The pain began as mild cramps in a band around my stomach and back in the weeks following Silas’s delivery. I dismissed it as muscle fatigue. Then the cramps worsened with one to two attacks per week that were debilitating.

The pain jumped all over my torso—stomach, rib cage, right side, between my shoulder blades. It was intense, so intense that I began vomiting. Finally, after suffering for 10 hours last Sunday, Stephen drove me to the ER where I was treated quickly, to my delight. Almost immediately the nurse said it was probably my gall bladder. Apparently, gall bladder problems are often related to pregnancy due to the presence of extra hormones which don’t allow the gall bladder to release bile as it should. Thankfully, they gave me some medication to ease the pain. Then I had an ultrasound. It wasn’t nearly as much fun as my first ultrasound when we discovered we were having a baby!

The diagnosis came back that I have “sludge” in my gall bladder. No stones, just “sludge.” What a great medical term to learn! The sludge could potentially form stones or cause pancreatitis. I scheduled a consultation with a surgeon who confirmed that my gall bladder probably should be removed. It should be an outpatient laparoscopic surgery scheduled sometime soon. Thank you for your prayers!

My last day as a pregnant lady. This was right after we found out we were going to be induced. We rushed home to gather our belongings. We’re still in shock in this pic.

Checking in at the hospital…

Getting situated in the labor and delivery room. Can you tell I’d never been in a hospital bed before? The nurse had to tell me that the bed can sit up and recline.

One of our first family  photos. I love the look of sheer joy and pride on Stephen’s face!

Proud Daddy—even Silas can tell that!

Silas Clark with wavy golden blond hair. The wave has since left, and his hair is a shade or two darker. We’ll see how it turns out.

Mommy loves her boy.

Silas now shares a birthday with his Uncle Ben, Stephen’s youngest brother. Ben turned 16 on the 2nd, and they celebrated Silas’s birthday too!

Daddy’s a natural…

We are ecstatic about getting to know Silas Clark. God was gracious through every step of the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum process. Stay tuned for further cuteness updates!

The doctor did an ultrasound and measured the amniotic fluid around Baby. While we’re not in the danger zone, we are in the borderline low zone. Since I’m 39 weeks and 2 days, my doctor highly recommended that we go ahead and induce tonight—especially because I’m already dilated 2.5 cm. We’ll be heading to the hospital in just a few minutes.

Thank you for your prayers for a safe, healthy, and relatively easy delivery. God has been so good all along, and we know He won’t stop being good now. We can’t wait to meet our little man!

Stephen & Elisabeth expecting their first born son.

My physical state this past week can be summed up by one phrase: “I don’t feel like doing anything besides giving birth!”

The nursery makes me smile. I can only imagine how much more it will make me smile when Baby is sleeping softly in his crib.

Pediatrician chosen.

Pre-registration form mailed.

Insurance decided.

Babysitter found.

Birth plan completed.

Pedicure enjoyed.

To do:

Finish nursery. (it’s almost there…honest!)

Install car seat.

With my usual attention to detail, I don’t consider myself a person who is easy to surprise. But my friends somehow managed it when they threw me a surprise baby shower two Saturdays ago! I think part of the reason they pulled it off so well was because I was extremely busy and tired. Of course it was mostly because they had planned it so thoughtfully. From the parking, to the invitations (including sending them to my family and friends back east), to the goodie bags, games, and thank you notes—Rachel, Sylvia, & Jen spoiled me!

My Saturday was packed full. We had just kept our first house guests, Jeremy VanDelinder (a church planter to Austin, TX) and his family. They left our house that morning after staying with us for two days. Then we headed to a picnic at the preschool where I work. We were to have our pastor and his family over for dinner that night as well, since missionary Mike Smith and his family were arriving from out of town to stay with us and to speak at Crossroad the next morning. After the picnic Stephen suggested we drive to the Horkavys’ house to pick up an air mattress that we needed in order to host the Smiths. It was unlike Stephen to want to drive all the way out to Buckeye when we’d be seeing the Horkavys in a few hours, and they could bring the air mattress then, but I went along with the plan since I didn’t mind being prepared ahead of time. When we arrived, I was so tired and pregnant that I offered to stay in the car while Stephen got the mattress. He nonchalantly said, “You can come in.” And so I did—to a room full of smiling faces from all over the valley!

My friend from elementary school, Stacy, was there. Her husband pastors a small church in Surprise, Resurrection Baptist. Becky, who graduated from ICA with Stephen, came. Other friends included: all the Crossroad Baptist ladies, a friend I worked with at the census, a girl I graduated with from BJU, the wife of another ICA grad, and Stephen’s boss’s wife. It was great to see so many different friends all in one place!

We played a game I had never heard of before where each lady took a length of streamer that they thought was equal to the circumference of my baby belly. Then they measured my belly to see who had guessed correctly. (I’m now 41 inches around!)

I don’t have many pictures of the actual shower yet, but here’s some of the goodies Baby and I were given.

I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I have a thing for baby shoes—my heart melts!

I’ve now extended my love to baby socks. Here’s a picture of Stephen holding one of Baby’s socks. (I’m now turning into a puddle of mommy goo—sorry!)

I decided to skip the postponement option for two reasons. First, if selected, it would be a great learning experience and allow me to fulfill my civic duty like a good Social Studies Education major should do. Second, there was always the possibility that they would take one look at my 7 month baby belly and excuse me from duty.

All in all though, I’m thankful I didn’t have to report today. Maybe next time??

Our nursery was painted a dusty blue this week by Pastor Ryan who used to paint houses for a living back in SC. He does excellent work, so if any of you in the Phoenix area are needing a paint job done, I would highly recommend him.  Our next nursery task is to take our crib apart so we can fit it into the room. We found a beautiful dark wood crib at Once Upon a Child for only $55. It’s just a basic crib, nothing expensive or fancy, but I love it! We also managed to purchase over $60 worth of gently used clothing for just $10 during their grab-bag event. I’m loving the little sweater vests!

This little John Deere tractor was actually part of a floral arrangement at Pop-pop’s funeral. My aunt said she wanted me to have it as our baby’s first toy.

We’ve slowly been collecting baby gear, but this past weekend, we came home with an explosion of baby stuff from a friend of mine. She passed along some great baby things—a bathtub, soothing glider, Diaper Genie, and Bumbo seat were in the mix. I’m still rebelling at the idea of having our home overrun with baby stuff, but perhaps I’m just fighting against the inevitable. My motto is: Simplicity.

Some other friends gave us a tall, narrow 6-drawer wicker dresser that we’re planning to paint white for the nursery. We’ve also purchased a ceiling fan and light fixture that needs to go up. I can’t wait for the fun to begin!

Baby has been rolling around quite a bit. He still kicks, but he rolls a lot too. Sometimes his kicks surprise and tickle me and sometimes they hurt. He’s just a growing little sweet pea.