The Story of Joshua Ace Gregory

So I will just start off from the beginning of Ace's story. After AliPaige was born Josh and I decided NOT to have anymore children. And since I had already stretched out my body, suffered through labor and had two children he would do his part for the family. WELL in July of 2006 Josh was going to " do his part" but instead he went fishing. Which brings me to August 2006. I had not noticed that I had missed something that month and then in September I began to think" HMMMM " So I got a test and it turned positive real quick. SO I took three more just in case but they all showed the same. I was a little devastated. You see my first two pregnancies were not exactly the best in the world and after having 2 babies pre-mature I was kinda scared. Then in October of 2006 I " lost " my job. Long story. And that really made matters worse. All I could think is how can I support this new baby I'm bringing into the world and we just lost a third of our income. But NEVER question God. He knew exactly what I needed. You see Ace's pregnancy was the best out of three. And I never could work now with what all I have to deal with. At 22 week I began going weekly to the doctor to get shots to PREVENT pre-term labor. BUT they stopped those at 34 weeks. See picture below of me at 32 weeks.
Well my body must not have like the fact that they stopped because I went into labor and delivered Mr. Joshua Ace Gregory 5 weeks early. We didn't know if he was a boy or a girl and after Dr. Allen got him out all I could think of is " Is my baby okay" He wasn't crying like a normal baby and when Dr. Allen showed him to me he looked so tiny. But Dr.Allen played calm and yelled " somebody tell her what she has" And poor Josh had to put down the camera to look. And " IT'S A BOY!!!" But when it was time to roll up out of the operating room I knew something wasn't right. The NICU team was working on Ace and they had to bag him because he was unable to breathe. It terrified me. Once I got in my room I was unable to see him because of my aneshtesia. Later that day when I was able to go see him I found out that he had Premature Lungs, Heart concerns and some normal preemie problems. He had tubes EVERYWHERE it seemed like. He looked so little. Not to mention his neighbor in the NICU was a whopping 10lbs. So 5lb 12 oz Ace looked even more smaller.

You can see his chest pulling in to breath. Poor little fella,

This was one of his actual feedings. You can see the nurse pushing his " dinner" all of .08 mls into his feeding tube.

So little and soo sweet.

Ace and his little teddy bear.

He moved on up and got those tubes out of his nose.

This was Easter. In the NICU. Sad but special never the less.

Me and my sweet little man.

Daddy and Ace

After Ace was born he spent the first 6 days on the C-pap ventilator because he couldn't breathe on his own due to the premature lungs. This also caused him to have heart rate drops.And he also had a heart murmur. Not too much to worry about though it was a common one. Around day 10 he began to vomit yellow greenish stuff and when that happened they determined he had a serious infection in his intestines. This is NOT a great thing but luckily they caught it early, started him on antibiotics and he was able to get back to full feed within 10 days. After 21 days in he NICU he was able to come home. And what a joyous day it was. It was Friday April, 13th 2006. I will never see another Friday the 13th as a bad sign for anything.

Fast forward a little bit. He continued to have tummy troubles and we have a Gastrointerologist and he was able to get all his problems under control. His heart murmur was kept under the care of a cardiologist in B'ham as well. He also has a urologist, for a very minor problem which we wont even go into detail about.

But when he was 3 months old at his regular pediatrician's check up they noticed he wasn't exactly developing his motor skills and also his developmental ones either. So they just wanted to monitor them and for his 6 month , 9 month, 12 month check ups they all turned out to be the same as the first. He was very behind on almost all of his skills. Except walking. So when he turned 15months old we had him tested at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. We were originally going just for speech but when I gt there they do an over all evaluation. He was very behind for his age in EVERY EVALUATION that they did. It was a total of 7 or 8. The only thing he passed on was his physical skills. And the ONLY reason he passed was because he was walking. She encouraged us to seek physical therapy on our own. And she also pushed to have him tested for Cerebral Palsy. At first I was completely shocked that she would even say that. Cause my child was normal. Nothing was wrong with him he's just a little slow. That's all. But after we began our therapies and saw more and more doctors it was an eye opener that just maybe MY " normal " child just might not be so normal after all. In November we saw a Neurologist in Huntsville and he confirmed that Ace did in fact have Cerebral Palsy. And blood work confirmed it. But luckily he tested negative for muscular dystrophy. But even so I looked at him and thought " how could my child have this" . You see just because they have this disorder it doesn't mean it's always the WORST CASE SCENARIO! He can walk and he can do most things that a kid his age can do. But at that time he was still very behind and needed physical, speech, and special instruction ( motor, cognitive, ect..) therapy. So we have been in therapy every since September 2008. When he began he could only say 2 or 3 words and he had a very hard time conveying what he needed or wanted to us. He also had some pretty tough problems with his legs. Since therapy we have improved in so many ways it's unbelievable. We had our Speech Therapist out yesterday and she re-tested him because he is doing so well AND he scored a whopping 60% better and is on the level of a 2 yr old. This means that he is only 2 months behind and give he was early it pretty much puts him right on target. So hopefully we will get to discontinue speech therapy. I am just waiting to see what the final word is. Also he is improving in his walking and his pain problems in his legs are decreasing. He still does however have some fine motor skills that are lagging and I am constantly wondering just how much he does understand what we tell him. I mean I don't know exactly where he is mentally. And the Neurologist did say that we may not know until it's time to get him in school. But as for today I see such a vibrant and beautiful little boy who is so full of life it amazes me. I cannot imagine my life without him. He has taught me so much in such a short little life span it's unreal. He is a blessing that I never could have dreamed of. I am looking forward to the day when we go to the doctor and he says " you know I think we made a mistake. He is just as normal as they come". Ace is one of my life's little surprises that changed who I am and made me a better person. He has shown me strength that I didn't know I had , faith that I needed, and brought me closer to God in the process. I am so thankful for my little " unexpected blessing " I call Joshua Ace Gregory.

Here are a few pictures of him I took today....

Yes he's chewing on a pencil...

a little over exposed. But still a cutie

up close and personal

so sweet

Joshua Ace Gregory

Hope you all have a blessed weekend.
LeighAnne

Not too much tonight

I don't have much tonight .
I would like to let everyone know that in the past two games Preston has hit a homerun in both games. Unfortunately but not unexpected we didn't win. But I know that there are kids hitting home runs all the time but against the two teams we have to play it's almost impossible. These kids are awesome at baseball. They are all so good and our little team has no clue what to do in some very simple situations. Which I am not going to lie I wouldn't know what to do either. HENCE that's what a COACH is supposed to do. But our Coach just hasn't figured that out yet. He wanted to try and teach them something tonight. HEY COACH THE SEASON'S OVERRRRRRRR! D*O*R*K! Good news for us after this week we don't have to worry about him anymore. AND PRESTON MADE ALL-STARS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so proud of him. He has really tried this year. And I think he deserves it. I can't wait to get him all dressed up in his all-stars uniform. Maybe then he will feel like a winner.

I do however have a request!

If you look to the right on my blog you should see a " button" or a box that has Praying for April Rose. Please click on it when you have few minutes and read this young woman's story. And please be in prayer for her. She is a 20 something, pregnant woman who's baby had been diagnosed with two serious conditions. She has started this blog to cope with her situation. The baby was not expected to make it to full term and the doctors pushed abortion on this young lady. She of course refused. The baby's heart is affected and not too long ago her heart rate was in the 90's and even 80's and the baby had stopped growing. As the mom blogged she requested prayers. And in one of her posts she stated that she prayed for God to bless her child and heal her heart and make her grow and speed up the heart rate. And not to long after that she posted that the heart rate was 130 and the baby did BEGIN TO GROW again. This story is so touching because it shows faith when most would probably turn their backs on God. The baby ( April Rose) was due on May 20th and she has surpassed her due date which was completely impossible according to doctors. But I just ask that you keep her, baby April Rose and Dad in your prayers.


Thanks,
LeighAnne

p.s. sorry no pictures tonight. Maybe next time.

It's Hump Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well so far we have had a pretty exciting week. These are a few pictures I have taken so far.This was Sunday night AliPaige was helping pass the time while he did his breathing treatment. I thought it was sweet.
She was reading the princess book to him.

He finally acted interested.

On Monday we had Splish Splash Day at the school with Preston's class from noon till 2pm. The kids really had a lot of fun. They had two blow up slides and several other water activities for the kids and Preston's cousin Taylor was there playing baseball with the kids.

Preston and Taylor


Preston and Lane

Preston and Sawyer

Preston right off the first slide of the day.

Preston and Suzanna up on the slide ready to go down!

On Tuesday I had a hair appointment. So I have a before and after picture. Preston also had a game but I didn't make it thanks to these wonderful headaches. AHHH you got to love the change in the weather.

Before After

Okay I couldn't help it. You always see in those hair magazines the before pictures look like they are taken at 3am and that they are a DUI mug shot picture. Luckily for you folks I had a horrible headache and it actually looks like I could pass for a 3 am DUI mug shot. But sorry not that interesting. After getting the kids dropped off and getting my hair done I really had a nice headache because there were three perms going on right around me at the beauty shop. HOW SMELLY!! But I really like my hair and after a trip to the Med Center South my headache is long gone. And I am ready for the rest of the week.

Wednesday was really exciting and sad all in one. It was Preston's last day of kindergarten. He had his award ceremony and then we went to his room one last time to gather all his things and tell Mrs. Chapman good bye. It's really tough though. It seems just like yesterday we were in her room for registration and then I was meeting Angela, Holly and Brandy up at Roosters for breakfast. Then we all cried as we walked our little men to class for the first time. Then today it was kinda the same little walk. As we walked out of the classroom down to our cars knowing that our kids are no longer the babies at school. And that the next time they are "OUT" of school they will be LEGAL!!!!!! That is scary. It's sad cause I really don't want my kids to grow up in this world. It not all roses out there. But hopefully these kids will change the future. And it will be much better than it is now. I really hope that from now on we are blessed with an amazing teacher like Mrs. Chapman. It breaks my heart knowing that he can't have her every year. She has set the bar HIGH for the rest of the teachers at GES. I know that she truly cares for those kids and she pushed them to their limits to learn as much as possible. I just HOPE AND PRAY ( seriously) that my other two children will get her. I hope she hangs in there for 4 more years that way Ace could get her. But I know I can't pick and choose who I get for my kids. But I am so proud of Preston for all the accomplishments he made this year and I know he is ready for 1st grade and that he will always make me proud and never let me down. He is a smart kid and I hope he stays that way.

Preston, Mrs. Chapman and Austin

Hayden,Austin, Tanner, and Preston all acting silly as they part ways on the last day of kindergarten

They look so serious don't they

Big Mama and Preston on the last day of school

Me and my Preston

Preston and Mrs. Chapman

Preston and his certificate from Kindergarten

Up Close

Well that's all I have so far this week. I guess that's enough. But I hope the rest of the week goes as smoothly as the first has ( except for the headache). I hope everyone has a great week and weekend and everyone traveling please be careful.

LeighAnne

Little Blessings of Mine

Well I don't have much to tell that went on this week so I just thought I would share a few random pictures of the kids.

Of course the one to your left is on me. One the way to church this morning we were waiting on Josh. ( Blessing #1 - Josh home from work this weekend)

(Blessing #2 little miss Priss herself) I really thought I would catch her off guard last night. I held the camera over my seat on the way home from Columbus to snap a quick picture but you can't catch her by surprise. I just hate I didn't get her whole head

(Blessing #1-Josh repeat)

It's Okay Josh it's a BABY. We had three of them. This one is old enough to hold his head up. He won't hurt you.

Just kidding. I don't think Josh really wanted his picture taken. But he got it anyway. He was holding baby Griffin Hudson. We had a nice little dinner at the Mexican Kitchen Last night with the Hudson's.

(Blessing #3- Baby Griffin) Gifts from God. They come way to rare these days.

Isn't this baby just the cutest. He was so sweet during supper. Ace kept saying "baby baby baby" til I moved him over by him. But he is so cute and he was really good.

Blessing # 4- Ace

Splish Splashling in a puddle with his rain boots in the parking lot. He had a good ole time in this tiny little pool of water.

See I told ya. He just kept on and on and on.

Blessing #5- Preston.

This is at last nights Game. I was so proud of him.
They didn't win. Of course. We are really getting use to that. BUT all of our players hit the ball and we had a total of 13 points which is more than any we have had at any other game this season. Our team has come a long way

Blessing #4 Ace- repeat

We went to the doctor this week and they want to try to put Ace on breathing treatments twice a day and another medicine at night time. It is frustrating to drag out the nebulizer again but it beats him having to be on prednisone. He actually sat there and did this treatment all by himself. Like a big boy

Blessing #2 AliPaige- repeat

She just looked to cute not to take a picture of.

Ace found the lipstick oops!!!!!!!

This is Preston at his Play. Angela took this picture and I just stole it from her. Of course you remember my camera died when it was time for Mrs. Chapman's class to get up and to their part but I stole this picture from Angela and if I can get any more Believe me I will. ;)

That's all I have for now I will have more next week. I hope you all have a blessed week.

LeighAnne

Best Mothers Day yet ( and it was for the BIRDS TO)

Preston going down

Bless his heart he was barely tall enough

Come on down

Calming the nerves

Josh and his BIG solo

It was thinking " If I don't look at her maybe she won't see me"

this one wasn't moving

isn't it sweet

my little friend

Little baby bird that let me hold it for a little while

Okay Today is Mothers day and I got the best Mothers day gift EVER. My Sweet Precious Angel Preston was Baptised this Morning at church. He was so sweet. He looked so cute up there. Even though his head barely reached above the water. But it just made my heart swell up and almost burst to see this HUGE step made in his little life. And my mom and Josh's mom and sister and his nephew Taylor was there. It was literally one of the best days of my life. ( Other than the birth of my children of course) And I was also so Proud of my dear Hubby he got up in front of the whole church and did a solo of Amazing Grace on the Harmonica. He is NOT you hear me NOT the type to even speak in front of more than three people at a time much less do something like this. But he did a very good job and I so so proud of him. His nerves got the best of him and he made a very tiny mistake that he though in his mind was Huge but just for him to get up there was a big step. But this was truly a big day for me.

There were also these six little baby birds that " flew the coup" from a nest outside the kids bathroom window this afternoon. I took a few pictures and wanted to just post them as well so Happy mothers day to the mama bird to.

I also want to take this time to my Hero. MY MAMA. I always took for granted what she did for me as a child and now I realize what all she did and sacrificed for me and my sister to have what he had growing up. She is a true Mother and I hope and pray that one day my kids look back and say I respect and honor my mom the way I do Mrs. Tina Glenn. I LOVE YOU MAMA. Happy Mothers Day!!!!!!!!!