Editing Pregnancy (section)

=== Day One ===

The next day was when we had a couple of visits:

# The birth certificate and SSN recorder
# The audio technician
# The paediatrician

==== Birth Recording ====

The thing they give you is a birth certificate worksheet with a pencil. They also give you a big warning that once you agree to the birth certificate it's final and it can't be changed. Any changes must be recorded via an amendment document that's attached. Having this be an append-only store makes sense to me.

The worksheet itself isn't the birth certificate so mistakes on it are tolerated. The hospital's recorded takes the worksheet, types it into the computer, and then gives you the actual certificate to sign. Once signed, it's done.

Our daughter's last name is not either the mother's or the father's so the recorder had to attach an explanation for why it was so.

==== Audio Technician ====

Mid-day the next day, the audio technician came by and checked whether our daughter could hear. Avoiding a problem here was the principal motivation for lots of things that we did, so we waited with bated breath.

The service itself is provided by [https://www.pediatrix.com/our-services/pediatric-care/newborn-hearing-screen Pediatrix] and uses a [https://natus.com/sensory/algo-5/ Natus Algo 5] which uses automated [[wikipedia:Auditory brainstem response|auditory brainstem response]] to detect if the baby can hear. The short version of things is that they place a bunch of sensors on the baby's body, then a pair of headphones that deliver some sounds, and then measure the brain's response to these.

The test took about 91 seconds to report a PASS result. The alternative is a REFER result.

==== Paediatrician ====

From [[Preparing for a Newborn#Conclusion|our search for a paediatrician]], you know we selected Pacific Paediatrics. There was a tiny mixup here at the hospital and we were assigned a doctor who used to be there and had now moved elsewhere. She wasn't available so her partner came by. We got a bit of a short consultation with him before he realized the mixup and we were sent the right one.

A few interesting things that he said were:

* Use the rooting reflex<ref name=rooting-reflex-1/> to feed the baby
* Hold the baby as much as possible
* In the absence of the pacifier, the tip of your pinky will trigger sucking and soothe the baby

The rooting reflex thing was unusual because I thought that was an involuntary thing that occurs always. But it does seem like it is primarily a hunger thing<ref name=rooting-reflex-2/>.