Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Ahh...Success!!!

We did Aiden's 8th fill tonight and everything went so great! There were no tears and absolutely no issues. Aiden even cracked me up because on the front expansion, he decided to smack me in the face with his Mum Mum (rice snack) as if to tell me to hurry up and get this over with.

I did not get a large amount of saline in but that was ok because we are at the end and I refuse to over do it. We have been keeping the incision area really clean and moisturized but I am not going to take any chances by pushing the skin too far. So, I put 30cc in the front and 20cc in the back. Aiden now has 430cc in the front and 450cc in the back. He is really looking huge!

 I am so proud of my sweet little baby and I am really happy that we only have a few more fills left! He is such a trooper and I am really excited to see him without his bubbles.

Check him out after 8 fills...
His little armrest at 430cc!

Back to playing right after his fill!

Some Halloween fun!
If you live in my area, come check out our garage sale on October 29th (this Saturday) from 7am-2pm. Let me know if you need my address! We have a lot of great stuff for sale and a portion of it will goes to Nevus Outreach!

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

One Crazy Week

This week has been crazy. Let me fill you in on what has been going on...

On Monday, I called Dr. Bauer's office to talk to Mim about Aiden's incision area. We were having some slight issues with redness and a tiny amount of drainage coming from the ends of both the belly and back incision. Besides the drainage, this really hasn't been anything new but I wanted to be reassured that nothing else was going to come of this. Mim told me to keep the area really clean (more than usual) and continue with wet/dry dressings if any drainage continued. She said it wasn't too bad and that it was fine to go ahead and expand but to take it easy. They also decided to put him on an antibiotic for the remainder of expansion. I am not a huge fan of him being on antibiotics for that long but at the same time, I do not want the expanders or anything else to become infected so antibiotics it is. 

I planned on doing the expansion later in the day on Monday since we got the all clear but my plans did not work out. I have been battling with fevers off and on for a few weeks now as well as a cough and Monday was just not good. I couldn't get my fever to go down so I decided to head to the ER. I felt bad because my husband had made plans with a friend who is moving out of state but I really had no other choice at this point. Long story short, it was nothing major. They gave me a shot of antibiotics and some cough syrup to help me sleep. 

On Tuesday, I wasn't feeling all that great but it was our anniversary so I was determined to rest up and start feeling better. Michael and I had plans to stay at Grand Californian Hotel that night and since we couldn't cancel, we decided to still go. Before we left, we did Aiden's 7th fill. He was a little impatient with us but other than that, the fill went great. I only put in 30cc in each expander since I was told to take it easy but anything is better than nothing. His belly is now up to 400cc and the back has 430cc. He sure is looking big! 



I love when I capture pictures of him like this because it simply shows you that he is NOT bothered by this. He gets around like any other baby his age would. Sure, he has a little bit of trouble if the belly gets in his way but he picks himself up and moves right along. 

After doing the fill, Michael and I packed up and headed out! Aiden had a blast hanging solo with my mom while we tried to make the best of our evening. We did get to spend a little bit of time at the park and even ran into some good friends of ours! I was actually starting to feel better and we had a really good dinner at Napa Rose. Unfortunately, the rest of my night was not as good, as I battled another fever, but it was probably due to not resting as much as I should have that day. Nevertheless, we still had fun and I am so happy to have Michael in my life. 

The next few days were a little rough for me as I was still battling not feeling well but I managed. I am finally starting to come around today so I am happy about that. Aiden's incision area is slowly coming around to looking better so that's another good thing. Hopefully we can get at least three more fills in and our little superhero will be ready for surgery #2! 

Now I have to start getting ready for our garage sale next Saturday! We have decided to get rid of our storage center to help cut our expenses down. So, we are selling the stuff that won't fit in my parent's house...which is a lot! If you are in our area, come check it out from 7am-2pm on October 29th. A portion of the proceeds will be going to Nevus Outreach so its for a great cause! We will also be selling Aiden's cookbook so if you haven't picked up your copy, stop on over! 

Thanks again for everyone who has supported us through this! These next few weeks are going to fly by! Michael, Aiden and I will be heading back to Chicago three weeks from today! We are so excited to see results from round one! 

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Finally Another Fill!

Last Thursday would have been another fill for Aiden but he was still coughing and Dr. Bauer wanted to make sure he was better before we did anything with the expanders. Aiden's stitches that were left in were also causing some issues so it was just best to leave it alone for a few more days. By Monday, he was in a much better place so we decided to attempt a fill after Michael got home from work.

We changed up the scenery a bit to help distract Aiden and made sure he had plenty of snacks and juice to keep him busy. For once, I did the belly expander first. This one always surprises me on how much we can get in. It already felt pretty firm but we managed to get in 50cc! That expander now has 375cc and I can't believe it!

The back expander went fine but we were only able to get in 30cc. I thought that was strange because it had been so soft for weeks now but I didn't force it because I knew how sensitive the area already was. Then a few minutes after filling it, the expander got really soft again. At first, I thought that maybe the expander was leaking so I emailed Dr. Bauer just in case. He assured me that everything is fine and that sometimes the expanders don't always act the way we want them to.

It's hard to believe that we are past half way there already. We only have about 4-5 fills left and then we will be back on a plane to get these bubbles out. I am glad that it went by so fast!

Check out his newest look....


375cc in belly, 400cc in back

Just after the fill...happy as can be!
Don't forget to get your copy of Aiden's cookbook before they are all gone!