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!

6 comments:

Danielle said...

He is darling! I sure hope everything goes well for him in the near future. I want to know your recipe for a boy because we are having another girl!

Toni said...

Hey Shannon, it't Toni Southam. I saw your blog on Marlene's. Congratulations. He is so cute!!!

Brynn said...

He is cutie! He looks like John in two of the pictures and in one of the pictures Brooklyn looks like Dad!! That caught me off gaurd. How come John has the double chin and you and the baby don't?

Holly said...

We're glad he's here and that you're both doing well, I'm sure John is just loving not being so outnumbered by you girls anymore :) We hope you get good news back about his little skull, you guys don't need anymore medical problems to deal with! We love you guys and hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

He is so cute. Congratulations.

Janalyn said...

Congratulations Shannon! He's a very handsome boy. I love his brown going home suit.
He doesn't seem like he has craniosynostosis very severely at all. I don't know much about it, I'm sure you know more now. I've just seen pictures of kids with it from different craniofacial organizations that we belong to. (Children's Craniofacial Association is a good one by the way if Linken does have it.) Cicily's craniofacial plastic surgeon in Phoenix is actually working on a surgical device for craniosynostosis with a neurologist. Hopefully it's nothing though!
By the way, I'm happy to hear your things are growing! :)