Starting the standardized testing early

Since Meh and Zachary are both peacefully sleeping at the moment (hooray!), figured I could describe a little more of the hospital experience. Everyone there was absolutely helpful and supportive - never saw people lose their patience (even with stressful things that likely happen hundreds of times a day) or show a 'jaded' view. I was particularly impressed with the night staff, who in addition to helping deliver our baby, helped us through those first and second difficult nights in the hospital. Incidentally, every single room in the maternity suites had that 'mommy and baby snuggling' poster I'd mentioned before from World Breastfeeding Week.

We also saw a parade of specialists with offers (always - never "required") to give the baby vaccines, check the vital signs of both mom and baby, perform free tests for potential issues, offer lactation support (everyone on staff there was trained, and had some great feedback and pointers), and even provide thorough initial pediatric care. (Our pediatrician is thankfully based at a hospital about 10 minutes from our house; Swedish, where we delivered, is closer to 45 minutes or more depending on traffic - am I glad we beat the mess that is the summer's giant I-5 construction project just south of downtown. So since our pediatrician isn't at the hospital where we delivered, their own staff did all of the initial care for Zachary.)

But perhaps the most interesting for me was the standardized testing. We'd learned in our parenting class about the Apgar tests (quick tests used at birth to determine the general health of the baby). I'm pleased to report that Zachary scored 9's (out of 10) on the two immediate post-birth tests, so he's already an all A student! (Well, an A- at least. No pressure or undue expectations going forward.) If you're wondering what he missed, it was apparently the second possible point for 'appearance'. Clearly his pants weren't pressed with crisp enough creases or something. But seriously, I didn't notice any "blue at extremities", so these doctor folks are apparently pretty strict graders.

The strangest/most fascinating test was the hearing test Zachary got on the second day. A nice lady came in, wheeling a cart. She asked if we wanted a hearing test. I started to bring him over and apologize that he'd just fallen asleep and would need to wake up. No need, she said - the test only worked if he was asleep. Wow, this we had to see. There were a few jigsaw puzzle-piece looking things that were covered with a conductive gel and placed on his forehead and above and below his right ear. Then a series of tiny electric leads were hooked up to the puzzle pieces (which I guess had circuitry or other sensing devices embedded in them?). Next, these transparent hollow plastic cylinders were placed over his ears, with more wires leading from them. I was starting to think that we were getting taken by some kook wandering the hospital, but the equipment was just a little too cool for that. Once everything was hooked up, she hit a button on the screen, and the test began (completely silent for us) - his ears were presented with signals, and the sensors detected whether his brain was registering them. He passed with flying colors, and even got this pre-generated "certificate of achievement". Yes, our son excels even in his sleep.

Speaking of which, there was also some serious hospital reading material acquisition for little Zachary - every time someone came in, they practically left us a new phone book-sized pamphlet of data to peruse. When will we be able to actually read it? I think we at least managed to fill out all of the prerequisite paperwork before leaving the hospital, but there are some serious deforestation issues getting caused here.

Whoops, Zachary stirs, time to go make sure everything is okay. More news the next chance we get!