Prayer for Aiden Tomorrow

We apologize for the somewhat infrequent updates lately, but the hospital stays and back and forth has simply consumed all our time.

This has been such a long journey that it is easy to become discouraged along the way, but God has been so good to us. I'm sure many of you have heard the saying that 'God never closes a door without opening a window.' There have been numerous times throughout this lengthy and eventful journey when it seems like we simply do not have any recourse left and each and every time, we have consistently seen God work miracles and answer prayers.

This weekend and past week have been trying. Last Friday (04/18), when Aiden was first re-admitted to the hospital, he was seen by the Chief of the GI Dept., who was very thorough and truly cared about identifying and treating whatever is causing Aiden to vomit. He said that there were numerous possible causes, and outlined an initial plan to rule out some of the most likely possibilities.

Aiden will be 8 months old next week and has been home for less than 3 weeks in his entire life. With no results from an upper GI and bowel study, tomorrow he will have an endoscopy and neuro-MRI. We hope that this will show what the problem is and that it can be corrected. However, these procedures require intubating him, which has many potential risks (last time this was done one of his lungs was punctured in the process, and each time he is on the vetilator, it further weakens his lungs and has been more and more difficult to get him off).

Please pray that the intubation and subsequent procedures would go smoothly, that he would be able to get off the vent within a day, and that these procedures would help diagnose and treat the source of his vomiting.

Thank you again for your continued prayers for Aiden.

The Saga Continues...

Thank you for your continued prayers for Aiden. He is still in Children's Hospital and we are working with the GI and pulmonary physicians trying to find out what is causing him to throw up. In many respects, we are again dealing with the same issues of confusion and miscommunication (or lack thereof) that we had to deal with during Aiden's initial stay at Children's, and that has been both frustrating and disheartening.

The GI series performed on Saturday did not show any abnormalities, and the Cyproheptadine (a medication used to treat cyclical vomiting syndrome) has not stopped the vomiting. It has, however, made him very sleepy, and since he does not throw up when he is sleeping, it has reduced the frequency of the vomiting episodes. We are currently trying to schedule a neuro and gastrointestinal MRI to see what it will show. Please pray that God will give Aiden the right doctors with the wisdom and knowledge to know how we should proceed.

Ethan and Evan are growing so fast! They are still teething and of course, everything goes in the mouth these days! Ethan has started getting up on all fours and has even done a little bit of crawling, but is still trying to figure out how to control which direction he moves. Evan is doing the 'army crawl', dragging himself around with his arms. Both boys are trying to pull themselves up, and they absolutely love to jump in the exersaucer (thanks for sharing, Morgan!). There have already been a few episodes where they have both decided that they want the same toy...uhoh, it's already started! They have started "talking" to each other, and it is SO cute. Whenever they fuss, Aiden laughs -- he thinks it is funny to watch them cry!

Below are some pictures from last week, while Aiden was home.

Such adorable little outfits...sure makes it easy to tell them apart (small, medium, and large)!

Supermen

Evan is learning to catch

Ethan calls a play

Play ball!

What a big boy!

Evan is so happy

Aiden is stuck in the middle

An attempt at a family picture, but some little people did not want to cooperate

The triplet stroller in motion

"Whatcha lookin' at?!?!?" (Aiden's first walk outside)

Ethan, why so messy?

Now we see why

Aiden loves playing with his hands

Dad and Aiden read together

Hi Ethan!

Aiden sees the world in his fisheye mirror as he is feeding (he has to sit still for 2 hours every time he eats while his feeding runs on the pump)

Aiden wonders, "when will I catch up with my brothers?"

Who will win the race?

Aiden finally gets a taste of the 'good life'

Evan's got a boo boo and lets everyone know about it -- see his little teeth?

Evan is taking lessons from Aiden on making a pouty face

Ethan also has some sharp teeth

Evan is back to his adorable self

Ethan likes to chew on everything!

Evan can sit up by himself (for a few minutes)

Mirror mirror on the wall, is Ethan the fairest of them all?

Evan really enjoys his food!

Oh No, Not Again!

Aiden was re-admitted into the hospital today. When he first came home, he was throwing up about once a day in small amounts. The frequency slowly started to increase and over the last few days, it got much worse to where he was vomiting numerous times per day in increasingly larger amounts. Yesterday, the vomiting was so bad that he literally changed colors from normal, to purple to white and then back to normal -- all within a couple of minutes. The continued and constant vomiting is so alarming because every time he throws up, he is aspirating fluid into his lungs. If he continues to aspirate fluid into his lungs, they cannot heal and it could cause his lungs to become very sick again and he could wind up back in ICU on the ventilator. Every time he throws up and aspirates is like rolling the dice.

Our pulmonologist and pediatrician thought it would be best to have him sent back to the hospital for at least a couple of days to monitor him. This morning, Hannah took him to a G.I. specialist to try to get a better idea of what is causing these issues. Then he was readmitted to Children's Hospital for monitoring.

Unlike the last hospital visit, this one is more of a proactive visit to avoid potential issues that could occur from all the vomiting. By trying to resolve this issue ahead of time, we hope to decrease the likelihood of additional problems occurring.

At least this time, Aiden will be on the same floor and we know the nurses and technicians very well. So hopefully, this will be more manageable than last time.

Please pray that they are able to figure out what is wrong and what to do about it. "Thank you" seems so inadequate, but it is nearly impossible to express in words just how much your continued prayers and support mean to us! THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts.