Lincoln has arrived!

Here is our sweet baby boy who made his appearance at 12:25 on 9-29-09! He is 6lbs and 14oz and 18.9 inches...I think he is tiny but he is called "The Giant Baby" in the NICU. When he came into this world he had a "raspy" cough that concerned the pedi nurse so she tried to stick a long suction tube down his throat and it wouldn't go far. This alarmed her so they decided to get an xray. I got to hold him for a brief couple of minutes then he was whisked away. Shane went with him and my mom came to sit with me. My epidural started to wear off a little too quickly than normal so my nurse gave me some heavy duty pain medicine and I felt GREAT!

After about an hour, I was told that they couldn't see anything on the xray so they were taking Lincoln to radiology for a better look. I was trying to stay calm and it helped to know that Shane was with me and I was busy with family and visitors. After what seemed like HOURS, Shane, Lincoln and a nurse came in and told the heartbreaking news that something was wrong with my precious boy (the nurse was going to make Shane tell me but he told her that she had to!) The news was that his esophagus is not connected to stomach but is connected to the backside of the trachea (sp?). This can cause major issues with feeding and such, so he was taken quickly away (I did get to hold my crying baby while receiving the news so it helped a little) to the NICU to get an IV started to keep him fed. After that was a rollercoaster of emotions and I don't remember too many of the events of the day. We had a few doctors come through and explain more of the details. My aunt Amy, who is a doctor, came and went to the NICU with Shane and talked with the surgeon herself and she is now helping us with all the medical jargon...which is a HUGE help! The pedi surgeon came to our room about 10:00 and described the surgery more in detail and helped us understand all the pros/cons, side effects, and complications. We felt more comfortable and confident about the surgery. The best case scenario is the esophagus and stomach are close together enough together that they can go in and connect it in one surgery. Then he would stay in the hospital until he gets feeding in control which would be about 2 weeks. The worst case scenario the esophagus is too far from the stomach and we would have to wait until his body lets it grow closer then we would do surgery in about 6 months. This would require a feeding tube to be placed and I am not looking forward to that. So that is a quick recap of what we learned. Shane and I finally got to bed about midnight from a day that is described as our best day and worst day all in one!
We woke up this morning (Wednesday, 9-30-09) ready to see our baby boy. The NICU nurses said I could hold him once I was checked on...I was ready for that! When I finally got to the NICU and got ahold of my baby, I never wanted to let him go! He is so sweet! He is very alert and only fusses when the suction tube sucks the "gunk" from deep in his mouth (and who would like that?!!) Both grandmothers got to hold him and later today the grandfathers will get their chance.
The surgeon called back and said his surgery is getting pushed back from 1:00 to late this afternoon/early evening. The surgeon says he is a priority but there are many people involved and a few are pretty busy today. So we will see when he goes to surgery to get all this fixed.
That about summarizes our last couple of days. We can't believe that he is finally here and we know that God is watching over our baby boy.
Thank you for all your support and prayers!


Until next time!
Carrie