More Ladies' Home Journal Article

Here are a few photos I took from my phone of the magazine article. We found it in Walmart today, earlier than expected!



Nate

Finally! Ladies Home Journal Article

After over a year of waiting, the article about our story is finally being publish in Ladies' Home Journal. You can pick up your copy in stores next week, or read the article online Here!


We'd like to thank our friends, David and Tammy Molnar for the photos that appear in the article!

Nate

(Bump) Coming Soon to a Magazine Stand Near You!

We were disappointed to learn that the magazine has bumped our story...they're telling us maybe May or June of 2012. We will let you know as soon as we know for sure.

Tricia, Gwyneth and I spent yesterday evening with David and Tammy Molnar. In case you don't know, David is an incredible photographer and a childhood friend. David was asked to shoot us (actually, mostly Tricia) for a magazine article about our (Tricia's) story which is scheduled to be published this December. We'll post more info about what magazine soon!

In the meantime, check out David's Website, Blog and Facebook Page!

Nate

Christmas Article

With Gwyneth's second birthday quickly approaching, and our family of three celebrating our first Christmas in our new home, our friend and writer, Connie Sage wrote a follow-up story on our family which ran in one of our local newspapers on Christmas day...

Christmas at the Lawrensons looks pretty ordinary.

A 7-foot tree trimmed with white lights and childhood ornaments. Presents under the tree. A big dinner planned with family.

But for Nate, Tricia and Gwyneth Lawrenson, today is particularly joyful: Mother and child are healthy.

Gwyneth, who will be 2 years old on Jan. 8, was a “micro-preemie,” born at 1 pound, 6 ounces while her mother, Tricia, was on a ventilator.

Three months after Gwyneth’s birth, Tricia, who was in the end stages of cystic fibrosis, received a double lung transplant.

“This year we can relax and enjoy the holiday season and spend time with family,” said Nate, 28....

Read the rest of the article Here!

Nate

ABC Video Link

Here.

If you have the time, please leave a comment at the bottom of the linked page on ABC's site thanking Barbara Gibbs and the team at ABC11 for following our story and helping us to share our good news with others. Barbara is most definitely totally sincere about caring for us and keeping in touch with how my two girls are doing, and we appreciate her very much! It's just as emotional for us to watch these videos as it is for you.

BTW, you can see Tricia's wound from the surgery the day before. And, the nurse holding Gwyneth through much of the video was one of Gwyneth's primary nurses during her four months at Duke!

Nate

ABC11 (1 Year Later)

On January 9, we visited the NICU at Duke to say hi to some friends. Barbara Gibbs from ABC11 met us there to film a quick update about Gwyneth and Tricia...the story is airing tonight at 5:30 for those of you who are in the Raleigh/Durham area. For those of us who are not, I'll post the online link to the story as soon as it shows up!


You can watch previous the three previous segments that ABC has filmed with us Here.

Thanks!

Nate

Follow-Up Newspaper Article (Virginian Pilot)

For those of you who live in Southeast VA and Northeast NC, a follow-up article about our story appears in today's Virginian Pilot (Read the first two articles Here and Here)...it appears on the front page of the NC section and on page 4 of the Hampton Roads section.

For the rest of us, read the article Here.

Thanks to writer Connie Sage who has followed our story and helped us share it with the world!

Nat

Radio Interview Friday Morning

If you're in or around the OBX tomorrow morning around 8:10am, listen for me on Beach 104, talking with Moose and Jody about our Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Day this Saturday (more about that later)! They're the same guys that interviewed me a few months ago Here.

Nate

Radio Interview Tomorrow Morning

I'll be talking about our Pancake Dinner tomorrow (Wednesday) morning around shortly after 8am on Beach 104 Radio. If you're near the OBX, give it a listen, and consider coming out this Saturday evening and helping up find a cure for CF!!!

Nate

Another Newspaper Article

If you're anywhere near Murray, KY today, pick up a copy of today's Murray Ledger & Times to read an article about us and Organ Donation.

If you're like me and have no idea where Murray is, you can read part of the article online.

Thanks!

Nate

Inside

BTW, if you're at Duke this month, pick up a copy of their "Inside" monthly newspaper/magazine to read this quick article about us.

Thanks!

Nate

OBX Sentinel Article

If you're near the OBX today, pick up a copy of today's Sentinel for me and read the article about us...if not, check it out Online (under "Top Stories").

Also (at the Sentinel site), scroll down to "Features" and check out "Looking for money to find a cure" to read more about our upcoming Great Strides Walk in September!

Thanks!

Nate

Interested?

There are a few national media groups (I'm not allowed yet to say who) are interested in our story. I've been asked to find out if any of my blog readers who have changed their minds about organ donation or have decided to become an organ donor for the first time because of reading our story might be interested in sharing their thoughts with a reporter or two.

If that's you, and you are seriously interested in helping us tell our story, please leave a comment under this post (don't email me!) with a brief synopsis of how/why our story has helped you make the decision to become an organ donor, including your previous thoughts/opinions about organ donation.

I don't know for sure if anything will come of this, and I won't be the one making the decision about who might be selected.

Thanks!

Nate

Update

We are loving having Gwyneth home with us! It's been amazing to see the timing of everything. Had she been discharged earlier, Tricia would have been too weak to do much with her. If she were discharged closer to when we are hoping to go home to the OBX, we wouldn't have all of this time to spend focused on her. God continues to bless us.

The trip home was very good. A video camera met us on our way out, and I've heard rumors that we were on ABC11 again, but I missed it and haven't found it yet on the website (I'll let you know if I do find it). Gwyneth was sleeping by the time we made it to the car, and she slept all the way home.

The whole first 24 hours was a little strange as both Tricia and I kept consciously looking/feeling for all of the monitor feeds that have been strapped to her for all of those weeks...it's incredible to be able to pick her up and carry her around anywhere we want to. When we got home, I sat in the glider with her and started crying.

She came home with several meds and a few breathing treatments. Everything is to help her as she continues to catch up with her development. She has what is called "Chronic Lung Disease", which basically means that her lungs are still underdeveloped (for a newborn 4+ weeks after the due-date), a very common thing for a micro-preemie. It sounds a lot worse than it is...she has a little trouble catching her breath when she's very active, and should grow out of it within a few years. It should have no affect on her continued development.

She has breathing treatments just like Tricia did with her CF, with some of the same drugs that Tricia has been on. She should hopefully be done with the breathing treatments soon. (and, because I know somebody's going to ask...again, Gwyneth does NOT have CF)

All that means that there is a little more to remember to do than with a normal infant. All of her meds are liquids that are mixed in with her food. She's eating ad lib, which is about every three hours. She was transitioned completely off donor breast milk and onto formula over her last few weeks in the NICU, and other than a little gas (which is also normal), she is doing great with her feedings.

I've been feeding Gwyneth throughout the night, letting Tricia get the sleep she needs to continue recovering, and for the most part, she is sleeping well and letting us get plenty of sleep. Agnes (Tricia's mom) is here for a while to help as we adjust to life as three, which has been a huge help. With Gwyneth's minimal medical needs, and Tricia's continued needs, it can be a little crazy to remember everything and maintain a sense of normalcy, but it's been going very well.

We had our first outpatient Pediatric appointment on Friday. It was just the two of us as Tricia was at PT. Everything continues to look great, and her doc (who was seeing her for the first time) said she looks very developed for her history. We have another peds appointment tomorrow, and an appointment with a pediatric pulmonologist later in the week....it's actually the same pulmonologist that followed Tricia when she was a child at CHOP.

There is always a chance that, if she gets sick or has a setback, she'll be back in the hospital, but every day improves her chances of not having that happen. We are still praying that we'll be able to go home to the OBX within the next 3-4 weeks when Tricia finishes up her PT.

A few highlights from our time home...

> I took her for a walk outside our hotel the afternoon we got home (she was wide awake) and showed her things like her first tree, her first sidewalk, her first cloud, her first helicopter, and her first hot tub. She was very impressed.

> Her first trip to Babies"R"Us. She basically wanted everything...slightly annoying, but she'll learn soon enough to do that kind of thing only around the grandparents.

> Her first episode of SportsCenter...I was sure to point out Mia Hamm and the NY Mets. I'm teaching her to spit at the TV with me whenever the NY Yankees and Dallas Cowgirls make an appearance.

That's basically it. My email is still not sending, so don't sweat if you haven't heard from me in the past few days...hopefully I can get it fixed tomorrow. I'll post some pics when I get a chance.

Thanks!

Nate

"Happy Endings"

The News & Observer has updated the latest chapter of our story. Read it Here.

Nate

ABC11 Video Link Up!

Watch the Video Here!

Thanks again to Barbara Gibbs and the rest of the staff! I'm guessing it might air again at 11 if you want to see it "live".

Nate

ABC11 Tonight!

For those of you in the RDU area, tune it to ABC11 at 6pm tonight to watch the next part of our story with Barbara Gibbs. I'll give you the link to the video as soon as they put it up!

Thanks!

Nate

48 Hours

Lots of good things have happened in the past 48 hours....

First, Tricia and Gwyneth got lots of hang time together...Gwyneth enjoys it more than she appears to in this first picture.



Tricia's bronch on Tuesday went well, although it took longer than we had anticipated (about 4 hours altogether with blood labs, x-rays, etc.). The doctor said the initial results (from what he could see through the bronchioscope) looked good. We learned on Wednesday that she is showing no signs of infection or rejection at this point, which is really good news!

And, Tricia talked her doc into removing her trach! She has had the trach since Jan 8, so she is very excited as it will help her breathe a little more easily, help keep her gag reflex under control and possibly allow her to eat and drink more (after another swallow study). It should take a few weeks to heal up, and then she'll be dressing free! Needless to say, she's very happy!


Because we got the blood work and x-rays done on Tuesday, we didn't have to be at clinic all day on Wednesday. Instead, we slept in, I got some cleaning and laundry done, and Tricia was able to go to PT and then her clinic appointment in the late afternoon. At clinic, they removed her pic line from her arm, which makes her pic/IV free for the first time since late December, which, of course, also made her happy.


Gwyneth continues to do well. She is definitely eating more from her bottle. We haven't been given a date for discharge yet, but we know it is getting closer. Tricia should hopefully be released to go home in early June, so we're praying that Gwyneth will be discharged by then as well so we won't have to wait up here for her.


And, I've been told that the next part of our ABC11 story should be airing this Monday! I'll let you know for sure and give you the link when it becomes available. From what I can tell, this should be the best part yet!

Anyway, that's about most of what I can remember that I wanted to tell you.

Thanks!

Nate

April Beach 104 Interview (Part 3)

Listen to Part 1 & Part 2!

Nate

April Beach 104 Interview (Part 2)

Listen to Part 1!

Part 3 of 3 coming tomorrow...

Nate