Picture - Caleb with Dr. Thomas, the Dr. who delivered him.
The picture was taken when Caleb was about 3 weeks old as he
had to go through a bunch of 'checks' after he was born and
we couldn't take any pictures. Dr. Thomas is a wonderful doctor
and person.
Well all it's official Caleb is here. We welcomed him into the world on July
12, 2006, at 10:21 a.m. He weighed 7lbs 13oz and measured 19 inches long. What
a blessing he is!!!!
He has already proven to be a little fighter!!! We have a wonderful team of
doctors working with us at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. He are some
updates:
1. They did another EKG on his heart once he was born and the hole in the
heart and the thickening of the septum has healed itself. He does however, have
another hole in his heart that was cannot be detected during the fetal
ultrasound, however the cardiologist is optimistic that it will close on it's
own, if not, it will not require surgery to be fixed. There are other methods
that can be done to heal this hole if needed. We will follow up on that in four
months.
2. He did not require breathing assistance as it was discussed that it may be
a possibility. He has already been fitted with his mouthpiece to start molding
his hard palate into place. He has really picked up on his eating and has
gained back his birth weight. He should have a surgery somewhere around 3-6
months to fix his lip and nose and then his hard palate a couple months later
and finally his gum and jaw will be repaired later on in life.
3. We did find out after birth that he does have severe hip dysplasia that is
being treated at this time with a harness that he currently has to wear 24 hours
a day 7 days a week. However, we are optimistic that this Thursday the
orthopedic surgeon will show us how to take the harness off so we can bath Caleb
at least every other day. The hips have started to go back into socket which is
very good news based upon how severe the hip dysplasia is.
4. There was some concern at birth regarding Caleb's eyes however all is
okay. We will check up with the Opthomologist in a couple months.
5. Caleb did not pass his hearing test at birth, after further testing at
Children's they believe he has fluid in his ears and will require tubes, common
with babies with cleft lip and palate. The tubes will be put in his ears when
they do the surgery on his lip and nose.
6. They were somewhat concerned regarding his kidneys at birth, an ultrasound
was done and came back normal, we will meet with a Urologist for a followup at
Children's.
7. As far as the Corpus Callosum, the part of the brain that is missing,
another MRI will be done on him to evaluate it again to see if it is a partial
agenisus or a complete agenisis. Nonetheless, Caleb has been responding well to
sights and sounds since birth, so we are very optimistic that the agenisus will
not effect Caleb.
There are some other visits we have with other specialists at Children's as
they want to fully check Caleb, but as you can tell he is doing great. Again, I
cannot thank everyone enough for your continued support, love, and prayers.
Thank you so much!! I will continue to keep everyone up to date on the
developments of his doctor's visits.
