Trial Run

Paxton's nurse came early today, which was never good for Susanne because she didn't have time to finish getting ready. His nurse would just have to deal with her wet head and unpolished face.

Today, Paxton weighed 15lb 11oz. This was the first time that he had gained weight in over a month. This weight was taken after one of his morning feedings, but the nurse knew that all eight ounces was not from the food. Before Susanne got too excited, the nurse cautioned her to monitor for evidence of edema or fluid build-up. She was worried that the weight gain was more likely from his body adjusting to the decreased dose of diuretic and his body might be retaining the extra fluid. She was going to keep a close eye on him. He still had a nurse coming to the house twice a week for evaluations. Hopefully, they would be able to catch a trend early and address it sooner than later if it were to become a problem. Paxton's G-tube site still appeared irritated. It continued to look inflamed underneath where the MIC-KEY button rested against his skin. This was mainly a result of moisture that would get trapped. Susanne had been religiously cleaning around the site daily. She was thinking that she would need to get creative to address this neverending issue. She did have gauze that was designed to fit well around the G-tube. She would just need to make sure to exchange it out twice daily so that the stuff that was oozing from the stoma wouldn't cause worse irritation or infection.

The nurse was impressed with his activity level. She thought that he was pretty energetic for just having had open heart surgery. This made Susanne's heart warm that he was recovering so well.

Later in the evening, Paxton and Susanne decided to go visit Julie. Susanne wanted to make sure to see the nursery before she had her baby. The special day was approaching and they were all very excited. Paxton couldn't wait to meet his new best friend. They did have to inform him that he would have to wait just a little bit longer because Julie wasn't due until the end of December. Susanne was amazed at how organized Julie was. Everything that she had received from her first baby shower was already put away. She appeared to be trucking right along. During their visit, Julie got to preview what things would be like in the not so distant future. She held Paxton in the chair she would hold her baby in and she placed Paxton on the changing table to try it out. This made it all become more of a reality for her. As a result, she was a little anxious, but she didn't let it overshadow her excitement. Susanne and Paxton definitely approved of the nursery. Julie was set to go...all she needed now was her baby!