Spud II: The Sequel

My son, the Ham. I can't decide if I like this sh...

My son, the Ham. I can't decide if I like this shot or not... Atleast there are no red berries in it! :)

Andrew says Hello!

A baby is in there!

Of all the folks we have told and have to tell, Thomas was the one we looked forward to the most. We finally told him tonight and his reaction was all that we could have hoped for. Shrieks of delight combined with dancing feet were on the offing for the next 10 minutes. We showed him this video of Spud and he knows it's a baby but I'm sure the comprehension is very limited at this point. It is going to be a ton of fun to share this with Thomas over the pregnancy.
Karen finishes week 13 tomorrow. She continues to have a very tough time with nausea. The doctor confirms she is dehydrated but does not seem OVERLY concerned at this point. She, the Dr., did prescribe a new medication (I don't remember the name) which was created for Chemotherapy patients but has also been used in complete safety with pregnant ladies. We hope this will all be cleared up in two weeks, but there are further steps we can take at that time if needed.
We got to see Spud very clearly today. Spud made a lot of movement and was kicking back in style while we watched. Legs up, hands on its belly, Spud has chilling down to an science already. We also heard Spud's heart beat, which you can hear here. Sorry for this also being a video file but i didn't want to dig up the recorder and carry my new Canon Powershot G6 at the same time. If you would rather download the two files above, just right click on the link and select 'Save Target as' . They are large files (18 MB) for those poor few among you who are still on dial up access.
We'll have another update for you in a week or two, at the end of this period of nausea. Trust me, we BOTH can't wait for it to be over...

Now, I wanted to share some of the 'message' we received that let us know that God was prodding us to have a second child. It came in the form of a radio message from Family Life. Each morning on Star 99.1 FM they play a short program called Real Family Life. It lasts about 2 minutes and is delivered by Dennis Rainey of Family Life. They are a super organization dedicated to helping Christians navigate their way through life here the way Christ would want them to. Anyway, back in November 25th, 2003, it was a Tuesday ( I can clearly remember sitting in the car on the street next to Thomas' school having just dropped him off) and God started to give us the answer we had been praying for since Thomas was born. You too can listen to this message by clicking on this link. It is a message that is mainly aimed at first time parents but it has the answers to most of the fears we were laying at God's feet. It's really the end of the message that spoke to me, in the last 15 seconds approx. It was one of those times that I felt God's hand on my shoulder so clearly it was almost tangible. He was telling me to trust Him, that He was not going to abandon us at any point or for any reason.

That's it for now. Thanks for joining us as we continue to step out in faith. Our Lord continues to remain faithful to us, even in our weakness. He's there for you too....

Love,
John (Karen and Thomas)

Morning (Noon, Afternoon, Evening, and Night) Sickness

Hey everyone. Karen's having loads of fun. She is constantly either nauseas or jumpy (if she takes the medicine). It's tough on her, plus she tries to hide it from Thomas because he get worried about her. Every time he sees she's not doing well he runs and gives her Froggy....

We just got back from a few days at the cabin. This was a good break for all of us. There were plenty of folks to watch Thomas and play with him and this gave Karen and I a chance to rest and recharge. The weather was warm and it only really rained on the day we went to see The Wiggles in the Pepsi Arena. Wow, what a great show. We got very close to both Murray and Jeff as they came around the seats. Thomas just had a superb time, doing some singing, dancing, and being amazed that they were really there. Now we are off to Philadelphia. We are going to the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, and we'll see where else! Hopefully Karen will be feeling well enough that Thomas and I can go to Dave and Busters (woooohoooo) but if we can't, there is always next time.

On other upcoming events Karen and I are excited to have gotten tickets to see the U.S. Olympic Gymnastic Team at the Brendan Byrne Arena (sigh, now they call it the Continental Airlines Arena).

No new news on Spud II but we are due to see the Dr in a couple of weeks.

As week 10 draws to an end, we can't wait for Week 14 and the end of Nausea!!!

See you Soon,

John

Clarification

A number of people have commented that they are glad Karen is doing better
with her nausea. I wanted to make it clear here that 'better' is a relative
term. It's like saying comparing double black diamond slopes in the poconos
to double black diamond slopes in the Alps. It's all relative. She is doing
'better' than she was last week... which means she is still nauseous all
the time but only is throwing up a few times instead of all the time :) The
medication she is taking, Reglan, is working in that regard unfortunately
it has some very strong side effects. She is reporting symptoms I can only
describe as being like a heroin junkie in need of a fix. She is jumpy and
fidgity to an extreme. When she's feeling like that it's a toss up on
whether it is better, until she feels nauseous again which reminds her it's
not. :)
In any case we are praying for some relief in starting in week 10, about 10
days from now and full cessation of the morning sickness by week 12.
Your continued prayers and thoughts are soooooo appreciated.

Please note that at the end of each entry there is a link for leaving comments. This can be a two way communication if you want, but it is not required.

Thanks all

John
--
Let not your hearts be troubled

It begins

Well, I'm opening Spud II's blog officially today. To see the few previous posts regarding Spud II's arrival please go to my other blog http://www.christ-web.com/sorahl/blog.html

I will be updating this blog several times a week with our thoughts and experiences as we slowly prepare for the arrival of Spud II. This is going to be a difficult but very exciting time in our lives. I hope to be able to share with those who read this what a step of faith this whole process is. I'll go into details of this, which goes back over the last 18 months, in the coming weeks.
As for now, we are going to tell our parents and sister/brother-in-law//brother/sister-in-law tonight. Thomas will not find out until our next dr visit on 9/20. That is when non immediate family will be informed.

If you would like to see a picture of Spud II, click
here.

In order to make it easier for those interested in keeping up with the updates, this blog will be available as an RSS feed. If you do not have an RSS newsreader, you can try this one.

Now as to the update :) Officially we are at 8 weeks and 3 days. Karen's nausea has been really bad in last week. Fortunatly the dr. prescribed some medicine that has helped great deal. That is to say, she is not nauseas when she takes the medicine. There are no other obvious changes yet. We saw Spud II today with a great heartbeat. It was sitting upside down but the head, torso, and some sort of appendage (meaning leg or arm) is visible. It is possible to see the cord as well if you know where to look. Everything looks good, Praise God, and we are looking at a late March, Early April birth. I would prefer some other day than April First but that's not up to me.
That's it for now, stay tuned....

J & K