So Here's the Story

We traveled to Little Rock to Children's Hospital early on Tuesday morning. We got there a little after 8 and met up with Shaun's parents and my mom and brother. Needless to say, we had plenty of moral support! (And babysitters!) We really had no idea where to go. Someone helped us find where we were supposed to go. Once we got there and filled out the necessary paperwork, the sweat test soon got underway. Basically, they held 2 electrodes to Bryce's arm for 5 minutes. This is supposed to make him sweat. Then, they taped a plastic thing with gauze underneath to his arm in order to catch the sweat. He had to leave that on for 30 minutes. And since he was a newborn and newborns don't sweat enough, they did both arms to make sure they had enough sweat. He did pretty good. The only time he cried was when they took the tape off after the test was over.

Then, they took us to the pediatric clinic. I think we were supposed to go here first, so he could get weighed and examined, but we didn't. It worked out better this way, though, because they weighed and examined him while we were waiting for the results. It made the wait go by a lot faster. While we were waiting, they brought in a genetics counselor. This was scary. It was like they were convinced that he had cystic fibrosis. In fact, it made me wonder if they already knew the results of the test and just hadn't told us yet. We learned all about cf and why they started testing newborns and what happens if the sweat test came out positive. We would have to come back the next day and get another test and then go from there. I was getting a little upset by this point. Finally, the counselor left and a pediatrician came in and did an exam. She said everything looked good. And he actually gained a little over a pound since his 2 week checkup.

Anyway, she left and a little later the attending pediatrician came in and talked to us. He was really nice, but I was still wondering why we needed all of this. Finally, after spending about an hour in the clinic, it seemed like longer, the counselor came back in and told us the results were negative. I wanted to break down on the spot. She wanted to bring our family in and explain everything to them, but I told her we could handle it. I just wanted to get out of there!

This whole experience has taught me to not take anything for granted. It was hard walking around that hospital seeing all those sick children. My heart broke for them and their families. And knowing how close we were to being in the same position. There were so many prayers going up for our baby. We are so thankful for each and every one of them. I just want to give God the glory for this whole situation. He is so good.