requesting prayer for tomorrow’s (Monday’s) ultrasound
Tomorrow morning (Monday, August 16th) is the follow up ultrasound with our perinatologist.
Originally we were on the books for 8am, but they backed us up to 9:30am, so if you think to pray, that’s when we will be figuring out what is going on with baby boy.
If you have no clue what I am talking about, jump over to our blog from three weeks ago and you can get up to speed with the complications with our pregnancy: “Pregnancy Update: Five Long Days”
This seems like the appropriate point at which to update you on how Beth and I are doing, but to be honest I don’t really know if I can. We know that tomorrow could be good news, tough news, scary news, bad news, or a combination of any of the above. So I think we are having a tough time really knowing what to feel, and the feelings shift so fast.
Please just pray that all is well with the little guy and that the Lord would give us the grace we need for tomorrow and the faith to face whatever come our way.
Thank you for praying, we will keep you posted.
trip to texas
We were able to make a trip down to Texas this past weekend to enjoy some time with family before the start of a crazy new semester. It was a handful of days with numerous highlights, but I am going to let images do the talking and words remain few.
Here you go:
pregnancy update: five long days
I will explain more for those of you who are not yet in the loop, but first let’s all enjoy our baby boy’s first portrait:
(That’s his face, in case you can’t make it out, with his fist touching his forehead)
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For those of you who have no clue what the dramatic title is all about, let me get you updated. (If you are in the know, you can skip down to the section below):
On Thursday, Beth had a regular checkup at her midwife clinic. She called me at work to let me know there was concerning news.
Beth informed me that she is “measuring small” – that her tummy is not as large as it should be. In fact, her tummy should measure close to 29 centimeters, but she is closer to 24.
Problem #1: as far as we know, Wilsons don’t do small babies.
Problem #2: the discrepancy in Beth’s size could indicate a failure to thrive – that the baby is not getting the nutrients he needs to grow properly.
Problem #3: measuring small could also indicate that there is insufficient amniotic fluid around the baby, which can signal major problems at this point in the pregnancy.
For all of these reasons, the midwife was concerned and decided to send us to the perinatologist (an expert in high-risk pregnancies and ultrasounds) to take a look our son via the miracle of hi-definition ultrasound technology.
So she scheduled an appointment …
Fast forward through a weekend of anxiety, tears, sleeplessness, nervous silence, prayer, internet research, Bible studying, trouble focusing, and assorted other feelings … and you get to this morning’s appointment:
Long(ish) story short: Beth and I walked out of the perinatologist’s office relieved, but not necessarily out of the woods.
The details: What we discovered is that our son is, at this point, a bit on the small side – 2 pounds, 10 ounces (that’s the 32nd percentile, if you know what “percentile” mean). This is not necessarily concerning, except for the fact that Abbey was a hefty infant.
It also seems that he has been thriving in the womb.
I say “has been” because his belly was a bit smaller than the doctor would have liked, which could indicate that he is not getting all the nutrients he needs and the development of his head is taking precedence over a “less vital” body part. It is possible that he is just thin around the middle – but it’s also possible that something is not quite right.
As for the amniotic fluid, Beth’s levels were right where they should be, which was incredibly reassuring to us.
So, now what?
In three weeks we will be back to visit the perinatologist and have another ultrasound. The doctor will compare results and see if our son is continuing to grow at a steady rate and with steady proportions (that’s good) or if his head is growing at a faster rate than his tummy (that’s not good).
Though we still don’t know exactly what is going on inside of Beth’s belly, we know that our son kicks a lot and has a steady heart-rate, so we know that, right now, he seems to be healthy.
As for now, nothing changes – no bed-rest for Beth and no diet or exercise restrictions.
As for later, we will wait and see what the next ultrasound says, hoping that all is well and he is developing at a steady rate of growth.
We are relieved and we are thankful for friends and family who love, serve, and pray for us so well – we are deeply appreciative and love you all very much.
. . . . . .
Final note: Beth and I are about 95% decided on our son’s name. We’ll let you know when we hurdle that last 5%.
the “washing machine” incident
One simple parenting scenario seen from two very different perspectives.
Perspective #1 – The Mom
Beth is the greatest mom, she completely goes above and beyond any of my wildest pre-parenting expectations. She is so nurturing and caring, loving and kind, firm but tender, everything you could ever want in a (smoking hot) mother of your children.
One of the things I love most about Beth’s mothering of Abbey is the way that she makes everyday “big girl tasks” fun for Abbey.
A perfect example from earlier today: Beth needed to run a load of laundry, so she began to collect he laundry from the dirty clothes hampers in our bedroom and Abbey’s bedroom. This is fairly routine and so Abbey knew exactly what was going on and she began to “help” Mommy carry the dirty clothes in the kitchen.
Always the opportunist, Beth seized upon Abbey’s willingness to lend some assistance as an opportunity to get her more involved in the fun of doing the laundry.
So, Beth sets Abbey on top of the dryer, opens the washer, starts the water filling up the machine, and begins to hand Abbey articles of clothing for her to drop into the washing machine.
Mom’s perspective: “PARENTING VICTORY: LAUNDRY IS FUN!”
Perspective #2 – The Baby
Mommy is taking clothes into the kitchen.
Mommy lets me carry some clothes.
Yeah! Now I am up high on this white machine!
OOOH!!! Fun game!
Mommy hands me a shirt.
I drop shirt.
I watch shirt fall into white thing that is filling with water.
Mommy is so happy!
I am so happy!
Oh, now close the lid! Yippeee!
Baby’s perspective: “THIS IS A GREAT GAME!!!!”
Moral of the Story
Babies cannot tell the difference between a washing machine filling with water and a toilet bowl being flushed – so don’t “teach them to do laundry” and then hand them a shirt to “go put in the hamper” because the shirt will get flushed down the toilet.
style update
No, I’m not switching over to a monochromatic wardrobe, we just decided to mix it up and apply a new theme to the blog.
Love it? Hate it? Never see it (because you just use a RSS reader, anyways)?
Enjoy the weekend!
quick post for SBCers out there
Baptist21 recently interviewed my buddy Ben Dockery regarding his thoughts on the recent Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting and everything he said was spot on. So, if you’re interested in the SBC or in any way curious “why all the talk about this summer’s SBC meeting?”, head over to the baptist21 site and check the interview out.
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Ok, now that all of the people who have no interest in anything having to do with Southern Baptists have stopped reading, let me highlight my favorite portion of Ben’s interview – its a statement directed at young, “too cool”, men and women who love the gospel but think that the SBC may move a bit too slow for them:
I grew up in the SBC and then several years ago after serving a para-church ministry for a few years, I found myself at the (SBC) convention meeting in Nashville. I thought I was too cool for SBC culture: I didn’t dress, act, sing, talk, eat, or carry myself the way I saw the average SBC Convention goer.
As I sat in a red folding chair in Vanderbilt’s basketball stadium, the Lord broke me of my arrogance. From that time, I decided to serve the Lord within the convention and the churches that are a part of the convention.
The SBC is far from perfect, but I regularly encourage others to join the work of the SBC and my reasons are never because we have the best graphics on our websites or the hippest leaders at our conferences or because we are on the edge of being relevant to the culture. I like all those things and hope to see more of that in the SBC as the gospel grabs our hearts, but I feel comfortable asking others to join the work of the SBC because I am convinced the convention seeks after God, loves the Bible, trains faithful ministers, and mobilizes the gospel around the world.
Personally, I think people who are looking for those things and want to partner with others will want to be a part of the SBC.
You may think that the best days of the SBC are long gone. You may even think that the best days of the SBC never even existed. Whatever you believe about Southern Baptists, I think/I hope that the decision to support the Great Commission Resurgence signals that the future of the SBC. I hope that it means the churches of the SBC will dedicate themselves to a full-bodied proclamation of the gospel. I hope this means that the SBC’s reputation (deserved or not) has turned the corner and we will see a future of wholehearted commitment to Jesus’ commands to go and make disciples of the peoples in all nations.
If that’s so, then the SBC (with all its warts, flaws, and foibles) is probably worth our energy, efforts, and prayer … don’t you think?
abbey’s first dance: spinning to ‘thieves’
Beth and Abbey brought lunch to the office today.
While Abbey was having her shepherd’s pie for lunch, I pushed play on the newest album by She & Him.
“Thieves” started playing and Abbey started spinning:
Abbey is becoming a sweet little girl.
Special thanks to She & Him for striking a rhythmic note for Abbey to dance to (and, as it turns out, the album is only $5.99 to download from Amazon right now).
i married a genius
My wife is brilliant.
We were talking tonight about parenting, disciplining children, and sharing the gospel with children and she basically said the following:
Parents have children. Parents pass their own sin down to their children. Children sin in the same way their parents sin. Parents must figure out how to correct their children and speak the gospel to their sin. In doing so, parents must learn how to speak the gospel to their own sin. In this way (among others) parents learn to preach the gospel to themselves and are sanctified through their children.
Like I said, Beth is brilliant and it never ceases to encourage me to see Beth mother Abbey.
I am a fortunate man.
want to start a firestorm?
All you have to do is 1) tell people what to do with their money or 2) suggest that they are making bad decisions with their money.
It’s a proven fact.
(Even though I don’t know how you could actually “prove” such a thing)
We all think that our way of thinking about money is the best way to think about money – even if our way of actually spending money doesn’t live up to our ideals.
Here is a case study. I found this quote earlier today and it struck me as an interesting way of thinking about making purchases. The quote is about buying expensive “heirloom quality” shoes – and how the guy who buys $500 shoes is smarter than you and I:
its better to have one good pair of shoes than a half dozen cheap ones, because the cheap ones look cheap even when theyre new, but the new ones look good even when theyre old. quality by definition is the best you can get for your money. if you buy a pair of shoes for $500 and they last you 10 years, thats $50 per year. if you buy a pair for $100 and they last you six months, which was the more expensive?
— Bruce Boyer
So, what do you think?
Will your next pair of boots be these, these, or these?
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Thanks to Put This On for the thought-provoking quote.
Re:Wilsons 