Gardening Need

Everyone keeps asking if we need anything. I actually DO have a need - on the morning that all of this went down (last Thursday), Bill and Jane Bailey went over to Durema Bailey's old house and pulled some Iris bulbs up to plant in the Durema Bailey Memorial Garden at the back of our house. They have been sitting in a bucket outside our back door and neither Bill nor I have the energy or time to plant them. If anyone is a gardener, please feel free to come by and plant them. Thanks.



Sam is doing okay. We're still resting and trying to get him to rest really takes a lot of energy! He's still not himself, but we expect that.



Thanks again for your prayers.



Teesa

Sam's heart and seizures

First, let me write this to Will P. - I think I never changed your email address in my mass email - can you please write us with the correct one and send your cell phone too. Sorry for my negligence.

This is our mass email from earlier today. I'm posting it on my blog since there are so many people praying for him and they all want to know the latest. It's easier than calling everyone.



We just got back from the pediatrician. Here's what we know...


The seizures were most likely caused by the fever spikes that he had (due to a viral infection). However, there is some small chance that it could be a heart problem that caused the seizures. Therefore, we will be seeing a cardiologist on Friday and he will assess all of the findings so far. According to our doctor this morning, they should be able to see everything they need to from the information they've already gathered.


We are giving Sam further Tylenol to reduce his fever until Wednesday night, assuming there are no other problems between now and then.


The doctor this morning said that one febrile seizure is normal, but two febrile seizures are rare. Three would be almost unheard of, but if it was going to happen it should have happened within 8 hours of the last one. So, like my friend Erica told me, the further away from the last seizure we get, the better. However, we are still being cautious and need to continue watching him for another one, in case it is related to his heart or he has a third one from another fever spike (again, the chances of this are minimal).


We are to stay at home this week and try to let Sam rest. He is a little uncoordinated right now (falling down when crawling or standing), but the doctor said he will be, because one seizure's energy output is equivalent to running a marathon and Sam's little body is probably very tired. He is in great spirits though - he even sang along with his Uncle Adam last night when he played the guitar and danced a little too.


Keep praying for him. Please continue sending these messages to your prayer supporters as well, we appreciate it.

God is with us.


Blessings,


Teesa and Bill K

When Sam could finally stand up (when he got enough energy), he was pitiful. He'd fall down quickly afterwards. That cast on his arm is where the IV was - to keep him from pulling it out.

He didn't take a paci before this experience. He wants it all the time now. This pic is from when he didn't have a fever for a few hours. Those eyes really reveal the struggles he'd been through.He only wanted Mommy and Mommy's kisses. He won't go to sleep now without me holding him and he falls asleep in the crook of my neck. He never used to cuddle - I do believe he's a bit insecure.His hospital room.

UPDATE: He had 100.3 before he went down tonight. We're keeping a close eye on his temp.

Update

We made it through the night with no evidence of a fever. We just took the heart monitor off, as it was only for a 24-hour period.

My brother and sister-in-law spent the night. Kendall did laundry, cooked, cleaned and pretty much made sure we didn't have a meltdown. We followed Sam everywhere, questioning every little spike in temp or sweaty moment.

Sam is asleep right now, as he fell asleep in my arms while we were eating breakfast in the kitchen. We are exhausted.

Thank God we are part of something Bigger in this world and we know that with the hundreds of people praying for Sam, we will be okay.

I'm going to go crash now.

Teesa

Sick Sam

We are finally back home, so I have my master email list with me now.

Here's an update for those of you who haven't heard:

Sam had a second seizure on Thursday about three hours after we brought him home from the hospital brought on from another fever spike. He had an abnormality in his ECG in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and then three or four more once we were there. They transferred him to the UNC Children's Hospital pediatric cardiac unit and put him on a heart monitor, along with several other monitors and gave him tons of Tylenol to prevent future spikes in his temperature (which brought on both seizures).

They said that one febrile seizure is normal, but two is very uncommon (called "complex febrile" seizures when there is more than one). The seizure problem is a separate problem from the heart one. We had already seen a cardiologist about two months ago from what the doctor thought was a "gallop" in his heartbeat. It turned out to be nothing, according to the doctor, but he took an ultrasound and ECG at that point.

When the team of doctors began working on Sam, they immediately called our previously seen cardiologist, because he is apparently the "rhythm" expert in this region. He has been the one working with us to discover the root of Sam's heart irregularities.

We have been sent home with a heart monitor to use until tomorrow morning and have been given detailed instructions about checking his heartrate and when to call 911. We are giving him more Tylenol to keep his fever down. It was 97.1 when we left the hospital (and had been down for about 15 hours) and is now 99.1 (down from 99.8 about half an hour ago). So, needless to say, we are on pins and needles about him.

My brother, Adam, and his wife, Kendall, are going to stay with us tonight and care for our needs since we are going to be only focusing on Sam's needs. We really appreciate your prayers and ask that you continue to pray for a low temperature, no more seizures and no future problems with his heart.

Thanks to everyone for your emails and phone calls. I hope you will understand if we haven't written back personally, but this seems to be the best way to tackle this. I am reading all your emails though, and really appreciate the love and support we are feeling.
We will let you know more when we do. We are going to hunker down at the house until Sam's pediatric appointment on Monday morning at 9:30am.

Bill told our pastor, Marty Jacumin, this morning that maybe God gave Sam the second seizure so they could catch the heart problem. Otherwise, we would not have known. We DO know that God is in control and we feel His presence with us.

Blessings,

Teesa and Bill

Tupperware

Sam loves his Tupperware. I love this picture.

One year ago this week

You won't believe it, but one year ago this week was when Bill and I flew to Hong Kong with contractions every 3-7 minutes apart. Here is a copy of Bill's email once we had arrived (sent to over 300 prayer supporters):

Hello Folks,
I am writing to you from Hong Kong this time. Teesa and I have made an emergency trip very much like our trip a couple of weeks ago to Bangkok, due to Teesa experiencing consistent contractions starting two days ago. She is currently in her 30th week, so she is still quite a bit short for us to be ready for this.

Her contractions are still coming at a rate of one every 5 minutes or so. When she was first admitted the staff was on constant high alert for her to go into labor for about 12 hours. Today, however, they seem to have relaxed some. A senior doctor made rounds with his staff this morning. He spoke to us about medication, treatment, and preterm labor. We spoke to him about the power of prayer. He also ordered an exam which showed that Teesa has yet to begin the physical process of labor.

Although she is weary, Teesa seems to be holding up relatively well emotionally. She still smiles and chuckles, but she has also cried a lot in the last couple of days. We are still praying that Father will amaze us and this staff with a 40+ week pregnancy. Please join us in doing the same. Also pray for Teesa to get some rest physically and emotionally. As you can imagine, she has not slept much in the last 72 hours.

Thank you, one and all.

Bill Klear

Here's another letter from Bill to a friend of ours just a couple days later:

Hey,

An ambulance was waiting for us at the airplane, they took Teesa off horizontally! We went to the nearest hospital where they took her to the delivery ward. For two days they kept Teesa in an emergency observation room in the delivery ward. She was having painful and consistent contractions that whole time. They expected her to go into labor at any moment and were ready to deliver. Teesa was pretty scared at times, and in a good deal of pain.

Everyone prayed.

I saw her this morning and it seems as though her condition had improved some as her contractions slowed drastically during the night, she slept for several hours and they transferred her from the emergency observation room in the delivery ward to a normal antenatal ward on a
different floor. We are very grateful. Then I went in during my allotted visiting hours and found her out of bed and walking. I said, "What are you doing??" and she smiled and said, "Going to the bathroom." She had very few contractions today spaced out by hours. They let her eat and drink, which she hasn't done in over two days. She is at peace and says that she is ready for it if she goes into labor.

Dad is good.

Bill

As Bill and I were recounting this story earlier today, it brought tears to my eyes to think about God's faithfulness in our lives. James 1:12 says, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, for when he has stood the test, he WILL receive the crown of life God has promised to those who love Him." I know our trial was small compared to what others have experienced, but our prayers (read OURS, yours and mine) led to us delivering a very healthy, very adorable, very hairy! little boy.

Our commitment to you and to God is to raise Him in His ways, so that God will be glorified. We were counted worthy to be called parents of Samuel William Klear and we promise to to continue to be worthy of that title.

God is good!

Here I am on bedrest during the three months I spent in and out of the hospital in Hong Kong. Below it is another picture of me on bedrest, a couple weeks later. I had terrible heartburn and needed at least 15 minutes of sitting upright after eating a meal.

Gerry Ann's visit

We had a great time with Bill's mother, Gerry Ann, last week when she came to visit. She stayed with us from Tuesday to Friday and we did lots of fun stuff together. Bill and Gerry Ann got to hike the Mountains to Sea trail (http://www.ncmst.org/) one day and then we all went to Umstead State Park to hike a bit another day.

Sam showed off his "army crawl" for his Nana too. He still isn't crawling with his belly off the ground, but after six weeks of doing the army crawl, he's flying around the house. He's also pulling up to stand, letting go for seconds at a time (before falling) and walking around furniture by holding on tightly. We are in for trouble!



We got to see our long lost friend Paul Brown last night. I told him I was going to take a picture of him for our blog (Bill calls it "blog fodder"), but he and Bill both scoffed at me. I guess I'll have to wait until he's not looking to catch a photo. We were pumped about seeing Paul, since we hadn't seen him for four years and thought we'd never find him again. Luckily, he checks his old email address! We had a great time catching up on old times.

We also had a picnic with my brother Adam and his family yesterday at Umstead. It was SO HOT that I had to take all of Sam's clothes off and he was still sweating like mad. We finally went over to their house to cool off and rest up before our dinner with Paul.

Oh, and before I forget again, here is a picture of Sam's crazy-curly hair. I'd like to thank my mother and grandfather for their beautiful addition to our family in our curls. I absolutely LOVE them, mine included. (My mother doesn't, sadly.)

Mountain Retreat

We got invited to go to the mountains with our friends the Carsons this last week (we used to work with Hugh in China). We had such a fantastic time with them! Their daughter, Laney, is only two months younger than Sam is and they got along really well. We didn't really have any organized activity, except for one hike we took up to Linville Falls (beautiful, by the way), but that's what made it such a great little retreat. Here are are wearing the babies and hiking.

This is the Klear family at the Falls.


Bill and I have been going and going since we got back to America. We're speaking at so many places and have so many engagements that it has been difficult to catch our breath. Sam has been a real trooper about it though, and he is constantly surprising us with his flexibility. Two weeks ago we went to Tennessee with my parents (who have officially moved to Thailand now) and Sam's only protest was expressed by biting me while nursing. Once we returned home he stopped. I guess he "learned me good" with that long trip. I wish I could say we weren't going to take any more long trips, but it is the nature of our time at home to travel a lot.

We've gotten into a pretty good routine with our traveling though. We will stop every three hours at a gas station. Once I finish feeding him, he will sit with Bill in the driver's seat and play with the steering wheel. He LOVES pulling all the switches and pushing buttons. Here he is with Bill playing (don't worry, the car is parked and Bill is in full control!).

Sam really enjoyed playing with Laney on this trip. The two of them got along swell and I even learned a little something about Sam. Apparently, he likes to make other people laugh. What a distinct personality he has! He and Laney took a bath together and when he saw that splashing his hands in the water made her laugh out loud, he kept doing it over and over again - leaning in close to her face and smiling big. I think he takes after Bill in this regard.

Here we are having a picnic lunch on the day we went to Linville Falls. It was such beautiful scenery!

Okay, here's a story that will make your hair curl. We brought our little inflatable pool that my parents bought for Sam. Sam LOVES playing in it (see previous post) and Laney is no different. While Sam was taking a nap one afternoon, Hollie put Laney in the pool to play.

(Isn't she cute?)

The boys came out to join them and I guess Hugh sat down on a bench, mere feet away, that had a hornet's nest under it. He got stung (I heard him screaming, "This is for real - I'm really getting bit" as I saw a streak of him running across the deck). Bill went out a little later to investigate and here's what he saw:


They said it was the size of a softball! Good thing Hollie reacted so quickly and ran inside with Laney (it took her all of two seconds to get inside). There were a ton of these hornets. What a scary moment for Hollie.

Okay, take a deep breath and let your heart rate get back to normal now. No one was hurt, well, no one except for Hugh who got three stings, and the hornet's nest was dealt with.

Laney and Sam liked to play together in the mornings. We covered the bearskin rug (not kidding) with a sheet and after they were fed and happy, put them down together. Here they are sharing toys and enjoying each other's company.

Isn't she sweet, holding onto Sam like that? She's a real snuggle-bug.

And, finally, here are some photos of the mountain-range. Thanks, again, to the Carsons for a fantastic trip. We really enjoyed the food and company.

The Army Crawl

I don't actually have any photos, but Sam has been working his way towards actual crawling lately. He can "army crawl" all over the place, he even follows me from room to room. I was anxious for him to start crawling and everyone told me I would long for the days that he wasn't so mobile, but I'm still very happy with his new found independence. He seems so much more content with himself now.

We've been busy, again. Traveling from here to there and speaking at different places. We're currently in Nashville, Tennessee enjoying a final week with my parents. They are moving to Thailand on Tuesday to teach.

My mother loves to harass Sam and drive him crazy. Here she is trying to steal his food. She had to put her whole body into it, since he is so strong.

Sam's namesake came over yesterday. Sam loves his great granddaddy!

My cousins Meghan and Sam (yes, another Sam) came over on the Fourth of July too. Here is Meggie Moo holding baby Sam.

While my parents have been cleaning out their house, they have found many many lost treasures. One such treasure was an old rocking chair that used to belong to me. My father's cousin, Johnny, brought it home to me last Saturday (from the storage unit) and said that Sam will be ready for it soon. We put him in it later that afternoon and he LOVED it. Don't worry though, I was one inch off-camera, waiting for a fall.

Sam and the Ballgame

My best friend came in from Arkansas last week to spend about a week and a half with us. I tried to welcome her to North Carolina by allowing her to experience every facet of Carolinian lifestyle. We took her to Southeastern, to a Mudcats game and to the beach, to name a few.

I haven't felt so American as I did the day we went to a ball game. It was fantastic to hear the Star spangled Banner sung and eat dogs while watching a game. Man, I love America.

We took a short jaunt over to the beach on Tuesday. It took about two and a half hours and Sam did great during the trip, as usual. We went to Carolina Beach, but I think we regretted our decision later in the day. It turns out there is a big recreational facility near Kure Beach, right next to the Aquarium. We got to the Aquarium at 4:56 and it closed at 5pm, so they wouldn't let us in. We sent Julie in to beg and beg, but she just wasn't convincing enough.

So, we figure the next time we take a trip to the beach, we'll go to the Aquarium first, then hang out on the beach by the recreational facility (complete with restrooms and showers!). If anyone wants to take a day-trip out there, give me a call and I'll give you more details.

I love Sam's new swim trunks. They are camouflaged and long. I decided since we were in the ocean it was fine for him to go "commando." He did great. He fell asleep on the beach and we tucked him underneath a towel that was laying on the cooler. He slept for about an hour before Julie screamed out in fear from a teeny tiny jumping spider that happened to want a piece of her.

Here's a funny photo of Sam. I think he might have been looking at Julie, wondering what she was screaming at. I love the spiddle coming from his mouth. He cut a tooth the day after this was taken.

We ate at a great seafood restaurant for dinner and finally got home around 10pm.

Julie left on Thursday and I already miss her. I have really enjoyed being showered with love from all my friends and family here. We're having some friends over for a Carolina Treat cookout too. Bill and I stopped by a local produce stand after Bill's hike this morning and picked up fresh okra, corn, asparagus and zucchini. I weighed myself yesterday and it seems all of these culinary delights are really catching up with me! I've gained about four pounds since arriving in America.

Still, I do LOVE America!

Here are a few more pics that I think you'll enjoy. We went hiking at Umstead State Park one day. Isn't it amazing how much Bill and Sam look alike (although Sam is somewhat of a small person).

And here are Sam and me hanging out at the beach.

And here is the whole Klear-gang on Sunday morning. Julie takes such great photos!

Here is Julie and me the same morning at our house. Isn't Julie beautiful?

Fishing Trip

During the last week, Bill took a fishing trip with my twin brother Adam. By the way, I'd like to say "Happy Birthday, Adam" - it was his 31st yesterday. It was the first one we'd spent together in 11 years. I was thrilled to celebrate with him.

Well, Bill and Adam and another friend, Brandon, took off early on Tuesday morning to spend four days fishing in the Outerbanks. They stayed at a place called Calico Jack's.

This is Cape Lookout.

And here the three of them are together.




They caught bluefish, stingray, shark, and one Spanish Mackeral. By the looks of things, they had a fantastic time.

Action shots:





Check out the new depth finder. Adam was so proud. I bet it helped them land some big ones!



Here's Bill's first catch. He thought it might be his only one, so he had a photo taken.



But, he DID catch more. Here are some bluefish he caught. Pretty nice!






I hear Adam can really clean fish!




While they were busy catching our birthday dinner, Kendall and I stayed home with Sam. Kendall started a new job this week, so I made it my mission to fill her full of good food at the end of the day. I think I was successful.

Sam is creeping now. I can't believe how mobile he is. It is always a surprise when I leave the room for a moment and come back to find him under the coffee table. He loves making me laugh too. His little personality is really starting to come out.

Check out this photo of Sam being held up to a painting of my great uncle, Bubba. He died when he was six years old of Polio. My Great Uncle Jack keeps saying he can't wait to see Sam when he's six years old, so he can compare them then. I think they look really similar, but Bill just doesn't see it.

Let me know what you think!

South Carolina

Okay, this isn't from our trip to South Carolina, but I forgot to post it when it happened. Is this disgusting or what? Sam was sick during the month of April. I've never seen anything like it.



We went to South Carolina last week for some speaking engagements. While we were there, we got to celebrate my birthday (June 2) with Bill's aunt's birthdays (both June 6). We went to Pine Island and had a great time.




Here is Sam with his Mamaw Taylor. She made him laugh like I can make him laugh. I was greatly impressed.