Nicholas is finally home..

Well after 18 long days the wait is over. Nicholas came home on Tuesday. He is absolutely amazing and so sweet. He is doing great at home and sleeping all the time and growing. We would like to thank everyone for there thoughts and prayers. We truly appreciate them.

Leave

Hey everybody, I just wanted to past on the news that my leave was extended for ten days. It wasn't what I asked for, but I am grateful for what I can get. I am now leaving on the 5th of June, so hopefully Nick will be home from the hospital for a day or two. Other than that everything is going well. Maybe by this evening at some point he will get his feeding tube out.

A Little Update...

Well Nicholas is 11 days old already. He is still in Nashville in the NICU and we have NO idea when he will be coming home. I am so overwhelmed with him being there I don't know what to do. I was OK for the first few days but now I am completely worn out with it. He is doing a lot better but still has quite a few milestones to go until he can come home with us. He is weighing in at around 4 pounds 9 ounces. He is still very sleep and they have a very hard time getting him to wake up and eat. He has been weaned off of the caffeine that they were giving him for sleep apnea spells and so far he has not had anymore of them. (please pray that he doesn't have anymore) He is now breathing on his own and we are so thankful for that. I am just getting impatient with him not eating. LOL He is still being tube fed all but two bottles a day. He is up to 10 ounces of breast milk in a day which is like nothing when you think of other babies but hey he is breathing on his own. :) Thank you all for the continued prayers we truly appreciate it.

Introducing Nicholas Andrew Layne Stanley

Nicholas Andrew Layne Stanley was born May 8, 2009 at 12:16 am. He weighed in at 4 pounds 12 ounces and was 17 inches long. He is currently in the NICU in Nashville because he came 7 weeks early. He is doing well and will hopefully come home in the next couple of week.


Here are some pictures of our sweet baby boy.

Im Home....for a minute

Hey everybody just wanted to drop everybody a line. I am currently in the states helping hold our softball team known as the Stanley family together. I was rushing home in the middle of begging for a seat on a C-17 when Dena had Nick at 12:17 a.m. on the 8th of May 2009. I was coming home early because of the kids not having anyone to watch them until school was out, and because of Dena's Gestational Diabetes with the risk of Pre-eclampsia ( I have no idea if I spelled that right). I should be in the states until the 26th of May, but if Nick isn't out of the NICU by then I am going to try and get an extension. Anyways, Nick was born at 4lbs 12 ozs. and he was about 17 inches long. He was born just before 33 weeks, so he is still pretty early. They took him straight to the NICU at the hospital in Nashville, where he has to stay until he is a little bit more developed. He is pretty Janduced so he spends a lot of time under the lamps. He also has a greater risk of sleep apnia, they tell me this is because his central nervous system isn't fully developed yet. They call these events of forgetting to breath momentarily as "spells". He had 13 spells last night, which the doctor and all the nurses say is totally expected of a premi baby at his age. But of course Dena is freaking out about it and putting herself through torture making a bigger deal of it than it really is, but then again she is a mom, and that is what mom's do. Couple that with Dena not getting a lot of sleep because she wakes up every two hours and dutifully pumps milk out for Nick to eat the next day, so she is a little sleep deprived. Needless to say I am glad I made the decision to come home for this whole fiasco. We got to change his diaper and take his temperature today and yesterday. And I got lucky and was able to hold him yesterday. Dena can't wait to get him home, and I will admit I am pretty anxious about it myself, but I know that the doc's won't let him come home until he is totally ready. And it seems that the facilities at Centennial Women's are first rate, so I am relaxed about that.

Other than that everything in Afghanistan is going well, the status is the bad guys still don't like us. And we still don't like them. So they try to blow us up, and we try to blow them up. Helo ops is starting to pick up, and everybody is flying more. I have also requested to go to the instructor pilots course at Fort Rucker after we get back, so if I am excepted I will be training new pilots coming to the company. Well that is about it I am including a lot of pictures for everyone to look at and download. I hope everyone else is doing well and staying safe.


Morgan

Pre-Summer Fun....

We went to a friends house yesterday and the kids had a blast. I just wanted to share a few photos of them.

Afghan Update

Hello everybody,

I just wanted to drop a blog post on everyone for an overall update. Things are going well here, we aren't flying to much just because of spring weather. I hurt my back yesterday, just rolling over in bed. I guess it is a sign that I am getting older, but nobody worry it is already starting to feel a little better. To date I have flown about 165 hours in country so I am getting more experience. I am also going to post some pictures with this update so my relatives from Chicago can see what is going on here. Dad should show them the blog when they get to Arkansas. As far as school is going I am still taking two classes at a time, and after I am finished with the next two classes I will be completely finished with the general studies portion of my degree and can start taking the more in depth core classes, which I am looking forward to. Needless to say I am sick of taking english courses. To the Pensacola team, I haven't heard from you guys in awhile I hope all is going well, I am sure you are still doing some grieving. To my mom, I love you and thank you for taking so much of your time to send me packages. For everyone Dena is doing well, she is pretty lucky this pregnancy because Nick seems to be sitting high, she is 29 weeks this week, and she hasn't had to start waddling yet. Emily is signed up for softball, which starts June 1st, this also happens to be Nick's due date. So if anyone out there wants to volunteer to help out with that let me know. Both the girls are taking two dance classes, and their recital is coming up soon, ask Dena about the specifics. Ryan is basically just being Ryan, from all the newest sets of pictures I have seen he is getting really tall, and he likes to talk using what we call complicated words. It is pretty entertaining because nothing he says really makes any sense, because it is just a bunch of complicated words thrown together. I will be running a half marathon on the 2nd of May, I expect it to be kind of boring because it is hard to run new places on a fob that is only 2 miles square. But I will get a cool medal out of it that I will probably wear around everywhere I go. Well I will talk to all of you later.


Morgan