Praises and Prayers

After the Last blog our week went WAYYYYY down hill. Ace had his yearly evaluation from ( AIDB )Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind that Wednesday. I got really upset afterwards and ended up in the ER in Carrollton with a headache. Then went back the next morning still sick as a dog and no relief for the headache. THEN after that shot I still had no relief I called my neurologist he told me to go to Med Center North and get IV fluids and meds. So I went there and that doctor sent me back to the hospital to be admitted. So after a total of 3 doctor visits in less than 24 hours I was back where I started. And I stayed there til Saturday. Which was awful. I mean AWFULLLL. Being in pain is horrible and when it hurts so bad you can't rest is even worse. And to top it off the nurses there were in no hurry to help. It took two hours to get medicine one time, an hour another, and it was never there any sooner than 30 minutes after I requested it. Which just made everything worse. Cause when you have a headache so bad that every movement makes you want to vomit time is of the essence. Finally after I got a good 4 hours of sleep in a row the medicine worked. I got home in enough time to go to my Secret Sister Party at church. It was nice even though I felt really exhausted.
I do have WONDERFULL news. Have you ever questioned prayer? I mean really do you pray about something then try to fix it yourself or pray about it and wonder if God heard you? Well if you have let me tell you a little story. If you can remember all the issues with Ace's legs from the last blog keep them in mind. On this past Monday we ( me, Josh, and Ace) took a 3 1/2 hour drive in the pouring rain to Huntsville. Ace had an appointment with the Orthopaedist. And I had already prepared myself for every possible news the doctor could tell me. I prayed for God to take care of Ace and what ever His will be done. And if Ace needed any medical intervention to help his issues I asked for God to give me the strength to make it through it. After I prayed I felt at peace. And I was ready . I mean really ready. I had phone numbers ready to call when we left to set up appointments for just about what ever the doctor recommended. After Dr. Buckley watched Ace walk with shoes on, walk without shoes, and walk some more, x-rays, and a physical exam he left and it took a while for him to come back but when he did I honestly wasn't expecting what he said. He came in put up his x-rays and said simply " I see nothing wrong with him." It took me a minute to think " Okay he had, spasctisity, scissoring of the right leg, turning of the foot, ankle rolling, and bowing of the tibia" And he couldn't find anything wrong. He said " The right foot is pre-maturely turning inward " and this is the only thing that Ace is showing any issues with. He said all kids feet will turn in at age 4 and outgrow this by age 6. So what about all the other things you ask. God took care of them . Yeah that's what happened. When I prayed I had FAITH. I knew God would take care of my child. And he did. Ace's legs are just fine. He isn't scissoring any more and it was obvious even to the AIDB lady when she did her evaluation, no ankle rolling, and the most miraculous one is NO BOWING OF THE TIBIA bone. After Ace had physical therapy Amy showed me his leg and it was bowed out. I mean you could see it. And I guess I just paid no attention to it after that. Well after the x-rays when the doctor showed me them I had to look at Ace's leg and it looked just like the left one. It had a slight bow but not anymore. So next time when you are praying have a little faith when you do. Matthew 17:20 says " I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, " Move from here to there," and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.".
Although I will not be moving mountains I know God heard and answered my prayers.

Okay now for the AIDB report. This Institute comes out and gives Ace special instructions therapy every month for social emotional, cognitive, adaptive, motor, and one more that I can't think of right off the top of my head. To qualify for these services the child has to be more than 25% delayed in at least 3 of these areas. Well after she scored him she said he was more than 25% behind in 3 areas and 24% in another so he really only passed in one category and in that one he was 5 months ahead. She said he is very smart for his age ( Gets that from his mama) but he is behind up to 16 months for is age in the others. The one he is the most behind on is his social emotional mentality. At this age most kids are able to pay well with others, they can be easily separated from their parent in a FAMILIAR setting, likes people, does " pretend" playing, they are bold and confident, likes people, can share, ect. Well not Ace. But even after the score was given and she went over what Ace will have to do this year I was okay. UNTIL she handed me the " Handbook for Alabama's Children with DISABILITIES". That is when my heart sank and I began to block out everything else she said. And she noticed it. I told her it wasn't the fact that he was behind because I knew that; It was the fact that he was considered disabled. I knew he had cerebral palsy, I knew he was going to have issues, but I never labeled him as disabled. I couldn't put that on my child. That is when I had to re-think everything I had been doing. Yes I baby him ( he's my baby) BUT I do treat him as a 4 yr old along with AliPaige. But he could process it. That's why he gets so frustrated. But I know God isn't done with him yet. I am not afraid of the challenges he will face because we will do our very best to give him every option to do his best. He will not be the perfect child or even the normal one for his age but you know what as long as he gives 100% of himself I am happy with that. My only issue is what criticism he will face growing up with this label. I absolutely cannot stand to hear or see someone use the word retarded. Because the definition of that is- a condition in which mental development is slow or delayed. So you know what YEAH my son is retarded. I wish that word meant- a condition of IGNORANCE! Because the people that use that word like they do are the one who has issues. I can only hope that Ace will have confidence enough to brush it off if anyone ever comes at him with such ignorance. I pray he will be strong enough to tell them in God's eyes " I am perfect." That is what bothered me so much about his evaluation. It was just a label. And I know that I can't put that label on him even if it is what it is. He is still the same Ace that he was before he was tested. He hasn't progressed any in the past year in the social emotional development and not much more in a few other areas but this is my plea. Please pray for Ace to get every benefit possible from the therapy he will get from AIDB and then from the school system beginning in March when he turns three.
God places people in our lives when we are faced trials. He shows up when we need him. If he can't be here physically with us he will give us someone to help us through. I have learned this. It's up to us to turn to them or turn away and struggle. One of the people God placed in my path this year sent me an e-mail that I didn't get until AFTER Ace's doctor appointment on Monday. Which shows me even more proof of my faith. (Along with a few pictures )I want to share it with you as I end this blog post.
.........I once heard about this man who God took to heaven and he was looking down on earth. He saw these streams of light coming up toward heaven, but there were some that were shooting off like fireworks and coming right up before the throne of God. He asked, what are those lights and what are those that are coming up so quickly? The angel told him, well those are people's prayers as they ascend toward heaven, but the ones that shoot up so quickly are those of a mother praying for her child. They are the most heartfelt and they soar through the heavenlies and go directly to the throne room and reach the Father's heart immediately.

Ace doing his little project.

Ace and AliPaige BEFORE the flu shot

Just passing the time

My little sweetness.

Still happy. but it was short lived.

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL weekend.

LeighAnne

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

I know it's been a while so we will play catch up

Well I am sorry it's been a while since my last post. We have been non stop with baseball and church and doctors. Not to mention Josh is working and working and working so we have been on the go go go by ourselves. Ready for a vacation. Seriously. All three of the kids have had fifths disease. Not to bad just a lot of itching and serious rash. Looks like poison ivy everywhere. Ace is having some tough Asthma issues. But we are dealing with them. Preston is winding down his first year of school.And (not to brag) but he is scoring extremely high on his tests. I am so proud of him. AND he got saved!!!!!! Waiting on Dad to be off so he can get baptized. I have had some rough headaches but I am going to the doctor tomorrow so hopefully we will get that under control. But I am blessed with some great friends who come to my rescue when they knock me down. But anyway here are a few pictures from this past few days/week.


Preston sitting and waiting on his turn at the kindergarten play. Love the hair.


This week we had a Game on Tuesday. It wasn't in our favor.( OF COURSE) But never the less the little fellas and girls played their hearts out. Still can't blame them for the lack of practice.

Ace and AliPaige showing off their supportive shirts.

Preston Playing the Circle. My big boy

Preston, Ace, AliPaige and Chloe at church sitting under the stairs. All innocent.

. Nana and AliPaige at Preston's play. Of course the Camera died when it came Preston's turn to get up and dance:(

Today ( Wednesday ) AliPaige decided to cut her hair. Well it wasn't very good so I had to make an emergency trip to the Salon. And We ended up losing about 4-5 inches of hair. It was pretty dramatic telling the "Dad" but she sure does look cute with her new hair do.

AliPaige and her new do!!!!!

KP and AliPaige at church tonight

On Tuesday we took Ace to Children's for another opinion. And I ABSOLUTALLY love this doctor. He is Dr. Drew Davis and he is a rehabilitation specialist. He says that he would consider Dr.McCarty's ( Neurologist) diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy accurate considering all that Ace went through after he was born and all the developmental delays. So he is not going to stop until we find out what is going on with Ace and his legs. This is a B*L*E*S*S*I*N*G*!!!! Every other doctor said they couldn't find anything and would just send us home. I am so thankful that I got in touch with this doctor. And I am thankful that Joy Harless referred me to him.We also had a HUGE blessing this week also. On Thursday we had speech therapy and the therapist said that Ace where he should be age wise. So we are going to have him re-evaluated and hopefully discontinue his speech therapy. YEAHHHHHHH! SO EXCITED about that. God is working a miracle in the Gregory house. WHOO HOOO.

Ace and AliPaige were entertaining themselves by looking over the rails to the lower floor while we waited to see the doctor.

Well maybe she wasn't so entertained.

Well that's all for now. Hopefully it won't take as long to post next time.

Have a blessed week.

Love

LeighAnne

Birthday Party Plus 2

Birthday boy

Faith and AliPaige

The girls
The boys

Blow baby BLOW

See his cake just wan't as good as Dad's

I GOTCHA BRANDY! 6 days and counting

Josh's cake of his own. Couldn't leave him out!

Aww he loves me

Ain't she a sweetie

I wish you could really see his face in this one

newest member of KISS
That's his daddy's cake

he loved his gifts
Finger licking good

Well Ace's had his birthday party Saturday and it was looking kinda slim to begin with. But after a while the people started to roll in. I also had a special cake made for Josh and this is the cake you see Ace eating. He liked it more than his. I guess deep down he knew it would be much much messier than his own. But it was too cute watching him eat it. He got a lot of nice presents and not to mention MONEY. It's hard to believe that my little man is TWO. My how the time files when you have kids. They are such a blessing from God. As a parent you want to watch them grow and be successful in everything they do. But deep down I wish they would stay little forever that way I could just keep them innocent and all mine for ever. Ace has grown so much and come so far in the past few months. He is such a joy to have in my life. And at church tonight I asked for a special Prayer for him as we go to the neurologist next week and one of the moms said that he just lit up the room when he comes in. And she is right he has become quite the social butterfly I never thought he would be. He is actually turning into a normal two year old. I still feel like his mental state is still behind for his age. He understands and comprehends what you tell him but sometimes I am unsure just what all he and process. Lite telling him No and trying to discipline him. We can't just pop his legs because of him muscle ( or whatever) problems would be like torture to him. So I do pop his hands trying to teach him right from wrong but I feel so bad for him cause I really don't know if he understands sometimes that what he is doing is wrong and then he gets in trouble for it and he just looks devastated. But I just keep praying that he will catch up and we will have no pain, no therapies, and no more problems. I know one day I will be able to look back and say " See what God did in my life" He is working on him we just have a few more little things to repair. I am so blessed with the family and friends to help me along the way. I am truly blessed with everyone in my life . I have a amazing Husband and he is becoming more and more amazing to me everyday. I am so blessed I can't put it into words. I have the BEST friends and the BEST Family including my in-laws. I guess I lucked up on that one. And my Church family has just blown me away . I never knew that there were such caring people out there. They have adopted my family as their own. I just love know that my children WANT to get up and go to church and they ask how many more days til church. Even Ace knows what a bible is and he tries to say his prayers. It's so cute. The older two fight over who says the blessing. AliPaige's version goes a little something like this " God is great God is good I pray the Lord my soul to keep AMEN!" But hey she tries. Well I guess I have rambled on for too long. I need to get ready for bed. SCHOOL is back in tomorrow!

Have a blessed week

LeighAnne

All About Ace

This one is all about Ace. We went to the Allergy doctor yesterday and he was diagnosed with ASTHMA. So we go to get his medicine and equipment and it was $140.00. It's only just one more thing to add to his list of diagnosis. He has now such a list of problems I hate going to the doctors and having to fill out the medical lists. He has had more doctors that Josh and I combined. A neurologist, Neonatalogist,urologist, gastrointerologist, Cardiologist,ENT and ENTspecialist, Orthodist, orthopedist, physical therapist, speech therapist, special instruction therapist, Allergy and Asthma specialist. The trips to Children's for testing and the Trips to Huntsville to the neurologist are not that easy to co-ordinate with two other children. But when you have a Child with so many problem you will do what ever it takes to make them as normal as possible and let them live a life as normal as possible. I have more medicine in my cabinet for him that myself. He takes his breathing treatments and inhalers like a pro. I know he could be much worse and things are not as bad as others have it and I am so thankful for that. People ask me sometimes "How do you do it" And all I can say is you adapt. When you have healthy children you just go about your business like normal but when you have a special needs child you just deal with it. It's my normal. I love Ace and he is a special child and I know that God gave him to me for a reason and one day His testimony will glorify God to the highest. Because it has truly enhanced mine. Ace gave me strength I didn't know I had and he has opened my eyes to another world. God's grace is sufficient. And if his can be so can mine. I know the ultimate plan is set in stone and I can't change it so I just go with the flow. I love my child no matter what problems he does have and even if they were worse I would love him the same because in my eyes he's perfect and I know one day the world will see him that way too.

Have a Blessed weekend

LeighAnne

A Baby is on the WAY( NOOOOO NOT MINE) and Ace is playing dress up

I just had to post these pictures.. The top two are of me and Brandy at her shower today. I just love a baby belly. And I can't wait to see miss little Ava. She got a TON of stuff today and I am so happy for Brandy to be preparing for the arrival of her sweet little girl. What a God send. The other pictures are of Ace. He dressed and POSED himself. he has on one long sock and one short. AliPaige"s shoe and a hat and little sunglasses. He is such a mess.I can't believe how he is coming out of his little shell. All this physical, speech and special instructions therapy is HELPING out tremendously. But keep praying for the little guy. his legs aren't co-operating like they should and hopefully after a trip to the neurologist we can get him straightened out.Of course right at this moment he is running around just dadny but I'm sure in a little bit when it's time to go nighty night he will not be so chipper. That is when it's the worse.. It seams to be moving up the right side of his body and his arm is begginning to bother him sometimes to. I don't know what to do but to give it to God and trust that he will take care of it. That's all we can do

good night and God Bless

LeighAnne