Baby update!

We had another appointment this morning with the Doctor and once again are thankful to be in his hands during this time and felt well cared for.  So the newest news...

The ultrasound we had done on Monday was great and baby was measuring great.  He was on the smaller end, but we know that was to be expected.  My fluid levels looked good and he looked good too :)

The doctor did say that my blood work did come back showing that my b-12 (what I get shots for once a month) was in the normal range, which is great news, but it did confirm too that my iron was low.  So I will continue on the tablets through the rest of the pregnancy and hopefully that will be all that is needed there.

The doctor does want to have another growth scan done next week and he will see me again next Friday.  With measuring small (and having IUGR previously...He hasn't called this pregnancy IUGR, but just monitoring it due to my history), he doesn't want me to go much over 40 weeks pregnant due to risks with that which I didn't completely understand.  So next week he said he would like to strip my membranes and see if we can get things going soon for labor.  If that doesn't help get labor going, then he will do it again the next week as well I believe to try again to get labor going.

So the prayer is now that I will go into labor before 40 weeks or right about then so that we don't have to talk about induction.  Will you join me in that prayer?

In news kinda connected to this, we got a call today that our shipment is here and ready to be delivered.  It should be delivered in Monday!!!!  That is a huge praise.  I have been praying that it would arrive soon so that we can unpack those things and get settled with all of that before baby boy arrives.  Plus there are any baby things we have sent from the states in that container as well, so that will be nice to have before baby boy arrives.

Yeah!!!!  So all in all today has been good news all around.  Pray for me as I continue to take care of myself these last days of pregnancy.  Pray my iron will go up and be at a stable point before delivery so there is no complication there.

Thank you for your prayers everyone.  We have felt them so much during this transition and are so so so thankful for all of them.

I will do my best to keep everyone posted with any updates as we get closer to meeting baby boy!

Pregnancy News...

So I am now 36 weeks pregnant.  Hard to believe we are about 4 weeks away from having baby boy! I went to the Doctor at Warrington Hospital yesterday to have a "consult" since I am new here and have had IUGR in a previous pregnancy and because of my anemia as well.  The midwife wanted me to go and see him to just have him check on things.

Well...to sum up how it went...I was dehydrated, anemic, and measuring small.  UGH!

None of these things were of major concern for him or us but just something to work on and easily fixed.  Along with my b-12 shots, I now have "tablets" of iron I am taking as well 3 times a day to hopefully up my iron before baby gets here.  I am ordered to drink at least 2 liters of water each day as well.  As far as the measurements go, he wasn't too concerned seeing as we tend to have small babies, but he is having me come in on Monday for a scan to see how baby boy is doing, then I have another appointment with him on Friday.

He was a great doctor and really put us at ease that all was ok and there was nothing really to be concerned about.

Now get this part...  He asked when we came in the room what brought us to England (knowing we were from the states) and so Michael answered by saying that he was working as a minister at a church here.  The doctor lights up a bit and says "wow, that's cool".   He then goes on to tell us that he goes to an Arabic speaking church in Manchester that is reaching out to the city there and has had Muslims come in many times.  He is from Egypt and his parents still live there, who are also Coptic Christians.  We got to talk to him off and on through the appointment about his church.  It was so amazing to us.

Imagine this.  We move to a country where it is less than 5% Christian and we end up with a Christian for an OB Doc here.  God is cool...isn't he??!!

So that is a little update on how things are going for me with pregnancy.  We will go on Monday to get a scan then see the doctor again on Friday and see how my levels are doing.  Pray that I won't be discouraged.   I was a bit emotional yesterday getting that report, just feeling like I haven't been doing a good job taking care of myself, but thankful too that the Lord has provided someone to help get my body on track for a good delivery hopefully.

We are still plugging away at getting settled into our home.  Our shipment should have arrived in port (wherever that is...) yesterday if it was on schedule, but we haven't heard any news about it yet.  I am hoping we will have it in our driveway in the next week or so...we shall see :)

I also had a bit of a panic with SK and her schooling situation a couple days ago.  I called the council to check on the status of her application since we hadn't heard anything yet and thought we would have already heard.  According to the girl I spoke with, there was no openings at any of the 3 schools and she would be calling that day around to schools outside of the village to find her a spot.  I am not good with just sending her to any other school where we would have to drive her outside of the village.  I was upset after that phone call, but Michael reassured me that all would be ok and God would take care of it and we just needed to trust in him about this.

The next morning, Michael calls down to Culcheth Primary School and is able to speak with the head teacher where he gets the news that there is not 1 but 2 openings in her level class and all would be fine.  She was going to call the council herself and sort it out for us.  So it looks like all will work out fine with the school stuff, I just need to trust Jesus more.  This whole moving process has been faith growing...I tell ya.  I am seeing how much faith I lack and how much I need more Jesus in my life.

So there is a little update on things over here!  Michael preaches tomorrow at church, which he is looking forward to!  "See" you guys again real soon :)

Random thoughts from our first few weeks...

Well...as of today, we will have been in England for 3 weeks.  It really has flown by with all the busyness of setting up home and doing all that has to be done to get settled here.  With my pregnancy brain and all, I can hardly think straight, so today I give you a random list of how things are going for us :)

*We have had sickness since being here.  First off was Evie with her GI stuff, then SK, then Michael, then Michael had a cold thing, and now I have a cold thing.  I am ready for us to have a healthy home again.

*I am learning more about what it looks like to cook here and what foods, I am used to finding easily in the states, are hard-to-find or non-existent here.  Take black beans for example.  I searched yesterday at the larger store (kinda like a Walmart) down the road in a nearby village.  No luck.  I finally found dried black beans, to which the girl checking us out made a comment that she had never seen these before and wondered what I used them for.

*Nesting is hard here.  I tire easily at 35 weeks pregnant and let me tell you...Ikea can wear a girl out.  Our crate, which we thought would be here by this week won't be here for another few weeks probably.  I just hope that it arrives before baby boy makes his arrival.

*I met with the midwife here in the village for the first time last week. It went well.  I will go soon for a consult with the OB at Warrington Hospital next week and also get to see the labor ward and such while there too hopefully.  Having a baby here will def. be different than the states.  If we have baby boy at the hospital, we will more than likely go home the same day.

*Setting up a home from scratch is a whole lot of work.  I am thankful for the help we have had and our friends here that did and are still doing so much to help us get settled and love on us.  We have also been blessed to have Emma Rose helping incredibly.  Let's just say the other night, she cooked Hungarian Goulash for dinner for us...along with a salad and roasted broccoli and some yummy bread with cheese stuff on top.  It was delicious.

*Being stuffy and pregnant is no fun.  There's nothing that you can take really to help...I have used some oils with a little success, but for the most part I just stay stuffed up.  Last night I resolved to sleeping sitting straight up on the couch in hopes of being about to not feel like my head was going to explode.

*I am slowly getting used to not having a dishwasher.  And not having a dryer.  And a tiny washing machine.  It's just an adjustment to remember to wash a small load daily, then put the clothes on the drying rack each day, which also means more ironing, which isn't my strong suit.

*We also have to adjust our way of grocery shopping.  With a fridge the size of a dorm fridge, we don't go and stock up like we were used to in the states.  Plus we live about a five minute walk to the local grocery store.  So we go just about every day to get what we need for that day, maybe the next as well.  It's kinda fun, except for the whole being 35 weeks pregnant.

*Flowers are starting to peek out all around here and I love it.  The flowers here really are amazing.

*Michael leaves for London tomorrow.  I am slightly jealous I must say.  It will be good though as he is going to Presbytery and will be able to meet and spend time with other men in this presbytery.

So I guess we are slowly getting more and more settled into life here.  I love the village life and love the church we are a part of here.  God truly has blessed us and I am excited to see what all the future holds here in growing the Lord's kingdom.  I am excited we get to be a part of it and pray the Lord will use us mightily for his purposes.

Pray for me to get better soon.  I go back to the midwife in the morning and hope that will bring more clarity into what the coming days will look like as we get close to the arrival of baby boy.  Pray for Michael to have a safe time and good fellowship in London.  Pray as we wait to hear back from the council about SK's school situation.  We covet the prayers of our friends and family.  I know the Lord is caring for us and will continue to.  Thanks friends :)

Maybe I will pull the camera out later this week or next and actually take some more pics...maybe...

Landing...

Well...we have officially landed in the UK, but it feels like we are still landing and will be for a while.  If you follow Michael and I on Facebook you might have seen we have had quite the interesting start.  Since I am up before the crack of dawn and am tired of looking at the list of all the things that need to get done, I am gonna try and blog to update everyone on what is has looked like for us so far here.

Let's start with take off shall we???

On Tuesday (meaning a whole week ago!) we headed to the airport bright and early at about 6 a.m.  Evie complains on the way there of her tummy hurting :(  We get through checking our bags and security without too much trouble, which was good.  Then as we are waiting to load the plane for our first of 3 flights for the day, Evie poops and let's just say it isn't firm :(  (OH...and if you don't like to read stories of poop and puke..stop reading now...sorry--this is just honestly how things have gone for us and the story will include both things plenty unfortunately).  Continuing on...

Evie doesn't seem too upset, but a little uncomfortable.  The first flight goes alright for the most part.  Then we get off the plane in Chicago and Evie melts.  She is miserable and hurting and unconsolable really.  We scramble to tend to her and try to find some food for lunch.  At this point I wonder if we are going to either A). not be able to continue on with the travel or B). have a miserable baby for the remainder of the flights which I am sure everyone will love who are also on the plane.  Before loading she finally calms down a little, but complaining of her tummy hurting.  We load the plane and guess who poops?  Yep...Michael took her to the bathroom on the plane and somehow managed to clean her up and get seated.  As we are getting ready for takeoff, she poops again...and this one I believe almost everyone sitting around us could not only smell, but hear as well as it happened.  I took her this time to the bathroom and quickly tended to that clean up before we hit the run way.  After that Evie fell fast asleep for the entirety of that flight which was nice.  She woke up right at landing and you will never guess it...she poops again.  I am just thankful that it isn't running out into her clothes, meaning having to deal with poopy clothes while traveling...that part at least comes later in the story.... :(

In the next airport we find our terminal and get a little snack (which Evie won't really eat...).  The final flight is somewhat smooth other than both girls only sleeping about an hour max.  Michael and I didn't get any sleep and Emma Rose (who praise the Lord is traveling with us and helping with SK all along the way).  We land in Manchester around 7:30 a.m. and head to get our luggage.  We are all pooped at this point and still have to manage getting our luggage.  Oh, and we get our stroller at the gate and somehow they managed to break the bar off part of the stroller, which irritates me, but it still functions fine...gotta still call the airline about that...

I should have taken a picture of us trying to figure out how to get all of our carry ons, 10 pieces of luggage and 2 kids and a stroller out to meet our friends that were picking us up.  It would have made a good picture, but I was too tired to think about that...

We finally get loaded in the 2 cars that we were picked up in (which...let me tell you.  It was a tight tight fit).  We headed straight to the cafe to get food and see everyone.  It was great to be greeted with hugs and cheers as we got out of the car.  It refreshed my heart after a long tiring day of travel.  After eating, we headed to our new home to check out it and get some rest.

Our church family here did such a great job of having beds set up for us and things in the kitchen so we could at least have somewhere to sleep and get by in the kitchen till we were able to make it to the store to get things and for our shipment to arrive.  All of us took a good little nap (trying not to let it be too long so we could work on getting over jet lag) then headed over to the Donahoo's for dinner and everyone in the church came to hang out at our house after that.

Can I just say what a blessing it is to have families here that have loved on us so well so far.  Truly.

The next day we were able to leave our girls with Emma Rose to play around the house while we went to Ikea to begin setting up our house with dishes and furnishings and such.

One thing I have had to learn to be ok with is the amount of time it is taking and is going to take to get our house feeling like home.  We still haven't heard anything about our shipment and as far as I know it is still at the port in SC...  that's a big bummer.  We are limited on what we can fit in a small car when we buy anything at the store and we are relying on friends here to cart us around to stores to get things.  Michael is going to look for a car today for us, so hopefully that will make it easier to get out to find things for our home to begin making it feel homey.  It is hard though, being 33 weeks pregnant and wanting to next and feel settled here before baby arrives and only be able to do so much in a day.

We have a couch and chairs as of Sunday, so that is nice :)  I plan to try and take pics around the house today and post those, even though the rooms are still quite bare with nothing on the walls.

As far as the kids go...Evie didn't really eat for about 4 days and ended up throwing up 3-4 times then SK got sick.  SK only threw up one time and has had a bit of an upset tummy on and off since then.  I won't go into all the details of that since I am sure you wouldn't mind being spared that part, but I will say that I never want to deal with that much puke and diarrhea again.  We have changed sheets and pj's in the middle of the night countless times.  OH...and did I mention that our washing machine doesn't work and we are waiting for a new one to come in that we have had to order???  Thankfully, the church here has more than taken are of us and are taking our nasty stinky clothes, sheets, towels and such and washing them for us.  That has been such a help.

It was great to get to worship on Sunday with our new church, though the kids were still not 100% and still aren't really.  Evie seems close to being back to herself, but SK is still recovering.

Pray they continue to heal and get back to themselves soon.  And protections for Michael, I and Emma Rose to not get it or anything else for that matter.

Also I was able to walk over to the GP "Surgury", which back in the states we would call the doc's office on Friday and turn in my paperwork to get registered, then fill out paperwork for the midwives group.  They were going to fax that paperwork to the midwives and I am supposed to hear back from them to get an appointment set up this week.

Pray for Michael as he goes to look for a car today.  Pray the Lord will provide a reliable car that is within our budget (or below would be cool :).

Pray that we would continue to settle in well and that our house would soon begin to feel like a home.  And in the in between we would be content with how it is and not be overwhelmed with so much to do.

Pray too for SK and getting her registered for school.  I am just realizing that I have missed a cut off date for registration for the fall and will now be considering a "late" register.  Pray that somehow the Lord works out those details for her to get into the school that is closest to us.

We also have an appointment today to get set up with a bank here.  Pray that goes smooth and we can get a bank account without hassle.

Praise the Lord with us that he has taken care of us thus far.  We have so many things we can be thankful for even in the midst of such craziness.  I have to step away from the lists and stresses and sickness to look at how kind the Lord has been to our family and provided for us.

We are excited too how the Lord continues to provide for our financial needs as well.  Since arriving, we have had another church join our support team, putting us at about 93% fully funded.  We are beyond thankful for that and trusting the Lord will bring in the rest of our needs in his timing.  You can pray and praise the Lord with us on that too.

Ok...that's enough for today.  I will attempt to take a moment today to get the camera out and take some pics of our new home (even if there is nothing hanging on the walls...

Move time...

Well...we are less than 2 weeks from our move date.  I feel like we have been running like crazy most days trying to do so many things to get ready to go and barely had time for processing what is about to happen.  I am so excited, yet grieving as well.  Since I can barely think clearly...I will give you my thoughts in list format...

*Here is how my brain works lately...-"We need to call____", "OH, we also need to___", "I am so tired, I will just lay here on the couch and write a list of those things", "Hmmm....what can I eat while I make this list", "I need a root beer"...and so it continues.

*I get tired easily these days being 30 weeks pregnant and it is hard for me to rest when my body is telling me I need to.  Michael is doing amazing at helping me do that though.  I am thankful for him.

*The lists are getting insane.  INSANE.  From phone calls, to forms, to packing, to sorting, etc., etc...

*I went to my last OB appt. yesterday.  I am now 30 weeks!  Doc sent me with all my paperwork so I can take it with me to England.  Pregnancy has gone well, I know I haven't blogged about it much...been a little busy I know.  Baby boy moves a lot and likes to kick me right on my left hip bones.  I told Michael I think I might end up with internal bruising from his jabs :)  I have been more sick this go around, but not horrible.  I have had round ligament pain (which I never had before) and the last few weeks I have been having indigestion like crazy every. single. night.  It's fun, let me tell you.

*I do love to watch my belly move all around.  It is probably my most favorite part of pregnancy.  It is amazing to see how there's a real life baby in there making my belly move.  I am amazed at our Lord every time I see and feel it.  I mean really, it is incredible to me.

* We are now officially living out of luggage pretty much.  Yesterday, we went ahead and packed up a good bit of our clothes (which we can still access out of our luggage), but needed to see if things were going to fit and how we were doing on weight.  We are planning to take 6-7 checked bags and each bag can' go over 50 lbs.  But we are trying to get each bag as close to that as possible to be efficient as well.  Then we have 4 rolling carry ons and an assortment of backpacks and such as well.

* I cried last night at church.  I actually had a good meltdown yesterday afternoon.  I laid on our bed after packing my clothes and sobbed.  It was more of an overwhelmed by so much to do and being pregnant and too tired to do it all sobbing.  I don't like the chaos going on right now and I can't control it.  The Lord is still working on me in terms of teaching me that I can't be in control all the time and have order, and that is ok.  He is showing me I am just going to have to trust him and rest in him during the chaos and know that He will take care of us through this whole transition.

*Then I cried at church.  I have held back tears the last 2 times we have worshipped at our home church.  Then I had tears last night.  I am going to miss our CPC family.

Maybe that is enough processing what is going on in my brain for now.  This move is getting real and we are days away.  I can't wait to get there in so many ways and settle into life in Culcheth.  I can't wait to set up our home and make it warm and cozy and inviting.  I can't wait to invite people over for dinner.  I am also anxious to see SK make new friends in the village and start school in the fall...and anxious about having a baby there.  I know the Lord will take care of all of my anxious thoughts.  He can handle them, I know that.

I was reading Mark this morning and am feeling a bit like the daddy in Mark 9, when he says, "I believe, help my unbelief!"  I cling to that and cry out the same thing this morning as my day begins. I struggle with my unbelief, but want so badly to believe.  I need Jesus.  I need lots of lots of Jesus right now.

Our shipment being taken...which should arrive a couple weeks after we get there.

The luggage line up.  Well...some of the luggage at least.

January 5

I won't even try to make excuses for my lack in blogging.  Maybe I can dream that once we get moved I will have more time to get back to blogging.  eh....not too sure.

But for today, I am going to blog.  :)

What all have I missed recording in the blog...

Let's see...since Nov. 10th, we have been able to have Thanksgiving with family for the first time in 4 years, we took an awesome trip for the first time as a family to Disney world, we have gotten sick, celebrate the birth of our Savior, and done lots of things in preparation for our big move.  I think that sums up the big stuff at least.

After our wonderful Disney trip, we came back and immediately starting fighting off sickness.  First it hit SK, the Michael and I, then Evie and now it is back to SK, though she seems better today.  Yesterday though is what I had on my mind for blogging about.

Yesterday I found myself at the Pediatricians office with SK getting her checked out due to her sickness coming back again.  I was signing in at the front desk and had to write the date.  I asked since I wasn't sure, and it was Jan. 5th, said the nurse.

My heart sank.

If we hadn't lost our baby, and he would have been born on his due date, he would have been 5 yesterday.  5.

Then....we get called back to the room and are waiting on the doc to come in.  SK and I hear a little baby crying from another room.  SK then unexpectedly brings up her sibling that is with Jesus.  She asks how old he would be if he hadn't died in my belly.  I then tell her he would be 5 that day.  I tear up.

The Lord is faithful and fully comforting though.  He loved me in that moment and I felt it.  SK then proceeded to talk about how she can't wait for all of us to be together in Heaven and be able to celebrate her brother's birthday with him there.

**And to clarify if you don't know the story of our loss completely....we didn't know the gender of our baby, but I felt like it was a boy, so that is why I say "he".

Yesterday was a big day.  Along with realizing the date and processing the emotions with that, we also started the day with a 4 a.m. Skype call :)  We had friends (who are at the church we are headed to be with in England) go and look at a new house that came up for rent.  We were anxious to hear their thoughts on the house and if we needed to jump on it, since houses seem to be quick to be rented out and hard to come by.  Well, after chatting and seeing videos of the house, we decided to jump and send in our application for it yesterday.  We are now waiting to hear back from the application!  So we could have a house lined up now, which is a huge answer to prayers!

Things are starting to all fall into place for our move.  We are in the midst of packing up what we are wanting to ship and hope to have our shipment on it's way by the next week or so (it will take 6 weeks to arrive in England).  We, as of yesterday as well, now have all the luggage we need and have already begun trial run packs to see what we will be able to fit into our luggage and still be within the 50 lb. per bag limit.

We have about 5 weeks till our move.  It is crazy how quickly things are happening now.  We will probably order plane tickets later this week assuming we get our visas back today (which they should arrive today and Lord willing have been approved and all!).

Pray for our stamina.  There is still much to figure out in the next few weeks.  And all along the way I am still homeschooling SK.

Maybe I will get back on here soon.  First though, I have to go work on packing and sorting.  And eating...I like to eat these days too.  Baby boy seems to be awfully hungry these days.

Here's to hoping the new year brings more time for blogging...

Introducing...

I know, I know.  It's been a while since I have blogged.  Life has been a bit crazy with little time to sit and blog.  We have been on the road sharing at many different churches about our calling to England and it has been good.  The Lord is continuing to be so faithful in meeting our needs and get us to England.
I first would like to introduce you to our little guy.  So without further ado, we would like to introduce you to....

Silas Jeddie Davis

(Silas is a name we have always loved that means "man of the forest" and in the Bible he accompanied Paul on his missionary journey, and 

Jeddie is Michael's dad's middle name)

We had our big ultrasound on Friday and were greatly surprised to hear "It's a boy!"  SK was with us (Evie was at home napping) and was grinning from ear to ear when she found out.  She had been saying for the last few weeks that she wanted the baby to be a boy so she could have someone to wrestle with :)  He was so precious as we watched him on the monitor.  He was curled up in a little ball for a while then got hiccups at one point.  We love him so much already and can't wait to hold him in our arms.

As I sat in the ultrasound room, I couldn't help but think about all of the emotions that must happen in that room.  I have had too many friends (and myself) sit and hear sad news.  My heart hurts for so many women that have lost babies.  Having been through loss ourselves, we don't take this news of our baby doing well for granted.  We are so very thankful to the Lord for health of our baby boy.

For myself, I have been feeling pretty well lately.  I am mostly past all of the gagging and nausea that hit me pretty good at the beginning.  I am back to being able to eat meats (which I wasn't able to do much in the first trimester).  

My cravings:  Southern home cooked veggies (mmm...can't get those enough)--like fried okra, green beans, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, squash, peas, and the list could continue, but I am getting hungry just naming them :).  I also think I have had a root beer ever day this pregnancy.  My poor husband has been sent to the store multiple times when we have run out!  I haven't been too into sweets this go around, but do love reece cups.  

Other symptoms I have been having are some killer headaches, lately it has been almost daily.  Peppermint oil and water seem to help greatly and a nap if I can.  I also have had round ligament pain this time, which I haven't had before.  The doctor wasn't worried about either of these and just told me to keep doing what I am doing.

Now that we know we are having a baby boy, it is time to start going through our baby stuff!  We aren't that far from thinking about what will be shipped overseas, so I am starting now with baby stuff!  No need for baby girl things to be shipped :)

Hopefully I can blog again before long :)