A Cord

We've learned a lot since we've been in Alaska. There are many things that, as a Californian, you'd never come-across in your daily routine. Today's latest "lecture" is about firewood.

First, let me say that burning firewood can drastically increase the heat in a cold house, and severely cut down on the high costs of fuel oil. But, how do you get wood? Where do you get wood? Everyone here on the island has STACKS of wood piled up outside their houses...where did they get it???

Chris and I have been on the "hunt" for wood for about a month or two. Wal-Mart sells small bundles of wood for $8.00, and one of those bundles will last you about 2-4 hours. Often times Wal-Mart will be sold out of wood, so we're left to rely on our small electric space heaters for those cold nights.

There is one company on the island that sells large quantities of wood -- They're called "cords" of wood. A cord of wood will cover the space of a pallet, stacked about 8 feet high...it's A LOT of wood. So, this ONE company on the island (Yes, there is only one company that sells wood) that actually sells cords of wood only sells "green wood." This has been another learning lesson.

What is "green wood"? Well...green wood hasn't been dried and is freshly cut from the tree. This matters because green wood doesn't burn well in a fireplace; it does, however, do really well in wood-burning stoves. We have a fireplace. This company was going to sell us a cord-and-a-half of green wood, which may or may not burn in our fireplace. (Wood-burning stoves get hotter than a regular fireplace, which is why green wood will burn in a stove and not in a fireplace.)

We kept looking for wood, and we were able to find a local man who sells "seasoned" wood. Seasoned wood is another word for "dried" wood. It has been dried for 7 months and is ideal for fireplace burning.

Over the weekend we got our cord delivery of seasoned wood. It took a few hours, but Chris, and a friend of his from work, stacked our new found heat-source against the house to prepare us for the winter. Gosh, I just hope this stack will last us through the season.

PS - That stack in the picture is about 6 feet high and 10-12 feet across.

Videos of Ethan in the NICU

Here are a couple of videos we took of Ethan while in the NICU.

Family Resemblance

Brother and Sister...ya, they could be related.

Something to be Thankful For

It's been a few weeks since we were whisked off to Anchorage after my water broke. We sat around in the hospital for a week and then had a baby who ended up in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and now we finally get to go home. It's been a long and emotionally-stressful journey, but it's coming to an end.

Here we are on Thanksgiving Day, waiting to be discharged from the hospital. No, there will probably be no turkey dinner tonight, nor stuffing or pie...but Ethan will be out of the hospital and we will be free to move forward with our lives.

We will plan to make flight arrangements back to the Emerald Isle as soon as we're released. We are all looking forward to getting back to life; and as soon as Emily returns, our little family will be complete once again.

We are thankful to all our friends and family who have supported us through this difficult time, and thankful for all of the kind people here in Anchorage who have been so welcoming.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The March

Remember all those stupid charity walk-a-thons you did as a child? Your teachers would hand you a piece of paper and asked you to go door-to-door like a vacuum salesman pedaling your silly cause to your neighbors, family, and parents’ coworkers. You had no idea what you were raising money for, nor did you care; the only thing you cared about, as a six year old child, was getting the most money so that your earnings would qualify you to get the totally cool, multi-rainbow, state-of-the-art, long-distance, grand prize winning Frisbee.

As a child you never thought that the money you were raising went to anything important. And, after the fact, you didn’t care where the money went because in two weeks time that totally cool, multi-rainbow, state-of-the-art, long-distance, grand prize winning Frisbee would be arriving and every kid in your second grade class would know that you raised the most money. I know you know what I’m talking about – we have all participated in countless walk-a-thons where we’ve raised money for a cause we knew nothing about.

Well, last night we were at Ethan’s bedside. We had just finished giving him a bottle, and he was sleeping soundly. A lady walking around the room approached us and introduced herself as the “Trish, The Parent Navigator” – she explained that she was the liaison for parents to use as a resource between the community and the NICU, where Ethan is currently admitted. She handed us a “Welcome to the NICU” goody bag full of pamphlets and additional information. She explained that her daughter spent 90-days in the NICU after she was born and is now a healthy seven-year-old. Trish’s job as the Parent Navigator is to help support parents with their questions and ease emotions during their stay at the NICU.

We exchanged stories and talked about the different hospital services that were available to the parents. When she left I looked more closely at the goody bag she gave us. It was a purple reusable-style shopping bag. I skimmed through the booklets inside; there were booklets about taking your baby home, infant safety, a paperback baby book, and a disposal camera to leave for the nurses’ use while at your child’s bedside. When I was finished skimming through everything inside the bag, I held it up to look at the bag before placing it on the floor with there rest of our stuff. There, on the outside of this purple bag, in white lettering, were the words “March of Dimes” and their logo.

It took me a moment to register, why this bag had that particular logo…and then it hit me, and I started crying. The bag had that logo because the March of Dimes supports the funding and research of premature babies. All those silly walk-a-thons, the door-to-door child salesman, hitting up the neighbors for money…all of that went to a cause that would eventually give back and support me.

My child is alive because thousands of children walked for a cause that they knew nothing about. Because thousands of children wanted that totally cool, multi-rainbow, state-of-the-art, long-distance, grand prize winning Frisbee. The money that these kids helped to raise went to the March of Dimes who, in turn, funded research that would eventually end up paying for a parent support package, and research that would save my son’s life.

Twenty years ago I walked for my future and never knew it.

We may not understand some of the things that we participate in, and we may never know our true impact; that is until perhaps you, yourself, are one day the recipient of a cause you had previously supported.

My First Moose

About a year and a half ago we drove to Alaska all the way from California. Over half of our journey was considered to be "Moose Country." I wanted nothing more than to see a wild moose! We looked and looked throughout our journey, always skimming the forest for just a glimpse of one of those tall creatures.

Well, it's been a year and a half since our drive and I FINALLY SAW MY FIRST MOOSE!!!

We were leaving the hospital around 12:30am and we decided to stop at McDonald's for a late night snack. While in the drive thru at the pick-up window I noticed a horse-shaped figure on the sidewalk across the street. It took me a moment to register what it actually was and I shouted out: "OH MY GOD!!!" It startled Chris a bit, but then I immediately shouted again with glee: "OH MY GOD...A MOOSE!!!" I couldn't believe it...it was actually a moose! A wild moose! On the sidewalk!

We left the drive thru with our greasy snacks and slowly drove closer to the wild moose. We pulled up alongside the moose and the thing was MASSIVE!! He was a beast!! We were in the car on the parked road, he was on the sidewalk...we were so close that I could have stretched out my arm and touched him.

What an experience!!

Visiting Ethan

As, I'm sure, most of you may already know or may have heard...we're still in Anchorage. Ethan was admitted into the NICU on Thursday. We were concerned for his health because he had stopped breathing late Wednesday night while asleep; subconsciously we woke up because we heard the inconsistency in the breathing and then woke him up to get him to breath again. The next morning we spoke to the doctor about our concerns and he decided to admit Ethan into the NICU for 24 hours so that they could observe him.

24 hours later we arrived at the NICU to pick up Ethan and take him home; there had been no further concerns with his breathing, so we were going home. Just as we were washing our hands and entering the NICU, we noticed the doctors and nurses gathered around Ethan's crib side. What was going on? Well, he had an "event" (as they call it here). The "event" was that he had stopped breathing and his stats dropped; he held his breath for longer than 60 seconds and that was cause enough to earn him a free ticket for an extended stay at the NICU.

It's been an emotional past few days. It's difficult to come to grips with the fact that you don't get to take your baby home. We left the hospital later that evening...with an empty car full of flowers and balloons that wouldn't be enjoyed as soon as we were hoping.

We have been at the hospital everyday since. Going back and forth from the house we're staying at, to the hospital where Ethan is living for the moment. We're at the hospital for the majority of his feedings, where he is awake and alert...the rest of the time, he just sleeps.

The "Plan" is that we should be going home late next week (Good news is that we'll be in Anchorage for Black Friday! -- Bad news is that we'll be having Thanksgiving at the hospital.) The doctors have started Ethan on a caffeine treatment. The caffeine is supposed to help mature his brainstem and tell the preemie-neurons to "breath" on their own. No, he's not hooked up to a breathing-machine, or anything like that. He has a few wires that read his heart-rate, breathing pattern, and oxygen levels...all that can be transmitted through stickers on his chest.

The "caffeine plan" is a lengthy plan...meaning that he'll be on this treatment for 6-8 weeks. Don't worry, we won't be in Anchorage that long, we're going to go home with a monitor that will read all of Ethan's vitals. And, for the next 6-8 weeks, this monitor will record and alert us of any issues regarding his breathing pattern. The caffeine will help him along with his development and, thankfully, there will be no long-term results from all of this. There's really nothing "wrong with him" -- he just needed more time to bake in the oven; unfortunately time that he wasn't given and now he's having to play catch up here in the NICU.

Here are some photos of Ethan's stay in the NICU.