Tucker's 3rd Year

Tucker is 3 years old...wow!

I posted a more "emotional" piece on Tucker's CaringBridge site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tuckerhamilton

Here, I just wanted to share my 5 favorite pictures from Tucker's 3rd year. Enjoy!

 And here is his 3 year video:

Happy Birthday, Tucker!

CHD Awareness Week - Day 6!

7 Reasons We Are Happy to Be CHD Parents

1.  Because God loved, blessed, and trusted us enough to have a special baby with a special heart!

2.  Because his heart is half the normal size, which means we get to love him twice as much.

3.  Because through this process we have found out what great family and friends that we are blessed to have supporting us.

4.  Because we have made lots of new friends in the CHD community.

5.  Because through Tucker, we have been able to share an amazing story about God's unending love and the miracles that can occur with him!

6.  Because we are guaranteed to never have a "normal" or "routine" day.

7.  Because every time we see his scar, we are reminded of what a miracle and blessing ALL babies are to their parents!

To ALL parents who read this page: It is SO important to get your kids checked for CHDs, regardless of their age. Most defects are diagnosed at birth, but many aren't caught until later in life and that can be a dangerous prospect! Most athletes who die from sudden heart failure are found to have an undiagnosed CHD. Also, how many babies who die of SIDS actually had a CHD that was missed.

Don't know how to get your child checked? The easiest way is to use a pulse oximeter, which can be found at any doctor's office. It is a totally non-invasive test and only takes a few seconds. If you are expecting, you should INSIST on having your baby checked with a pulse oximeter immediately after birth and then again after 24 hours. If they had done this for us, Tucker would have been diagnosed much sooner. Tell your OBGYN to put it into your birth plan.

Here is some food for thought: The painful heel prick test that's standard for ALL newborns, checks for Phenylketonuria, affecting 1 out of 10,000 babies. Congenital Heart Defects are more lethal and afflict 1 out of every 100 babies, yet the simple, non-invasive, non-painful diagnostic tool, the Pulse Oximeter, which can help detect many CHDs, lies unused in the nursery.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Blood Drive today, we had a great turnout!

With love & Heart Hugs!

Trent, Dena, & Tucker

CHD Awareness Week - Day 5!

7 People Who Helped Save Tucker's Life

1. First and most importantly, our amazing God and our lord and savior Jesus Christ (Philippians 4:13).

2. Mary, the lactation consultant in McKinney who first noticed something was wrong. If it hadn't been for her keen eye and quick thinking, we would have been discharged from the hospital and Tucker would have died in his sleep that night.

3. Dr. Reyes, the on-call pediatrician in McKinney who caught the murmur. Even though he is not our pediatrician anymore, we are still very thankful for Dr. Reyes, because he was the first person to recognize that the problem was with Tucker's heart.

4. Dr. Lucena, the neonatologist in McKinney who decided to send Tucker to Plano for further testing. If Dr. Lucena had decided to keep Tucker in McKinney for even 30 minutes longer, he would not have survived.

5. American Medical Response ambulance team, specifically Glen and Misty, for being so careful during transports to two different hospitals. Also, Misty kept us updated while they were working on a diagnosis in Plano and she was the first to tell us that something was horribly wrong. She could have waited and let the doctors tell us, but she knew that her gentle, motherly way would be better for us.

6. Dr. Tim Thomas, our pediatric cardiologist, for catching the true culprit and sending us to Medical City. He knew immediately that something was seriously wrong and made quick decisions that helped save Tucker's life. Since then he has become as much of a friend as a doctor to us. We thank God everyday for Dr. Thomas and his wonderful wife, Andrea!

Dr. Thomas with Tucker and Heart Friends

7. Last, but certainly not least, Dr. Eric Mendeloff, the amazing pediatric heart surgeon that fixed our baby's heart. Dr. Mendeloff is a master of his craft. He can repair hearts that are only the size of a strawberry and work on blood vessels that are only millimeters in diameter. He is also special because he is not like any other surgeon that I have ever met, and I worked in a hospital for 3 years. He is not arrogant, he listens to his patients and parents, and he uses his time and his money to support our group, Amazing Little Hearts...he is our "Rock Star"!

Dr. Mendeloff and Tucker

There are many more people who played a part in helping to save Tucker's life, not to mention all the people who helped us through the roughest of times and kept us sane!  We could not have made it without the love and support of all of our family, friends, and co-workers!

Thank you for keeping up with us and this blog and please take a minute to write something in the guestbook and/or share this site with someone else.

Our last event for CHD Awareness week is tomorrow. We are having a blood drive and party at Medical City Children's Hospital tomorrow afternoon.  The blood drive will be from 10am - 4pm and the party will be from 10am - noon. Please join us and help support our kids. Also, the blood supply in Dallas is dangerously low, so if you can donate, we REALLY need you!!!

With love & Heart Hugs!

Trent, Dena, & Tucker

Halloween...A little late!

We had a great time with Tucker this Halloween!

Tucker at daycare party

It was obviously more fun this year than last year, especially since he actually knows what is going on.  The entire weekend was very busy.  Tucker had a party at daycare on Friday, we had a party at the hospital on Saturday morning, we had to take our camper to the race track for the upcoming race weekend, we had a party at my cousin's house on Saturday night, and then church and the Fall Festival on Sunday.

Tucker & Daddy at hospital party

Tucker & Mommy at church Fall Festival

We had a great time with our friends and family.  It was a lot of fun to show off Tucker in his dragon costume.  We also took the opportunity to take some pictures of Tucker in the pumpkin patch at the Dallas Arboretum.

Enjoy the pictures from our great weekend!

Tucker at the pumpkin patch

Tucker & Daddy

Such a ham!

The family

can you tell that he was getting tired???

playing with Daddy

Sharing a flower with Mommy

The family at Fall Festival

Trent