Before we left the hospital, they told us Callum had failed the hearing test on the right side. This definitely worried us, but we prayed about it and we knew there was a pretty good chance that after being retested, he would measure normal. They told us sometimes the baby's ear is blocked with vernix after being born and that is why the hearing test is failed when it's first given.
So, we scheduled a visit with the ENT for a week after Callum was born. Let me just say, you should get a medal for just making it to the doctor with a newborn. I tried hard to time my arrival at the doctor's office with the time of the appointment, but with juggling the stroller, car seat, feeding Callum so he wouldn't be fussy, parking, and actually getting into the building, I ended up being about 15 minutes late for the appointment. Imagine my disappointment when I tried to check in and they told me I was too late and I'd have to reschedule the appointment. I seriously almost started crying in the middle of the doctor's office. (Ok, I might have actually cried some.) I was so upset. I'm sure some of it was due to lack of sleep and hormones, but some of it was just that I couldn't believe they would make me reschedule given the circumstances.
I left the office and called to reschedule. They were able to reschedule me for later on that day. You better believe I was on time for that appointment! So, finally at the appointment, the doctor examined Cal's ears and said his right ear (the one he failed the hearing test in) had an extremely narrow ear canal and it was crammed with all kinds of stuff (my summary because I don't know all the medical terms). He said this is probably why Cal failed the hearing test, but that they'd have to wait 3 weeks to retest and confirm this, because Cal's ear still needed to grow some. So, he cleaned a bunch of stuff out of Cal's ear, and we proceeded out of the office.
The drama continued. I got to my car and I could not for the life of me figure out how to collapse the stroller to put it away in the car. I'm sure some of it was stress, some exhaustion, and some just not being able to keep up with everything new going on, but it was extra crazy because there was some determined man sitting in his car waiting for my parking spot, and he had a line of about 10 cars behind him. It probably took me 5 minutes to figure it out and get Cal loaded up. I had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction in the midst of all of this, and at that point, I just had to laugh. Cal and I finally made it out of there, and I was relieved, to say the least.
So, three weeks later, we go back to the ENT for the follow up visit and retest. The visit with the doctor is relatively uneventful, but the hearing test, lets just say it was an ordeal. When they test a baby's hearing, the baby needs to be quiet and just about asleep. Tell that to a one month old who's hungry and has a dirty diaper. The nurse was able to test the left ear with no problem. Then she moved on to the right ear, which was the ear that had previously failed the hearing test. Then the craziness began. Either Cal would start crying or knock the sensor out of his ear every time the test got going. Then we had to start over again. This repeated itself probably 20 times. At one point, he was sitting in my lap, and I felt a warm sensation on my shirt and jeans. I didn't dare move because I was hoping this test would take. It didn't, he cried and we had to start over. When I lifted him up, sure enough, he'd peed through his diaper on to me. Extra fun when I was going to have to walk through the office building with a huge wet spot on me.
So, we decided to take a break and I'd go change Cal and then we'd try again. I successfully changed Cal, but in the process, got peed on again. We went back into the office and tried the test a few more times, and eventually, the test took, and he passed in both ears! You can't imagine how relieved I was to be done with that. We were probably in there trying to get the test finished for at least an hour.
But, the important thing is that Cal's hearing is normal, and hopefully, we won't have to endure any more hearing tests in the future. Whew!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
3 Week Checkup
We went in for a 3 week checkup on Thursday, September 9th. We would have done the typical one month checkup, but our Pediatrician wanted to see Callum sooner to check on his bilirubin levels. So, to the doctor's office we went.
Callum had a great checkup. He meaured at 8 lbs., 2 oz., so up 2 lbs. from his birth weight. He also grew 1/4 an inch, which meant he was up to 19.5 inches long. His head circumference was 36 cm. We went over his measurements with the doctor, and she said at this point he was at the 25th percentile in height and weight. Time will tell if he stays at this percentile or not. I have a feeling he's going to do a lot of growing in the coming months, especially for the way he eats.
All else looked great. His next checkup will be at 2 months. This will be the big appointment where he gets his immunizations, and after that he'll be free to explore the wide world (well of course with parental supervision). We are thankful for a healthy baby!
Callum had a great checkup. He meaured at 8 lbs., 2 oz., so up 2 lbs. from his birth weight. He also grew 1/4 an inch, which meant he was up to 19.5 inches long. His head circumference was 36 cm. We went over his measurements with the doctor, and she said at this point he was at the 25th percentile in height and weight. Time will tell if he stays at this percentile or not. I have a feeling he's going to do a lot of growing in the coming months, especially for the way he eats.
All else looked great. His next checkup will be at 2 months. This will be the big appointment where he gets his immunizations, and after that he'll be free to explore the wide world (well of course with parental supervision). We are thankful for a healthy baby!
Hungry Man
I think it's safe to say we have a hungry baby on our hands. Callum was born on the small side, weighing in at 6 lbs. 2 oz. When we left the hospital, he was down about 4% from his birth weight (which put him about at 5.9 lbs.). Usually they expect babies to regain their birth weight within 2 weeks from the date they are born. Well, by his first visit with the pediatrician, which was five days after he was born, Callum was already back up to his birth weight. By the next visit, which was eight days after he was born, he was up to 6 lbs. 10 oz., so up 8 oz. from birth within just over a week from birth. Yay for a good eater! I'm so glad he is eating so well and getting what he needs.
Also at his first visit to the pediatrician, they checked his bilirubin levels, and unfortunately, Callum's level was on the high side. This meant he had to get his heel pricked multiple times during the week to make sure the level wasn't going up. He did NOT like the heel pricking part, but within the week, his bilirubin levels stabilized and started going down again. We were thankful for that!
Also at his first visit to the pediatrician, they checked his bilirubin levels, and unfortunately, Callum's level was on the high side. This meant he had to get his heel pricked multiple times during the week to make sure the level wasn't going up. He did NOT like the heel pricking part, but within the week, his bilirubin levels stabilized and started going down again. We were thankful for that!
Callum's Name
If you recall an earlier post, we were pretty specific in the kind of name we wanted for our son. We wanted something traditional, but not common. It took us a very long time to settle on something, but once we really started talking about names, we discovered that we'd both found the name Callum and we both liked it a lot. At this point, we decided to go with it unless we had a major change of mind.
Here's some history on the name. The name Callum is of Scottish and Gaelic origin. It is is pronounced KAL-um. It is a variant of Columba (Latin), meaning "dove". It was a popular name among early Christians because the dove was a symbol of gentleness, purity, peace, and the Holy Spirit. Saint Columba was an influential sixth-century Irish missionary who founded a monastery on the Scottish island of Iona. His contemporary, Saint Columban, also Irish, was a missionary in France, Switzerland, and Italy.
Callum is currently very popular in Europe, particularly Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England, but it's only just barely within the top 1000 in the US (at #976 right now).
We love the name for many reasons, especially because of the meaning and its association with peace and the holy spirit. We think it goes really well with his middle name (also his daddy's name), Wyatt, which means guide.
Callum is also a family name. Wyatt has a lot of Scottish on his mother's side of the family, and it turns out there were two Callums in his family tree, one as a first name and one as a middle name, so that makes the name extra special.
We are so glad to have a name for our son. Roshambeaux was good while it lasted, but he needed a real name at some point. We pray that through his life, he will grow be an instrument of peace just as his name means.
Here's some history on the name. The name Callum is of Scottish and Gaelic origin. It is is pronounced KAL-um. It is a variant of Columba (Latin), meaning "dove". It was a popular name among early Christians because the dove was a symbol of gentleness, purity, peace, and the Holy Spirit. Saint Columba was an influential sixth-century Irish missionary who founded a monastery on the Scottish island of Iona. His contemporary, Saint Columban, also Irish, was a missionary in France, Switzerland, and Italy.
Callum is currently very popular in Europe, particularly Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England, but it's only just barely within the top 1000 in the US (at #976 right now).
We love the name for many reasons, especially because of the meaning and its association with peace and the holy spirit. We think it goes really well with his middle name (also his daddy's name), Wyatt, which means guide.
Callum is also a family name. Wyatt has a lot of Scottish on his mother's side of the family, and it turns out there were two Callums in his family tree, one as a first name and one as a middle name, so that makes the name extra special.
We are so glad to have a name for our son. Roshambeaux was good while it lasted, but he needed a real name at some point. We pray that through his life, he will grow be an instrument of peace just as his name means.
Callum Wyatt Smith's Arrival- Part II
Once it was confirmed that my water had broken, we called our families and alerted them that we were staying at the hospital and that baby Smith was on his way. It was about 9 PM Tuesday night when we got checked in and I got moved to my room in Labor & Delivery. Things were still pretty fun at this point.
Just checked in...still smiling!
Getting hooked up to the monitors.
So, after the excitement of getting checked in, we talked with my doctor about what was going to happen next. Let me back up and explain... We had planned on doing a natural birth- as in, no pain medication. We had taken a great child birth class and felt as prepared as we could be to go this route. We knew our plans might have to change, and we were ok with that, but we really hoped to make it the natural route if possible.
Back to present day- with my water breaking, the baby needed to come soon thereafter. Since at the point I was admitted I was having just about no contractions (except really small ones that I barely noticed) and I was almost completely not dilated, my doctor recommended they start Pitocin to get things going. I really, really, really didn't want or plan on Pitocin, but I knew at this point they had to get labor going and I didn't really know of another option to get that accomplished.
So, Pitocin was started at about 11 PM Tuesday night. We were still hopeful for a natural birth at this point, but we knew it would be more difficult since I couldn't leave the bed to get into positions and the Pitocin would make the contractions more intense sooner than if labor would have progressed naturally. But, we still hoped that I'd be able to deliver naturally.
The contractions weren't too bad at first. I stayed up the whole night, breathing through each contraction as it came. I watched 3 movies throughout the night- Leap Year, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Confessions of a Shopaholic. I actually quite enjoyed the first two. By the third, things were getting a little rough. Wyatt was able to get a few hours of sleep during the night, which I was glad about.
By the end of the third movie, it was morning, Wyatt was up, and the contractions were really intense and very close together. This is what I looked like at this point...just trying to make it through each contraction, one at a time.
Wyatt was great through the whole thing- praying with me, breathing through contractions with me, and telling me jokes to try to lighten the mood as much as he could. At one point, he asked what he could do for me and I requested that he sing Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff." He obliged, and I really needed that laugh. It was a great moment. I don't know what I would have done without him.
My doctor came in at about 7 AM, told me I'd dilated to 6 cm and asked me how the epidural was. We told him I hadn't had an epidural and he just kind of looked at us with a surprised face. He was really encouraging that I could make it the whole way, though, so we kept going.
Within the next hour, things really intensified. The nurse checked me and said I was 7 to 8 cm dilated. She said I could have some pain medicine given through an IV. This wouldn't be as strong as an epidural, but it was supposed to at least take the edge off. I went for it; it had been a long time and I was totally worn out. I hoped the pain medicine would be what I needed to get me to the pushing phase.
The pain medicine did help, I think mainly because it allowed to to rest a little and get a little more calm. But the contractions kept coming- they were about 2 minutes apart and very intense. At this point, the anesthesiologist came in to make sure I didn't need an epidural. They explained that I could still get one, but they thought I could make it the remainder of the way without it. They left and Wyatt and I talked. After discussing, we ended up opting for the epidural. Although this wasn't part of the original plan, I had been having contractions for about 10 hours at that point, and I had barely slept. I was worn out. If I had known that I would get to 10 cm within an hour or two, I would have persevered, but there was no way to know how much longer I had to go to get to the point of pushing.
So, I got the epidural. It didn't really hurt going in and the relief started shortly thereafter. Then, the fun really began... Apparently my system didn't take too kindly to the epidural. My blood pressure dropped dangerously low (as low as 80/40), and the baby's heart rate dropped as well (as low as 60 bpm, which is VERY low for a baby). Since I was so drugged up, I was pretty oblivious at this point, but Wyatt saw all the vital signs dropping, and he was extremely worried. Within the next half hour, tons of people came into my room. I was pumped full of all kinds of fluid, and eventually, my blood pressure normalized. Baby's heart rate was still fluctuating, but not going quite as low. The doctors told us the baby's heart rate might be dropping like it was because the cord was around his neck. Again, I was pretty drugged up, so not too worried, but Wyatt was still very anxious.
My mom and sister arrived at about noon, which was right after all of the mayhem had subsided. I was so glad to have them there, especially now that I wasn't in crazy pain.
Within the next couple of hours, I got to 10 cm, and it was time to push at about 2 PM. I pushed for about 30 minutes, and our son was born at 2:27 PM in the afternoon. The cord was around his neck when he was born, so that explained the drops in his heart rate. It was incredibly emotional. I was so glad to see him after all that time.
Wyatt went out to tell our families that he was born, and announced the name we had chosen- Callum Wyatt Smith (story of the name to come later).
Callum was weighed and measured. He weighed in at 6.2 lbs and measured 19 1/4 inches long.
Wyatt and I were extremely happy and relieved. Here are some of our first pictures with out son.
Just checked in...still smiling!
Getting hooked up to the monitors.
It was cold in there!
So, after the excitement of getting checked in, we talked with my doctor about what was going to happen next. Let me back up and explain... We had planned on doing a natural birth- as in, no pain medication. We had taken a great child birth class and felt as prepared as we could be to go this route. We knew our plans might have to change, and we were ok with that, but we really hoped to make it the natural route if possible.
Back to present day- with my water breaking, the baby needed to come soon thereafter. Since at the point I was admitted I was having just about no contractions (except really small ones that I barely noticed) and I was almost completely not dilated, my doctor recommended they start Pitocin to get things going. I really, really, really didn't want or plan on Pitocin, but I knew at this point they had to get labor going and I didn't really know of another option to get that accomplished.
So, Pitocin was started at about 11 PM Tuesday night. We were still hopeful for a natural birth at this point, but we knew it would be more difficult since I couldn't leave the bed to get into positions and the Pitocin would make the contractions more intense sooner than if labor would have progressed naturally. But, we still hoped that I'd be able to deliver naturally.
The contractions weren't too bad at first. I stayed up the whole night, breathing through each contraction as it came. I watched 3 movies throughout the night- Leap Year, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Confessions of a Shopaholic. I actually quite enjoyed the first two. By the third, things were getting a little rough. Wyatt was able to get a few hours of sleep during the night, which I was glad about.
Wyatt was great through the whole thing- praying with me, breathing through contractions with me, and telling me jokes to try to lighten the mood as much as he could. At one point, he asked what he could do for me and I requested that he sing Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff." He obliged, and I really needed that laugh. It was a great moment. I don't know what I would have done without him.
My doctor came in at about 7 AM, told me I'd dilated to 6 cm and asked me how the epidural was. We told him I hadn't had an epidural and he just kind of looked at us with a surprised face. He was really encouraging that I could make it the whole way, though, so we kept going.
Within the next hour, things really intensified. The nurse checked me and said I was 7 to 8 cm dilated. She said I could have some pain medicine given through an IV. This wouldn't be as strong as an epidural, but it was supposed to at least take the edge off. I went for it; it had been a long time and I was totally worn out. I hoped the pain medicine would be what I needed to get me to the pushing phase.
The pain medicine did help, I think mainly because it allowed to to rest a little and get a little more calm. But the contractions kept coming- they were about 2 minutes apart and very intense. At this point, the anesthesiologist came in to make sure I didn't need an epidural. They explained that I could still get one, but they thought I could make it the remainder of the way without it. They left and Wyatt and I talked. After discussing, we ended up opting for the epidural. Although this wasn't part of the original plan, I had been having contractions for about 10 hours at that point, and I had barely slept. I was worn out. If I had known that I would get to 10 cm within an hour or two, I would have persevered, but there was no way to know how much longer I had to go to get to the point of pushing.
So, I got the epidural. It didn't really hurt going in and the relief started shortly thereafter. Then, the fun really began... Apparently my system didn't take too kindly to the epidural. My blood pressure dropped dangerously low (as low as 80/40), and the baby's heart rate dropped as well (as low as 60 bpm, which is VERY low for a baby). Since I was so drugged up, I was pretty oblivious at this point, but Wyatt saw all the vital signs dropping, and he was extremely worried. Within the next half hour, tons of people came into my room. I was pumped full of all kinds of fluid, and eventually, my blood pressure normalized. Baby's heart rate was still fluctuating, but not going quite as low. The doctors told us the baby's heart rate might be dropping like it was because the cord was around his neck. Again, I was pretty drugged up, so not too worried, but Wyatt was still very anxious.
My mom and sister arrived at about noon, which was right after all of the mayhem had subsided. I was so glad to have them there, especially now that I wasn't in crazy pain.
Within the next couple of hours, I got to 10 cm, and it was time to push at about 2 PM. I pushed for about 30 minutes, and our son was born at 2:27 PM in the afternoon. The cord was around his neck when he was born, so that explained the drops in his heart rate. It was incredibly emotional. I was so glad to see him after all that time.
Wyatt went out to tell our families that he was born, and announced the name we had chosen- Callum Wyatt Smith (story of the name to come later).
Callum was weighed and measured. He weighed in at 6.2 lbs and measured 19 1/4 inches long.
Wyatt and I were extremely happy and relieved. Here are some of our first pictures with out son.
After they took Callum to the nursery, I got a few treats. First, there were Sour Patch Kids, which if you know me, you know these are my favorite candy. I am a bit obsessed with them and after about 24 hours of no food, I was quite happy to see these!
Then Wyatt gave me a special gift- a necklace to match my engagement ring. It was such a sweet gift. I am so thankful for Wyatt. Callum has a great dad.
My dad and brother arrived at the hospital later that night. I have some great pictures of them that I'll add later on. Here are some pictures of Callum meeting some of his very favorite people.
Callum with his Auntie Em and Grammy Sandy (we still have yet to settle on a grandmother name for her).
Callum with his Pappy and Grandmother.
We spent the next couple of days hanging out at the hospital. Wyatt took our families out for a couple of meals, and I took advantage of the nursery to try to get a little sleep before we headed home. Here are a few shots of us before we left the hospital.
And that's it! It was an adventure to say the least. No, the birth part didn't go at all how we'd planned, but I am just incredibly thankful to have a healthy baby and such wonderful support from our family. We still hope for a natural birth in the future, but we're ok with whatever needs to happen for the sake of health and safety. We thank God for the blessing of our son. He is so good and He was so present through the entire pregnancy and birth.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Callum Wyatt Smith's Arrival- Part I
I have not been good at posting lately, but before much more time elapses, I wanted to record the story of Callum's arrival. So here goes...
First of all, I had a very uneventful, healthy pregnancy (praise God for that). Everything was looking perfectly normal when I went in for an check up with my doctor on Thursday, August 12th. As of that day, I was one day away from being 37 weeks, which is full term in pregnancy-land. I was measuring a little small, but my doctor said that could be because baby had already dropped into position at that point (which he had as of a week or two before). So I left the appointment feeling good and still assured that I probably wouldn't be having this baby for another 3 weeks or so. I even double checked with the doctor that I could keep working out, and he assured me I could.
I worked out that Friday, using the elliptical machine as was my norm, and Wyatt and I had a full weekend of errands, we saw a movie (Inception), and we went to church. On Monday, I ran a TON of errands for just about the entire day. I felt fine...ok a little tired considering it was about 102 degrees that day...but otherwise, I felt pretty good. Wyatt and I went to eat at a favorite pizza place that night and I got a raspberry cream soda. Yum! Everything was normal in Smith pregnancy-land that night.
Tuesday, August 17th started off a little different. Let's just say I woke up with the distinct impression that my water was breaking. It wasn't anything super dramatic, but enough of a difference from the norm that I thought something was happening. So at 5 AM, I told Wyatt we probably needed to head to the hospital just to make sure it wasn't anything. So, we finished packing up our bags (which were not finished being packed, mind you I didn't think they needed to be for another couple of weeks) and headed to the hospital.
We arrived and were sent to labor and delivery. There they ran some tests and concluded that my water had not broken, and I was sent home. I felt a little dumb at this point, but I knew going in to be checked was the right thing to do regardless. I'd read that if your water breaks the baby needs to be delivered within about 24 hours or so, so I knew we needed to be cautious. So we went home, took a little nap, and Wyatt headed off to work. I determined that if I wasn't going to have our boy that day then I was at least going to be productive with the remainder of the day. So, I cleaned a little, did about 6 loads of laundry, and took a shower. Throughout the day, I was still having water breaking symptoms, but again, it was nothing too dramatic, so I just assumed it was nothing. At about 4:30 in the afternoon, when the symptoms were continuing, I decided it would be good to call my doctor just to make sure I shouldn't come back in to be checked again.
So, I called and my doctor said I should definitely come back in and get re-checked. I began cramming more items into our hospital bags and called Wyatt to say that we officially had plans for the night, and they would include doctors, scrubs, and possibly some hospital food. So, off we went to the hosptial again. We were a little anxious at this point but still both pretty sure that we weren't having this baby yet. The drive seemed to take forever, and it wasn't helped by the fact that we were stuck behind some car from California that maintained 15 MPH the entire time.
Eventually, we arrived at the hospital, explained what had being going on that day, and they began running the tests again to see if my water had broken. This time, the results were very quick and definitive. My water had definitely broken. Now the fun was really ready to start... Stay tuned for Part II of the saga.
First of all, I had a very uneventful, healthy pregnancy (praise God for that). Everything was looking perfectly normal when I went in for an check up with my doctor on Thursday, August 12th. As of that day, I was one day away from being 37 weeks, which is full term in pregnancy-land. I was measuring a little small, but my doctor said that could be because baby had already dropped into position at that point (which he had as of a week or two before). So I left the appointment feeling good and still assured that I probably wouldn't be having this baby for another 3 weeks or so. I even double checked with the doctor that I could keep working out, and he assured me I could.
I worked out that Friday, using the elliptical machine as was my norm, and Wyatt and I had a full weekend of errands, we saw a movie (Inception), and we went to church. On Monday, I ran a TON of errands for just about the entire day. I felt fine...ok a little tired considering it was about 102 degrees that day...but otherwise, I felt pretty good. Wyatt and I went to eat at a favorite pizza place that night and I got a raspberry cream soda. Yum! Everything was normal in Smith pregnancy-land that night.
Tuesday, August 17th started off a little different. Let's just say I woke up with the distinct impression that my water was breaking. It wasn't anything super dramatic, but enough of a difference from the norm that I thought something was happening. So at 5 AM, I told Wyatt we probably needed to head to the hospital just to make sure it wasn't anything. So, we finished packing up our bags (which were not finished being packed, mind you I didn't think they needed to be for another couple of weeks) and headed to the hospital.
We arrived and were sent to labor and delivery. There they ran some tests and concluded that my water had not broken, and I was sent home. I felt a little dumb at this point, but I knew going in to be checked was the right thing to do regardless. I'd read that if your water breaks the baby needs to be delivered within about 24 hours or so, so I knew we needed to be cautious. So we went home, took a little nap, and Wyatt headed off to work. I determined that if I wasn't going to have our boy that day then I was at least going to be productive with the remainder of the day. So, I cleaned a little, did about 6 loads of laundry, and took a shower. Throughout the day, I was still having water breaking symptoms, but again, it was nothing too dramatic, so I just assumed it was nothing. At about 4:30 in the afternoon, when the symptoms were continuing, I decided it would be good to call my doctor just to make sure I shouldn't come back in to be checked again.
So, I called and my doctor said I should definitely come back in and get re-checked. I began cramming more items into our hospital bags and called Wyatt to say that we officially had plans for the night, and they would include doctors, scrubs, and possibly some hospital food. So, off we went to the hosptial again. We were a little anxious at this point but still both pretty sure that we weren't having this baby yet. The drive seemed to take forever, and it wasn't helped by the fact that we were stuck behind some car from California that maintained 15 MPH the entire time.
Eventually, we arrived at the hospital, explained what had being going on that day, and they began running the tests again to see if my water had broken. This time, the results were very quick and definitive. My water had definitely broken. Now the fun was really ready to start... Stay tuned for Part II of the saga.
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