regular
[reg-yuh-ler]
adjective
1.usual; normal; customary: to put something in its regular place.
Last Friday, Elizabeth had her follow up echo at Sick Kids. I was concerned about how she'd do since they weren't sedating her and she is now a wiggly almost-four-month-old, but (of course), I needn't have been. It's become a running joke in our house how perfect a baby she is - she will actually tell you when she needs to sleep (growly sounds) or eat (whiny sounds). And other than that, she just quietly sits and obsess the world. She's amazing.
So, Sick Kids. We arrived, checked in, had her ECG done and headed into echo. It was fairly quick and she did well, laying there sucking her thumb and listening to me sing for most of it. Matt and I had a very interesting chat with the tech who was on exchange from Ethiopia. After, we waited over in good old 4A until Kristen came to get us.
Both Matt and I are pretty sure she tried to play it cool until we went into the room. I was super nervous and sat down, at which point Kristen says "So, her heart is normal." Matt and I just sat in stunned silence, to the point where Kristen says "Can I get a yahoo?". We were so bad at taking good news - bad news, we're experts. We immediately come up with questions and know what to say and do. Good news, we just sat there looking awkward and confused. I honestly said, "What do you mean, normal? Like, normal-normal?". Talk about PTSD.
But that's the news. Her heart, under the support of medication, is normal. Elizabeth will go back in 6 months for another echo and then perhaps go off the medication. Or not. Whatever.
It really made us think about Charlie and whether he would have done much better had he been diagnosed earlier. Surprisingly, that thought didn't make me bitter or angry...just food for thought. He was much sicker than Elizabeth from the get-go, though, so while he may have been better off than tube-in-the-nose, weeks-away-from-complications-including-death sick, I still think he would've been sicker.
Elizabeth and Charlie are joys and I'm glad we don't have to persevere through the mess we had with Charlie on the second time around. Thank goodness for Sick Kids and the great work they do.
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