Lincoln's Story & NICU Reunion

 On September 4th I had been admitted to Timpanogous hospital with a fever of 104. My doctor decided to admit me for over night observation. The next morning after numerous blood test and 3 cultures they ruled out Swin Flu and could find no other cause for my illness. They told me that they were going to give me some IV antibiotics and send me home. As the nurse left to get the meds I felt my water break and I was scared to death. I didn't want this little boy to catch what I had. The doctors and the nursing staff said that they would do everything possible to prevent that. The plan was that immediately after giving birth they would separate us and I would not be allowed to be in the same room with him until 48 hours after my fever had resolved.
          At 5:45  only three short hours after my water broke I gave birth. I saw him briefly while they cleaned him and checked his vitals, he was covered in a rash that was so dark it looked like a port wine birth mark. I kept asking if he was alright, they said he was fine and that the he just had a heat rash and it would disappear in a few hours. Once he was cleaned and had an initial check he was then whisked away to an isolation room. The first real good look I got of my son was through Jason's cell phone. This was definitely not how I had imagined things would be. I asked Jason how he was doing and he said he was doing great.

        Family and friends arrived shortly after and visited with me and stopped by the nursery window to get a look at sweet little Lincoln. After a long day we crashed in our room and hoped that tomorrow I would be feeling better and we would go home as planned.

The next day I spent resting in my room hoping that my fever would break so I could finally hold my darling little boy. No such luck.

The next day Sept 7. My Ob stops in to check on me and to tell me that they were going to release me. My fever still had not broken but they had run all my labs again and every thing came back clean. Lincoln had been doing well the day before. They had found a little spot on his lungs but were just watching it, so we thought he would most likely be coming home  with us that day. Jason headed home to get  things ready while they did all the discharge paper work and I finished the IV I was on. He arrived back shortly and almost as soon as he entered the room our pediatrician and a woman entered, they pulled two chairs up to my bed and sat down. Needless to say I was scared to death. Our pediatrician introduced us to Kari Wood, Neonatal NP. He explained to us that Lincoln had a spot on his lung and it was getting larger and it was most likely pneumonia and that at this point they were going to turn over care to Timp's neonatologist. I didn't know what to say. Tears rolled down my checks and through the sobs all I could get out is "Is he going to be okay." Kari replied with her happy smile "He is going to be just fine" We are going to watch him and get him feeling better." " I will always let you know what is going on and I will tell you if I ever get scared." I was still choked up, but thought that he was in good hands. The doctors left and I started packing up my things. Trying to come to grips that  I was going to leave behind my little boy that I have never even touched. While I was getting things ready Jason went down to say bye to Lincoln. He returned after a few minutes with a giant grin on his face and said " They said you can hold him. They think that whatever you have is what he has and there is no reason to keep you a part." I raced down to the nursery, we were told that we could hold him for 5 minutes a piece and that after that they needed to start putting in an IV and other things to monitor him. I gowned up, put on my mask and gloves and cried the whole time that I held him.

 When our time was up Kari said that she would like to talk with us about giving him some anti viral medication. She said that only 2 days ago it had been approved to give to babies under 6 months, but that it had been successful in other countries and that she thought that he really needed the meds. I asked if she had any information on it and that we would read it over it and make up our minds if it was something that he did not need right then. She said she completely understood and that she would go up to her office and get the information that she had. She came down a few minutes later and gave us the information. We told her we would go and talk it over and that we would let her know our decision in a few minutes. We walked out to our car and began reading the information that she had given us. We were trying to weigh the pros and cons and what would be in Lincoln's best interest. I happened to glance up and notice a frantic Kari running out of the doors, my heart sank. I knew immediately that she was looking for me. I jumped out of my car and shouted are you looking for me. She waved her hand motioning for us to follow and said "I am scared" She rushed us into Lincoln's room and handed me a paper it was a release form for a blood transfusion. She said he needs it now. Nurses were everywhere. Someone was shouting to another nurse asking her where the blood was and the nurse had said Sandy.  The nurse who was working on Lincoln began yelling for Kari saying he won't stop bleeding even when I pull on the tourniquet on the iv that they were placing in his umbilical cord. Kari rushed me over to his bed side and said see how his legs and arms are white with purple lines. This is because his heart is just trying to pump blood to his organs that most need it and the blood is not making it into his extremities. His blood is also not clotting and we have some on the way. You may hold him for a minute. I gently held him in my arms and just keep saying 'Lincoln mommy loves you" I knew that if he was on his way out of this life I wanted him to hear my voice and know that I loved him. Kari quickly escorted us out of the room and took us to the parents room. As we walked out of the door both Jason's and my parents were there. They took us all in to the parents room and told the tech to have a social worker come. I few moments later a Dr walked in and  introduced himself as Dr Gerstman. I immediately said " Is this life threatening?" He said no. We have all the support we need and that we are going to stabilize him. If it gets to a point that we are unable to support him we will transfer him to Primary Children's Medical Center. He said that he thought that it was just a viral infection that they were going to send off a number of culture to Salt Lake City and that with in a couple of days we should know what we are dealing with. They were giving him blood as we speak and something that will help him clot his blood.  They have called in a Pediatric Cardiologist and she would be down to do an echo. After answering all of our questions he left to help stabilize Lincoln. When they finally had things under control they allowed us to see him one more time. We sat with him for awhile, he seemed to be settled and sleeping well. The pediatric cardiologist did a echo and found that his heart was only functioning at 51% and they started him on  Dobutamine  and had Dopamine close by in case it was needed.  One of the techs came out  and told us that they had a bed set up in the parents room across the hall and that we could spend the night there. We walked across the hall into the parent's room, they had set up a bed and had some boxed dinners for us. We ate and tried to get some sleep, that was next to impossible.

We walked over to his room the next morning, he was covered in wires, tube etc. The nurse explained to us that he was on oxygen, had an umbilical cord IV, leads so they could monitor his stats. He was currently receiving his food through the IV, he was also on a high dose of Dubutamine. We were still waiting on viral labs to come back so we knew what we were dealing with. Because of this he was in isolation, everyone who entered the room had to put on a gown, gloves and mask.  When you left you had to take everything off, throw it away and wash your hands up to your elbows. Most of the day we spent just sitting by his bedside. We were not allowed to hold him so there was not much we could do. I remember being so scared to bond with him for fear that I would lose him. It broke my heart that if he passed away that I had only held my baby for 15 minutes.

We spent the night in the parents room again. The next morning we got up and decided to go home, shower and get some new cloths for our stay. I remember walking in our room and seeing the bassinet set up next to our bed, I broke down in tears. At first I wanted to put it away so that I didn't have to see it, but I felt that if I did that I would be giving up on him. We showered gather our things and were getting ready to go when Jason cell phone rang it was Dr G.  After what seemed like a long conversation with the doctor I could tell that it wasn't good news.  I told him to tell me word for word what he had said. Jason said that the conversation started out with Dr. G saying that he hated to have this conversation over the phone.  Instantly I knew that it was not good.  Dr G. had told him that his AST levels were still rising.  He had consulted with the doctors at Primary Children's and they were going to just keep watching him at this point and that if his levels didn't start to come down within 48 hours, then our next step would be to move him up to Primary Children's with talks of a liver transplant.  No hospital at that time had ever attempted a liver transplant on an infant that young. He was telling us all the things we didn't want to hear.  So at this point all they could do was wait and see what would happen.  This little boy, who is not even a week old, would have to fight off this virus, over come heart failure, and was now a possible candidate for a liver transplant.  As Jason finished telling me what Dr. G. had told him we both just sat there crying and saying to ourselves that we might not be able to bring our son home. It was so hard for both of us to handle at that point.  I can still remember Jason saying that there would be no way that he could bury his own son.  At that point we hurried to get ready and head back up to the hospital to be by his side.  When we finally arrived, he was sleeping quietly.  He must have heard us enter because he lifted his head and turned it towards us.  Here is a new born baby, who is so sick and weak, but had enough strength to lift his head and turn it.  At this moment we knew what a fighter he was and how strong he could be.  We were still not allowed to hold him, so we sat by his bed side for the rest of the day, only taking breaks to run to the vending machine to grab something to eat or drink.  Later that night, we returned to our room, which was in the pediatric ward and spent a restless sleepless night together in a twin size hospital bed.  Since we had been there, at nights we would leave the T.V. on to not allow the quiet of  night to give us the opportunity to think about what had been going on in our lives.

 That morning we awoke at 6:00 am like we did every morning since we had been there.  Wanting to see how Lincoln made out through the night, we would unfortunately have to wait an hour because shift change was between 6:00 to 7:00 and no one was allowed to come down there between that time.  It was always the longest hour of the day.  When it was finally 7:00, we made what became our daily walk down to the NICU. We entered the room and asked the nurse how he had been, she said that he was stable. We sat with him watching the clock tick and nervously waiting for the Dr to do rounds and tell us what the labs were showing. Around 10am Kari entered our room pulled down Lincoln's chart and begin going over his labs. I noticed a smile forming on her face, she turned to us and said that his liver labs had gone down and that she thought that they had probably peaked and that they would continue to go down. However his platelets were low and he would need another blood transfusion. They would continue to run his labs every 8 hours to monitor his platelet count. They would also schedule another cardio consult so see if we could start tapering off the heart meds. I was excited that things seemed to be getting better. She also had gotten the viral panel back and told us that he had Entrovirus/sepsis. We were glad for the good news and to know what we were dealing with but we also realized that we were not out of the woods yet.

 Over the next few days they started to wean him off the Dabutamine and we continued to watch the liver labs get better. We had many more blood transfusion and he still was requiring oxygen and a feeding tub. The following days began to all blur together. Some days were good, while other days we where looking for matching platelets and there were none in the state. They said he would be fine until morning. I remember Dr G telling one of the nurse that their job that night was to find platelets even if they had to be flown in. The next morning when we walked in to check on Lincoln we noticed that they were doing transfusion of platelets. I was so thankful that they were able to locate some. We made friends with many of the nurses and Lincoln even began to get roommates. It was nice to be sharing a room with other parents who were dealing with similar situations. We spent a lot of long nights visiting with some of our new friends and we even had a few laughs. Some babies where with us a night while other stayed days and a few were transferred to PCMC.

  We thought we were getting closer to going home and then Kari arrived for the daily rounds. I saw her pick up Lincolns file and start looking over his daily labs. I noticed her looking back at the previous day labs  a looking a little puzzled. She then looked up and told us that his liver levels were beginning to rise. I panicked, they can't be rising, WHY? She said that she was going to call Primary's and talk with their liver doctors and see what they thought. A little while later she returned and told us that they wanted Lincoln to be started on some Actigal and some Aqauadeck. They would run his labs in a few days and if his labs continued to rise then they would be transferring us. I couldn't believe my ears. We were now once again facing the possibility of Primary Childrens. What would we do? Would I go with Lincoln and leave Jason home to work? Would my parents and Jason's parents continue to watch Talan day and night? How were he going to pay for all of this? And mostly would I be strong enough to do this? I couldn't believe that we were now regressing. Now all we could do was wait.
        A few days later it was time to draw his labs. The plan was that if his labs decreased two days in a row they would release us. The blood was drawn and we nervously waited for the results. We were so excited when they came back lower. I couldn't believe that we maybe taking Lincoln home with us tomorrow. Everyone was pleased with his results so they said they would like him to have his carseat trail and have us watch our infant cpr show. We were so excited I remember talking with the other parents that night and telling them that we would not be here tomorrow. We said good bye to all of Lincoln's nurses and we went home to get everything ready to bring him home the following day.

 We woke up the next day and waited for the phone call from the Dr who I am sure will say "Come and get him". Finally around 10am we could not wait any longer. We headed to the hospital. When we arrived we ran into Kari and she said that the labs they had pulled that morning were inaccurate and that they had re drawn his blood and were awaiting the results. We sat in the room with Lincoln and the nurse would check her computer every few minutes to see if the results were in. Finally they pulled up. They were not good at all.  They showed that his ammonia levels where higher than they had ever been and that the biliruben was up and that many of his levels were also elevated. I was devastated, it had finally happened we were headed to Primary's. Now we just had to wait to hear it from Kari. Both her and Dr G walked in  and said that this labs were also wrong and that they were going to do a arterial draw. We needed to leave the room while the procedure was done and that they would find us when the results were in. I was a nervous wreck to say the least. I paced the halls, for what seemed like an eternity. After about 2 hour Dr G called us in to another room. I knew that we would not be taking Lincoln home with us. He told us that his levels had risen. He had made a graph to show us  how they were bouncing up and down and at this point no one knew what was causing the fluctuation. He had talked with Primary's again and they said to wait 5 more days retest and if they were not coming down at that point they would admit him to the hospital for further testing. That night we humbly told the nurses and other parents that we would be with them for a least another 5 days. As we left that night we sadly carried our empty carseat back to the car and hope that this would be the last time we had to bring it out empty.

 The days went on and Lincoln continued to improve.  He was placed in a well baby bed and was removed from his oxygen and was gaining weight. Finally Monday rolled around and Jason and I were both too nervous to go to the hospital to wait for the labs to come in. Around 2 we got a call from Dr G and he said that we could come and get Lincoln. We were so excited, Jason quickly came home to pick me up. I loaded my car with my diaper bag and the outfit that we had picked out for him to wear home. I was hoping that it was still going to fit. When we got to the hospital they had moved him into a room in the Labor and Delivery ward because the nursery and NICU were too full. The funny thing is, the room that Lincoln was in now was the room that I was first put in for observation. We were ending our journey in the same room that it started only 1 month to the day. When we walked in there were post it notes with nurses emails that we had become friends with. They wanted us to stay in touch and let them know how Lincoln was doing. It was so nice to know that those who were taking care of him truly cared about him. I dressed him in his outfit, it was so surreal this was the 1st time that we had touched him with bare hands and not being covered in wires. We loaded him up and went home. He was not completely healthy, as a matter of fact his labs had went up since the week before. Dr G had called Primary's and they said to release him and to have him come up to liver clinic and they would run some further tests.

The next few days were like any with a new baby. Sleepless nights, putting your hand on his chest to make sure he was breathing and just trying to set up a new routine.

Early Thursday morning we loaded up Lincoln and headed to Primary Children Hospital. I had no idea what to expect once we got there. I know that they had scheduled us to meet Dr Book first, from her office we were to go to imaging and from there it was to the lab for some blood draws. We finally found her office on the 2nd floor, for some reason the name plate on the door made me a little nervous, it reads "Dr Book, Medical Director Liver Transplant Program. Why did transplant keep coming up? We entered the office did our paper work and waited. Then we met Natalie, who took us back and proceeded to weigh, measure, and take his vitals. Next the nurse came in asked us a few questions and took a brief history. Then the PA and Dr Book came in. They started to feel his liver and spleen and looked at his previous lab work. Then they pulled out a lab order sheet and it seemed like they started to circle everything on it. Then Dr Book start to tell us all the things that they were testing for. Things like Cystic Fibrosis, Metabolic Disorders, Biliary Atresia and Aplha 1 and many others that I could not name. They were 1st going to send us to imaging to check to make sure that his liver was not scared and that he didn't have Biliary Atresia. They explained that if he were to have either of these things that we would be admitted into the hospital and that he would go into a Kasi surgery. This surgery must be performed before the infant is 8 weeks old. So our time was getting close. If he had this and we waited too long he would require a transplant. They were also going to run blood test for the Alpha 1 and metabolic disorders. They would need to draw so much blood that we would have to have the blood drawn over a 3 day period. We would also be required to come back up to have a sweat test to rule out cystic fibrosis. I remember them leading me down to imaging, I was almost as scared as when we first found out that Lincoln was sick. We sat in the dark room while the tech did the ultrasound. It was so sad to listen to Lincoln cry and we were not able to give him anything to eat because he had to fast for the blood draws that were next. When the tech finished she said that she would call over the radiologist to read the ultrasound. I sat there watching him go over everything, switching back and forth between scans. Then he stopped and looked at us and said everything looked great. I was so relived, no scaring and no BA. Next to the lab, they lead us back to a little room and pulled out a ton of vials. After many attempts and one of the techs having to leave the room in tears they had to call down the IV team to do a draw out of his head. I was too much of a mess and this time I had to leave. I could not handle holding down my baby a moment longer while he cried giant tears. The IV teams was finally able to get the blood that was needed. Lincoln was covered in bandages. He hurried and drank his bottle and we loaded him in the car. It was a long drive home, we now had many other things to worry about. I hated having to wait for results.
Luckily the next two days we were able to have the blood work done at Timp and didn't have to make the drive to PCMC. We were scheduled to go back next Tuesday for the results and to have the sweat test done. The weekend went well and Tuesday arrived.

We arrived at the lab early Tuesday. They had instructed us to dress Lincoln warm and to bring a couple of heavy blanket to wrap him in. If they didn't get him to sweat enough we would have to repeat the test in a couple of days. We sat waiting in the lab until our name was called. We took Lincoln back to a room and they had us lay him on the table and instructed us to hold down his arms and not to let him move them. They would hook up electrodes that send a electric current through his arms to make him sweat. They warned us not to let him touch the electrodes because they could burn him. We had to hold him down for 5 minutes while they ran the current. It was so sad to have to hold him down while this was being done with no way to comfort him. I can only image what he thought of life so far. It was finally done and they proceeded to unhook him.  They bundled him in the blankets and had us wait in the lobby. We came back 30 minutes later and they collected the sweat. After the test we waited awhile until our appointment with Dr Book. After being weighed and vitals taken Dr Book came in with her NP. They spent quite awhile reviewing all the draws. Everything had come back as normal as can be expected with an infant in liver failure. The only new thing that we discovered from all this testing is that he is a carrier of Alpha 1.  Other than that we had no new ideas on why his liver labs where not returning to normal. She said she would call us with the results of his sweat test when they received them, and at this time she had no other idea of why his liver labs were still elevated, expect for the Entro Virus in which he was still testing positive for. We were scheduled to come back in  2 weeks to have labs run again. She also said that if the sweat test came back fine she may do a skin biopsies to test him for some disease that causes enlarged organs and they may have to do a liver biopsies. We left feeling relieved but still kind of sad that we still didn't have any answers on why his liver was not getting better.

Two weeks past and we headed back up to PCMC. We did the same routine except they said that his urinalysis had came back dirty and that they wanted us to go to the ER and have them place a catheter. Just what I wanted to do, go sit in a ER with the Swine Flu in full swing with my sick baby. Luckily we didn't have to wait long. The nurse tried a couple of times and then had to call for some help. They finally go it in place and we waited. Of course when you need a little urine you can't seem to get any. So we headed up to Dr Books.  They came in and checked Lincoln's labs and felt his liver and spleen. Both were still enlarged, but soft and his labs where still bouncing all over the place. Still no answers. A few of the labs were not in so they said they would call us and to come back in 1 month. Late that night we got a call from Dr Book's office.  They said that the urinalysis was back and that he had a pretty sever Urinary Tract infection. She would call us in an antibiotic. So we went to Walmart and luckily the pharmacist was still there. He received the Rx and said that they didn't have that drug and probably the only place that did was PCMC. So he called up to Dr Book and they worked out something to give Lincoln. We started him on the antibiotics and things seemed to be going well. She had also wanted us to see a Urologist at PCMC and have him take a look at his kidneys since the infection was so sever. Luckily for us we already had an appointment with one. We were seeing Dr O because Lincoln had been too sick to be circumcised so now we had to have it surgically done. We meet with Dr O and he checked his ultra sounds and said that everything looked okay and that it should clear up with the medicine that Dr Book had prescribed. Then he scheduled us for May to have him come up for Surgery. I spent the next month constantly asking Jason : Do the whites of his eyes look better? Is he looking a little less orange? Ect....

 

We went up to Primary's in January. We did the usually routine again labs and off to Dr Books. When she came in she was excited to tell us that his labs where still quite elevated but all of them had improved. She told us that UTI can raise liver lab numbers and this could be what has been keeping them high. We were to continue the Actigul, AquADEK and high doses of Vitamin D until our next appointment. We continued to regularly see Dr B and his Labs continued to decrease. On September 7 almost exactly 1 year from when this whole thing started Dr Book entered the room smiling. ALL of his labs where normal. She was so excited for us, all the staff came in and wished Lincoln well. She said that they felt that he would not need to come up for yearly checks and that she would just have our Peditriacain do them. She said that she may see us in 6 weeks or 60 years. We where so happy to finally have this ordeal over with and for Lincoln to finally have a clean bill of health. We are so grateful for all of those who helped us through this time. Doctors who knew what to do to help him and went the extra mile to help us understand. Nurses who cared for Lincoln like their own and stayed up with him at night telling him about the 3 little pigs. Sending emails to check on his progress, this meant a lot to me to know how much they cared. Friends who brought us food and just sat and listened when I needed a friend to talk with. To all of our ward members who went to the hospital to bless our baby, delivered food and just called to say they cared. Most of all to our Family, who spend endless hours watching Talan, showing us support by coming to the hospital even if it was just to look at Lincoln through  the window. This experience has taught me so much about love, compassion, hope and faith. I love you more than you will ever know Lincoln



I found this great story about having a sick baby on a local liver transplant baby's blog and it is great at describing what it is like to have a sick baby.
I am often asked to describe the experience of having a sick baby - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.


After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."


"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."


But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.


The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.


So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.


It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.


But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."


And the pain of that will never, ever, go away...because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.


The unexpected change in destination is exactly where we were suppose to go all along, changed us to whom we have become and changed how we will live the course of our lives. As hard as it's been in "Holland" we have learned many life lessons that I hope has made us better people.

For all those who have asked me for specifics here they are. This is what appeared on Lincoln's discharge papers:
Diagnoses:
1. Enterovirus sepsis/meningitis
2. Hepatitis
3.Cholestatsis
4. Viral Pneumonia
6. Myocardopathy
7. R/O Sepsis
8 Coagulopthy
9. Thombocyopenia
10. Hyperbilrubinemia

Highest Lab Results:

Direct Bili: 13.6    (Normal Range: 0.0 - 0.3)
AST: 9142          (Normal Range 5-43)
ALT: 1710 (Normal Range 5-60)
ALT and AST are enzymes made in the liver. The liver uses these enzymes to metabolize amino acids and to make proteins. When liver cells are damaged or dying, ALT and AST leak into the bloodstream.High levels of ALT in the bloodstream mean that there may be liver inflammation and/or damage
GGT: 335          (Normal Range 5-80)
Bile ducts bring bile from the liver into the gallbladder and the intestines. Bile is a green fluid produced in liver cells. Bile helps the body to break down fat, process cholesterol and get rid of toxins. If the bile duct is inflamed or damaged, GGT can get backed up and spill out from the liver into the bloodstream. GGT brings oxygen to tissues.
ALB: 2.6           (Noraml Range 3.9-5.0)
          Albumin is a protein made in the liver. If the liver is badly damaged, it can no longer produce albumin. Albumin maintains the amount of blood in the veins and arteries. When albumin levels become very low, fluid can leak out from the blood vessels into nearby tissues, causing swelling in the feet and ankles. Very low levels of albumin may be a sign of liver damage. The normal albumin range is from 3.9 grams/ deciliter to 5.0 grams/deciliter


NICU REUNION

 

Back in November we got invited to Timp's NICU Reunion and ribbon cutting of the new NICU.

 

They had a great catered dinner and it was so fun to see all the families of NICU graduates.

 Lincoln had a fun time blowing bubbles with Dad.

 They also had someone making balloon animals.

 Of course Linx got a balloon dog.

 

While we were there they gave all of the NICU graduates and families a tour of the new NICU. That is were we ran into one of our favorite nurses Tamara. Lincoln was being a pill and didn't want o be bothered while he was playing Angry Birds.

 Jason and Linx checking out the new calendar.

 This is a photo of Lincoln with Kari, she was the NP in the NICU. Kari always had a smile on her face and made things not seem so bad in the NICU. It was so nice to talk with her at the reunion.

 Jason, Lincoln, Kari and Dr G. We are so grateful for Kari and Dr G. They did an amazing job of taking care of Lincoln during his month in the NICU. Both of them always went the extra mile in ensuring us that all of Lincoln's needs were being met.

 Lincoln playing Angry Birds while we were waiting in the lab.

 

Of course while we were there we had to stop in the lab and get his labs pulled for old time sake. LOL! I think that Lincoln has had more blood drawn in his 2 years of life than I have had my whole life. We had such a great evening visiting with all those who helped take care of Lincoln during his stay. We are so grateful for all the love and compassion they showed to Lincoln and our family.  We are happy to report that all of Lincoln's health issues have been resolved and he is developing right on track. We love you so much Linx!