Dylan's Birth Announcement

Dylan's Blessing

On Sunday  September 7, we had Dlyan's baby blessing. It was a beautiful day and Connor gave a beautiful blessing. There was one other baby blessed that day. Dylan slept through it, and then woke up very hungry right after sacrament, so I missed the rest of the meeting. The speaker in the mothers room doesn't work so I couldn't hear anything.

Anyway, like I said, the blessing was beautiful. I was a little bit bummed that no one from my family was there, but what can you do? My mission presidents wife was able to make it, which I loved. She held Dylan for a bit before he decided he was starving and needed food. 

After church we went back to our house for lunch with family and friends. Matthew looooved all the attention he got. He's so funny and just loves to show off. 

Broken Collarbone

So right after Dylan's 2 week check-up, I noticed a bump on Dylan's left shoulder.  Of course it worried me.  I thought it was either a broken collarbone, or he had some weird growth on his bone.  At first I thought we'd just keep an eye on it and see what happens, but the next day it was just gnawing at me and Connor and I agreed we should take him back to the dr to get it checked out.

I dropped Matthew off at his grandparents and took Dylan to the doctor that afternoon.  Dr Nelson looked at his shoulder, felt the bump and wasn't sure what it was.  He tested Dylan's range of motion in his arms to make sure he was exhibiting the same range of motion in each arm, which he appeared to be doing.  So Dr Nelson said we should just keep an eye on it, and also that he would talk to a pediatric orthopedic doctor, and get their 2 cents on it.  After that, I didn't worry about it too much.

The following week, I received a call from Dr Nelsons office telling me that Dr Nelson had spoken with another doctor, and they recommended we take Dylan for an X-ray of his shoulder, and that it might be something that he might need physical therapy for.  Honestly, I thought I was going to be taking him for an X-ray when I took him in for it initially -- that's why I dropped Matty off with Lori.  Anyway, it took me a few days to get to the hospital for the X-ray.  Every time I tried to go something got in the way.  Finally I just had to take both Dylan and Matthew to get the X-ray done.

That was kind of a nightmare because Matthew didn't take a nap that day and he was soooo tired, and hospitals are sloooooow.

Anyway, they finally took the X-ray. They had me wait outside and Dylan screamed the whole time.  My poor little baby.

The next day Dr Nelson's office called again saying Dylan had a fractured clavicle, but that it was healing and had a bone callus, and that he would need physical therapy to make sure it doesn't cause him any problems down the road.

The following week they gave me the referral for physical therapy, and I set up an appointment for the week after that.  Seriously the longest process ever, but whatever.

Finally, I met with the physical therapist and we talked about Dylan's labor and delivery.  That had to be the time when the break happened because we didn't drop him or anything.  The physical therapist asked if his shoulders had gotten lodged during delivery, which they hadn't.  She said that usually the shoulders get stuck, and then the doctor has to pull the shoulders out, which is usually when the collar bone breaks.  But that never happened. I watched the whole thing.  He slid out easily.

It was while I was in labor that we had issues.  I told the physical therapist about my horrid contractions while I was in labor and that Dylan was sideways right up until before he was born.  She said she believes that since he was sideways, I had a really strong contraction which pushed his shoulder into my pelvic bone, and his collar bone broke.  A broken bone before he was even born.  That makes the most sense to me.

Before I took him into physical therapy I kept thinking about when his bone would have broken, and kept wondering if it was possible for it to break before he was born.  I thought about bringing it up with Stacie at my 6 week follow-up, but I didn't want her to think I was accusing her of anything, so I didn't.  I really think it happened before he was born.

I did bring it up with Amy, my doula, and she was really surprised when I told her that he had a broken collar bone. She said she has had a client whose baby did break his collar gone before, but the doctor was tugging and pulling a lot, which Stacie never did.

Dylan has had a bit of a rough start in life with his jaundice and broken bone, but he's one tough kid.  Plus, he is so sweet and cute.  His smile just melts my heart.

Anyway, the physical therapist checked to see if he had any nerve damage from the break, which he doesn't.  He does seem to favor his right arm when we do tummy time, so I try to encourage him to bare equal weight on his left arm.  And she showed me some stretches to do with his arm/neck so those muscles don't get too tight.  I'm supposed to take him back this week, but I'm going to have to reschedule for the following week.  She wants to make sure that as he develops and starts reaching for toys that he can do everything he should be doing.  But it will still be another month or so before he starts doing that anyway.

Dylan @ 2 Months

 It's hard to believe Dylan is already 2 months old!  He is such a sweet, and easy baby.  His 2 month appointment went great.  Dylan is really thriving.  He weighs 14 lbs 10 ozs, and is 24.25" long.  He's a big boy!  Interestingly, Matthew was just about the same size as Dylan at that age.  Matthew was 14 lbs 12 ozs, and 24.5" long.  I guess we just have big chunky babies, and I love it!

Poor Dylan had kind of a rough day.  We had our appointment in the morning, hoping we could get it over with and enjoy the rest of the day.  Luckily, Connor had the day off so I didn't have to take Matthew to the appointment as well.  When we finally met with Dr Nelson and we started talking about immunizations, he said that there are 3 shots, and 1 oral immunization that 2 month olds are given.  However, because we go to a family practice, and not a pediatricians office, they don't carry the oral vaccination because they don't have enough patients that need the vaccine.  So D would get the 3 shots, and then we could get the other one at the health department.  Great.

Then Dr Nelson leaves, comes back and says they actually only have 2 of the 3 vaccines.  The 3rd is coming today, but won't be there for a couple hours so I can bring Dylan back in the afternoon.  So Dylan got his first 2 shots, and cried the saddest cry ever.  Then he went straight to sleep -- he was long overdue for a nap.  We went home, he slept more and then the drs office called to say the 3rd vaccine had come in.  When Dylan woke up we went back and he got another shot.  At least his thighs are so chunky!  Oh, that time I had to take Matty with, which was interesting.  Luckily (for me, not for him), I strapped Matthew into the stroller and he couldn't run away from me.

Then we went home, picked up Connor, and we all drove to the health department in Bountiful for Dylan to get the oral vaccine.  At least that one wasn't a shot!  Although it did give him some disgusting diapers for a couple of days.

Poor little man had a rough day, but he certainly was a trooper.  We just love him and are so grateful we get to have him around.  He is such a sweet little baby.

This was taken the following day. He was much happier!

Dylan @ 1 Month

1 week

2 weeks

3 weeks

4 weeks

1 Month Old

At his 2 week check-up he weighed 9 lbs 13 ozs and 22 inches long.

Jaundice

Monday the 21st I took Dylan for his checkup with his regular doctor (Dr Nelson).  We had left the hospital on Friday, and for the most part, things were going really well.  Dylan is such a chill baby and a great sleeper (unlike his older brother).  

Dylan was looking good when we were at the doctors, but Dr Nelson noted his jaundice and said just to be safe, we should get his blood levels tested.  Since the office is right next to the hospital, they had us go to the lab at the hospital to do the blood draw.  Before we left, Dr Nelson was talking to me about the numbers for the level of jaundice and if it's over 20 there's major cause for concern, 15 to 20 is very worrisome, and under 15 is most likely fine, but needs to be watched.

Honestly, I was very unconcerned.  I knew he had a little jaundice, but I knew it would resolve on its own.

Later that afternoon my family arrived at our house after driving out from California, and Casey and Mitch came to see Dylan too because they hadn't had a chance to see him yet.  They were here for about 5 minutes when I got a call from the drs office.  I saw the caller ID and figured they were calling to tell me everything came back mostly normal and to keep an eye on the jaundice levels.

Wrong.

I did not expect them to tell me that Dylan needed to be admitted to the hospital because his jaundice level (19.7) was way too high.  I found Connor, who was giving a tour of our house, told him quickly what was going on, and then told the lady on the phone that we'd go back to the hospital ASAP.

Connor and I rushed up to our bedroom with Dylan and Connor gave him a blessing before we left.  My mind was somewhere else when we said goodbye to everyone that had just gotten to our house.  I didn't even notice Casey and Mitch when they left.  Conveniently, my mom was there to look after Matthew while Connor and I went back to the hospital.  Matthew didn't really remember my mom, but he did really well.  Luckily, he got over his separation anxiety when I went back to work earlier this year.

When we checked in at the hospital they had been notified that we were coming and had things mostly set up for us.  The girl that was checking us in kept telling us how sorry she was that we had to go through this. 

I was concerned they were going to tell me that I couldn't stay there with him that night, but the nurse, who was in his room when we got there, encouraged me to stay with him all night.  They had another baby coming in that same day who was also jaundiced, so she said it would make her job easier if I stayed.  I really liked that nurse.  

Dr Nelson came in and talked to us about Dylan's jaundice level and their plan of treatment.  Lights, lights, and more lights.  He didn't need an IV, and best case scenario we would only be there overnight.  Something I wasn't thrilled about is that Dr Nelson wanted me to pump and feed Dylan so they could know exactly how much he was eating.  I asked if we could just weigh Dylan before and after each feed, but Dr Nelson didn't feel that would be accurate enough.

Not much later, I heard Dr Nelson and our nurse talking in the hall and she was fighting for me to be able to breastfeed Dylan instead of pumping and bottle feeding him.  She told Dr Nelson I could just write down the start time of each feed, and how long he fed for and that would be enough.  He eventually agreed, and I was so grateful that she fought for that.  

Dylan has been a champion breast-feeder from the start, but I was really concern that introducing a bottle to him when he was only 4 days old, would put a strain on his ability to nurse.  There's nothing wrong with bottle-feeding, but I really enjoy being able to breast-feed my kids and it is something that's really important to me for a lot of reasons.  I was so relieved when the nurse told me I didn't have to pump.  I thanked her and told her she was my hero for the day.  

I had to nurse Dylan each hour for 10 to 15 minutes.  If I waited to nurse him every 2 hours then I was supposed to nurse 25 to 30 minutes.  So, there wasn't much sleep in store for me that night.

When they finally got Dylan under the lights, which took hours for some reason, he did great under them.  He was so sleepy (probably from the jaundice), and he laid there easily. 

They retested his levels around 10 pm that night and the numbers came back at about 17.5, so we knew it was working, thank goodness. 

I didn't sleep more than 30 minutes all night long.  Connor had gone home and gotten me my pillow and some other things that I needed, and then came back and ate dinner with me.  Luckily, Davis Hospital actually has pretty good food.  And amazing chocolate chip cookies.  

Connor left about 8:30 to get home to put Matthew to bed.  He actually came back again later to bring me some more things that he had forgotten, and then he was gone for good and I was so bored.  I tried to read a book, but I couldn't focus so I watched American Ninja Warrior and other mindless television.

They told me they were going to come back at 4 am to retest, so I was ready to go.  I had him fed and everything so they'd be able to do it quickly.  Unfortunately, they didn't show up until 5.  Rude.  The test came back at about 15.5, so we were still making progress.

After that, I wasn't as concerned about his jaundice level, and Dylan was pretty much done with lying in the incubator.  He much preferred to be nursing, or at least cuddling me or Connor, and I couldn't blame him.  Connor showed up around 8am and after that I was finally able to get some rest.  I slept for a couple hours and tried to stay conscious while feeding Dylan but that was hard.

When we had him out of the incubator, we still tried to keep him in the lights, but it obviously wasn't the same, so when they retested his levels they were down to about 14.

I did my best to keep him under the lights, but I wasn't going to just let him cry and stay under there.  If it had been life threatening, then I would have had to.  But at this point I felt that he was okay.

Dr Nelson had checked in with us periodically and told us we would be out of there before 6.  We hoped it would be well before, but they were slow.  At 3:30 he said he would sign the discharge papers, and at 4:30 we were finally out of there.  

Before we left, Dr Nelson asked if we thought we needed to get a bili blanket so that Dylan could do more phototherapy at home.  I said I didn't really feel that it was necessary, but I also didn't think Dylan's bili levels were that high in the first place, so maybe I wasn't the best judge.  Dr Nelson was nice and said he trusted my instinct, and Connor agreed that we didn't need the blanket at home.  We just needed to keep Dylan in the sun periodically.  

I had to take Dylan back to the dr on Friday, and since Dr Nelson had gone on vacation the day after we left the hospital, we saw a different dr in the practice.  He said that Dylan's jaundice was looking better and to just keep watching it.  

At Dylan's 2 week appointment, Dr Nelson wasn't at all concerned about the jaundice (which was minimal), so Connor and I finally stopped worrying about it.

I was so stressed at the time, but now looking back it's easy to see how blessed we were that Dylan's jaundice resolved so quickly, and that the treatment was pretty easy (all things considered).  Some babies have to get blood transfusions because their levels of jaundice are just way too high.  I'm grateful that it never came to that with Dylan and that our sweet little baby is continuing to thrive.

Family Fotos

On Monday, July 21st we had newborn photos taken of Dylan and I just love how they turned out.