March & April
March started out pretty normally. I continued working on various YA projects and did a lot of prep for Wyoming District Council in April. Scheduling things has slowed down a bit because of expecting baby Lincoln in April.
However baby Lincoln came a bit earlier than expected and sent us into a bit of a whirlwind with an unexpected life-flight to South Dakota and an 11 day NICU stay. To try go condense a very long story, there had been a few early signs of pre-eclampsia at my doctor's appointments but they weren't overly concerned yet. They had me testing my blood pressure twice a day to keep an eye on things. They also had given me steroid shots to help Lincoln's lungs develop should he need to come early. It was actually really frustrating because there were signs it might be develop but there wasnt anything they could do about it ... until it developed.
On March 30th I had done some work in the morning and then taken my three kids on a walk to the park. It was the first really nice day of the year. We got back home and we just hung out for a while until I started prepping some stuff for homeschool community day. In the middle of doing that prep work i started feeling REALLY weird. Nauseous, shakey, dizzy, and like I could feel my heart pounding in my head - for no reason. I tested my blood pressure and it was high. I sat down, put my feet up, drank water and tested a half and hour later and it was even higher.
My sister was available to hang with our kids and Rich drove me up to labor and delivery to get checked out. I honestly thought they'd end up lowering it somehow and send me home, so we didn't bring anything with us to the hospital other than a water bottle! My blood pressure was definitely high, I also had a tiny bit of a fever, and Lincoln's heart rate was scarily high - consistently over 200. After a big of monitoring they let us know that it was definitely going to be baby day!
When Lincoln was born (about 37 weeks old) he needed help breathing right away. By the next evening (March 31st) his lungs weren't progressing like they had hoped and they decided he needed more help than the Douglas hospital was able to give. Wyoming wind made it dangerous to travel and all flights were grounded. This was probably the scariest time of the whole ordeal. He was requiring more and more support breathing and we were seemingly stuck. At one point I overheard a nurse worriedly whispering to another nurse outside of my door that she didn't know what to do.
Thankfully, the morning of April 1st the wind broke enough for Lincoln and I to be life flighted to Rapid City, South Dakota. It was extremely challenging to climb stairs into a small aircraft and up into ambulances less than 48 hours post c-section. But we made it, got Lincoln admitted to the NICU, and I was able to rest in an unused room on the maternity floor. I was emotionally and physically exhausted. Rich drove up to be with us and our 11 day NICU stay began.
The NICU seemed like a place where time disappeared. There was no natural light and the lights were on all the time. I began to hear the sounds of the monitor alerts and alarms in my sleep. Things in the NICU were definitely 2 steps forward and 1 step back. We also missed our other kids badly.
Finally, marking the best Easter ever (except for the first one, of course) Lincoln was released to come home! His big brothers and big sister are absolutely obsessed with him. Since that time he has been doing great and getting stronger and stronger. He was able to come to Wyoming Network Conference with us in April. We are so thankful for everyone who prayed for Lincoln and our family and to those reached out with encouraging NICU stories. We are also endlessly thankful to my sister and the Rossignol family for taking care of our older three kids.
