The Story so Far:
Our 3 bundles of joy (actually Addison decided, not the boys) decided to make an early appearance on January 26, 2022 at 29 weeks old. That night we welcomed Addison Lynn, Carson Knox and Grayson Evan into the world. They were whisked away to get all their monitors set up and get a good looking over. We stayed in the hospital the rest of the week with them and CJ and I went home Saturday afternoon for a quick pit stop. We returned frequently to the NICU to check in on them and to help the nurses with their cares (temp check, change diaper, ect.).
The following Monday we were not feeling well so we went ahead and each took a COVID test. Unfortunately, they each came back positive for us so we quarantined for the next 10 days. Those 10 days were very long and difficult for us. We would call the NICU nurses about 2-4 times a day and ask how they were all doing. Luckily, Bryan Hospital had an Angel Eye camera so we could check in on them all in a way and see how they were looking.
On February 12th, our quarantine was finally over and we could go back to the hospital. That morning though we received a call from the NICU doctor that Carson had a CT scan of his lungs and they were concerned. They called Children’s Hospital up in Omaha and wanted their opinion. They both agreed that Carson needed transported up to Omaha immediately for evaluation of his left lung that was enlarged and pushing his heart to the right and pushing against his other lung causing it to deflate. So we went up to Omaha as soon as we could to see Carson and talk with doctors. After a very long afternoon of tests, the NICU doctor and pediatric surgeon at Children’s came into the room and talked with us about the condition that Carson appeared to have. The believed he had a condition called CPAM on 98% of his left lung. CPAM is a congenital condition where the lung does not develop properly causing cysts to form instead of healthy lung tissue. Generally, it is only on one lobe of a lung and they are able to remove a lobe with surgery. However, Carson appeared to cover his entire lung and they were preparing for an emergency surgery to remove his whole lung that night. They explained with him being premature and so small that he would have a difficult time with the surgery and he might not be strong enough to handle it. We spent the whole night in his room with him crying and praying that our baby boy would be okay. They let him settle in for the night and he stabilized nicely. From there, they decided as long as he was stable then we would hold off on surgery as long as possible.
He was a rock star for the next 2 weeks and around February 26th they wanted to do a follow up CT of his lung and see how it was looking. By some miracle, his lung looked completely healthy and all signs of CPAM were gone. We couldn’t believe the news, our baby no longer needed surgery and even better he was ready to come off all respiratory support all together and they were going to look into a transfer back to Lincoln to be with his other 2 siblings. On March 2nd, we officially got the word that Bryan Hospital was on their way up to Omaha to get Carson and bring him back to Lincoln. All 3 are facing their own challenges now but overall, they are excelling and we cannot wait to bring them home.
THANK YOU
We cannot thank you enough for your generosity. We’ve had so much on our mind these last 6 weeks. We had 4 children in 3 spots (we have a 2-year-old at home) and there was just not enough time in the day for us to feel like we were doing enough. Pile on that CJ was unable to work so we were down to a one income household and some days just felt like we were drowning in the stress of everything. Your gift to us at relieved the stress of covering all our gas and food expenses while we were driving all around the place trying to maximize every minute we could spend with our children by just grabbing a quick bite to eat in the car as we headed from one spot to the other. Now that Carson is back in Lincoln with the other two that burden does not seem as large to us.
