Merry Christmas '08

OK, so this year's "Christmas" letter was a little late going out. Blame me--waiting to get a picture of the new baby to send. Not my fault the little stinker waited til January to make his appearance! LOL Anyway...

Dear Family & Friends,

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” -- Luke 2:7-11

“Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in His wings. Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die; Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.” – Charles Wesley

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May the good news sung by angels more than two millennia ago bring joy and peace to your hearts today. For though Christ did lay His glory by to be born in a manger, He is nevertheless the Prince of Peace and the Son of Righteousness. And though more than twenty centuries have passed since the very first Christmas, He still brings light and life and still gives men the second birth (John 3). So as we enjoy the Christmas season this year may we consider afresh and anew Christ the Savior: the snow might remind us of His sinless purity, Christmas lights might bring to mind that He is the Light victorious over all darkness, Christmas trees might cause us to consider His sacrifice on the cruel tree on Calvary, and exchanging gifts might muster our thoughts to ponder His gift of eternal life. Do our traditions magnify the Reason for the season, or do they insulate our celebrations from Him?

Our family has much to celebrate and thank our Lord for as we reflect on 2008 and the beginning of 2009. Also, it is with our deepest gratitude that we wish to express our thanks to each of you. Whether through prayers or by generous gifts or in offering encouraging words, your love and help have been vital to us throughout the most trying year our family has ever faced. Yet, by God’s grace, we look forward to 2009 having grown in our walk with Him and having grown as a family. We rejoice to introduce to you Daniel Earle, who was born on January 9th at 11:56pm. He weighed in at an even 9 lbs. and was 22 inches long at birth. Although Daniel’s birth was not at all as we planned, we thank the Lord that He blessed us with our third child safely and soundly.

Quick update, then sleep... maybe!

Thanks for all of your prayers. The Lord certainly answered! Wound up at the hospital for an induction Friday evening. Then:

Daniel Earle (after his grandpas); 11:56pm on Friday, January 9th; 9 lbs. even; 22" long.

*Completely* uneventful--well, OK, uneventful other than that unplanned water birth (which was against hospital policy, LOL)-- 4 & 1/2 hour labor & delivery (breaking my water did the trick). Baby did beautifully!! Scored 9 & 9 on his Apgars. We're (rather jokingly) talking of calling him "the niner."

Were able to escape for home with him Saturday afternoon. Here's a quick picture of his older siblings checking him out. :-)

Going for an induction!!! Yeah Rah!! /end sarcasm

Had the bio-physical profile ultrasound done this morning. Scored a 4 of 8 or 6 of 8 depending... Of course the baby was napping through the entire procedure and so refused to "practice breathing" or give any "large-motor" movements (which were two of the strikes against the score). And (to add insult to injury) naturally my blood sugar was crashing during the ultrasound; that didn't help baby's inclination to be active. *rolls eyes* Estimated fetal weight is around 10 1/2 lbs--I'll believe that when we see it, LOL. *My* biggest concern is the report of low amniotic fluid---especially since I've been drinking like a fish for the last couple of days. Oh well. :-)

So... off to the hospital we go. Dr is going to try breaking my water first, then waiting a couple hours at least to see if we can get labor going without going the pit. route. One of my midwives is coming along for the ride, bless her heart. I'm thinking gravity feed will work on this little one, as I've never been able to sustain any kind of contractions once I lay down.....

We would appreciate your prayers for the Lord's wisdom and direction for us and protection for the baby. Will keep y'all posted.

Update... no baby though!

Realizing I should have put this up yesterday, Sorry! We wound up with the bio-physical profile (ultrasound) being scheduled for Friday morning (tomorrow) after all. Apparently the office is open half-days or something. So "we" have another day to persuade baby to come, ROFL. This child is my child--beyond persuasion. But in the Lord's good timing.... we WILL have this baby. In the mean time, I am tanking up on fluids before that ultrasound tomorrow. :-)

I suppose I should clarify why we're done with flipping out over the baby being "so far" post-dates. The baby isn't really way post dates. :-) I had two due dates. Dec 13th by traditional LMP dating methods, and Dec 30th--adjusted for a number of reasons. Sat down with my midwife and ran through all those reasons again on Tuesday--just to reassure ourselves that we're not nuts to continue waiting on this little one to make an appearance.

1. I run LONG cycles... almost twice "normal" length. Run the figures by my "normal" and you get Dec. 30th. Not that my OB is necessarily convinced, LOL.

2. We did NOT get fetal heart tones at 11 weeks (typically you would have no problem getting them by 10 weeks---if your dates are right, therefore see #1).

3. We did get fetal heart tones at my 15 week appt--with my regular OB--but fundal height was only 7!! Kinda low for "15 weeks," eh?! (Again, see #1.)

Toss in a couple other things like that (when I started feeling the baby regularly, etc.) and we've got pretty unassailable evidence that this little one was just NOT due mid-December.


So there, quit worrying!! The wee one is just more stubborn than we are, and is determined to stay "in" until we've given up on him, LOL. (Generic him, not gender-specific him, BTW). We will get a post up when we do finally have anything to report about the baby dragon's arrival.

Until then (since everything baby-prep home-birthing related has been done for a month now) I may just have to finish the rant I started here. About child-birth classes & fun controversial stuff like that. And maybe a birth story or two. Have to give the older two their time in print too, right?? :-)

Prayers appreciated...

Nope, no baby news yet. But I do have a prayer request for you all along those lines. :-)

We're currently working on scheduling an ultrasound for Thursday (because my favorite fetal-maternal specialist doesn't do appts. on Fridays--The nerve!). There's nothing going on symptomatically that gives me any cause for concern, we just want to make sure things are still in good order with the baby. We had good reason to adjust my due date to the 30th of December, I'd just like to have the baby HERE NOW, or make sure there's nothing going on that shouldn't be.

Now.... I would be thrilled if the baby should come before that ultrasound. SO, if you feel so led, I would greatly appreciate your prayers that if this home birth be the Lord's will, the baby will come before Thursday. If however, there is something we need to know (that the ultrasound could actually tell us!) regarding this baby; well then, we'd rather the Lord keeps the baby waiting. :-)

And we'll not get into what will likely be running through my head if the baby isn't here by that appointment!!

Prayer Request

Nope, no baby news yet. But I do have a prayer request for you all along those lines. :-)

We're currently working on scheduling an ultrasound for Thursday (because my favorite fetal-maternal specialist doesn't do appts. on Fridays--The nerve!). There's nothing going on symptomatically that gives me any cause for concern, we just want to make sure things are still in good order with the baby.

Now.... I would be thrilled if the baby should come before that ultrasound. SO, if you feel so led, I would greatly appreciate your prayers that if this home birth be the Lord's will, the baby will come before Thursday. If however, there is something we need to know (that the ultrasound could actually tell us!) regarding this baby; well then, we'd rather the Lord keeps the baby waiting. :-)

Thank you all for your love, prayers, and support!!