Aiden's Amazing Life: 10 months old and First Fill At Home

Today marked two big days for Aiden. The first one being that he turned 10 months old today. I can't believe that time has flown by this fast. It certainly doesn't feel like he has been with us for ten months now but I love every minute of it. He is such a busy little guy...always on the move. He has mastered crawling and pulling himself up. Today, he even stood alone for a spilt second. I will admit that this makes me nervous with expanders in but I have been told several times that it takes a lot to hurt the expanders. Still, the mom in me is very cautious. He also is doing really well with eating solid food and tries new things all the time. Aiden can say "dada", sometimes "mama" and what we think is "hi." This week, two front teeth popped through, making it a total of four teeth so far. Its amazing watching your little one grow up!

Today also marked Aiden's first fill at home...all by ourselves with no nurse to guide us. With that being said, I was WAY more nervous than I was a week ago. My nerves didn't really set in though until Michael and Aiden came to our little workstation. My heart was pounding so fast and I must have read the directions TEN times. I knew I had to get it over with so I took a deep breath and started the routine of cleaning the area and going in with the needle. I know, it sounds bad but at the end of the day, it is doable. If it wasn't, I am 100% positive that Dr. Bauer would not allow us to do this at home.

We did the back expander first. Michael held Aiden in his lap while my mom stood by for extra assistance. When I put in the needle, he didn't even flinch...so I was really excited about this because last time he cried pretty immediately. It was a little hard to push the syringe but eventually I got a pretty good handle on it. I easily put in 60cc. Probably could have done a little more but the nurses had told me to take it easy the first few fills.

Then we went to do the front expander. I felt a little easier doing this one since I did the belly last time at Dr. Bauer's office. However, when I put in the needle, he cried. Some of the cream had slipped away from the port so I pretty much figured that it didn't quite numb all the way. My eyes instantly started to tear up. I felt bad but then I thought it could be a lot worse...he could be screaming his head off. My mom handed him another rice cake and he settled down. This time, it was a little more difficult to push the syringe but I managed to also get in 60cc!

What a relief! After everything was all over, Aiden went back to his usual happy self as if nothing had occurred. I am just glad that its over with! Now the belly expander has 175cc and the back expander has 190cc. He already looks so HUGE to me that I am having a hard time picturing what he will look like towards the end but so far everything is going great. The only minor complication that we have is that some of the stitches on his back have become red and puffy (they were never like this before) but for now, I am told to continue our normal routine with the Aquaphor. Mim said that if its gets worse then they may consider removing the sutures. Not too concerned but we shall see what happens.

His growing bubbles...