Elijah completely passed out during his exam

(I just realized that Michael posted the exact same story, but it is stil kind of neat to read them both…)
Today I didn’t go to class because we had to take Elijah to the cardiologist for a checkup. Michael went into work as normal and then I went out to meet him. Rowan was really upset that he wasn’t going, it must’ve been weird to be home all morning without his other half. I think Elijah thought he was missing something as well, but he got more attention so he didn’t mind. I had a few minutes before having to “pick him up”, so I went to my class to introduce them to Elijah. I talk so much about the boys in class that I thought they should meet at least one of them. Everyone loved Elijah even though he wasn’t too happy to see them.

Michael and I went to the Herzzentrum. We noted that they playground there was much better than our neighborhood one, but they still didn’t have the “safety swings”. We had to go through a series of waiting areas, and finally after an hour, we went in to get him measured and weighed and get an EKG. I wasn’t sure how much he weighed, but it was between 11 and 12 kilos (around 25 lbs), and measured 79 cms! He grew 8 cm’s since Christmas. We forgot to tell the EKG lady that Elijah has dextrocardia, I guess I just assumed that she knew??? I only realized after it was too late. I gave him his milk bottle then thinking that was going to be the part where he has to lie down the most.

After that, we had to wait around another half an hour (Elijah passed the time by looking at books and riding the wooden horse and walking all around), we went in to the doctor. He was a nice guy and spoke the best English of all the doctors we’ve seen. And that made me more comfortable. Turns out, he wanted to do an ultrasound and Elijah was NOT happy about that. He screamed and cried, he was really tired since it was past his nap time and he had a full morning. I remembered that we had some left over formula in the stroller so I ran out to get it. Everyone was staring at me since you could hear Elijah scream down the hall. After I got the bottle made, he quieted down and then he fell fast asleep. The doctor could take all the time that he needed (and it was LONG) to look at his heart. The ultra sound machine was the most detailed one I’ve seen, you can actually figure out what you’re seeing and it’s not just blobs. It was amazing to see his little heart working away. The doctor said that he is in fine shape and his heart looks really good. There are a bunch of things that children with dextrocardia and/or TGA have as well, but he showed no signs of any of them. The ventricle that is the “problem” has built up a nice layer of muscle to accomodate it’s extra workload. All in all, he was given a clean bill of health and the doctor agreed with our Seattle cardiologist that he looks like he doesn’t forsee any problems in the near future. What a sigh of relief! It was so funny to see Elijah so tired, completely comatose on the examining table!

After that, Michael went back to work and I came home. We got our couch delivered today - we ordered it like 2 months ago and it’s finally here. So, we have a nice couch/guest bed now! It’s pretty cool, we like it a lot.

In the afternoon I went to Basic and got a whole bunch of stuff, the stroller was really weighted down. Michael was going to go to Garmish for a “dawn patrol” but decided not to since the weather is pretty bad now. So he met me at Basic and walked back home with us. After I unloaded the stroller, I went back out to Tenglemann’s to get even more stuff - Did I mention that I found coke in cans there? It’s great! Besides the hefty pfand (deposit) of .25 on it, it’s the perfect size. I think it’s about the same amount as the 12 oz. can in the states, probably a little less. It’s a really thin and tall can. I also like it because we can bring the cans up to the cashier (to get our pfand back) and not have to fiddle with the stupid bottle machine. There have been a lot of 1/2 drunk cokes laying around, but not any more!

After I got back from that, I was super exhausted. Shopping always makes me so tired, I think it’s because of what I have called “checkout anxiety”. You have so much pressure on you when you’re at checkout that it mentally and physically wears you out. It’s not bad when you only have a few things, but when you have lots, it’s no fun. I think you can only understand checkout anxiety when you’ve been through it. Ask any American in Germany, they know.

So, I fell asleep watching Narnia, I’ll have to watch it again later. Of course I then woke up at 3 to do my blog and homework…

Today’s daily video is of the boys sitting on their boxes. They do this every once in awhile, they’ll just take one of those blocks and sit on it and be happy. It’s so bizarre and cute at the same time.