Sibling Introductions

When Lincoln came home from the hospital he got to meet Calder for the first time.  And Calder got to meet Lincoln for the first time.  I love love this picture.  Calder looks genuinely thrilled to meet the little guy.  Ha!  This could not be further from the truth.  It's not that Calder doesn't like Lincoln it is just that he has a severe case of "mama bye bye" "Dada bye bye" "T bye bye"...in other words, he is terrified we are going to leave him.  Anytime one of us walks out the door he repeats the mantra over and over again.  It makes my heart ache.  It was just so confusing for him when we weren't here the two weeks Linc was in the hospital.  Poor little fella.  First his parents and sister ditch him and then they come home withe a squiggly little lump. 

And T got to hold Lincoln!  Hooray!  The NICU and Nursery Lincoln was in were so strict.  No visitors except parents.  Tayler got to go in the nursery when Lincoln was born but that was it.  We kept her updated with pictures and stories but nothing beats holding your little brother for the first time.  Tayler is so so good with little ones.  She is a caretaker.  We have to be really intentional about not letting her do too much to care for her little brothers.  She would do anything for them so I often find myself reminding her that she does not have to entertain/change diapers/discipline/ Calder.  She is so sweet and caring and I just cannot say enough good things about the teenager she is becoming. 

Lincoln Cuteness

I need to write more about Lincoln's hospital discharge and meeting his brother for the first time and sister for the 2nd time...but until then here are some cute pictures.

Easter and CPAP

We spent Easter at the hospital.  But, we did do Easter baskets before we rushed down this morning. 
Calder enjoyed the crackers that were in his basket.  I'm sure Lincoln will soon enjoy the frog pj's and teething toy in his.  And Tayler will soon enjoy the lotion and candy in hers.  This was a really hard morning for me.  2 of our 3 kids were not home.  Tayler spent the day with her Mom and Lincoln spent the day hooked up to machines.  Oh, well.  I guess the day has a bigger meaning than my little complaints.

Calder's basket
and Finding Eggs

 Lincoln's basket...was not this fuzzy in person.

Tayler's basket

At the hospital, Lincoln continues to do well on CPAP.  Although, it makes him look horrible.  CPAP makes his face all swollen.  So much that he can't even open his little eyes.  And the mask makes him look like Hannibal Lecter.  Not a good look for a baby.  But, I got to hold him for a while!  That was fun....although, it was also really stressful.  Everything has to be arranged just so you and you just hold your breath the whole time praying the baby doesn't de-sat or stop breathing while you are holding him.  It went smoothly though so that was nice.

Intubated and Doing well....then Extubated

Lincoln did well on the vent.  His blood gases looked good so they decided to extubate him after 24 hours.  So far he is doing okay off the vent.  Not great but decent.  We are praying that he relaxes and can take deep breaths tonight so that he doesn't get too tired out.  It would be cool if he stayed off the vent (understatement of the year).  His billirubin is a little high just from all the stress so if it gets any higher he will need to go under the phototherapy lights.  Not a big deal but it would be nice if he took a giant poop tonight to get rid of some billirubin. The lights are really not a big deal at all.  However, from a selfish standpoint it is a lot more fun to look at a baby when there isn't a super bright blue light shining on them.

Here are some pictures from today and below from Lincoln's birth day that make me happy.

 Here are a few from the day Linc was born:

 Oh, my gosh...how excited does she look to meet her little brother?  I love this girl!   We had such a special afternoon before Lincoln was born.  She went with me to my last doctor appointment where the doctor told us to go straight to the hospital!  I looked at T and said, "We're going to have a baby!" and she had the best smile on her face.  We stopped at Trader Joe's to grab some snacks and then she helped me check in at the hospital and we hung out until shane got there. 

 

Shane took these:  He calls this "Pre-Pitocin" 

 And this: "Post Pitocin" 

Funny guy that Shane.  Real Funny. 

Update on a Friday

Lincoln did ok today.   Actually, pretty much the same but the doctor decided it was time for him to be intubated.  This was a little disheartening because we had really hoped he would be able to turn a corner on his own.  But, it was okay too because it will give Lincoln some much needed rest.  He has been working so hard to breath.  His chest basically caves in with each breath and his respiration rate was at about 85 breaths per minute.  As soon as they put the tube in he visible relaxed and let it take over.  Hopefully, this will give him the break he needs so that when he takes over breathing again he is ready to go.  We're not sure how long he will be on the vent.  Could be one day.  Could be many days.  

Baby Update

I'm going to leave out a lot of details but if you know us you probably know what is going on.
First the baby has a name!

Lincoln
Nicholas Robert
Westby

Our boy babies need BIG names.

A super quick update is that on Monday night after Lincoln was born they took him to the nursery just to monitor him as his breathing rate was fairly quick.  He held his own on Tuesday but then tuesday night went downhill fairly quickly when his lung collapsed.  The hospital quickly called a transport team from the nearest level 3 NICU (Tacoma) and he was moved there. I was able to be released early to follow.  And, while I am VERY thankful for that it has been hard to remember to take it easy and let myself recover as well.

As of today Lincoln is about the same.  He is on CPAP and his blood gases are decent but not great.  The doctors think his lungs are not making surfactant and are hoping they kick in soon.  If his body can start producing surfactant than things should start looking better soon.  If his blood gases (carbon dioxide level) continues to hoover around 70 or get worse they will need to intubate and give him a dose or two of surfactant.

This whole situation was not on our radar at all.  We completely thought we would be coming home with a baby after we had him on Monday night.  We took the diaper bag with his coming home outfit to the hospital for heaven's sake!  The NICU we are in has a lot of different rules than the UW NICU.  I brought a little stuffed sock monkey to leave by his crib and was immediately told to take it down because no personal items were allowed.  I completely understand why, I really do.  But, the nurse made me feel so stupid I completely lost it for about the 10th time that day.  Also, you can't take anything back with you....Oh, well. I'm sure when we've been there for a few days it will start to feel like home.

This stinks.

He's Here! He's Here!

April 3rd

11:10pm

8Lbs 8oz

20 inches

And, of course, he is in the nursery.  He is a full term baby (37 weeks!!) But is having a lot of respiratory distress (breathing way too quickly) so he is on Oxygen (Nasal Canulus) and has an IV (for some fluid/dextrose as he can't eat until he can breath at a normal rate), a tube down his mouth into his stomach to release air that is getting pushed down there by the nasal canulus....he is doing really well though and if he can slow his breathing down this afternoon he can try to eat a little. 

He does not have a name yet but we are working on it!  He is so cute and looks a lot like Calder and Tayler when they were born in different ways.  His hair has a red shade when it is in the light!  I have not gotten to see him open his eyes yet but Shane said he was looking around when he visited last night.

The Boys' Room