hips, she said something along the lines of, "So we picked up a little issue with baby's kidneys on this ultrasound. It's probably no big deal, it's called dilated renal arteries, but you'll need to go have another ultrasound at the perinatologist's office where they'll take a better look."

"Huh? What now," I asked, totally thrown off by this information.

"Things are measuring a bit larger than normal. Probably no big deal, but we have to take another look," she replied. "Especially because this didn't show up on the 20-week ultrasound."

I did a bit of light Googling and asked other medically inclined friends for information, but neither source had much insight. I even called to make sure I had the right description of the issue. They repeated the same information, calling it dilated renal arteries.

After our appointment with the perinatologist, the doctor present told us the issue was more accurately called "dilatated renal pelvis," a condition I HAD come across in my Googling.

Essentially, one of the baby's kidneys was measuring larger than it should, indicating it was retaining urine. This could be due to several reasons: a pinched ureter, a blockage, a faulty valve in the bladder or kidney, lack of gravity assisting the urine's escape from kidney to bladder.

The retention wasn't significant, but more than "normal." Of course we hoped for the gravity issue, but needed to get it checked out once baby was born.

Surgery could be a possibility, depending on the severity of cause of the dilatation.

The concern is that if there is a blockage or other cause for the enlargement is that it will lead to urinary tract infections, kidney infections, stones and the like. It's hard for little kiddos to tell you they don't feel well in those areas, so the general thinking in the medical world is to fix the issue now rather than when there is a bigger issue later.

Emmett peed beautifully a few times before they came and took him for an ultrasound. The pediatrician in the hospital was amazing and spent a lot of time talking to us to explain more about the situation, what he was doing to get some tests done and how they would have had no idea about there being a possible problem if we hadn't told them in the first place. Emmett was otherwise well, healthy and perfect.

A couple days after his birth we took him to the children's hospital where they inserted a catheter into his little (ehem) penis and pumped fluid into his bladder to see where it went. We watched the screen as the fluid filled his bladder and stayed there, indicating there were no issues with the valves from the ureters to the kidney, so there was nothing wrong with the bladder, yay!

A few days later, we met with a urologist at the children's hospital, images of the test in hand for their review. The PA made me cry about three seconds after she entered the room after we told her about how Emmett had an ultrasound in the hospital. She began shaking her head and telling us we shouldn't have done that [cue tears] because mom's hormones are still pumping through baby's body and the issue could simply be extra hormones.

Well, being just three days postpardum, I couldn't stop crying. I sobbed the whole time we were there. I simply could not stop. I was afraid something was wrong with him, I was afraid we were putting him through tests for no reason, I was worried something would happen to his little (ehem) penis because of all the poking and prodding. Mostly, I was upset with how the PA marched in and told us we were doing everything wrong when all the other doctors had told us what we were doing was ok and normal. No one once mentioned anything about things being done out of order or unnecessarily.

Anyway, the PA and urologist explained that we'd need to have two more tests done in 30 days.

Thirty days later I took Emmett back to the children's hospital for a MAG3. This time they used an IV to pump him full of fluid that would fill up his kidneys to see where it would go, then monitored to see how quickly they'd go from full to half full. Draining slower than 10 minutes is indicative of a problem; Emmett's drained in 3.5 minutes!

Here are Emmett's kidneys and bladder all lit up from the fluid that was injected. I got to stay in the room with him while he was strapped to a little table. He did beautifully, considering all the tubes, needles and swaddle!

The next week we went for a follow-up ultrasound to measure the size of the kidneys. The results:

Right kidney function: 57%
Left kidney function: 43%

This was overall good. They found no obstruction, but it's clear the right side still indicated mild dilatation (normal function is 50/50...).

Basically, there is still a slight enlargement of one kidney, but nothing to be concerned about at all. Everyone has one that's a little bigger than the other! We do go back in January to make sure nothing has changed significantly, but otherwise we are done with all that kidney business. Thank you, God!

We go back for another ultrasound in early February to make sure nothing has changed. After that, pending good results, we'll be done.

Next up: why Emmett has blood in his poop. Wheeeeee......