gRoWiNg

So, this was given to me today. Lincoln has grown a bit since they last took his foot prints. The foot print on the left was from today at 7.5 weeks old. The foot print on the right is from when he was 1 week old. He is now weighing in at 4lbs 3 ozs.

The nurse captured this adorable face while she was doing a photo for identity pictures! She said he wouldn't open his eyes because it was too bright. As soon as she turned the lights out, he opened his eyes but stopped smiling.

......and this is the little treasure I captured as I was leaving. You know, he sleeps the whole time we're snuggling but the moment I put him back he's WIDE awake. I think he's super smart and knows what he is doing. It's hard for me to walk away when he's awake and he knows it, it's part of his game plan!!

And a Merry Christmas it was!!

This is partially where we spent our Christmas Eve. Lincoln got all settled into his new bed at our local hospital(he graduated from the giraffe isolette...not sure what the new one is called)! It was an awesome feeling to be back!







The rest of the night we had a nice Christmas Eve dinner, opened Christmas jammies, watched Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas, put out milk and oreo cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

It was an awesome Christmas day! We started out with a morning snuggle








A little weigh in first...


1719 grams which translates to 3 lbs 12.5 oz's!!

Then we ended the day with a nice warm bath and some comfy Christmas pj's







Last but not least.....it's always icing on the cake when you have a handsome Daddy!!

Ever changing!

It seems like as soon as I make a post about Lincoln's condition or situation a big change happens right after! Well......for this time that is GREAT news!!! We got an early Christmas present.....Lincoln is going to be transported back down to our local hospital. I am so giddy I can hardly contain myself! They'll be transporting tomorrow morning, just in time for CHRISTMAS!!!

Super sweet....but a little mischevious!

Would you believe it if I told you Lincoln has really come a long way?? It's been two weeks since his surgery. Originally they were tapping twice a day at 14 ml's per time. They found that was really helping then they decided it was helping a little too much. They ended up tapping twice a day at 7.5 ml's per time. That also seemed to help, but just a tad too much. The next step was to tap only once a day at 14 ml's per time. NOW they're tapping only once every other day 14 ml's per time!! They did a head ultra sound the following Tuesday after his surgery and discovered his ventricles were decreased in size. They just did another head ultrasound on Monday and the ventricles have decreased even more. The nurse practitioner who was in charge of him last night said she could see a vast improvement not only in his ventricles but his physical state as well.



So many things to be grateful for, but I can't help to think how I would love to have him home or even at the hospital here in town. Hopefully we'll get him back to the hospital here sooner than later....that is a work in progress. He is improving so much though....he has had very few apnea spells. I held him yesterday and it was the first time in just about three weeks that all of his vitals were extremely stable the whole time! He's now weighing in at 3 lb's 9 oz's and is 17.25 inches long. The occupational therapist came by to see him yesterday and he was the most awake he had ever been. She assessed his situation and had nothing but GOOD things to say about his current condition. The nurse from the night before last informed us that when they drew blood for a few tests he wailed and wailed. She could hear his crying through his isolette! The loudest cry we've ever heard out of him was when he was first born. Since then we've only heard but a few peeps. Call me a mean mom, but knowing he can cry and did was extremely exhilarating for me!



In other news.....he fits right in with the other kids. He's super sweet, but a little mischevious. The nurses have had to put mittens on his hands because he keeps pulling out his feeding tube and nasal cannula!

Squeaky toy

We had asked the nurses when he was first born if we could bring in our camcorder to film Lincoln. They weren't so sure because of privacy issues for other babies. Well, we decided what would it hurt if our curtain was closed?? As I was holding him yesterday, he kept making these little squeaky noises when we discovered he had the hiccups! We couldn't resist....It had to be filmed! Scott used his phone to capture this precious moment.

Listen closely....it's kind of quiet!

I BeLiEvE

Lincoln had his first encounter with Santa.....It didn't bother him a bit

I can't quite tell what Santa is getting at here. Scottie automatically assumed Lincoln was on the naughty list because Santa is pointing at him.

I think he's on both the naughty and nice list. He can be a little mischevious. His vitals will go all crazy but the second the nurse comes into adjust him he'll self-correct.

But I also think he MUST be on the nice list because he's the sweetest baby ever!

{Just keep growing}

I'm SO super proud of this boy!!! His reservoir is most definitely helping! He hasn't been swinging as much on his vitals as he had been before. They decided they have been taking off a little too much fluid so now they've come to the conclusion that when they tap they will only take half of what they have been....previously 14 ML's, now 7.5 ML's. They will continue to do this twice a day until they see the need is no longer there then hopefully~eventually they will get down to no tapping!

As for his transfer back down to our local hospital....we're on the edge of our seats to even find out a timeline! Hopefully in the next week we will have some idea.
They did an eye exam to test for retinopathy, which is a common issue with preemie's. He passed his test with flying colors!!