Kacie Susanne - Day One

Just a few photos from Day One of Kacie's life. There will be more coming. Check Eric's Facebook page for the rest of the Day One album.

38 weeks and Family Pictures

So far the new baby girl is cooperating. Yesterday was the 38 week check-up and she is still in there chilling out. I am now 4cm dialated, and ready for this baby to get out already!

For those of you that don't know yet - the new baby girl's name is:

Kacie Susanne Montgomery

The "anne" part of the middle name is a tribute to Eric's late mother by honoring the last part of her middle name Luann, and the first part of her middle name "Susan" is for Kara's stepmom. Kacie is just because we like it.

Thanks for all your prayers for keeping this baby safe until she is ready to come out. We are scheduled for an induction on November 24th at 5am if she doesn't come before that. So, in less than a week we will "officially" become a family of 4...can't even believe that!

Today we got family pictures taken.  Check out some of the great moments captured.

Help!

Ok, so I know that we have been requesting a lot of prayers lately, but we have another doosy to add to the list. As I was driving back to the doctor this morning to check to see if I was any further dialated, my mom calls me from Oklahoma in an ambulance taking my stepdad Jon to the emergency room because he had just suffered a stroke. We don't know a lot except that it was a major stroke, and that they cannot remove the clot in the major artery that caused the stroke. They are doing the best medically that they can, but it is extremely limited - so we are left with putting the power in God's hands and letting him do the healing. Please everyone out there in blog land - pray for Jon. The next 48 hours will determine if he will ever speak or gain true consciousness again.

FYI - I am now dialated to 2cm and was given IV fluids in the hospital today. Tomorrow marks the 33 week mark - Doc wants us to get to at least 36 weeks...stay in there baby!!

Life is truly "unexpected"

So just when you think that things are getting more relatively under control in our lives...

Two days ago we had a routine check-up for the new baby girl (yes, still no names decided yet) for our 32 week mark. Kara had commented all weekend on the fact that she felt like the baby had dropped and she was feeling a lot of pressure, but we just tried not to worry about it - especially since we had an upcoming doctor's appointment. So, the doc checked her out and discovered that there had been contractions, is already 1cm dialated, and her cervix is soft. Doc sent her straight to the hospital to monitor the baby and the contractions and see if she was in labor. After three hours of sitting in a curtained "room," we got the results.

Good news is that the baby's heartrate was great and she was moving fine. The baby was also still in a "high station" which means she hasn't dropped too far into position yet.

Not so good news is that Kara was having contractions - but not big ones. They gave her a shot to calm them down (which gave her pretty funny shakes!). They also gave her a shot of steriods to help develop the baby's lungs in case we did deliver early - she had to go back and get another one yesterday. Boy, steriod needles are HUGE! And they did a swab test to determine within a 95% accuracy whether or not we are going to deliver early. We won't know until Monday the results of that test.

SO - Kara is now on bed rest - at least in the short term to see if they can stop these contractions and keep the baby in the incubator for a little while longer. Not sure why this kid wants to come out so badly...

This is not so great timing as the surgery is next week - but at least we have many helpers coming in the next couple of weeks...

Just keep the baby and Kara in your prayers...love to all.

God's Provision

God reveals Himself to us in so many ways...but the one that has affected me most lately is through other people. A few weeks ago, our little family made a decision that will change the course of our lives. We are now pursuing surgical methods for Eric and the decision has been a challenging one to make and keep on making.

We prayed constantly about the surgery, asked that God reveal His plan, asked that He bless that plan with provision, and asked that He guide us and teach us along the journey. God made it clear through every step of the journey that this decision was blessed by Him - from having a world-renown surgeon here in Tucson to the timing of the surgery. Only one small problem...the surgery is not covered by insurance. When faced with a big "Goliath" that totals $18 thousand dollars, it seems that there is no way to defeat it. But just as the Bible shows us in the famous story, God wants/needs us to believe that He is bigger than any Goliath out there. He will conquer...all we have to do is believe and trust. David did - and he defeated the giant. We are learning that valuable lesson ourselves.

At the beginning of September, Eric and I reached out to our entire support system of family and friends educating them on the decision to move forward with the surgery and the financial challenges we were faced with. We asked for prayers and support of all kinds. Boy - God works through people, doesn't He? We were really in a crunch to meet certain financial deadlines by certain dates so that the surgery could happen when the doctors were recommending. When God is given a challenge - and given the authority and path to fulfill His promises without us getting in the way - He delivers. The outpouring of love, support, and encouragement has been overwhelming. But perhaps the most humbling is that we have already raised well over half of the funding needed to get the surgery done!

We thank God first and foremost, for we are confident that He fulfills His promises through His people - our family and friends that have reached out through financial means have allowed this life-saving surgery to happen. We still have some money to raise, but this defeat of the seemingly undefeatable GOLIATH give us the confidence in God's provision and most importantly His love for us.

The surgery is scheduled for October 14th at 2pm PST.

We cannot say thank you enough to all of you for your gifts - financial, prayers, and encouragement. It seems so seemingly small, but thank you. We love you all.

Difference between "go-go" and "bye bye"

When you have a 14 month old, you tend to begin talking in their language. One of Addie's favorite words is "go-go." She uses it for her little ride-on Elmo car, as well as when we leave the house and she gets to ride in the car. And another word she knows is "bye-bye." She waves and says "bye-bye" to people, and blows kisses - its great.

Well, about a month ago - Daddy found out that those two words are NOT interchangeable. Every morning, Daddy has to leave for work - usually while Addie is still awake prior to a morning nap. Well, about a month ago - Addie was going through a HUGE daddy phase...so he thought he would cushion the blow of him leaving with using one of her favorite words. He leaned down and kissed her on the head and said, "Dada has to go-go to work." Well, Addie got all excited and ran to the baby gate that separates the living room and the front door. She thought that Dada was inviting her to "go-go" to work WITH him. When he left without her, the entire world crumbled. She ran over to me and climbed into my lap. Sobbing she says, "Dada no go-go. Dada no go-go." I couldn't tell whether she was more upset that Daddy was gone or that she was invited to go along and yet wasn't taken with him.

That day, we learned that just because our little one has a limited vocabulary doesn't mean we can interchange similar words. Go-go means you are taking her with you...Bye bye means you are leaving. How silly we parents are...and how smart is she.

Fun With Grandma

A busy 10-day period of visitors started last Friday when Grandma Katrina came to visit after a year away. Here are some photos and a quick video from her visit.