Quick Update

For any readers who don't follow my Facebook, here's a quick update. Gibson Liam Hunt was born on October 5 at 1:26 pm. He was a whopping 8 lbs and 3 oz and 21 inches long. And they all said that my baby was going to be tiny! Yeah, right! I think even if he had been 6 lbs he still would have seemed huge. Delivering a child is no easy matter. So he's now 6 weeks old and getting cuter by the day. The recent milestone is his once a night feeding instead of two or three. Such a blessing! Ambitious eaters make for good sleepers. I thank Baby Wise for giving me excellent parenting concepts for a newborn to help establish a routine. His metabolism and sleep patterns are pretty set now and it's making for a more predictable day, which includes at least one nap for me too. And I have four friends (yes, 4!) who are all pregnant and due in mid March or early April! I will say there are one or two that I wish were also pregnant, but that's not my decision and I would never coerce anyone who wasn't sure into parenting. It's not for the uncertain if you want to do it well. So congratulations, ladies! I know you are all at the point of diagnostic ultrasounds and finding out the genders. So far - 2 girls and 1 boy. I haven't heard on the 4th one yet.

As for Monte, he's been very busy. Not only is he enjoying the short blips of time with Gibson in between feedings and naps, he's constantly working. If he's not at BioLife for his day job, then he's here or at the Forest Park North campus doing something for the church. Things are gaining stability with the worship ministry as he has found a good chunk of musicians and vocalists to round out the schedule. This is particularly challenging since there are 4 services every weekend (2 Saturday and 2 Sunday) for which he has to lead and find volunteers to play and sing. He's got a system now that seems to be working where he can insert more of his musical friends from other churches by having them play mostly on Saturday nights so as not to interfere with their regular church attendance and service. That also makes for twice as many people to line up, but so far so good. Please pray that his ministry will continue to grow and minister to those who attend.

I said quick, right? Whatever! We're excited for the holidays to see family and friends and for them all to meet Gibson. There are 3 new boys to the Hunt/McSpadden side of our family. Gibson will have some good playmates as he grows up! Enjoy the picture!

Baby Hunt's Imminent Arrival

I've got just a week and 5 days until I'm due with Baby Hunt. The last two doctor's appts have been encouraging for a first timer since my body is already more than halfway ready to deliver. Unfortunately, this baby loves the womb and doesn't seem to have any plans of coming out until he/she is good and ready. So here's the scoop: last Thursday I was dilated to between 4 and 5 cm, 70% effaced and at +1 station, which is the position of Baby's head in my pelvis with +5 being crowning I'm pretty sure. Birthing class made all that information so much more understandable. Monte and I feel much more confident in our labor and delivery knowledge now that we took the class. All those who are expecting - take the class! Of course, you don't have to until much later in your pregnancy. Take it too early and you might forget some valuable info.

Of course, with this kind of progression already taking place in my body might indicate a much shorter labor. So I was advised to be very aware of when contractions start becoming regular and 5 minutes apart to make our way to the hospital since I'm not nearly as far from transition as most first timers. I definitely don't want to deliver in the car! Monte would flip out!

Be sure and check out pictures of the nursery and my belly pics with Allyson Neely on my Facebook. I'll announce the news when it comes!

Patriotism

It's becoming more and more apparent that many, if not most, young adults have a serious lack or void of patriotism towards the USA. I totally understand not loving what our country has become or what our country sometimes portrays to the rest of the world. However, patriotism has nothing to do with the current status of our country. It has everything to do with believing in your country's deepest core values and what your country has accomplished. Supporting and loving your country doesn't mean that you have to condone what your country has done or else no one on the whole world would be patriotic towards their country. Every country has it's black marks on history and many bad choices that have caused many hurts. We are privy to know about all of ours since we live here and have news at our fingertips, as well as living experience. Other countries have long lists of things to not be proud of too, and I bet their citizens are well aware of those things.

I've heard a few people express distaste with American flags being in their churches. How? Without what this country was founded on and the freedom that was fought for we wouldn't have church buildings that were publicly known at all, much less put a flag up in them. I get the idea that our faith is not based in America but in Christ. Agree. However, the separation of church and state is misrepresented in our society as being a strict standard that nothing church related whatsoever can be a part of government. If you check your history and the amendment that discusses the matter, you'll see that it's strictly to prevent a theocracy, which is a church run government. We're no where close to that. And groups like the ACLU have misrepresented and manipulated people's ignorance of our constitution in order to take suits against groups who happen to be patriotic and faith based. I heard a great line that says, "Our constitution allows for freedom of religion, not freedom from religion." And somehow some of our officials, who are supposed to be public servants, are more apologetic to religious groups that aren't Christian and hostile towards those that are. How is that fair?

So fewer American Christians who believe in the principles of our great nation only weaken our ability to continue to practice freely. The next generations will become less and less passionate about what our flag and founding documents stand for as young adults today become more apathetic in their conviction to stand up for our being a nation reverent to God in our origins. Not every Christian needs to sing patriotic songs in church in order to be considered patriotic. But the idea of church being a place unfit for our expression of patriotism is ludicrous. It's just a token of appreciation. Allegiance first and foremost to God and then to country.

And then there's the flip side. Many of these unpatriotic young adult Christians that I've met don't allow their moral convictions brought about by their faith in God to bleed over into politics. It seems that while trying to be more loyal to Christ by leaving patriotism out of church they are less loyal to Christ and His teachings when going to vote. Am I the only one who finds this to be an oxymoron? I personally don't see a better way to reflect your faith in God being an American than voting based on your moral convictions in every election. Allegiance first and foremost to God then to country. Sometimes it seems that while having good intentions many young adults who are Christians start seeing things through a social worldview instead of a Godly worldview. Partly to blame is probably ignorance of both the Bible and our founding documents. Another part might be the reaction to our issues with strictly emotion. I can understand getting pretty ticked off and wanting things to change. But many time being ticked off only leads us to staying ticked off without any results.

Due to bringing a child into the world soon, many of these issues have wandered into my mind. I've been thinking about how we'll someday be influencing this child on how to serve God and be the best Christian by serving our community. Having a kid kinda slaps you in the face with self evaluation and criticism. Whew! Okay, I'm done. Hope I made some sort of sense.

Life is good.

So I have some more kudos to send out for my shower. Rachel Brown and Sarah Neldeberg - thanks a ton! I know that these 4 ladies doing the planning will make it a great experience. I'm blessed.

Plus, I have two very close friends who are also expecting now. What a joy! I still have a couple people who are hoping for the blessing of children very soon. They are constantly in my prayers.

Be sure to enjoy everyday as a gift. You never know what the next day may hold. Key word right now - cherish. Makes me think of the Madonna song. Ha!

Baby Shower On the Way

Thanks to my good friend, Allyson Neely, Baby Hunt will be showered with gifts pre-birth! And I hope that most of the necessities and extremely helpful items will show up. Thanks also to my other good friend, Sara Hill. She is also helping. It's good to know they are willing to put forth the effort. Thanks, ladies! You're great and I'm so grateful.

Baby Shower Etiquette

Okay, so I'm at a loss for the etiquette behind baby showers. I know that I was expected to throw a shower for my sister in law before she and my brother got married and that was fine. I was the closer sister, Sarah living in TX at the time, and my mom shouldn't have to throw a shower when she was already paying for a bunch of wedding stuff. I'm cool with that, and I understood my duty and privilege to throw that party. She got some great kitchen stuff! Pampered Bride parties are awesome. I'm a bit jealous since the idea wasn't hot when I got married. I'm not bitter.

But on to this baby shower thing. I'm almost 30 weeks pregnant. I got 10 to go and most of these "experts" in the magazines and baby books all suggest having showers about 2 months before Baby is due. Okay, well that's easy to type, but how do I get it done? I'm a total doer, and I have no shame asking someone if they'd be willing to help me throw my own shower. But apparently, that's not proper etiquette. So with a mom in Little Rock and a sister in Hot Springs, both 4-5 hours away, how am I supposed to have a shower? I've already had people asking me when I am having a shower and I have nothing to offer them other than where I've registered.

So the other day I was talking with a friend without the intent to sucker someone into it, but good ol' Allyson Neely overheard and offered to throw me a shower! So maybe I should just ask? What are your thoughts? I know of a couple others who would be happy to throw me a shower if they were close enough for it to be possible - Jani and Sara S. and probably Sara C. So let me know what you would do in my shoes. I'm curious. Thanks!

Week 28

So pregnancy for me is now in the home stretch. I still feel pretty great. I'm sure I will be tilting ever closer to the uncomfortable mark day after day. But you can always pray with me that it doesn't happen that way. I wouldn't mind the extra boost.

So many things to think about and plan and wonder. Luckily, since I'm in a state of peace about motherhood and the whole labor and delivery scenario, I don't have any wild fears or apprehensions to deal with at the moment. I was speaking to a group of high risk teens at a camp close by last Friday. One gal asked me, "Are you going to push that baby out?" I just smiled and told her, "Not right now. But whenever Baby decides to come I'll have to or else have a C-section." She had a look of fear mixed with awe on her face. I bet she is 13 or so. I hope that idea of pushing out a baby will help her to make wise and healthy choices during her teens and young adult years.

I also went to a breastfeeding workshop last night. That was good. A doula was there to explain her services if any of us ladies would like to employ her. I was pretty impressed. And her rates weren't bad at all for all that she commits to doing. She had this interesting "dilation chart" visual aid that she uses to help women progress in labor mentally to employ their bodies to progress as well. It was simple squares of thin, colored foam (the flexible kind) that had different sizes of dilation - 1cm all the way to 10 cm - cut out. I told her I needed one for my sex ed classes. That would be quite the visual aid.

We still have no idea on a girl name though. I thought about Gracie. Any thoughts? I don't know. Edie sounds good too. We'll see, I guess. And Monte and I will be getting photographed, thanks to Allyson Neely, here in 3.5 weeks or so to have some visual memories of later pregnancy. I am blessed so far not to have any stretch marks yet and hope that it will not happen at all, especially before the pictures are taken.

We've also been very blessed to get baby furniture passed down to us, as well as quite a bit of gender neutral clothing - onesies, sleepers, etc. We will not have to purchase quite a few of the big items either - stroller, swing, bouncer, etc. Yay! I'm tellin' ya. The less ridiculous you are about getting everything just perfect long before baby arrives the more God has an opportunity to bless you. He definitely will provide. In every way. Stay faithful and take a deep breath. Life is good with God in control.

Roxy's Brush with Death

So Roxy decided to dine on some D-Con mouse poison this past weekend while at my in-laws. Somehow the door into the garage got left open enough for the girls to slip through and sniff around. Like any good hound, Roxy let her nose do the thinking. Apparently, they make the stuff to be somewhat enticing to mice in order for them to ingest it. And so Roxy thought it would be tasty as well. Luckily, I was curious as to where the dogs were, called for them, and when Roxy came to me she had the box of poison in her mouth! I knew immediately that we had an issue to resolve and quickly.

We called out vet who was not available. It was Saturday, and he was probably off of work. Okay, next option - call a local vet. Now we were in small town Iowa. Good thing for my emotions and for Roxy's health that there was a clinic open. The vet tech advised how to induce vomiting to remove all the pellets from her stomach. Unfortunately for Stella, we didn't know if Roxy had been the only one to partake of the turquoise pellet feast. So both dogs had to endure and only minutes later we knew Roxy was the only one. Then off we went to the clinic where both girls got Vitamin K shots just in case. The poison's job is to prevent blood from clotting which causes internal bleeding. Vitamin K helps clot blood and to counteract the ill affects of the poison. We got 2 more shots for the next day for both dogs and advised to see our local vet as soon as possible when we got home. Now Roxy got another shot yesterday morning as well as crimson colored jelly bean Vitamin K pills to take twice daily.

All the symptoms we were told that would indicate a medical emergency have not happened and would have happened within 48 hours of the ingestion. Roxy is totally fine and proves that over and over by her ridiculous excitement that seems to explode from her every time someone comes in the house. And it was good for us because had it not been known what she was doing, Monte and I would be absolute messes right now from grief. Tears aren't far away these days as pregnancy progresses. I wasn't far from losing it when I took the box of poison out of her mouth. But we can all now breathe a sigh of relief. We just need to make sure that Roxy never has that chance again since she probably has made no connection to all these events from which to learn to stay away.

And Baby Hunt is doing well. He/she is rolling, flipping, kicking, punching, doing Tae Bo and who knows what else in there. It's amazing how the movement is visible from the outside too. I've got a kickboxer in there, I just know it. Until next time...

Quick Rant

Okay, so ever since I've been old enough to understand our government in the most basic sense, I have realized that government assistance is something for those in need. Right? Well, apparently even people who should know better think they should just use it since it's available and they "qualify" according to the government's standards. Well, so do I, but taking advantage of government assistance when I'm in no form of need for it is, in principal, irresponsible.

Knowing all this, I can't seem to find a good platform to really educate a certain group of people on this subject. Ironically enough, most of the people who take advantage of these programs when not really in need are in fact those who stand politically against the advancement of these exact programs. These are people who would most likely categorize themselves in the conservative side of politics where government programs are wished to be minimized, if not abolished, and given to the states if they so wish to issue the same.

Now, the main category of government assistance to which I'm referring is Medicaid. I counsel women who NEED to get on Medicaid. It's serving them a huge purpose. Then there are those, typically Bible college students in my experience, who think that since they want to have a baby, despite still being in school and having very little income and having been married for usually only a short time, that they will and will let the taxpayers pick up the bill without any thought to planning, saving, delaying gratification, which is a sign of maturity, or thinking about how it will influence those around them. Part of the issue here is the sense of entitlement that this current generation and my own definitely have. I have to fight pretty hard sometimes to remind myself that I don't just deserve anything. And especially if I want respect of those older, I better be willing to work hard for what I'd like to have or achieve or else it's not as fulfilling. The other part of the issue I think is emotional. I fought my maternal urges for 3.5 years before I finally got pregnant, only to miscarry. Luckily, I'm pregnant again and get to enjoy this venture. It's not easy to ward this off, especially when you love someone as much as I love Monte and want to share that experience with that person. I totally understand. However, reason and rational thinking have to be a part of family planning, and if any group of people in the great country need to excel at family planning, it's Christians! And I think the 3rd part of the issue is that men aren't allowed or expected to be an active participant in fertility planning. Our society has tried to deem it a women's issue and so men are now very hands off. However, Christian couples need to understand that it's a 50/50 team effort and that men need to forsee the rational side of this when their wives are consumed with the emotional. Trust me, I know. It wasn't long ago that Monte and I had many discussions on having kids soon. His hesistance was not what I wanted, but it was the best choice for our marriage. And now, after 5.5 yrs of marriage, we can thoroughly enjoy this pregnancy without the stress of school, poverty level income, me having to work, and how we're going to pay for all the medical bills.

Maybe another part of the issue is also the lack of vision. When we are future focused, things in the present become much more important and pivotal. It's less of the fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants mentality and more of the thinking of actions today affecting outcomes tomorrow. If I had to be pregnant during college, I would quit. I want to fully enjoy the experience of pregnancy and having a new baby at home. Plus, it's super stressful. Why put more stress on myself than what I already have? Baby isn't going to benefit from that.

So I say, Bible college students, chill out, relax, enjoy each phase of life in due time. Trust me, you have a long time to have babies and get married and be the picturesque couple. Do one main thing and do it well. Don't spread yourself so thin that you can't remember what you did yesterday. And by all means, don't pass off your medical bills to the government. More of you out there doing that means more of a burden on society and we already have plenty of people dipping into those funds who aren't nearly as informed as you are. Research, plan, save. You'll be proud you did.

I'm Back

Yes, it's been a while. If you've been regularly checking up on my blog, I apologize for the staleness of it lately. I have a few reasons for not being actively blogging.

First of all, the big setback was the miscarriage I had last fall. I pretty much took a nosedive from being social and had to heal for a long time before being comfortable with sharing again. It's amazing how vulnerable that experience can make a person feel. Not only because of the lack of control but because of how little it's spoken about in public and by those who have had similar experiences. It's one of those subjects we know is there but is seldom discussed in a healthy manner.

Secondly, I got pregnant again in January, and this time everything is great! I'm currently at 20 wks and 6 days. So I've especially been pretty consumed with the idea and all that goes along with it. In fact, this morning was the first time I actually could see that little baby in there moving around. Fascinating! So cool. We are not finding out the gender. And we actually missed our best opportunity to get the most accurate assessment from the sonographer last Friday. All we know and need to know is that our little baby is healthy and all the major functions of the body are in working order. So we're satisfied.

Thirdly, Monte has been pursuing a ministry to take over as his full time employment. There have been many steps in this process. It's been quite a learning period for us both. The first stage was to lay himself out there in front of those churches with openings available. Then we waited. And waited and waited and waited. So for months, nothing happened. Then, about 2 months ago he was slammed with 5 churches interested all at once. One was even for a position he did not apply for and is actually better than the one he did! So we've been interviewing and traveling some. And when it's not for a church he'll eventually work for full time, he's been playing and leading for two churches locally to help out and gain some valuable experience and some enriching mentoring in the process.

That's why. So stick close. I'll be more present with my blog from now on. I hope that this update helps some of you Amy trackers to know what's going on. Have a great day and enjoy the sunshine!