Our Future's So Bright, We Gotta Wear Shades

The boys take after their mother.  Unlike their father, they love to bask in the sun and warmth.  Cylynn wishes she could jump in the beach bed with them.  Sterling sweats just looking at it.  Here are some pictures of the two cute boys under phototherapy for jaundice.

Kekoa Enjoying the Warmth

Makaio Getting Ready to Suck His Thumb in The Warmth

Kekoa is having fun spreading out.  He likes his space.  Makaio likes to spread out his legs as well, and he must be a Star Trek fan based on his right hand; his mother is not so excited about that.  Even more worrisome is he looks to have a tendency to suck his thumb.  We might have to lay the smack down on that.  They love the sun like their mom. 

Boys Will Be Boys

Boys have a mind of their own and these boys decided to come early despite all we and the doctors did. We have two little boys officially born and blessing our lives with every moment. They were born at 8:28 and 8:30 pm on June 1, 2010 at 25 1/2 weeks gestation.

The older brother was born taller and bigger than his brother at 13 1/2 inches and 2 lbs 3.5 ounces. His name is Makaio, meaning gift of God, and he is living up to his name. He is doing well in the NICU and is sunbathing today. Here are some pictures.

Makaio, look how small under the photolights.

Makaio kickin it.

The younger brother was smaller and shorter than his brother at 12 inches and 2 lbs 1.5 ounces. His name is Kekoa, meaning brave warrior, and he is our brave fighter. He is also doing well in the NICU and is enjoying the warmth of sunbathing like his mom would be. Here are some pictures.

Kekoa, even smaller.

Holding hands with Mom.

Watch for more pictures and videos to come.

Little THINGS You Did Not Know About the Sheffields

This post is I believe, a necessity, before posting the current announcement for the week. Even though many already know, we have not posted on this blog that we have been pregnant for the past five months. We found out a few weeks ago that we were expecting two boys, which seemed to already be expressing their rambunctious natures in the womb. I think they wanted to prepare us for the energy filled additions we were soon going to welcome into our lives.

I was in China a couple of weeks ago. I called Cylynn in the morning of May 21, 2010 in China and the evening of May 20, 2010 in Iowa. Cylynn was heading to the hospital. She had had a little bleeding. When she got there they told her that she would have the babies in less than 48 hours. Needless to say, I hurried to the Beijing airport to try to fly home. My original flight home was scheduled for six days later. United was kind enough to wave all fees for the change and put me on standby for the next flight. I made it on the flight and was back in Iowa by the evening of May 21, in Iowa or the morning of May 22, in China. The babies had not come yet. We were blessed.

That 48 hours turned into days and we were back at home the following Thursday, May 27; the day I was supposed to arrive back from China. At that point we had to decide whether to still make our move to Minnesota the first week of June for me to start at the Mayo Clinic. We had an appointment on the following Tuesday, June 1, with our doctor to decide if Cylynn could make the move. I packed the rest of the house over the weekend that we and our sister Deena had packed previously. We were all prepared to move or not to move depending on the appointment results.

The appointment on June 1 was at 11:30 am. We saw the doctor and Cylynn was starting to dilate. The move was put on hold and Cylynn was again admitted to the hospital. This time the doctor said that she would be in the hospital until the babies were born, whether that be days or weeks.

We arrived shortly thereafter in labor and delivery and the babies were monitored as plans were discussed. Around 4-5 pm in the evening another doctor took a look and found that Cylynn had dilated more in those few hours. Our doctor was contacted and we discussed the option of scheduling the birth or waiting for an emergency c-section. We decided to schedule a planned birth and the everyone began preparing for the birth as soon as possible.

Here is a video of us preparing for the birth.

Even though the video is titled cool, calm and collect, I think I was too giddy to contain myself. Here is a picture of Cylynn excited and me in my garb for the birth.

China, A Quick But Unique Experience

As previously mentioned, my class had been planning a trip to China for a couple of weeks before we all started our fourth year externships. We had planned on providing some humanitarian audiological work in an orphanage and educational training in a hospital in Tianjin, a city a couple of hours outside of Beijing.

Well the trip was planned to be from 5/14/2010 - 5/27/2010. We arrived on the 15th in China. The first thing I noticed was that it was green and beautiful in the countryside. The next was that driving was much different in China. Even though dividing lines are present for lanes, they might as well not exist. Even the sidewalks and shoulders are treated as though they are a main traffic lane. I was amazed at what to me seemed to be chaos. There seemed to be no rules, rhyme, or reason to the driving of everyone there. I was afraid for my life almost every moment on the road. On top of that, I never saw anyone wear a seatbelt. Traffic lights seemed to be ignored and everyone just drives, bikes or walks across the intersection when they want to, and everyone else must get out of the way. I was impressed with the amount of bikes on the road. Millions of people ride bikes around the city, and that is no exaggeration as the city is home to over ten million people.

We were given a day to rest before we started work. We went for some shopping in the old traditional section of town. We found a shop with silk stitched art. This was the first thing I found that I knew I wanted to get before leaving China. They were almost like cross-stitched pictures, but were much more elaborate and the silk and material shined giving it a gleam finish that was beautiful. We later found paintings that were also beautiful. Cylynn and I have very little art work for our home as it is always so expensive. Therefore, my goal was to purchase plenty of art work to decorate our house with.

The next day we went to the hospital. In the morning we were given a tour of the hospital. It was very busy. I was impressed with the equipment there and enjoyed seeing their protocols and learning from them. China does not have audiologists but some of their ENTs specialize is the work that we do. We have had some affiliations with this hospital in the past and were asked to come back and give more educational training. We gave lectures in the afternoon on varying topics in audiology. I gave a lecture on medications that are toxic to the ear and how to monitor hearing to protect the hearing after treatment. It was a learning experience to give a lecture that needed to be translated and to try and make it understandable for the audience. I enjoyed it and I think the lecture went well.

The next day we gave more lectures and prepared to work in the orphanage the following day. As we drove to the orphanage it was in a very poor area and I was worried about the facilities the orphanage would have. I was very surprised to see how nice the orphanage was. The food was wonderful, the toys the children had were nice and new and the orphanage had plenty of donated funding. The orphanage was for children with disabilities and we tested hearing on all of the children and made referrals when necessary. It was a wonderful and once in a lifetime experience, the children were beautiful and so fun.

The next two days we were able to visit disability centers with children with hearing loss and mental disabilities. We tested hearing and toured the facilities. It was a tough but educational experience testing children I could not speak to or did not understand my language.

On our last day of work before we were going to start site seeing in Beijing, I had a family emergency and had to rush home and cut my trip short. I never got to see the great wall or forbidden city, but I am sure there will be another time for that. I am grateful for the experience and look forward to visiting China again sometime. Here are some pictures of the trip.

One of the restaurants had a live seafood market in which you could pick out the dish you wanted and they would kill it and cook it.

Me giving my presentation

Baby squid for dinner

Sea Urchin for dinner

The hearing aid class in a disability center

A painting I bought for our house

Us with some kids with cochlear implants

A tea ceremony at a tea house

More from dinner. Sea slugs. My favorite (not to eat).

Traditional shopping street in Tianjin where I bought my paintings.

News at Last

After a long spell of mundane and less than noteworthy days in our lives (ok, that sounded really depressing; things are good, but unchanging) we are back with another post.

I (Sterling) applied to the three 4th year externships for my program in the past two months. I noted in a previous post that I was going to apply to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, and a children's hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. These ended up being the only places I applied.

I sent in my application to Cincinnati in the middle of October and the one to the hospital in Omaha on November 1. This week I was offered an interview in Cincinnati for the middle of January. I have not yet heard from the hospital in Omaha and have been struggling to wait patiently for news. In contrast, I sent my application to the Mayo Clinic on November 13th, and received a call the next day offering a phone interview. The phone interview was the following week and two days later I received a call offering an onsite interview for December. I was very grateful for the speed with which they were conducting the application process, not to mention impressed with the program.

Through an amazing set of circumstances, I heard from my mother that one of my second cousins, Katie, I knew well from years past lived in Rochester, Minnesota. Even more ironically, her husband Doug, whom I had met once, works at the Mayo Clinic as an Audiologist. Needless to say, I called them after receiving an offer for the phone interview and asked about Rochester and the Mayo Clinic. Doug helped me to learn about the Mayo Clinic and their externship in order to decide whether it was the right fit for me. What a blessing it was to know someone working there and in the city.

The phone interview was twenty minutes long. Questions regarding Audiology were fired at me by six committee members. Luckily, I was forewarned by previous students who had applied there and was not surprised by the structure of the interview. I thought the interview went well and was pleased to find out two days later that I was being offered an onsite interview.

The onsite interview was rescheduled due to midwest weather, big surprise, for a week later than the original date. I went to the interview on Tuesday this week, December 15th. I was able to have dinner and family night with Doug and Katie on Monday. It was fun to spend time with their family. Katie was her optimistic self and talked as though I had already received the externship. I was not so sure. They have three wonderful and rambunctious children; therefore, family night was a new but fun experience for me.

Onsite interviews were conducted with two other students and myself for one position. The interview began at 8:30 Tuesday morning and ended at 3:00. I met with the heads of each division of Audiology separately and had time to observe shortly in the diagnostics clinic. The clinic was state of the art in my mind compared to what I have experienced. Although, that was not very unexpected as it was brand new. The first day in the new clinic was Monday. I did not know what to expect, but was surprised by the structure of this interview. The purpose seemed only to be to get to know me. They were all very kind and I was impressed with the calibre of the people working there. At the end of the day I felt I would consider myself blessed to have the opportunity to work there.

Surprisingly, I had the opportunity of meeting the other two students interviewing. We had lunch together and talked for a short time. They both seemed great. At the end of the interview I felt that it had gone well, but I could not imagine that the other students did not do well also.

Two days later I received a call from the Mayo Clinic offering me the externship position. I felt really blessed. I feel really blessed. It is hard to ignore the Lord's blessings in my life when I receive such an outstanding position at the start of my career. I hope I can take advantage of the opportunity and learn all I can.

So we will be in Rochester Minnesota come next June, 2010-May, 2011. It is great to have friends in the city already and we are excited to live near Doug and Katie and their family.