Colorado

Well, December 10th we made the long flight back to the USA!  We flew into Colorado Springs and stayed the night with Jason's sister.  My parents met us there and the next day we drove to Arizona for our 30 days of leave!  We spent 2 weeks in Arizona with family and celebrated Christmas.  On Christmas day we drove to Nebraska to celebrate Christmas with my family!  We spend 2 weeks there then make the final trek to Colorado Springs...our new home!  We are going to be moving into a new home on base the beginning of February, but for now we are staying with Jason's sister.  We are getting settled into the town and loving it so far. 
We have already started some site seeing.  Last weekend (on my 31st birthday) we visited Focus on the Family.  It was a great time for the kids as well as the adults.  We enjoyed lunch and, of course, the bookstore!  We have our "bucket list" of things we want to do and see in the next 2 years we are here.
We are so thankful to be back in the states and closer to family!  Now, we begin real life again and getting back into daily life.  We are starting the process of getting referrals for Tucker to get in to see specialists.  I will keep everyone posted on what happens. :)

Merry Christmas!

I can't believe it's that time of year again!  Seems like we just wrote our "letter" for last year...what a year this has been.  We started the year in Okinawa, Japan and will be ending the year in Colorado Springs, CO!  We are being stationed at Peterson Air Force Base!
We cannot express our thanks to everyone who has prayed for us and offered encouraging word to us during this time in our life.  We are so thankful to be able to celebrate our Lord and Savior and what He did for us.  We wish you all a very merry Christmas and happy new year!

just another update...

We've had Tucker home for a month now, and he has adjusted very well!  Paige is loving being a big sister and is so helpful.  Thankfully, we haven't had any jealousy issues...yet.  :)  This last month has been filled with several doctor appointments and such.  The latest was his eye exam.  After his fourth exam, we were told his eyes are fully grown now and there are no abnormalities thus far.  When we get to our next duty station, we will have more follow up appointments to make sure things are still going well.  He also had an evaluation by a program called Educational and Developmental Intervetion Services (EDIS), where they had a physical therapist come and watch his movements and such.  To qualify for the program, meaning he would have to have routine visits from the physical therapists and any other people to help with his development, he would have to score a 2%.  After his evaluation, he scored a 3%!  In other areas, he scored just below average and therefore was not eligible for the program!  This means he isn't so far behind as his prematurity!  We are so thankful.  We realize this could change, but right now he is doing great!  Also, this week he got his first set of shots and he now weighs 6 lbs 1 oz!
We are still waiting on our orders to go to our next duty station, but we are being told we should be leaving here mid October!  We are very excited to be able to see our families again!  We are so thankful for the experience to come to Japan and for our little "souvenir", but we are ready to see what the Lord has in store for us at our next assignment!
We ask for your continued prayers and we gear up for this next adventure and for our health and safety the remainder of our time here!  Thank you all! :)

Home at last!

Saturday, August 13, Tucker was finally discharged from the NICU and just in time for Paige's birthday party! :) Friday, we were told the great news that he would be able to go home the next morning! I stayed the night at the hospital and roomed in with him and for the first time he had no cords or monitors. I was a little nervous at first, but soon jumped into my mommy mode and things were great. It was such a wonderful night bonding with him with no interruptions. The next morning, Jason and Paige came to the hospital to pick us up (we hadn't told Paige yet). She didn't fully understand he was coming home with us that day until we were walking to the car and she saw him in his car seat! She was SO excited! It was such a relief as we left the hospital parking lot...a chapter closing. Tucker is now 6 weeks old and has been home for 2 full days and is doing wonderfully. We are still adjusting to having him home, but we are all managing well. Jason goes back to work this week and we can finally begin to get back into some sort of routine again! We are still awaiting orders and where we will be going. We are praising God for his provisions for our family and giving us the strength to make it through this experience. He has given us this little miracle and we are so blessed. Again, we thank everyone for the continued prayers. We are so amazed and God's work!

1 month update

Well, right now we are awaiting what was supposed to be a "super" typhoon, but has now been downgraded to a category 2 (90-100 mph winds). We were strongly encouraged not to stay at the hospital with Tucker since they would be double staffed and they also have alot of pregnant women that have to go in during the storm in case of labor. It was very hard to leave him and know we wouldn't see him for a couple days at the most. This story just keeps getting better :).

Tucker is now a month old and weighs in at a whopping 3 lbs. 11 oz and 16 1/2 inches long! He has had some ups and downs and the most recent is he had gotten off his oxygen, but after about 3 days had some big drops in his heart rate and breathing and they had to put it back on. The doctor thought he might have some sort of infection going on since their body can't run a fever yet, they heart rate drops. They did several blood tests, a spinal tap and a catheter and ruled out an infection and are thinking it is just immaturity still. It was emotional for his mother ;). On a better note, he is now taking all of his feeds (8) by mouth. Some days are a little harder on him than others and he is just to tired to eat so they have had to use the feeding tube. When he can go at least a 24 -48 hours without having to use the tube it will come out! Another big prayer answered is he had his eye test this week and so far everything looks good for his gestational age and they are progressing well. He will have another test August 16 (please pray). He also had another ultrasound to make sure there is no fluid on his brain and that came back all clear. He has had, I think 4 other checks and this was just routine again. Another good thing is he is now wearing clothes! I know this isn't a huge shock, but it means he is beginning to regulate his temperature. He is still in an isolet, but he is almost ready to have the top opened to make sure he can regulate his temp well then he will get to be in an open crib! I know this all sounds like a foreign language, but it's good news! haha He has changed alot in this month and is starting to look more like a newborn and less like a preemie (if that makes sense). We think he has a little red hair as well so look out! :)

Another big milestone we had this week...Paige turned 4!! We cannot believe how fast the time has gone! Since all of this with Tucker has been going on, she has had to deal with hospital living during the day, but for her birthday, Jason took her bowling and got her ice cream! She had so much fun! This weekend we are having a little Strawberry Shortcake party for her with a few of her friends. We are working it in between Tucker's feeds! Such a crazy life right now!

We have been so blessed with so many kind words and prayers from so many people. We have such an amazing support and prayer system and we thank you all so very much and I know our families thank you as well! We look forward to the next stage of this season of life and bringing Tucker home to join our family. What a day that will be!! We are also looking forward to see where God will be taking our family. We are awaiting orders to be reassigned back to the states where Tucker can recieve the medical care that he will need! There are no pediatric specialists here, so the doctors are sending us back! We are very thankful for the time that we go to have in Japan, but look forward to being closer to family and friends :). Thank you all again for all of your continued prayers! We love you all!!

3 pounds and counting....

Last night, while Jason was at the hospital with Tucker, they did their regular "hands on" time and weighed him. He is now at 3 pounds!! We also got some good news that when he gets to eating 27 mL they will then take out his pick line! Right now he is eating 12 1/2 mL, and it goes up 1 1/2 mL every 12 hours, so it will be a few days. He is also down to the lowest setting on his vapotherm and will soon be on a regular nasal cannula that we would use if we needed to have oxygen. He will no longer need the humidity that runs through it!

Paige loves visiting her baby brother and talks to him alot and lets him know he's ok! :) She loves to think that Tucker is dreaming of her and that he talks to her.

Little by little he is losing more and more wires that bind him to his isolet! We are so thankful for God's provision! He is keeping Tucker tight in His arms and getting him through this! We can't believe we are already 2 weeks in! We pray this time goes quickly and he will be healthy and come home with us! Thank you again for all of the continued prayers!

10 days old

Tucker is now 10 days old...this week he has started to get regular feedings (still through a tube). He started off at 1 mL every 6 hours and then after a few fussy days, he seemed to be feeling better and was hungry, they upped his feeding to every 3 hours. After a day of that he was upped again to 2 mL ever 3 hours and has been tolerating that well. This morning when we got to the hospital, they had upped him yet again and now he is getting 5 mL every 3 hours! This is great news that his tummy is handling food well. We are still taking one day at a time, but for 2 days the doctor has had no new news to report! He's just slowly moving forward.

Today, while visiting our little guy, I was able to talk to the nurse for a while. She asked how we were doing and told us she had never met a family like us that is dealing with a very premature baby and still so happy. I was able to witness to her a little bit and tell her that without our Lord, we wouldn't be getting through this! He is the reason for this baby, for our peace and happiness and this whole situation. He deserves all the glory! She was very intrigued and seemed to be in agreement. As I get to know her more, I hope to find out if she is a believer, but for now I sit in awe of how the Lord is using this situation already!

Tucker has arrived...early!

The last week has been kind of a blur for our family. While being 7 months pregnant, I was diagnosed with deep chest bronchitis and pneumonia. I went to the ER twice and was sent home with antibiotics. The third time was the charm, I was having chest pains and trouble breathing and was taken to the ER and was thought to have a blood clot to the lung, but after a CT Scan that was ruled out. Jason had been in the field all week long and once the doctors decided to admit me, he was able to come home. While being admitted, my blood pressure was sky high and they became very worried, but at that point in time, the baby was not in harms way. The doctors gave me morphin to help with the pain, but it didn't help much, which again worried them. After the first night I started to feel a little more normal and could at least take a breath without pain. Things were looking up. After the second night, I woke with a terrible headache and again high blood pressure. The doctors feared I was developing pre-eclampsia. The next day, my symptoms worsened. I started developing more and more signs of pre-e. At about 3 pm, it was decided they were going to deliver Tucker at 30 weeks and 5 days (9 weeks early). If the symptoms got any worse, they worried what my body would do to him. At 5:38 pm on July 2, Tucker entered the world weighing 2 lb. 13 oz. He was taken directly to the NICU with Jason in tow.

He had to be on a ventilator to help with his breathing, but was doing ok. After the first night he was taken off the ventilator, but not long after had to go back on. The doctors did chest xrays and found he had some pneumonia and his little lungs weren't quite ready. He had some swelling in his throat from the tubing of the ventilator, but he was given some medicine to help with that. After a couple days, the doctor ruled he had an open PDA. It normally closes after birth, but Tucker's had not, so he was still getting blood in his lungs making it hard for him to breathe regularly on his own. He underwent 3 steroid treatments to close the PDA and praise the Lord, it worked! He came off the ventilator that day and has been off since. He is breathing well with the little help of the nasal oxygen (it has a proper name, but I don't know it). He has become quite the voisterous one, now, and lets the doctors and nurses know he is not happy. Today (8 days after he was born) I was finally able to hold him! "Kangaroo Care", as they call it, is a very vital key in his development. He is placed skin to skin with me and settled in very nice and slept. His heart rate slowed (it had been way up...he was telling them he wanted his mommy) and he was very relaxed, as was mommy. It was a very special moment for all of us. Every day still brings challenges that he has to cross over, but we are very hopeful, as are his doctors. There will be many more milestones he has to reach and we're sure there will be some setbacks as well, but we know that we will get through them all. God has been every so present throughout this whole thing. Our family has been leaning on him to get us through, and strangely, we all have a peace...a peace that only God can give...that everything is going to be ok.

We cannot thank everyone enough for all of the prayers, comments, phone calls, cards and support that we have received. They mean more than anyone will ever know. Please continue to pray for all of us, but especially for Tucker. He has a long road ahead of him still, but he is a tough little guy and we will get him through it. We love you all and will keep you updated with his progress!

Pineapple Park, Butterfly Garden & Pizza in the Sky

We decided to get out of the house after having a few days of rain and drove north to Nago to Pineapple Park. We didn't really know what to expect, but we wanted to see it. It was recommended by lots of people here. When we got there we took a golf cart tour around the park. It was an automatic ride, so Paige got to "drive" us around! After the tour we walked through the pineapple winery where they had LOTS of tasting. We tasted wines, juices, chocolates, cookies and cakes that were all made with pineapple.

Some of the pineapples for sale

Next, we went to the Ryugujo Buttery Garden. Since the recent typhoon that hit, alot of the vegetation had been ruined, so it wasn't as beautiful as the pictures we had seen. We will definately make a trip back when it recovers.

After walking around all day, we were hungry and since we were in Nago, we decided to try a highly recommended restaraunt called Pizza in the Sky! It was on top of a hill overlooking the ocean and the clouds were low that day so it really felt like we were in the sky. The pizza was wonderful! I would have taken a picture of the food, but we were so hungry it went fast! :)

My iced tea...they are all about presentation here!

It was a great weekend to get out and enjoy some new sites. We have begun to pace ourselves so we don't get burned out too soon on seeing the sites! Once the baby comes, it will be so nice to get out not get so tired so quick. :)

May has come and gone...here's what we've done!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!!

We started this month off with a trip to JAL Okuma Private Resort with Jason's battery! Normally, we get to go for 3 days, but this time was just an overnighter. It was a great time as a family and we got some beach time in as well. Throughout the month, we have been enjoying the beautiful outdoors (in between the days on end of rain). We have lots of night of grilling and eating outside as well as football games with all the neighbor kids.

Also, this month, Paige finished her first year of Cubbies and got her first book award. The awards banquet was very quaint and simple, but Paige was very excited!

This past weekend, we experienced our first direct-hit typhoon! It was quite the storm and we are so thankful everything fared here. There was lots of damage on the base and I have only seen small parts off, but the island was very lucky! We are now officially in typhoon season til November. We are really looking forward to summer and in a few months the arrival of Tucker!