9 Days Old

Little Man Lincoln is 9 days old. It's only been 9 days since he entered this world. Its crazy to think about that. For him its been a lifetime, for us its felt like an eternity. 9 days ago is when this whole thing started. That is as the legendary character Dora Winifred Read would say Crazy Bus.

This will be a quick update since nothing has really changed from yesterday which is good.

Last night around 10pm Lincoln developed a heart arrhythmia, which was an expected side effect of the surgery. They put him on a pace maker to smooth it out. They also gave him more fluids, turned down his temperature and gave him medication to help it get back in sync.

Today he started opening his eyes again and looking around. Also he is kept just sedated enough that he wiggles but doesn't move around. They like to keep him fidgety so he doesn't swell up too much but they don't want full on movements that would disturb his open chest and rattle things around.

It was so nice to see his clear blue eyes again, (I wonder if they will stay blue) but at the same time its hard because he always looks so concerned and worried. He has a very expressive forehead.

Ryan and I spent the night here in a lovely closet of a room. 

We ended up taking shifts with Lincoln. There is a chair that reclines pretty well in Lincoln's room and so Ryan took the first shift from 11-3 and I then woke up, pumped, and took over from 3-8. It was so comforting to know that Linc wasn't alone at all last night. Until he is sewn up he is not considered stable so we don't want to leave him for too long. 

When we woke up we ran home for a few hours to shower, eat and repack our backpack of hospital stuff. (computer, camera, chargers, munchies etc)

Today another fun improvement was we were able to put our own socks on Lincoln. We got these sweet Batman socks from our neighbor. They are Ryan's favorite article of clothing Linc owns. 

Ryan got a bit artistic with his pictures. 

Once again Linc's body temperature is kept very low so his heart doesn't need to pump faster then it can handle. Its so hard to touch a cold baby and not be able to do anything to warm him up. He likes it when I put my hand on his head so I did that a lot today.

Dr. Eckhauser came by while Ryan was away with his mom and talked to me about the plan tomorrow. He will close Linc up in his current room which will take less then 1 hour around 8am. This means that since Ryan works early tomorrow morning I will be spending the night so I can be here while they finish the surgery. After that it will be recovery time. Mr. Linc has been in limbo today since they can't take any tubes out until he is closed up tight. Dr. Eckhauser also informed us that before we go home with Lincoln we'll get a little class on how to take care of him. It will be a little bit different then a normal baby because his chest bone will take up to 3 months to fully heal. He also said he'd love to come explain the surgery again when we're both present. Thus tomorrow sometime Ryan will give his surgical report blog. 

We also had several visitors come by to see us. It was so fun to go up the Ronald McDonald Room and just get away from the hospital vibe. The McDonald Room feels just like a fancy house from the Parade of Homes. Its so clean and comfortable. 

Visitors included: Jill & Kela Hansen, Grandma Woodbury and several of my good friends Michelle Minert, Lindsay Dougal, and Kaelyn McDougal. 

Thank you for coming and taking us away from our stress for a few minutes. Kela especially helped by telling Ryan all about her summer adventures, rappelling in Zions and her journal. I was impressed with how well she handled herself in the hospital. She was very mature. Sarah (her older sister) was unable to come but did make us a card that brought smiles to our faces. I must admit I was amazed at her craftiness. The card was handmade and most impressive.