Happy Halloween!!!!

Since Halloween is one of my favorite holidays I was determined to get a picture of Linc in his giraffe costume. Isn't he cute?!?! Everything is still looking good and they are thinking they will do the surgery early next week. We are keeping our fingers crossed but obviously it's not set in stone. He has had great nurses the last 2 days, which has been very comforting.

Will is pretty excited for church on Sunday because apparently some guy named Steve Young is the Sunday school teacher in the ward here.

So I thought I would share an embarrassing moment for your entertainment. In the midst of all the frustration earlier this week, I went to take a shower in the parents lounge. I made sure to bring in my clothes and toiletries. I broke down and cried my eyes out. As I got out of the shower I glanced around for something I had forgotten to bring in with me. The TOWEL! All I could do was laugh. And laugh some more until I started crying because I was laughing so hard.

Lincoln's turning the corner.

Shortly after the last post I wrote we found out that Lincolns lactic acid levels had dropped from 50 down to 15. I was over come with relief. Some good news! Things have been looking up since that time. His white blood cells are continuing to drop and his lactic acids today are down to 5. It was a rough few days but we are inevitably on the uphill slope of the roller coaster again. It seemed like the end of my small little world, hence my venting, but we have bounced back and are now in high spirits again. So I apologize for making anyone worry. We are just so grateful that they caught the infection before he went in for surgery. Had they taken him in Tuesday like they were considering, the outcome could have been bad, to say the least. Lincoln is heavily sedated and taking his time to recover. He had a PIC line(an IV put in a vain that leads directly to the heart) put in today and so far it was a success.

The compassionate service leader from the ward here is letting us borrow her car, and some pillows and blankets. She also offered to have us over for dinner next week. We are in good hands:). It feels so much better to have a place to stay and have our bags unpacked. (Thanks Will!)

Well we are off to get some free Mc Donalds and then back to see Lincoln. It's awfully strange how excited I am to get free Mc Donalds.....I ordered a strawberry shake too;)
I just wanted everyone to know that we are in a good place and we are so grateful for all of your prayers. They are felt by us in countless ways. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people supporting us. And especially grateful for our baby!

Days turn to weeks

It seems that the last 48 hours have been one extremely long day. Tuesday night we went in to visit Lincoln and we questioned if the nurse was paying attention to the IV in his forehead. There was a red mark around it that we thought appeared to be getting worse. He said he was informed about it and they were keeping an eye on it. Another nurse passing by said that the IV had not been compromised and if it had his forehead would have fluid in it. She poked at his forehead and realized that it had indeed leaked out. They pulled out the IV and started the 12 hour process of trying to get in another line. A little later a doctor came in and told our nurse to stop Lincolns feedings in preparation for his surgery. Will told the doctor that he might be confusing us with another baby because Lincoln wasn't scheduled for surgery until Thursday. Indeed he was and would have stopped Lincoln's feedings because he got confused. We spent the next few hours by Lincoln's side because we were afraid of what might happen if we were to leave.

Yesterday morning things were looking pretty good. Lincoln was off the ventilator, off oxygen and he only had 3 fluids going into him. First thing in the morning the surgeon informed me that Lincoln's white blood cell count went up which may be the first sign of an infection. The surgery will have to be put off until he is better. We still had the problem of not having an IV. Through out the day they made several attempts to get another one in and finally got it after about 8 tries. Will stood by his side and did what I was not capable of doing. He held his pacifier in his mouth as they poked him over and over again. Lincoln just stared wide eyed at Will. It broke his heart.

Around 11:00pm the IV started to leak so they decided that it was time for a more invasive central line, which would require giving him a sedative. At 2am they called us and told us that he had not responded well to the sedative and after needing to be resucitated he was back on the ventilator. We are still waiting for the cultures to come back to see what type of infection he might have, and until then he is on a general antibiotic. The doctors think that it may be an infection in his intestines. Another possibility is that he could have a viral infection, putting off the surgery a couple of weeks. The thought of waiting even longer kills me, I just want to know that he will be ok. We both know that everything will work out the way it is supposed to. Lincoln is the strongest baby in the world. Please keep praying for him. (And that I don't lose my sanity) But most importantly Lincoln. He is currently sedated and we are just waiting for him to kick this infection. But here are some pictures from yesturday before all the tubes returned. We got to hold him again!

One bit of good news is that we finally got a room at the Ronald McDonald House today so we no longer have to sleep on the hospital couch and we can unpack our stuff. Thank you all so much for your support and prayers.

Monday was another good day!

We are all together again in California. Lincoln is doing so good! Yesterday they took out his ventilator. Lincoln didn't even cry, he just opened his eyes right away and started looking around. He was so happy to have that stupid thing out! The nurse asked what kind of pacifier he used at home. They aren't used to babies his size I guess. Then the best part of the day, I got to hold my baby!

We also found out that they pay you if you are pumping. They give me breakfast, lunch, and dinner vouchers as long as I am pumping. Sweet! We stayed at our friends house in San Rafael the last two nights (Thanks April!) and we are hoping to get a room at the Ronald McDonald house tomorrow.
We are still waiting to hear when the surgery will be. They say for sure this week.
Here are some pictures from today. We got to hold him for 3 hours!





He looks so cute when he cries.

Lincoln took his first airplane ride today!

I sent Lincoln and Will off to Stanford this morning and they are just settling in at the hospital. Their plane didn't crash!!!! What a relief. It was hard to watch them leave but Will is such a good daddy I know our baby will be taken care of. Lincoln had his very own plane. Will of course asked if he could be the co-pilot but they said no parents were allowed in the front. Thank you so much for all of your love and support. I will continue to keep you all posted.

Lincoln is going to Stanford Saturday morning

Hi- It's Soni again. The doctors called this morning and said they will be transporting Lincoln to Lucile Packard's Childrens Hospital at Stanford in Palo Alto, CA at 7:00am tomorrow morning (Saturday, Oct. 24) This is a little sooner than we were expecting, but it will be good to get things going. Because Cara is still recovering from being sick, they've decided to send Will with him, and she will fly down Sunday afternoon. One of Cara's friends will pick her up at the airport, and Cara and Will will stay with her for a couple of days until there is an available room at the Ronald McDonald house by the hospital. We don't know when the surgery will be yet, but are anticipating they will be there for 2-3 weeks. They have an awesome facility at the Ronald McDonald house and will provide shuttle service to/from the hospital and have meals brought in several times a week- so they will be well taken care of during their stay.

They've reduced Lincolns pain meds today and he is squirming a little and trying to suck his fingers- unfortunately the dang ventilator is already occupying his little mouth, but it was great to see him trying to get at his fingers. He's keeping his eyes squeezed shut, and much of the day is spent trying to get him to let us see his little peepers. Also, they've started feeding him breastmilk today through a feeding tube, so that's an encouraging sign! Until now he's just been receiving glucose and lipids...bluuuck!

Keep up the prayers in their behalf, they have been felt and are appreciated!

Lucky Lincoln

When we got to the hospital Lincoln had this on his bed.


I asked the nurse where it came from and she informed me that he won it at bingo! We were pretty excited. I am glad he has inherited his dads good luck. Lincoln is still doing great. Being moved to Stanford was a bit of a shock but everything with Lincoln is still the same. We just get to take a little vacation. He is such a strong little guy. We love him so much and have had endless blessings poured on us.

****We have not been transferred to Stanford yet. They are thinking sometime next week****

An unexpected complication...

Hi all- this is Soni (Cara's sister). We all met with a team of doctors today. We were expecting them to tell us what day they would be doing Lincolns surgery- presumably either this Friday, or next Monday. But after all the cardiologists met together and discussed the complexities of Lincolns heart condition they recommended he be transferred to a larger facility with more experience with these particular defects. (Specifically, in addition to the transposition of the greater arteries we already mentioned, he also has a hole between the ventricles that will need repaired, and the most serious complication is a small aorta that will have to be repaired and moved.) Possible locations were Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, or Stanford, CA. So, after much careful consideration Lincoln will be transported with a medical team via LifeFlight to Stanford- probably early next week.

Cara and Will tentatively plan to drive down to Stanford and stay there as long as needed.(~3 weeks?) The hospital social worker has been very helpful in arranging for financial assistance (hopefully Medicaid will kick in) and will help arrange lodging at a Ronald McDonald house near the hospital. Theoretically, once Lincoln has stabilized after the surgery he will be transferred back to Primary Childrens Hospital in SLC for the remainder of his recovery.

They are both doing well under the circumstances, but please continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Another good day for Lincoln.

Lincoln had another good day today. The doctors still aren't positive about what day they will be able to do the surgery but they are thinking that it will be Monday. After his surgery he will be in the NICU for 2-3 weeks. Here is an explanation of his condition.

Our baby is a fighter

Today was a good day. The last few days have been so emotionally and physically straining that I haven't had the mental capacity or time to sit down and give an update. For those of you who haven't heard I gave birth to our little linebacker on October 16th at 9:06. He was 8 pounds and 2 ounces and 2o inches. I started having contractions on the 15th at 10:00 am-which was his official due date. Around 10:00 pm they started getting closer and they were 5 min apart by 12:00. After 2 hours we thought we better go to the hospital. To my dismay I was only dilated to a 2, so they sent us home around 4. My contractions continued to be every five min and last for 1 1/2 min for the next 11 hours. We went back to the hospital and I was dilated to a 4! They broke my water around 8:00 pm because his heart rate would drop every time I stood up. Pretty soon after that my contractions were a lot stronger. I kept saying I needed to push but they said I was only dilated to a 7. At 8:50 the nurse walked in on one of my contractions and thought she better check me again. (I was squatting and trying to push) I was dilated to a 10 so they called in the doctor. 15min later he was here. The doctor held him up and he peed all over me! Love that kid. It was the most amazing experience! We spent the next two blissful hours holding and loving our beautiful boy. I will forever be grateful for those two hours.

We went to the nursery to give him a bath and they noticed his color was a little off. After checking his oxygen and giving him an x-ray they realized that he had something wrong with his heart. They transported him to the Primary Childrens hospital around 4. We headed up the next morning to Primary and they updated us on Lincolns heart condition.

He has transposition of the great arteries. He will need the arterial switch operation to correct the problem. This is a major heart surgery but they seem very optimistic and he is in good hands! Yesterday was a little rough getting him stable but today was a lot better. He is so strong!
We can't wait for him to come home! We are so incredibly grateful that we were blessed with such a special baby.





24 hours of labor took a slight toll on me.


The only picture we have with his eyes open;)


He is doing so good!

Thought I would share...

Will had to go to the Court house.
We won't talk about why.
Will had a small Swiss army knife in his pocket.
Will asks security guy "I guess I can't bring this in."
Security guy "No, you can bring it in. Just don't take it out or I will shoot you."

My bump

Last week we decided we better take some maternity pictures before I pop! We attempted three times before I finally had a few that I liked. Poor Will had to follow me around with a camera while I tried to explain to him what I wanted. I think he did pretty good! He has started to actually like taking pictures, at least that's what he tells me. My little sister also took some of Will and I together. We can't wait to meet our baby boy! Less than two weeks to go! But who's counting?