Passports, Grandparents, and the Beach...

Well, it’s been quite awhile since we last updated our blog, and for that we apologize. We are excited to inform you however, that Regan’s passport has come through! It was our last day in Chiang Mai; we were headed to the airport to meet Andrea’s father in Bangkok when we called the American Consulate and found out that the passport was ready—you can imagine our enthusiasm when finally holding the long awaited birth certificate and passport. Shortly thereafter, we found ourselves at the airport awaiting our flight to Bangkok when Regan began to poop, pee, and scream thus filling the terminal with rather odious sounds and smells. Ah yes, baby’s first flight. Overall, however, she performed splendidly well minus her terminal exploits. She slept the whole way to Bangkok (an hour long flight), and then met her grandpa (Andrea’s dad) for the first time (Andrea’s mother was already with us in Chiang Mai). We are now spending five days south of Bangkok in Hua-Hin at a nice little beach resort where, consequently, Regan experienced her first swim in a real life big girl’s pool. She’s a regular Michael Phelps (well, without the marijuana). Needless to say, we are having a great time with Andrea’s parents at the beach, but are also looking forward to our Sunday flight back to Phnom Penh and the start of classes again on Monday morning. As always, we thank you all for your support and thoughts…we could never do this without you—our community.

Ben and Andrea

good news, bad news...

Good news: Regan’s bellybutton fell off! Hurrah!

Bad news: No passport yet. Boo!

So, you guessed it, we are still at the Juniper Tree.

There’s really not a whole lot else to update.

Regan is astonishingly cute.

Notice her pacifier. 

Once again the Juniper Tree...

Out of the hospital we are, and living at the Juniper Tree until passport we can acquire.

Regan so dear, our child newborn, is her emancipation enjoying.

A simple picture of happiness shared: three shoolies in our abode so quietly snuggling.

For your support and supplications greatly we give thanks; to your charity, likewise, may we aspire.

Yeah!!!!!

Good news tonight...Regan's test is clear and all is well in the Peters' family.  We still have to finish the treatment we started but then we can go home! It is amazing how fast things can turn around emotionally and physically. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers.  Our next need is a speedy passport process! We are wanting to get out of here!

If you want to check out some great photos of our little one go to this website, they can even be downloaded and used if you so desire, which you might, cause she is the cutest baby ever!

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/vandenn/page2/)

so sorry to 

keep you waiting. i know it is agonizing. the time flies by here between visitors and emotional bouts of tears and frustration it seems the time is in fact moving more rapidly than i thought, which is such a good thing. today is a good day. regan was able to stay in our room again after having to be in the nursery for the previous 48 hours.  she has regained all her birth weight and is thriving.

  for those of you picturing a sickly baby, please know that is not the case, she looks great and besides the little paddle on her hand holding her iv in place you would not know anything was wrong.  the doctor is very cheerful and seems to think she is well. she has not had a fever since the initial spike of a few degrees on her third morning of life.  really things seem anticlimactic, and now that she is able to stay with us i am feeling much more emotionally stable. 

thank you a million billion times over for your prayers. we are not out of the woods yet, and i am hoping my optimism is not crushed when we hear back today about the results from the culture of the fluid taken from her spine a few days ago.  that will let us know the severity of the infection and the hope is that she is only going to have to finish the initial 7 day treatment.  

your thoughts and prayers have been felt, i assure you.

Update...

Well, we received our first test back—the one that screens for meningitis—and it came back negative, so obviously, that’s great news. We’re still waiting on a seventy-two hour test result that will tell us if she has sepsis or not, which they can treat, but it will prolong her treatment for an additional seven days. In other words, depending on the sepsis screening we could be here for fourteen days rather than the originally planned seven.

We have already started the IV sessions—twice a day for one hour each—and Regan seems to be handling those well. She is vibrant, feeding, and very much alive with all the energy of a newborn.

We will do our best to keep you informed and update on any information as we receive it, and, as the blog seems the best way to disseminate, we will regularly be posting.

Love,
Ben and Andrea

Oh the sickness...

Our little shoolipotamus has a wee infection: group b strep. We thought that we would be going home today, but unfortunately we’ll have to stick around the RAM (that’s the hospital’s abbreviation) for another week. During this time Regan will be on an intravenous diet of delicious antibodies.

Please, let me stress it: PLEASE, do not be alarmed. This is a common experience, and the doctors at the RAM are the best in Southeast Asia; they caught it early, and they will treat it effectively. As Bobby McFerrin so eloquently put it in the 80's, “Don’t worry, be happy.”

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers; we will do our best to keep you posted and up-to-date on any developments.

Ben and Andrea

I just want to snuggle...

An hour and a half old...

All three shoolies at minute five...

Regan: two minutes old...

Andrea, Ben, and Nurse Connie going into hour twelve...

Mount Veshoolius!!!

Regan Elise Peters is here among us. She is a wonderful eight pounds and twenty-one inches. The labor was roughly twenty-nine hours, but Andrea was a champion throughout the entire process. We apologize for the spotty blog reports, but, per the usual, the internet at the hospital is not all that it was promised to be; however, the doctors and nurses are great, so don’t fret.

I will do my best [Ben] to upload pictures as soon as I can, so be on the look out. We miss you all, love you all, and thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers.

Ben and Andrea