blood, sweat, (pee) and tears

(first: we have great news!!!)

we spent the morning at children's hospital, where ruby took blood tests, a sweat test, urine tests and shed a few tears (what baby likes getting electrodes attached or needles stuck in them?)

it was so deja vu to the first months of m's life when we were going to children's and doctors all the time for ct scans, mri's, renal ultrasounds, etc. it was completely exhausting. we've been waiting to hear back and we just got the news from our doctor that ruby tested negative for cystic fibrosis, which was her huge concern- she showed some of the markers for it, which is why she wanted her tested so quickly. she also tested negative for kidney, thyroid or liver disease/abnormalities.

we are exhausted, emotional and so grateful.

i think being back in a place where we already took so many tests two years ago made this even more intense.

for the next two weeks we have to try and plump our baby up with lots of calories and fat. if she still isn't gaining weight, or continues to lose weight (she currently weighs less than when she was 4 months old,) then we will head in to some specialists to see if there is another issue. ( i should add that the dr. didn't just rush us in for serious tests because ruby was losing weight. i resisted googling cystic fibrosis at the suggestion of our dr. until the results were back, but when i looked up the symptoms yesterday, ruby had symptoms that were spot on for cf, and if you diagnosed just based on symptoms on the internet, she would definitely look like she had cystic fibrosis. now i get why our dr. was so insistent that we get her checked the next morning. good thing i didn't do a little internet research before her results came back, because i would've been even more freaked out.)

thank you for all of your kind emails, texts and comments. they mean so much and i am so grateful for the community of support and friendship we have. thank you.