Living the good life with Baby Lincoln!.

Wow. Life has been a little crazy around these parts...  I thought I would've had more time to do some journaling about the new life we are living. Not so. We have had our hands full up to our eyeballs with this sweet new boy. The funny thing is, after you have had one child you think you are all over it. You know it all! This second baby is going to be a cinch! Ha Ha Ha. That is truly funny. 

I feel like I am starting at ground zero all over again. And in reality I am! No two kids are alike, and Lincoln has been totally different that Elena. It feels like I am learning how to be a mom all over again. He has really had a rough go of it so far, and I am pleased to say that I think we are on the upswing. 

Lincoln was the dream baby all the way till the two week check up appointment. He NEVER fussed, and was so alert and happy all the time. Then the terrible day came to take him into the two week check appt. which also included his circumcision. Poor guy. That was so hard for me to go through. I'm sure I suffered through the procedure more than he did. In fact, he came back from "the room" fairly happy and sticky from his sugar-syrupy binky. It didn't seem so bad for him. :) If only we had known what we were in for!!! Lincoln started getting really (and I mean REALLY) swollen and red a day later. I took him into the doc's office, and the doctor on call said he "thought" it was "possibly" infected and prescribed him an oral antibiotic to treat it just in case. I never felt too good about the diagnosis, and especially didn't feel good about the antibiotic. But what is a mother to do when her son's little ** is looking like that!? It was awful. The worst part was to come though. The next day there started to be a little bit of yellow puss (I know this is pretty graphic, and if you can't stomach it I give you permission to exit. :) ) but in the "book" it says a little is ok, but to watch it. So I did. I watched it double and triple and get completely out of hand gross by the next day. By the time Mike got home from work I didn't really even explain what was going on to him and just called the doctor and announced that we were taking Link in again. Good thing we did. We saw another doctor on call who brought in the other doctor who was in the office and they both agreed that Link was very infected. They really didn't even seem capable of efficiently treating him. Both of the doctors proceeded to tell me that they had NEVER seen something like this before. Well, that was real comforting, since I had obviously never either. That freaked me out frankly. Both doctors consulted together and decided that Lincoln needed to be taken into Primary Children's Hospital right away to be treated. :'( That was an awful moment for me. I was already so mentally, physically and especially emotionally drained. This just felt like too much to handle. I was so sad for Link. I hated the doctor for a little minute for inflicting and infecting my infant. (I'm sure she was probably not to blame in reality but I needed a scapegoat for just a while). 

We were lucky enough to have Elena go to my Mother and Father In Law's house for the night. We met there and my Dad came too. The men gave Lincoln a blessing. I was so glad at that moment to have priesthood holders in my life! It was amazing the reassurance and peace I felt after Lincoln received that blessing. I knew somehow he would be ok... 

We headed out to the hospital. To the pediatrician's credit, they did call ahead to the hospital for us and arranged for us to have a room already ready for us so that we could skip the ER. They didn't want us to have to be around that germ infested place with a newborn. Thanks. Really. :) We were seen by an entire group of doctors. They all evaluated Lincoln and talked with us for quite a while. They were all quite young but all very nice. They decided that Lincoln needed the plastic part that was still attached from the circ. removed. They prepared the circ. board and took him away to cut it off. They felt that it needed to be removed in order for the infection to drain out of the area. Let me tell you, it looked really really bad. I was so worried for Lincoln because it just looked awful! When the doctors brought him back into our room I can't tell you how much better he already looked! It was all cleaned out and already looked less irritated. :) Yay! I knew they were going to be able to take care of my little guy. They kept us there over night and for half the next day to monitor Lincoln and make sure he didn't get a fever in the night. It was a painful night for me. We were sharing a room with another mom and her baby. They were really quiet... Not. 

The next day the group of doctors came back to do a final check on Link and decided that we could avoid IV antibiotics and blood tests and just use a topical antibiotic instead. Phew! I was so stressed about having them poke my baby. We were sent on our way much relieved.  

Today Lincoln is pretty much 100% healed from the whole ordeal and much happier with his diaper changes. Ha ha. :) 

He has been a delight to have in our home, even with the drama. It has been nice to have another boy in the house even thought he keeps me up most of the night. He has been so different from Elena. He wants to eat like every second. He would have an eternal "mommy binky" if I let him. So he is keeping me really busy feeding him and changing his now SIZE 1 diapers as of today. Sigh. I will miss those cute tiny newborn ones. But I am glad he is growing and healthy. Link seems to have some gas issues and maybe reflux. He is pretty fussy sometimes and spits up allll the time. But I still love him to death, spit up and all. 

Lincoln laughs in his sleep. It is hilarious! Those moments where he has done that have been some of the funnest and sweetest so far. Second only to the delirious happy milk coma smile he gives me at the end of his feedings. Ha Ha. I love this little guy with all my heart and am proud to be his Momma. Here are a few photos that we have gotten of Link so far. :) Thanks to my S.I.L. Emily and Cousin Jensen for helping me snag these cute pics! xoxo