What Wonderous Love is this?

Merry Christmas all. Obviously this is a very special one for us Chizzelwicks. ALL of our immediate family on both sides is either here or flying in this afternoon. This is special to us because we live so far from them. I guess if you want see everyone for the holidays all you have to do is have a Baby!!

Mandy and I were talking over our Anniversary dinner last night (see below) about how having Andrew just prior to Christmas has been so special. Imagine what Mary and Joseph must have felt holding the savior of the world in their arms. Christmas reminds us that Jesus was a baby. He had tiny hands and feet just like Andrew. What I find so beautiful about this is that God can relate to us. Christ laid aside his crown and entered into the sufferings of mankind. If that weren't enough, he laid down his life in a most spectacular way for our soul. Check this out for more on the Christian heritage.

The gospel is good news indeed, Merry Christmas!

Curt, Mandy, Andrew n JAX

Answered Prayer

My 1st answered prayer: "Save Me"

My 2nd answered prayer: "Give me someone to run this race with"

Two years ago today I was married to Amanda Chez (french for house) Olson on Christmas eve. Most people were like "what the heck Curt you are so dumb for getting married on Christmas eve!" Well that may be true, but this way I remember who to thank for this undeserved gift of love.

Happy Anniversary Amanda, you are my treasure!

I love you.

Email Archive

The following is the series of events that brought us to where we are today. I am posting this several reasons.
Reason #1 Some have just heard about Andrew
Reason #2 Some were unintentionally left off the "mass email updates" I was giving at the hospital...so here they are
Reason #3 Remind myself just how faithful God has been because tomorrow I will be taking it all for granted.

Monday December 3rd:
Hello all from Harris Methodist Ft Worth Teeejas,

We went to the hospital today for an ultrasound on our 3 day overdue baby. The result of which revealed that there is no amneotic fluid for Baby Chadwick to swim in. The good news is that Baby is doing just fine, if Baby does not come naturally in the next 12-18 hours Amanda will have to be induced. We are confident that by this time tomorrow we will have a healty Son or Daughter. So tonight we spend in the hospital waiting his/her arrival. We are thankful for the prayers of our friends and family. I will update yall more when we know more.

Praise to Him who saves us by His Grace!

Curt, Amanda and Baby Chizzlwick

Tuesday December 4th:
Good Evening from the Labor and Delivery Room #1...thats right my baby is #1. Unfortunately if we were racing anyone to delivery we would not be #1...we would be #LAST...as it stands we have now been here over 24 hours and ManDee is still only diolated to a #1 (1 means nothing, 10 means here comes baby). So were a #1 in room #1....anyway She spend the whole day on Patocin which is causes contractions so she has been pretty much uncomfortable all day. I gotta say my Wife is ONE TOUGH COOKIE. If it were me I would have given up a long time ago and told them to cut that baby outta me (C-Section). But not my wife, she is holding up just fine. The baby is doing well. We are here and not at home so that Baby can be on the monitor...if at anytime the Baby stresses then Zippo, C-Section and thats that. So the plan is to try again tomorrow with the Patocin...The Nurse is confident that this should work tomorrow..so were thinking a December 5 arrival for Baby Chadwick. Thats about all for now. Thanks again for everyones thoughts and prayers. We know God will gives us this baby when he/she is good and ready. Hopefully this time tomorrow ill send yall some pictures of my new Son or Daugher.

By His Grace,
Curt And Mandy

Wednesday December 5th:
Hello again from Labor and Delivery Room #1...its now 9:15pm....for those keeping score we are now a #10 in room #1...Mandy jumped to a #6 about 4 hours ago...she just did her first push and we got a look at the head of our shiny new child...its a good looking head thats all i can say...Amanda is now laying on her side for about an hour to get the baby to roll over. We need the baby to roll face down and for the contractions to get stronger again. My wife is doing Awesome, Im so increadibly proud of her right now. More updates to follow..hopefully with pictures atttached.

Curt

Thursday December 6th:
Hello Again from Labor and delivery room #1...

it is now 3:30 am and Houston we have a BABY! Amanda went into hard labor around 1100pm and was pushing like the dickens for an hour and half...I cant even begin to describe how hard She worked to get that kid to come out the old fashoned way...i was worn out just watching her...I forgot to mention she was sick with a cold but she pushed and pushed and pushed....but to no avail...at 1:00 she went in for a C-Section...it was actually quite a relief....and so at 1:27am...yup been up a loooong time.... they brought forth Andrew Alan Chadwick...thats right its a boy! Healthy, Happy, and quite Studly if i do say so myself...thats right you should see the muscles on this pup..he is gonna be a bodybuilder just like his daddy...Mom is recovering fine...she is such a trip...through the whole ordeal she kept worrying about everyone but HERSELF...she kept asking about me, the midwife, the nurses, her mom...she is something else that Amanda. I dont know how I could not be anymore proud of my wife then I am right now. This whole experience has been awesome...all the Nurses, Doctors, Friends and Family(locals stayed until 2am on a school night) have been A+, If i had to do it all over again...(and i just may) i wouldnt do anything different. Let me just preach here for a moment if i may... Life is so precious, my life your life that guy/gal you really hate...their life...all life. I think that may have something to do with why Christ said to love your neighbor as yourself... Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers for Us these last few days...hopefully we should be going home on Sunday. If you are here in Texas feel free to stop by and meet Drew...if your not feel free to come to Texas and meet Drew. At the end of the day, (or the beginning of the 4th) God gave us what we asked for and that is a healthy baby boy...and Praise be to God, the Author of Life!!! As tired as i am I really feel like screaming it from the Helicopter deck of the hospital...I may get arrested or something but like King David id like to think id become even more undiginfied than this! So thanks again, We love you all and am so increadibly thankful to have you in our lives. We look forward to this next exciting chapter!

Curt and Mandy

PS Pictures to come on Update???+1 they are moving us otta the room and i dont have any good pics just yet!

Later that day...
Hello again from the hospital.

Today had been easily the craziest rollercoaster of a day in Mandy and my lives...We have been from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows...and were back up again...ive promised pictures so here they are...they were so long in coming because its now 6:30 and we have just been given Drew to see for the first time since he was born 17 hours ago. Problems first arose when his temperature didnt come up to normal levels...then the doctors noticed that he would go through what they were calling apnea at the time. After several worrysome hours and a bunch of tests the doctors informed us that Drew is having Seizures and at some point he had what amounts to a stroke. An MRI revealed that 1/4 of his brain has been cut off from blood. Obviously this has been quite shocking to us and quite painful. We do not know an will not know for some time "what this all means" in terms of long term development. We do know that this is God's child and we are mearly his caretakers. At this time we can feel all the thought and prayers of our friends and family from all over. Gods Perfect Love that casts out all fear is abiding with us as we wait patiently for more word. Updates from here on out will be very slow....we expect Drew to be in the hospital at least two weeks before going home. We are holding on to Romans 8:28 with many other wonderful promises from God toward us in this trying hour. Thank you all again and again.

Curt and Mandy and Baby Andrew "Scribbins"

Saturday December 8th:
Thank you all who are praying for my wife Amanda and my Baby boy Andrew Alan. We are still at the hospital...we have been here quite a while...Amanda has been running a fever and is recovering from the effects of both labor and C-section not to mention the emotional stress of our sick child. Because of her fever she is not able to see him...but I am. Andrew is still suffering from seizures/apnea. Every so often he stops breathing for a period of 1-2 minutes. I have witnessed it a few times and it is quite scary. Please pray that these epsides subside. Through all of this we have not been alone either in person or prayer...we feel the intercession of all of those who labor in prayer for us. We know that God is on the throne and while we might not like our circumstances, Jesus the Son of the Living God is with us in all of this. Jesus loves the little children. We are holding on to His promises with both hands because thats about all we have to hold on too. These are the verses God has given me specifically to encourage me and stengthen me in this trying hour.

Romans 8:28 "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose"
John 11:35 "Jesus Wept"
John 9:1-5 "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life'

In His Grace and Mercy,

Curt Chadwick

The Blog page picks it up from there

Video I made of Amanda's Pregnancy

This was a little video I put together prior to Andrew's birth...at the time we didnt know if we were having a boy or a girl. I love this song, its from the folks at Red Mountain Music.

Baby Andrew is Home

The picture says it all...thank you all who have been following Andrew's progress and praying for his recovery..Your prayers have shaken heaven and He has responded! In the future I will update the blog every so often because while every Drew Poo may be exciting, it may not be worth a blog entry.

Ho Ho going Home tomorrow

Hello again from the Hospital

Drew met Santa today...as you can see he was not at all impressed. Amanda and I are having our first night with Baby Andrew. We are staying in the "live in" room and it feels like we are playing house. Obviously everything is going well and by this time tomorrow we should be playing house in our own house. God has been so good to us...a week ago this all seemed so far away. We are very excited to get Andrew home...yet there is a part of us that doesnt want to leave. Of all the babies here in the NICU I feel we have been here the least amount of time. My heart is broken for the families that have been doing this for weeks and months. Sometimes babies never go home. Andrew is a blessed kid, please pray for his friends here and their families. Pray that the truth of the gospel will comfort them the way it has us. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

Curt, Mandy and Andrew

Sing Praise

I just wanted to let all the faithful followers of Andrew know that he had yet another fantastic day. We are planning on spending the night with him in the Hospital tomorrow. They have special rooms set up to prepare parents to take care of their littles ones just before they go home. So yes, Andrew should be coming home sometime on Saturday!!! This makes us very happy...in fact this makes me want to sing praise! What I really want to do is have a humongous feast and celebration and just worship the Lord until I fall over....but thats not what is going to be best for Andrew...in fact he needs to avoid loud environments for some time...so much for that idea. So instead I really feel like some time of quiet, intimate worship. If you would like to do that with me and can carry a tune let me know...even if you cant carry a tune lets do it anyway. Tomorrow I will be four years old in the Lord and I have never had a heart to worship like the one I have right now.


Curt

Open your eyes

Andrew had another great day today. When we visited him tonight they had moved him from Room 4 to Room 3. Room 4 is where they put the more "critical" kids and they eventually work down to 1 before they go home. So far Andrew is beating all expectations. He in now totally off Dialantin, the heavier seizure medication. He still has a "maintenance" dose of Temebarbatol (spelling?) but that level is down enough were he is much more active then he had been. On both of our visits he nursed normally. This kid has quite an appetite! He is moving around normally and most important has not shown any seizure activity since someime last weekend...He is now able to regulate his body temperature so he is in a normal crib. In about 45 minutes Andrew will be 1 week old...woo hoo! I am thankful to God for the progress he has made and to all the nurses and doctors who care for him as they would their own. Those of you who have kids...thank God for them. I literally cant wait until Andrew keeps us up all night long crying. I look forward to it. I have met many worried parents and seen many sick kids. You dont end up in the NICU because you are doing well. Privacy is a big issue in the NICU but I can see and have shared in the pain of parents whos children are sick. I also have felt the comfort from that can only come from above. The Apostle Paul uses a lot of words (he tends to do that) in 2 Cor 3-7 to describe what im going through right now. Hopefully someday...or right now God will use this experience in my life so that I may be used of Him to comfort others.

Curt

Andrew and His Namesake

We visited Andrew twice today. We had a plesent surprise this morning. Waiting in the NICU was the very man we named our son after...the one the only Andrew John Tomlet! We got there at about 11am and the nurses said he had been waiting since about 6am..haha! Unknown to us Andrew flew up the night from his native land of Panama to check in on us. Just another answer to prayer...so after shedding some tears in the lobby we scrubbed in and went back to check on baby Andrew. He had another good night! I cant even remember the last time he had any seizure activity..and i dont care to...i think it has been at least 3-4 days..i dont really know they have all run together! Andrew is still sleepy although he was more active the second visit of the day...he was however able to wake up just enough to take mommas milk from the bottle and then the breast. Tonight he opened his eyes briefly and made some cooing sounds. I know i will regret this but i can not wait to hear Baby Andrew cry at the top of his lungs...i know he can, i heard it in the operating room and i wanna her it again. His doctor says being able to feed normally is a big step. Once he is eating normally and seizure free, we have our ticket outta here...if we stay on this track we could...i stress COULD be home this weekend. Please pray for this! I am trying not to get my hopes up but i know with God all things are possible. He is doing amazing things. His perfect love has cast out all fear! Thank you again to all who are praying for my family. You are all such a blessing...as I said the response has been astonishing, there are no words to describe it, I am forever in your debt.

It has been pointed out to me the meaning of the name Andrew:
Andrew - from the Greek, "man warrior."
Alan - from old German, "precious."

Andrew of the New Testement led his brother Peter to the Lord Jesus...Andrew pictured above did the same for me...I know God will use Baby Andrew Alan the precious man warrior for his Glory!

Home at last

Sorry its been so long since the last update, at the suggestion of my lovely wife i have now decided to create this Blog to post updates on Andrew's condition. We just got home from the hospital, it has been over 1 week since we left home and it sure feels good to be back. I have never seen JAX (our german shepard) so excited to see us in my life. We sure are sad Andrew is not with us but if he had been here he probably would have been licked to death. Speaking of Andrew....he has been seizure free for over 48 hours...woo hoo, Praise God...unfortunately he has been very sedated. Today they are taking him off one of his seizure medications and lowering the dosage on the other, We pray that when he comes to the seizures a thing of the past. I am confident that the Lord will complete the good work that he has started in my Son. I will never be able to thank all those who have lifted up Andrew in their prayers. All I can say is i am astonished at the response we have gotten from people litterly all over the world! We have a long way to go, i will do my best to let you all share in his progress..that is the least i can do. Again thank you for all your love, dedication and support, we are truely blessed.

Curt, Amanda and Andreeeeew!