Friday, December 26, 2008

He's finally here...Linken John Fairchild

Our new little boy has finally arrived. He came at the perfect time. I was worried I wasn't going to get all my orders done for my craft fair, but I also didn't want him to be born on Christmas,nor did I want him to hang out until the new year. I finally finished all my orders and on Friday we had spent all day relaxing watching basketball games at the high school. I had been having contractions the whole time but that night after we got home they were getting a bit worse and more consistant. John has been so excited to have his SON come so he finally convinced me that maybe it was time. I was scheduled to be induced on Monday so I thought maybe we should just wait, but to Rock Springs we went anyway. The girls stayed with Grandma of course. I don't know what I would do without my mom!!!
Well, at the hospital they started to monitor me. I was having consistant contractions, but I wasn't dialating. They almost sent me home, but then I finally started to dialate just a bit. They said they would continue to watch me thru the night and in the morning they would give me the pitosen...if needed. So I was up ALL night. The contractions didn't hurt too bad, just uncomfortable. Anyway, so in the morning they did give me the pitosen, and more importantly shortly after that, the epidural!! Then it was just the waiting.
Finally at 1:15 our little Linken Fairchild was born! He came in weighing 6lbs 13 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. Dr. Etan was the doc on call so he delivered our little boy, rather than my normal doc. But I really liked him and all went well. Most importantly my epidural numbed much more than it did with Brooklyn so the delivery wasn't bad.

Linken and I are both doing well. The pediatrician at the hospital did give us some not so pleasant news though. He informed us that little Linken probably has something called craniosynostosis. What that means is that his skull is fused together. In a normal baby the plates of the skull are not joined so that the plates can expand and grow, allowing the baby’s brain to grow inside the skull. Because little Linken's skull has already been fused, if not fixed, his head/skull would only grow in one direction and he would look very deformed. The doctor said it's hard to tell for sure in a new born, but he pointed out the "ridge" of bone on the top of the head that feels fused as well as a "lump" in the back that is another indicator of the problem. So we now need to get in to see our normal pediatrician and have him refer us to Primary Children's where Linken will need to have a CT Scan to verify the fusion. If it is for sure fused, he will need to under go surgery on his little head. So I feel like we have become regulars at Primary Childrens. Between Kynadi's scoliosis and Brooklyn's cracked skull, we've made more than enough visits there for me. This one is pretty scary for me though. I don't even like to think about my new little boy having to have surgery. I about lost it when they had to put Kynadi out for her CT scan, and I'm sure it will be just as bad to see Linken have to go through the same thing, plus having to have his little head opened up. It's scary! The pediatrician at the hospital reasured us that Primary Children's does things like this all the time so everything should be just fine. I'll pray that it is.
Well, besides that our new little boy is great! He is such a good baby. No shrill cry like Brooklyn and he only cries when necessary...unlike Brooklyn as well. I could have more babies if they all come out with little Linken's personality. Let's hope his habits stick. Both the girls love him. Kynadi keeps saying how cute her little brother is and Brooklyn is always looking and pointing at him with a huge smile. So all is well in the Fairchild home!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Trip to Morgan and Joes



I know we have more exciting news right now, but I want that to be top post so I'm going backwards. So back to Thanksgiving.



We headed out on our long trip to Arizona on Tuesday night before Christmas. The plan was to stop in Moab and sleep at Grandma & Grandpa Silvers place. Mindy and Kelsey rode along with us for the exciting drive. We actually hit moab and ALL the kids were asleep so we decided to keep driving through the night. Thank goodness John can drive that long without getting too tired. I was the one that made the ride long...being 8 months pregnant, I had to stop at the restroom A LOT! It was definately not a comfortable drive for me. Anyway, after being pulled over by the Navajo Indian police and Mindy insulting him by asking about their crappy "abandoned" looking houses, and Brooklyn puking a few times, we made it to Morgan and Joe's house early that morning.

The first day we just hung out and rested. Then Thanksgiving day was fairly relaxing too. Morgan did a great job with our "feast". The next day we got up early and did some shopping to find some good black Friday deals. No such luck. I did find John a good Christmas gift on special as well as a $4.00 mixer I've been needing but other than that...nothin. Although, the minute we stepped into Wal-mart Morgan went crazy grabbing all kinds of things she didn't even necessarily want...just put it her cart so they wouldn't be gone if she did decide she wanted them.

Anyway, that night we went to Mesa to see the lights on the temple turn on. It was fun to see. I was probably the party-pooper though, because I was hurting pretty bad as a fat, prego woman walking around for so long trying to keep track of two kids. Here's some pics of that.








While we were there we also visited the big park in payson near Joe's work. It is really pretty. We also went fishing in the pond that's in the middle of the park. John was proud that he caught a fish, although I'm sure Morgan was not a fan of it being cooked at her house. The fishing was not so relaxing to me as I was scared one of the girls was going to fall, run, or trip off the dock and drown. It was more stressful than anything. Other than that we had a lot of fun. It was fun to finally get to see where Morgan and Joe live and the things they talk about. Thanks guys!!









Well, on the way back we stopped and spent the night in Moab and did a little off-roading in the morning. We were in search of a good arch and here's what we found...


Now you can see the real size...




Not quite what we were looking for, but it makes a cute frame for faces.

Here's the real arch we found, but when we tried climbing to it, we realized it just wasn't going to be so easy...and impossible with three children (and Mindy..lol). Here's John thinking he can climb with Brooklyn..hasn't she already had her head cracked!!!



Some more pics...
Along the way we saw quite a few cows, which Brooklyn loved. Then on our way out, we past some people riding horses. They were kind enough to stop and show the horses to the kids close up. That was pretty fun for them.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Thank you

Thank you Morgan, Joe and Boston!
Morgan and Joe were kind enough to let us all barge in on them for Thanksgiving this year. They were great hosts and Thanksgiving was good!
I was going to write more and post some pics, but my mind isn't in the writing mode so I will post all about it later...when I get a chance...lots to do before this baby pops out!! Yikes the clock is ticking, it could be any day now. AHHHHH!

Another Scoliosis update on Kynadi

Yes, Brynn I am writing about it again! Anyway, despite my sisters love of hearing about Kynadi's back, I'm posting as usual for my own records..not hers!

Well we headed for Utah for Kynadi's appointment at Primary Children's in mid November! They took x-rays as usual, and things look great!! She started out with a 56 degree curve in her back and now it is down to a 15 degree curve, isolated in her lower back. Her upper spine, where the curve showed before, is straight now! The x-rays looked great. The doctor said if she were to have come in initially like that, they wouldn't have done anything for her except monitor her. He said a lot of the time with children, the scoliosis will go away as they grow. So he told us Kynadi doesn't have to wear her brace for the next six months and then we'll see how she looks at that point. If she stays the same they'll just leave her out of the brace and keep monitoring it, otherwise back to the brace we go. But for now YIPEE!! It has been so nice to be told, "mommy I need to go potty" and to be able to tell her she can do it all by herself now...no onesie to tuck in her shirt to avoid the toilet water, no brace to help take off and NO fighting/convincing Kynadi to lay back down so I can put the brace back on. Especially with a baby almost here, it will be nice to have a break from the hassels of the brace!! I just hope she really does out grow the rest of the curve.