From Friday’s Feast

Appetizer
Tell about a toy you remember from your childhood.
My Big Wheel. It was cool. You could go out in the driveway and get going like supersonic speed, then pull the little handbrake and skid all over the place and spin around. You could get going really fast on the concrete and then go into the gravel and throw rocks everywhere too. Made me feel like I was on the Dukes of Hazard.

Soup
If you could make one thing in the world absolutely free for everyone, what would it be?
Food? Health care?

Salad
Approximately how many times per day do you think about your significant other?
Well, since she’ll read this, I’ll say about 3 times a minute.

Main Course
Name something you believe in 100%.
Jesus Christ.

Dessert
List 3 things you did this year that you would consider a “good deed.”
Gave some money to help a friend in need anonymously, didn’t vote for John Kerry, bought The Wife a treadmill.

Appetizer
How much money do you plan to spend this upcoming holiday season?
Not too much. I will want to buy some thing for my wife/daughter. My youngest daughter doesn’t need much and doesn’t get into much…and the grandparents usually get the kids too much anyway.

Soup
What was the last television show you watched, and was it good?
Watched Survivor last night. It’s always good. Oh, yeah, watched C.S.I. after it..it was good too.

Salad
If you had to paint the walls of your living room tomorrow, what color would you choose?
A more cool grey color with maroon trim maybe? But I do like navy and deep green.

Main Course
Name something clever or practical you have thought of that should be invented, but hasn’t yet.
What, amd let someone steal my idea?

Dessert
List 3 things you would like to receive as gifts this holiday season.
A new house in a primo neighborhood, a plasma television (big screen), and either an iPod or a phat video camera.

It’s November 23rd. The highs are in the upper 60’s, possibly low 70’s. How crazy is that?

I don’t mind it though.

Right now all seems well. We’re at home. The Kid is in the bed reading some books (reading is a funny term for her right now, but that’s what she calls it) and The Wife and The Other Kid (I need to work on some new names for the children) are asleep on the couch together. I’m on the computer while listening to Miss State play Syracuse. We’re up 4 right now.

But I’d said earlier that the doctor had wanted to induce Tuesday night. Based on a sonogram performed on Tuesday the baby (by estimations) had only grown roughly 3 oz. That wasn’t good. But it checked out great on the bio-physical test. But The Wife and I wrestled with it lot. He, the doc, said he’d wait til Wednesday morning at the latest.

We try some “natural induction” methods Friday night. Then I prayed a lot. And I know we had a lot of other people praying for us too. The Wife seems to get a few contractions passing through her body, but they appeared minor. She goes to sleep and I can’t sleep so I get up. I come back to bed and sleep til the morning. I thought The Wife got up and down a lot, but the next morning (Wednesday) she tells me that she went for a walk between 3am and 4am. The cleaned the house after a nap.

So morning came and I was disappointed. I thought that things were still like they’d been. I figure we’ll go and have to induce around lunch time. I was thinking it would still go quickly though once The Wife’s water was broken. So I go to the office for a while and then go get a haircut. Then come back home.

I get a few things in order that I’ll want to take w/ me. The Wife is feeling some pretty tense contractions by this point. But still not on any regular rhythm. But they’re now becoming intense. So I say let’s go. We’ll drop The Kid off at the Grandmother’s and then head to the hospital. But she tells me to go and then come back and pick her up. I leave her standing next to the bed with her head down on the bed w/ a slow moan. She’s thinking that we’re still a few hours off. That’s the way it was with The Kid.

I come back home, grab some pillows and try to get her in the Explorer. She can’t at first and then she can. So she hops in and leans way back in the seat. We’re about 3/4 of a mile from the hospital. Piece of cake. We hit a red-light soon. No cars coming. The Wife tells me to run it. I tell her it will change in a few seconds. She tells me to forget waiting and go. I can tell she means business. So I scoot on through. Then her water breaks. I call my dad and then my grandmother on the way while that happens. This was at 12:46.

I pull up to the door where you go in to the Labor and Delivery part of the hospital. I run around and open The Wife’s door. I ask her if she can make it in. But she’d just been telling me that it’s so close to coming. All she could say is that she feels she needs to push. I run in and tell them at the desk that they’re expecting us and my wife is in labor in the car just outside. She’s wanting to push and thinks the baby is really, really close.

They probably thought, “Yeah, sure.” because they see frantic husbands all the time. I wasn’t frantic, but determined. Anyhow, they come out there w/ a wheelchair. The Wife has pulled her pants down to her thighs. The nurse walks up and says, “Hey, honey….how are we doing?” then I hear her voice change and she says, “Uh-oh, I see the head’s out already!”

I’m trying to process all of this in my head. If the head’s out how will she be able to sit in the wheel chair to get inside. I walk up close and peek over the nurse’s shoulder to see what things are looking like down there. Then I see head…shoulders….arms waving…then the whole thing slide out. I was able to get a good peek and see that IT’S A GIRL! Most people had guessed it was going to be a boy. But they’d already clipped the cord and all that stuff that I thought I’d get to do. This is at 12:50. Four minutes earlier I was telling people on the phone that we were on our way to the hospital.

But they whisk the baby away inside and I see the, um, mess that’s in the seat with The Wife. But the nurses help her out and into the wheel chair and get her in. They bring the baby back after wiping it down. The Wife nurses and delivers the placenta and they stitch her up. Then we’re home free.

Last night was peaceful. The Baby slept fine. I didn’t. But I was trying to sleep on what amounts to a long ottoman. But I think it was more from my mind being crammed with tons of stuff. But they let us go home around 2:30 or 3:00. Everything’s been fine since we’ve been here. Everyone seems sleepy. I should be. But I’ll get my rest.

It’s crazy the timing of it all. If we’d been just a little earlier, it could have been messy in the parking lot of the wheel chair. Later and I would have had to pull over and do it myself or something. People asked me if I was freaking out during it all, and I said no. I didn’t have time to freak out. But I would have been out of my mind if I had to do it myself. I mean, I would have had no boiled water (that’s what they always did on Little House on the Prairie when someone was having a baby…boil water).

Thanks to everyone for the prayers. They were needed and appreciated. Don’t let up. Pictures to come soon. Oh, and Miss State is losing now by 9.

We had things happen really fast. We live about 3/4 of a mile from the hospital. But I carried my 3 year old to my mom’s house first. I figured I’d call my mom when things got close and they’d come up to the hospital. Then I’d say to everyone, “It’s a ______!”

So I drop her off, come back to get my wife (she told me to leave her while I took our daughter). She was really feeling it. But it wasn’t very regular or in a rhythm. So I get her in the vehicle and we start to drive to the hospital. She’s begging me to run redlights. Then her water breaks. So I park by the door of the Women’s Center. My wife’s saying she feels like she needs to push. I think, “NO! Not yet!”

So I run inside and get some nurses. I tell them my wife is outside and is about to give birth. They don’t seem in a hurry and are thinking, “You’re just a frantic husband who is over stating things. They come out and see that I’m absolutely right when they glance at my wife in the passenger seat. They take a look at her lap and say “I see the head!” and then BLOOP the baby slides right out while my wife is still sitting in the car. So we had our 2nd child, another daughter, in the car right outside the door to the maternity wing.

So now we’re proud parents of a 6 pound, 5 oz girl!

WOOT!!!

Thanks for all the prayers! Keep them up, please.

Pray pray pray for The Wife and the baby on the way. She went to the doc again today (Tuesday) and he measured w/ his little tape measure. Then he ordered a sonogram. Results said the baby wasn’t growing much. Monday was the due date, but that’s no biggie.

But over the last 3 weeks the baby has only grown a few ounces. That’s not normal. But it did score a perfect 8 of 8 on the bio-physical exam (measures amniotic fluid, heart rate, movement and something else). So it’s strange that those don’t match up.

Anyhow, the doc wanted to induce tonight. But it’s nearly 1am right now, and The Wife’s asleep. He wants it to be in the morning at the latest. So we have a decision to make in the morning (unless God puts her in labor tonight.) That’s what I’m praying for. Labor tonight. We do not want to induce, but know we might need too.

So I beg for your prayers right now.

Well, the due date is today for our new baby. Still don’t know if it is a boy or a girl. That means I’ll get to smash through the doors into the waiting room where people are holding their breath …. and I’ll scream, “IT”S A ________!” How cool will that be? But we really want to baby to come on so The Wife will be better for the move down there. So I beg your prayers for Bev and the baby. We’re playing the wating game, right now.

As far as the move itself…we know we’re coming, but not sure what we’re moving into. House here still hasn’t sold. So that could use a little prayer too

And last night was our last “regular” youth night here at the church in Amory. Really wasn’t sad until I went to bed and finally got still. Eight years is a long while. The seniors were in 4th grade when I got here. That’s crazy.

But we knw that God’s got us right in His hands. We’re really, really looking forward to Clinton and the church and all the students and everything else. It’s going to be awesome!

Well, I must admit that I am a Halo lover. Not a Halo geek or addic or anything. But I can dig a good Halo game. I bought it off of ebay this summer. Played it a while, then started playing multiplayer games with guys from the church. I’d beat them. Then they went and bought it and now they beat me. But it’s good fun.

Halo 2 came out this week. I didn’t buy it at 12:01 like some freaks. I didn’t rearrange my daily schedule to go buy it like many people did. But I did manage to grab a copy at Walmart the day after it released (and I LAUGH at you, techno geek from GameStop who told me that if I didn’t preorder from your store I’d have to wait until March to hope to get a copy.

It’s good again. More weapons. More maps. More vehicles. More everything. Yes, there is a little cussing in the Single Player Campaign mode. But nothing you don’t here on an average episode of Seinfeld. But there’s none of that in the Multi-Player mode. No salty Marines there to wag their tongues. And the killing is either on Aliens or semi-robot dudes. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think playing Halo is going to turn a person into a killer. At least not anymore than me playing FIFA Soccer is going to make me able to try out for the US National Team next year. But, I will say that if I ever have a lot of battle armor on and I see a bunch of aliens running down my street, and I happen to have my plasma rifle handy, I might try to take out a few.

I read where Halo 2 will make more money in its first week of release than any movie ever has (including Spiderman, LOTR, Harry Potter, any of them). That’s insane..especially seeing as it has a M rating (which should be a T rating.)

We went to the doctor yesterday. He said The Wife is 3cm and 80% already. He would have induced if we’d have let him. But we want to wait. When the apple is ripe, it will fall from the tree.

So it’s literally any minute now.