Second verse, same as the first

Ok, for the first while I will probably update the Blog fairly frequently until I have figured out the basics of it, and as time progresses I am sure I will slow down. For now, let me catch you up on a bit of history.

When my wife Andrea was pregnant in 2000/2001, I got constant requests, phone calls and emails asking how she was doing. I started writing in response to everyone, but had a basic "what happend" file that I would cut and paste into the main body of the emails so that I would not have to write the same information over and over and over again. Intro and conclusion were still personalized, but I started to cc more and more people to the same email to try and cut back on the emails I was sending out. Shortly thereafter I created what I dubbed the "Andrea Update". I continued this until Rachael was born, and shortly after.

The time after Rachael was born was a very difficult time. Andrea was close to dying due to preeclampsia, and the baby had to be delivered at a very rushed basis. She was born at 26 weeks, and small for even that gestational time. Andrea was on heavy medication, recovering slowly, and I felt truly alone during that time; I do not know how I could have done it without the support of some very dear and close friends. Andrea slowly recovered and Rachael started doing better until she developed an infection. The doctor told us that she was suffering and that there would be no chance of her getting better; Andrea and I had to make a decision. It was simultaneously the most difficult and easiest decision that we ever made, and we held her while she passed away. She was with us for three weeks, but will always be with us in our hearts.

I have written quite a bit about this experience; it is something that I think is good for me. It explains why I am so aggressive with parents who smoke around their childeren or while pregnant, or in other ways do not take care of themselfs. Rachael was our fifth pregnancy.

Andrea and me gave up trying for a child at that time; it was simply too painful. We had a number of other problems, and went through a very tough time. We fought our way through it I am proud to say. Andrea got a job at a Magna company and we relocated (at great expense). We then discoveered that she was pregnant. This was her seventh pregnancy now, all of which had had disasterous results, so we decided not to change our plans. Andrea kept working at Magna, and the pregnancy kept on going. We gave birth eventually to a healthy, eight week premature baby boy, Nathaniel. After initial scares, Nathaniel is doing good. He had some digestion problems and had to have speical formula, Nutramigen (at a small fortune - he ate better then we did).

It was at that time that Magna had their layoffs, and laid off my wife while she was on Maturnity leave. This left us in a tough position since we did not qualify for unemployement like usual with layoffs, so we had only my income, while we had moved for a job that did not exist anymore... Magna prides itself on being a family oriented company, setting up houses in Louisianna, but we could/can barely afford to pay our rent because of them.

We (with we I mean Andrea) became pregnant again, and had another beautiful and healthy baby boy, Nikolai. He was born only 6 weeks premature. We decided thatthis was enough for us at that time.

Ok, that was the coles notes version. Many other things happened during that time, but now at least everyone has a basis of understanding.

Talk to you all soon, my lunch is almost over.