VCUG

Today we drove to Charlotte to Levine Children's Hospital. Aspen was scheduled for her VCUG this morning at 9:00. Thankfully Lincoln spent the night with Nana so we didn't have to worry about getting him up and ready and out. No matter...we were late anyway. We never got very good directions so we just went by the GPS. Ugh...not always the best plan. Since I've been driving to Charlotte so often with Aspen's little helmet I could've gotten us to Morehead street a lot quicker and easier. Oh well. Once se got there we couldn't find parking...it was like a maze. Tons of buildings and lots of parking but so much of it was labeled as doctors only or staff only...

Once we got into Levine's I must say that our experience was amazing. From the front desk lady who checked us in and walked us all the way to our waiting area, to the sweetest nurse ever (except you, Tori :)) in the radiology department, everyone was so nice. We felt welcomed and taken care of. The nurse in radiology was cheery and talkative and really put us at ease as she talked us through the procedure. If you want to know more specific details about the VCUG go here. Basically they catheterized her to insert some contrast into her bladder. Then they wait and watch as she pees to see if there is any reflux out of her bladder back into her urethra and her kidneys. That could continually cause scar tissue and lead to renal failure...see past posts about Anthony. 

She screamed the whole time. The whole time. But I must admit that on the scale of Kyla.... I didn't even shed a tear. And I thought it was going to be awful! We laid her on the table, they did their thing and they put the x-ray machine over the top of her body. Anthony and I stood at the head of the table and cooed at her and loved on her and tried to soothe her. Nothing worked. But she didn't kick and wiggle and try to get away like I thought she would. She was very tame and just screamed. She actually peed very quickly and we were done very quickly. She was very ready for us to pick her up and she whimpered for a little while afterwards, but no lingering fussiness. She didn't seem to have any problems the rest of the day either. Our appointment was at 9 and even though we were just a tiny bit late we were walking out of the hospital by 9:45. We wouldn't even have gotten out that quickly if we had been at our doctor's office! Simply fabulous. 

Aspen slept all the way through the ride to Charlotte...waking her up at 7 am is definitely a far cry from her usual sleeping in until almost 9. She nursed before we left and then she actually snacked right before the procedure and we offered her milk cup during to see if it would calm her down. It didn't. On the ride home she just thoughtfully looked out the window until about Gastonia, then she knocked out again. Anthony had taken the morning off to go with us, thank goodness. Since we were finished and home so early we decided to have some lunch. So we grabbed Olive Garden as soon as they opened at 11. Hooray. 

All in all it wasn't nearly as scary as I had anticipated. I must say that I prayed all night last night while falling asleep, and when I woke up in the night to hear Aspen crying. Now we just wait until Tuesday for our follow up appointment for the results. Anthony said he watched the whole thing on the screen and didn't see any backflow. So we'll see what the doctor now has to say after they send him a report. We are praying that the test shows that all is absolutely normal and we can just get back to having two beautiful, happy, healthy kids. No more worrying about appointments and procedures. Well, except for the well checks in early April! 

Just a little photo to make you smile...

Sissy is learning to sit in a chair. In fact it's soo cute! She's learning to back up to sit down in your lap or to put her hiney in a chair. And she loves sitting in Lincoln's Thomas table like a big girl! 

She sat down with her book and just kicked her feet. It's precious!