Little Advocate

As some of you may know I have been working at the New Jersey Chapter of March of Dimes, in Public Affairs and Advocacy. This past April, I talked my husband into starting a "Walk" team. He agreed, and went about recruiting guys from Bristol Myers Squibb to support the cause...It dawned on him about 3 weeks before the walk that there probably weren't a lot of men that particicpate, but that just made it even more special. I think he ended up with 9 chemist on his team, a few of which aren't even fathers. It was really touching to see them come out for a good cause, but the best was seeing all the kids! Of our group I think we had 8 kids ranging in age 5 years to 8 months walking with us. I made them all T-Shirts with the March of Dimes logo on the front (which I traced and hand painted) and the number 09 on the back (for 2009) and their names. Here is a picture of me and my "little Advocate" at the walk.


Working at the March of Dimes has been an eye opening experience. I have spent time in the NICU and learned so much about Maternal Child Health Issues. We have made Leaps and Bounds in what we can do medically for pregnanct women and infants but we still have so far to go. The March of Dimes has a slogan of sorts "From Polio to Prematurity". They started in the 1930's with the goal of eradicating polio, and after 40 years they were successful and so the natural choice was to stick with Healthcare. After spending time in the NICU I have to thank God everyday for all the happy healthy babies that have been born to my family and friends. I think sometimes we don't realize how lucky we are, or how much we have truly been blessed. It's difficult for me sometimes as a new mom to walk into the NICU and not get overcome with emotion. Sometimes I think it would be difficult even if I weren't a new mom. I just have to tell myself that the work we do is to make sure that babies are not born too soon or too small. I'm proud to have my daughter starting out as an advocate so young. You are never too young to learn the lesson of how to give back to your community.

On another note, these are some pictures from some of the work that I have done with the March of Dimes. I coordinated March of Dimes Day at the Capital for us in February. I wrote this proclamation that was read on the Senate Floor. I know you can read it but it recognizes the March of Dimes in New Jersey for the contribution to Maternal Child Health. It recognizes the New Jersey Nursing Award winners for their dedication and service, and lastly it recognized Katelyn Hall, the 2009 National Ambassador Child. Katelyn and her family spent a week in New Jersey visiting legislators and speaking across the state about the effects of prematurity. Katelyn was born at 25 weeks weighing only a pound. Now her family is dedicating their time to spreading the word about the March of Dimes mission. You can read about Katelyn on her blog at http://katelynsjourney.wordpress.com/



This Picture is the Hall family, a few volunteers and MOD staff on the senate floor. I wasn't in it because I was taking the picture! ~Amy

If only's

Leah and her Schultz cousins

Leah and her GIA

Leah and her Papa

I recently read a blog by another mom that talked about how she always seemed to have a case of the "if only's"...If only she didn't have to work late, if only she had more time to herself to relax, If only she could have this or that.

I started thinking about the "if only" moments in my life. I'm happy to say that they are slowly becoming few and far between. The only real "if only" in my life these days seems to be the if only we lived closer to family. Neither Mitch nor I can seem to shake free of that "if only". We had high aspirations of what our life would be once he finished school, got a job, we got settled and started a family. All of our If only's were coming true, but the longer we are here the more difficult it gets to be so far from home. Don't get me wrong, for the most part we are so happy we can't see straight, but then Sunday's roll around, or birthdays or holidays and here we sit alone. Wondering what our families are up to, and wishing we could be doing whatever they are up to. If only Leah had some little cousins to play with. If only we had a grandma and grandpa close by so that we could have a date night. If only...well you can just imagine. Part of me feels like she is missing out on this great experience, not being close to family members. I remember spending so much time with my cousins...Tara, Tiffany, Melissa, Paul, David when I was a kid that sometimes I was thinking if only I didn't have to be with my family ;) just kidding, but seriously. If there is one thing that living so far from home has taught us it's that we can't take our family for granted or someday we will be saying "if only".

Fortunately we have been able to make some good friends out here, that may in time be like our family, but in the meantime...to our family and friends, We miss you and can't wait to see you again!

More Birthday Fun!

Leah really likes her John Deere, but I think she liked the box more :)

Since we live so far from all of our family and friends, Leah has been receiving several of her birthday gifts in the mail. She got a John Deere tractor from Aunt Laura and Uncle Jeff...they obviously did not want her to forget her Illinois roots, and a "ball-tivity" toy from Aunt Lori, Uncle Todd, Justin, Shelby and Lexi in Minnesota. What a lucky girl!





These are videos of Leah playing with her "ball-tivity" toy, she likes to dance to the music, and one of her climbing all over the tractor box.





Thanks so much to all of our friends and families that helped to make sure Leah had a wonderful birthday. She received so many wonderful gifts, mostly clothes...We are going to have one sharp dressed little lady come summer time.

Cheers for Health

At Capital Health Pediatric Emergency Room in Trenton

So this year has been full of challenges health wise for us. Ever since Leah started daycare, it seems that the poor kid has been sick. We are actually just finishing up our 4th run with the nebulizer.
On April 20th, she had a minor episode...that's what the doctor called it...But to me, there was nothing minor about it. It started out a normal Monday morning. Leah had woken up, I got her ready for daycare, she had some breakfast and were on the road. Now, for those of you that know her...Leah is a chatterbox. She was in her carseat jib-jabbering away, when all of a sudden she became quiet. I looked in my rear view mirror, she was blue around the mouth and had a glassy stare about her. I pulled over, turned around and jostled her while saying her name. Of course she responded almost immediately and returned to her normal self in no time...I on the other hand was trying to remain calm, while really I was FREAKING OUT on the inside.The whole thing maybe lasted 30 seconds.

We went straight to the pediatricians, they evaluated her and found everything to be okay, but sent us on to the pediatric cardiologist to be checked out. The pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Khan was great. She took Leah's blood pressure, blood oxygen level, did an EKG and a cardiac ultrasound. She said that Leah's heart was in absolute perfect condition. She went on to explain some possible causes for the "episode". Then we were referred to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) to see a pediatric neurologist. We had that appointment this past Monday, and again it went great. They did an EEG on Leah, she looked really funny with all those patches stuck to her head and wires going everywhere and then we met with the doctor. Again, they said that everything looked good, perfectly normal brain activity and nothing to suggests that she had any type of seizure. Thank GOD!!! Dr. Venkat, the neurologist did talk about sometimes babies having fevers or viruses that can cause these types of episodes, and about babies that hold their breathe when they are angry, triggering this type of episode. She told us not to worry about it too much, and that if it should ever happen again to bring her back for some much more detailed test that would involve sedating Leah and taking a much longer, in-depth look. NO thank you to that...Here's to Leah staying happy and healthy.

But then last week we started getting a cough, a low grade fever, a runny nose. It's SWINE FLU?!?!? No, but she was not a happy camper. We talked to our pediatrician and since she was eating and sleeping just fine they weren't too concerned. But on Thursday afternoon (5/7) that started to change. Her fever hit 102.9 and tylenol/motrin wasn't helping. We were doing the lukewarm baths, but that was only giving us an hour or two of relief. By 7 pm her fever had jumped to 103.8, we put her in the car and headed for Captial Health in Trenton. By the time we got there and they saw her, her temp was up to 104.5, her breathing was rapid and she hadn't taken any fluids in a couple of hours. The doctor was thinking that it might be pneumonia. After chest x-rays, blood work, urine analysis, IV fluids and IV antibiotics her temp was dropping and they sent us home..."it's probably just a virus." Thankfully after the fluids and antibiotics the fever didn't return.

So that has been our health-scapades for the last month...Here's to hoping for a much healthier summer!

Let's get this started!

I've been saying that I was going to do this for a long time...and here we are, Leah just turned a year old and I am finally getting around to it. I like to pride myself on being organized, being on top of things, so I'm feeling a little disgruntled on my recent lack of progress on a number of things, but as they say "things change once you have kids" and I don't always have time to catch up on things the way that I would like to...It's a wonder sometimes that the kitchen floor gets cleaned and the laundry is done :)

Anyway, as I was saying Leah's birthday came and went. We had a wonderful birthday party for her last weekend when we were home in Illinois. It was great to see family and friends, and Leah certainly had fun. I think we are going to have to invest in a "bouncer" it was the hit of the party!
Looking back over the past year, I can now reflect and say that it has been one of the best years of my life. I think that God definitely had a plan when he brought Mitch into my life, and I into his. And he definitely had the wheels churning when he blessed us with Leah. What an amazing little person she is. She has such an outgoing, charismatic personality. She just sucks you in the minute you see her. Her smile radiates for miles, and when she starts chattering, you can't help but laugh. The girl makes her presence known. Watching her grow, change and meet milestone after milestone this past year has been amazing and I look forward to every day, because with her, every day is an adventure, or with Leah...an ESCAPADE is more likely...You just never know what kind of trouble she will find.