Ayden was born in April 2001 with long red hair and blue eyes. She was a full term baby with no complications, delivered by a planned caesarean section. She became jaundiced, but it was clearing up within a few days after she left the hospital.

By three weeks old she was becoming jaundiced again. My daughter pointed this out during a visit to her nurse-midwife, who assured her Ayden just had "breast milk jaundice" and that there was no need to be concerned. At 10 weeks her pediatrician saw her for a runny nose and immediately ordered blood tests. We learned that Ayden's liver and spleen were enlarged and her liver numbers were elevated. She was admitted to University of Kentucky Children's Hospital that night and began a series of tests to determine the cause of her jaundice.

In the next two days we did enough internet research to realize that it was important to find a medical center that had a lot of experience with liver disease and liver transplants. We requested a referral to Cincinnati Children's Hospital, which luckily is only 2.5 hours from us. Ayden was diagnosed with biliary atresia and had her Kasai procedure done at 11 weeks old, on June 22, 2001, and the surgery worked! Her GI is Dr. Bezerra, her surgeon was Dr. Alonzo, and we've seen most of the whole team at one time or another. We really like them, they respond quickly to phone calls and questions, and we do question everything now.

Ayden had two bouts of ascending cholangitis between July and October, then one of C. diff. We spent three nights in the hospital each time, then home on a PICC line. Then we had five months to breathe, then back to Cincinnati with cholangitis at the end of February 2002. She's gone a record eight months now without another hospitalization. She had several ear infections between November 2001 and July 2002, so she had tubes inserted in July.

Ayden is growing really well, especially now that she doesn't get all those earaches. She eats well - in fact, we say she "grazes" all day long. She has an enlarged liver and spleen (both stable right now), and she itches sometimes even though her bilirubin is normal. That's about it as far as symptoms. She was a little behind on large motor skills for a while, most likely because of her hospitalizations and big belly. She sat alone at 8 months, started crawling at 10 months, and walked by 15 months. At 19 months she never walks anymore - she runs everywhere and we have to be quick to keep her out of trouble. Her big brother Alex will be 7 in December, and he's her self-appointed "guard," often having more patience with her than us adults.

Like everyone else here, we've been through some very scary times and I know there'll be more. It's wonderful to see so many CLASS kids living normal lives. It gives us a lot of hope for Ayden. It is a blessing to have the support and knowledge of this group.