The Diagnosis

     My husband and I were so excited to take Marigold to her first doctors appointment! She was 6 days old and absolutely perfect. She never cried, slept more than expected and made nursing about as easy as possible. When we got there we were told that she had gained plenty of weight and looked healthy! The doctor told us that we were free to go, but that she wanted us to go re-do her heal prick test because a result had come back abnormally, but not to worry because it was extremely common to get false positives for the test she was referring to. I don't think that she even told us what Marigold had tested positive for, she didn't seem worried so I wasn't either. We went and re-did her heal prick, she didn't even cry much to the nurses amazement! Then we were on our way home for what would be a week full of cuddles and not worrying for a minute that something might be wrong with out little girl.

     When Marigold was 12 days old it was time to take her back to the doctor for her 2 week checkup. This time I had to go alone because my husband had gone back to work. She had gained more weight and the nurse joked about how strong she was before the doctor came in. I had played in my mind once or twice how it would go when she told me that the test she had us re-do came back negative and that all was fine. That isn't what happened though... Right when she walked in with a stack of papers for me I knew what she was going to say. All of a sudden she was using words that I didn't understand, and talking about doctors, nurses, dieticians and geneticists I would have to see that week. All of a sudden my world was upside down. I remember kissing my little girl and crying after the doctor left the room and texting my husband "She has PKU...".