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Medical update #4 – Procedure Day

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Friday, 12 September 2014: One Year, One Hundred and Sixty Four Days Old.

Ayla had her investigative procedure today, to check out her entire digestive system.

The procedure required Ayla to fast from 7.30am, so by the time Ayla went to get ready for theatre at 3.00pm she was hungry, thirsty and tired.

I went in with her, suited up in a white robe and a fancy blue hair net, and held her little hand and brushed her hair while she breathed in the gas and drifted off to sleep.

Ayla was under anesthetic for 40 minutes, while her gastroenterological paediatrician conducted a “gastroscopy” and a “sigmoidoscopy” which included a couple of biopsies and another full set of bloods.

Ayla woke up an hour later, groggy and a little upset with a bit of a cough and a husky voice from the oxygen tube. There was a few tears, but as soon as we met her in Recovery, gave her a bottle and sat with her in a rocking chair, Ayla quickly drifted back to sleep.

We were discharged at 5.30pm with test results due back next Thursday. The procedure went well but the doc seemed a little surprised he found evidence of digestive irritation, apart from that there was no kinks, twists or damage to Ayla’s insides.

We now also have to wait for our next specialist appointment, with a paediatric endocrinologist (ie: growth expert), scheduled for 15 October, and for Ayla’s chromosomal blood tests to come back in the next couple of weeks

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Ironic

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Thursday, 23 January 2014: Two Hundred and Ninety Seven Days Old.

Along with Ayla’s new found freedom has come a seemingly endless ball of energy.

In all of today Ayla has napped for less than an hour (instead of her usual four) but surprisingly she still isn’t showing signs of tiredness despite it being nearly 5.30pm.

It’s ironic because just this morning I took Ayla to the community health care nurse to discuss possible reasons for her being so tired and needing a nap after every few hours of awake time.

The nurse looked at me like I was crazy and explained that Ayla is far too spritely and active for there to be anything to worry about. I felt like trying to explain about the dark-ringed eyes, the yawning and the passing out in awkward positions but decided against it and chose to cop the “crazy lady” looks on the chin.

And now I realise that all the extra sleep Ayla was needing must have been to rest her brain after all it’s growing!

I can’t express how much Ayla seems to have developed in the last couple of days; it’s like she’s become a big kid overnight.

She’s communicating on a whole new level – talking almost – and she’s now comfortably 50/50 on solids and breast milk 😦

Ayla can sit up from lying down, her crawling has improved tenfold since yesterday and she’s way more interested and involved in things like books and songs.

It turns out Ayla’s little body has been busy growing too!

According to the nurse Ayla’s now almost in the 50th percentile for height and weight, even though she’s been the 25th percentile or lower since she was born.

Ayla’s stats at a little over 9.5 months are;

W 8.18kg / 1.2 stone)
H 70cm
H/C 45c,