"Pretty Kissable U-know?"

i feel as though there are 3 major positions that i am in these last few days. one, where my chin is attached to my chest because i am exhausted, two, where nova is attached to my chest, and three when our rear ends are attached to our car. i have the rare opportunity right now of NOT being in one of those positions so i thought i would quickly blog on recent news in the hope household.

monday we came home from the hospital and told nova that she wouldn't have to ride in her over-sized car seat for a while. we told her we would just hang out at home and that we would let her grow for a while before we tried to put our little barbie doll in a cabbage patch kid sized car seat. (so that is a bit of an over exaggeration, but needless to say she doesn't fill out her car seat yet.)

tuesday we recieved a call from the hospital around noon telling us that there was a problem with nova's newborn screen and they wanted to do a confirmation test as soon as possible. so we gathered up our stuff and headed BACK to the hospital. (much to suzanne's dismay in several aspects---first i didn't feel quite up to my regular self and my stomach is anything but back to normal. everything i put on made me look like i was still a little pregnant. so after 10 clothing changes i stuck with a maternity top----not that this is relevant to the trip----i just thought i would through that out there. also i was a little worried about the test.)

when we arrived at the doctor they explained that nova's PKU test came back positive. it is a common test to come back false positive so they wanted to test it again to confirm the results. after 45 minutes of the nurses poking needles into nova and not getting the blood because her veins are so tiny, they finally decided to call a nurse from the neo-natal unit to come and do it. she came in and said that they just could have pricked the heel and had the blood drawn in less than 5 minutes. it was a little frustrating. anyway, we headed back home in the over-sized car seat again thinking, that tomorrow would be a day of rest and no more car rides.

wednesday nova's pediatrician (dr hom---his actual name is king hom---yes very similar to king kong----but only in the name---he does NOT look anything like king kong......just thought i would clarify that.....) anyway, dr hom called and confirmed that nova does have PKU. the salt lake metabolic center then called about 10 minutes later and asked if we could come to SLC immediately. i called dan from work, and we rolled out again.

pretty much we were in SLC most of the day. it was a little emotionally draining, but we are all doing well. PKU is a digestive disorder and is what the doctors call phenylketonuria---seriously---quite a big name for a little baby! we like to say that it stands for "Pretty Kissable U-know?" or i'm "Pretty Kute U-know?" its alot easier to say anyway and being the nice parent that i am, i won't be disappointed if thats not nova's first word.......just the second! j/k

basically it entails a really strict diet because her digestive system is unable to convert the protein phenoylalanine. this is in pretty much everything we found out----any meat, dairy, and enriched grains----it basically is as though we gave birth to a vegan! (who would have thought a dairy farmers daughter could even do that!?!?! :) ) it is an essential amino acid for growth, but because she is unable to digest it, it will build up in her system and could cause mental retardation. so we monitor her diet and poke her heel and draw blood weekly and all is well. that kind of simplifies it in a nut shell anyway. its a little overwhelming, but in the whole eternal scheme of things, even if we can't give nova mcdonalds and cold stone ice cream we can give her what is really important. we can share our testimony and help her grow in the gospel, play games and go swimming, have family home evening and even go to disneyland---now if that was a stipulation of the PKU we would be in trouble-----(nova agrees! :) ) food is not eternally important--family is.

we are all doing well though and are ready and able to take on the challenge and trial that i am sure will only bless us and make us stronger together. i am glad to know that Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need. we are so blessed--its that simple.

today however i feel like we can skip a trip somewhere and we will stay home!!! nova and mom are extremely excited! here is also a way cute picture of nova and dan. i think that you can easily say that nova is crazy about her dad and her dad is equally crazy about her!