Morning update

The main thing we are watching right now is how much oxygen he needs. During the night he went up to about 33%, but as of this morning at about 10 am, he was at 26%. As a reminder, room air is about 21%. So that is quite an improvement.
He looks a little jaundiced, so they are going to do a billyrubin (sp?) count on him.
Doctor Berghdahl (pediatrician) came by this morning and was optimistic in his prognosis. He said that they often see babies like this go home in 7 days. He's on call today and Sunday, so he'll get to superintend over Caleb's recovery this weekend.
Kathy, the nursery nurse during the day, said she was hopeful that we might able to hold him by the end her shift this evening. We're hopeful that holding him and comforting him will be helpful in slowing down his breathing rate.
Debra will get discharged today and it will be hard for her to leave without her baby, but we are comforted knowing that he is in such good hands here and that we are only 5 minutes away.
Thank you for all of your prayers!

Condition improving

We went to see Caleb this evening around 6:30 pm. The first thing I noticed was that his oxygen level was down to 30%. He hadn't been that low since he went on the oxygen mask. Kathy cautioned us that sometimes it yo-yos a little bit before he stabilizes, so it could go back up. But we're grateful for any good news at this point.
The doctor said this morning that the next 24 hours will be key if he is to stabilize quickly. If he can keep it low through the night, hopefully he will start making progress a little more quickly.

More Pictures!

Check out the other blog for more pictures. alewas37.blogspot.com.

Today's Update

We went into see Caleb this morning. He's got a whole bunch of tubes and sensors all over the place and an oxygen mask over his head. He is still needing 35% oxygen. When he is breathing, you can see him just laboring over his breaths and taking what looks like short shallow breaths.
Hannah and Daniel came later this morning and brought cheer to all. Hannah was very interested in looking at Caleb through the window in the nursery. She kept asking "how big is he?" "Well, he's bigger than your doll, Lisa." "Is he bigger than Daniel?" "Ah, no, Daniel is quite a bit bigger than Caleb and probably will be for quite some time."
We went back over a little later and they told us they had to increase his oxygen level to 43%. If it gets to 45%, they will have to take him to Valley Children's Hospital. Clovis Community is only about 5 minutes from our home, but Children's is about 25 minutes. And if they go to Children's, they will probably have to put him on a ventilator.
The Lord has really ministered to us through Caleb's name. Faithful. Our Lord is Faithful. Even through difficult times like a little guy having a hard time breathing, he is Faithful.
Debra's talking to Julie Thurber right now and giving her the blog address (high Julie!).

Good Morning!

I'm sitting in the waiting room waiting for them to let me in to see Debra. I stayed until almost midnight last night, which is pretty good considering I wasn't supposed to be able to stay past 8.
Shortly before leaving the hospital last night, the Lord comforted my heart. He is still in control. Everything that has happened and will happen was ordained by Him for His glory.
We were able to see Caleb again last night shortly before I left, and I was able to talk to the pediatrician about his situation.
As of last night at about midnight, Caleb still needed extra oxygen. Room air is about 21% oxygen and Caleb needed about 35%. If it gets up to 40-45%, they would have to transfer him to Valley Children's Hospital. He also had too high of a level of CO2 in his blood, and the x-rays showed a few patches of moisture, so they needed to give him antibiotics to guard against infection.
I think we get to see him at 8:30 this morning, so I'll try to do another post after that.

Caleb Michael Fear

Caleb means "faithful"; Michael means "Who is like the Lord"; Fear is an old English surname that means "friend". When just his first and last names are used, we are saying "Faithful Friend." When his whole name is used we are saying "Faithful, who is like the Lord our Friend."

Please pray for Caleb

Just before they were going to take us to the postpartum room, they determined that Caleb was breathing too many times in a minute and he was very drowsy. They took him to the nursery and decided that he needed to be admitted. That means he won't be able to spend the night with Debra or breastfeed right now.
They are doing x-rays on his chest to see if there are any lung problems. He sounds good on the stethoscope, but that apparently does not always mean his lungs are fine.
The problem with his lungs is probably because he is only 37 weeks. The nurse said he looks more like under 37 weeks.
We are going to be able to go see him in about an hour.
This is pretty hard for Debra because she has always been able to take her babies with her when leaving the LDR area. The other problem is that she has to share a room and technically I'm not supposed to be able to stay with her overnight. I say technically because I've already been here half the night and it will probably be most of the night before I end up leaving.
The nursery just called and they're giving him oxygen too.
Dear God, help our little guy to develop strong lungs so that he can get some good mommy milk like you intended for him.

Active labor . . . Whoops! Birth!

Debra is in active labor right now. She just said she's not far from pushing. So maybe she's actually in transition.
Whoa! Debra said have them check me. Ah, dear, they checked you 30 minutes ago and you weren't even at a 6 quite yet. Do it now! Never argue with a woman in labor. They check her and nurse runs out of room without saying anything. She comes back. I've notified the doctor, you're at a 10.
Doctor comes in 4 mintes later and presto, Caleb Michael Fear was born at 5:38 pm. 7 lbs. 1 oz. And 20.25 inches long. He looks like a masculine version of Hannah. Check out the picture of him on the other blog. alewas37.blogspot.com.

Contractions are heating up

Debra is having bigger contractions now and about once every 4 minutes, although less often when she's lying down.
Its been 6 hours now since her water was broken and she is now at a 4 and 85 % effaced. Now she has to dilate at least a cm an hour, so the doctor is starting her on pitocin (sp?). We tried to avoid it as long as possible but she wasn't progressing fast enough.
The good news is that it is almost certain that doctor Newell will be able to deliver him now. She goes on call at 5 pm.
Debra seems to be doing really well. When we were walking, she was the one voting for just one more lap. She's reading a Jan Karon novel right now which is helpful in taking her mind off the pain. Gram was the one who originally introduced Debra to Karon as a tasteful writer.
Well, with the pitocin started, things should speed up a little now. We'll let you know what happens.

Walking!

Just back from a brisk 20 minute walk around track here at Clovis Comm. Hospital. That's right the doctor relented and let us hoof it for 20 minutes on 20 minutes off. Hopefully this will get the contractions going and we won't have to do any drugs.
Debra is doing great! She's energetic and relaxed. Right now, she's taking a quick catnap to be rested for her next round of walking.
Interesting tidbit: we saw Bruce Aldrich, a friend of the Templetons, while walking in the hall. He is an LDR nurse and was asking how we were doing.

Walking in circles

Debra is walking in circles right now. She's tethered to two different instruments & can only walk in a circle about five feet in diameter. But she's doing a great job at that.
Well, they just told us that we have to stay in the room. Bummer. I think this doctormay be a little more cautious than doctor Newell.

Wanting to walk

Debra's all hooked up to these IV's and baby monitors, but they let her stand up and if the baby is okay with that they'll let us walk! Woo hoo!
Debra just said that if she had known she was going to sit here all day, she would have brought her scrapbooking stuff. That would've been interesting. Scrapbooking in the hospital.
We're hoping they'll let us walk because we think that will speed up the labor without needing any drugs.

Pictures!

I've been trying to make the blogger mobile features work so I can post picture directly to this blog, but it won't work. But you can view pictures from labor by going to alewas37.blogspot.com.
For those of you who are counting, Debra's water was broken at 9:15 am this morning.

Turn of events

Well, we're still here in the hospital. The doctor says the baby's heart rate dips too low after a contraction, so they wanted to monitor her all night. I stayed at the hospital with her. This was probably the most comfortable night we've ever spent in a hospital, though. The LDR rooms are much nicer than the rest of the hospital.
Last night, the doctor said there was a slight chance we could go home without delivering if everything was perfect. In looking at our charts this morning, I think they will make us have the baby today. We shall see.
I'm going to try to post pictures from the hospital, but I have not gotten it to work yet.

Water broken

The doctor felt it was better to break her bag of waters this morning instead of waiting any longer or letting us go home. So our new little guy will be born sometime today. Hopedully, they let us get up and walk around. Right now, Debra has to stay down for monitoring. She's having some mild contractions and pain on the side where the placenta is.
Oh, yeah, the ultrasound lady estimated the baby's size at 7 lbs. 7 oz. He won't be a runt. ;)

False alarm?

So here we are at the hospital with Debra all hooked up to the baby monitoring devices. Debra says she is not ready for the baby to come yet. Case in point, we don't even have a firm decision on a name. ;) So little guy, you should probably wait until we get that figured out.
Well, they're doing an ultrasound right now, so I'm going to sign off.
P.S. Fof the techno geeks out there, I'm sending this on my new Treo from the hospital.

Test

Shipwreck on Our Pergo Lake

Peter installed a beautiful Pergo hardwood floor last month throughout our laundry, kitchen, and eating area. I could not be more delighted! Not only is it so easy easy to sweep up, but it looks even better than we thought it would.

Upon laying the Pergo, the kids immediately deemed it "The Lake" because you can lay on your belly and make motions like you're swimming and get somewhere. (I haven't tried this myself, in case you're wondering...)

Since then, we've had many a reinactment of the story of Baby Moses on Lake Pergo with Hannah in the starring role of "Big Sister Miriam" with whomever is available to play the other parts. (My favorite was when she made Uncle Joe the Princess. He can ham it up BIG TIME!)

On Sunday, Peter and I were sitting at the table talking and Hannah was sitting in a rather large box on The Lake. She was making the box sway around and looked a little panicked, until we heard her sing to herself these comforting words:

"Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm doth bind the restless wave,
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep:
Oh hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea."

The Navy Hymn - Eternal Father, Strong to Save.

Thank you Granny for such a wonderful CD!

Conversation with Hannah This Morning

So we are all sitting around the breakfast table this morning . . .

Hannah: In October, we will go to the Meredith's [Koons] house.

Peter: Well, I know we have gone to the Koons' house every October you can remember, but we won't this year because they will be moving to Indiana.

Hannah: China is farther away than Indiana.

Peter: That's right. [Thinking: She's already learning stuff from the singing globe. Maybe its worth the headache of 350 consecutive synthesized versions of America the Beautiful, with occassional breaks for the Candian and Mexican national anthems.]

Hannah: When will Meredith go to Indiana?

Peter: In May, I think.

Hannah: [Expressing obvious disappointment that we will not be able to go to Meredith's house in October.]

Peter: Maybe we can see Mr. Bigger in October since Meredith will be in Indiana.

Hannah: [Brightening up.] Maybe we can go to the park with him.

Peter: I'm sure he would enjoy that. :)

Hannah: [Now talking to the singing globe] This time it will be a Christmas song in Indiana where Meredith is going. [Next song. I think it is O Susanna, Don't You Cry For Me.] That was a basketball song like you see on the TV. [We watched March Madness over the weekend.]

Okay, I've got to get ready for church, so I'll have to stop the live action blogging here. :)

Delights to My Heart

The last few days have brought several delights to my heart.

Daniel's language development is taking off. Of course, he's only 18 months, and everything is one or two syllables, but his understanding is growing. It is like watching the sun come up. Life is full of anticipation and wonder!

He has a Thomas the Train calendar in his room that he has been saying "boo" to ever since it turned March. I've been saying "That's a calendar, and this is Gordon (the train)." He says "boo!" Then today, he pointed to Thomas the Train in a book, and a car in another book and exclaimed "boo!" Then it flashed on me: they are all BLUE. He's telling me Gordon is blue! He's right! On top of that, he's been repeating as many sounds as he can: copying Daddy's pronounciation of the bathtub ABCs last night, and today announcing that Mommy is wearing a "cos" (cross necklace).

My most recent delight was at lunchtime. It was just starting to rain so I took Daniel out into the rain. We don't get much precipitation here, so our kids think that thunder, rain and lightning happen at the produce section of the grocery store. I let him feel the rain on his face and hands and we looked up at the sky and I told him "this is rain!" The look of delight and wonder on his face was one I hope I never forget, like "WOW! This is what we've been talking about in my books!" I love sharing these moments with them. I'm so thankful to be home with them! I still remember Hannah discovering "real rain" in Florida when she was almost 2 years old. She danced in the rain until she was sopping wet.

Speaking of Hannah, she has had her own discoveries. She is fascinated with clocks right now. Everywhere we go, she counts the clocks. My mom bought her a book last week that teaches telling time, and she does this book several times a day. It works. She is looking at analog clocks and telling us what time it is! She is about 90% accurate with something on the hour, and about 50% accurate with most other times (ie. 11:20am). Peter is amazed. He says he's relearning telling time with her, because he never really caught on and it is so easy to rely on digital clocks.

The last delight I have is actually and answer to prayer. Hannah has had a breakthrough with potty training and is doing her "brown poopoos" in the potty. I am ecstatic!!! I am just praying that we can make this a habit before the baby is born. - Less than 6 weeks left now!

Bartimaeus and the Sweater

This morning after Hannah came to wake us up, she went back to her room to play for a few minutes. Before too long, we could hear the following, in increasing tones:

Hannah: I need a sweater. I'm cold.

Hannah: Did you hear me? I said I need a sweater. Somebody, get me a sweater.

Hannah: Get me a sweater right now. I'm calling you!

Hannah: Why is no one getting me a sweater? Daddy, Mommy, Daniel, New Baby - somebody get me a sweater!

Hannah: I'm like Blind Bartimaeus! I NEED a sweater!

Throughout this line of request, Peter and I are laying thinking about the fact that she can sometimes be so demanding, and that we are not going to give into this and reinforce this behavior. But when Bartimaeus came up, we just burst out laughing!

In case you are unfamiliar with the story of Bartimaeus, it is found in Mark 10:46-52. Just outside of Jericho sat a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. He called out to Jesus through the throngs of people, and Jesus not only sorted out his voice, but came and healed him - restoring his sight.

Apparently Hannah just knew that crying out like Bartimaeus did got results...and they did. Peter got up and gave her a sweater.