Ken Jr

New baby: As of today (8-22) little Kenny is 24 days old. He’s still looking very healthy. He eats a lot and that is most of what keeps us busy. We’re getting some sleep at least. Last night Caroline was able to sleep for an entire 6 continuous hours! We’ve enjoyed showing him off to our visiting family members and our friends at Hope. We put up with all of the random strangers who want to gawk at him when we are up and about–if you ever want to be popular just have a baby!

New job: I am now an unpaid staff member at Hope Community Church. Being an intern comes with perks (easy access to the copy machine) but what I’m really hoping to get out of it are some valuable experiences and solid biblical training. I’ve just finished my first class, Bible Study Methods. I am looking forward to beginning an in-depth study on the Gospel of Mark.

New phone: My cell-phone contract with T-mobile finally expired so Caroline and I spent part of yesterday afternoon purchasing a new family-plan with AT&T. Even though we went with the cheapest phones available I’m happy to get an upgrade. Baby wasn’t too happy though. I had to walk about 100 laps around the store, carrying him in his car-seat in order to keep him from bawling. Oh well, that’s the story of my life now I guess ;)

As most of you are already aware, Kenneth Clayton Hood III was born on July 29, at 3:57 AM CST. Since almost the beginning of this pregnancy we have been praying that this baby would be healthy. We have also been praying that Caroline’s diabetes would not be too much of a problem.

Caroline’s diabetes (type 2) meant she had to see lots of doctors to check up on baby’s health and her insulin and sugars. Still, it wasn’t until she was almost nine months pregnant that we learned she would have to be induced; diabetic moms have a greater chance of a still-birth the further the pregnancy goes (there wasn’t a risk that the baby would be too big).

Our philosophy from day one was to have this pregnancy be as natural and healthy as possible. Inducing usually means that pitocin is required and the contractions brought on by that drug are much more intense than natural contractions. Basically adding in one unnatural element can cause a “cascade effect” whereby lots of interventions are needed and the whole process  can be much harder than a natural birth. Because of this we prayed that the first drug used to start inducing Caroline, Cervidil (a cervical ripening agent), would be enough to kick-start labor. At the hospital our first nurse told us that only about 12% of mothers had success inducing with just Cervidil. We told people to pray that Cervidil would be enough and we also  asked prayer that the birth could be quick and uncomplicated.

I took notes during the pregnancy so I could keep track of when things  were occurring. The Cervidil, a slow-releasing drug, was administered at 11:25 AM. We had various hospital staff coming in for paperwork and checking up on us all afternoon but we also spent a lot of time just relaxing, watching TV together while very mild contractions began. Caroline had not gotten a lot of sleep the night before so she took some Ambien at about 11:30 PM. Our new nurse came in to check on us 15 minutes later and right then Caroline’s water broke! (unlike in the movies the amniotic sac hardly ever breaks on its own) Because of the risk of infection we knew that the baby had to come out in 24hrs now, which made us a little anxious. We were worried that the labor wouldn’t progress fast enough but soon the contractions became stronger, even without the Cervidil, and at 1:30 AM Caroline was 5cm dilated. Labor was an exciting and challenging time. The nurse told us that Caroline was laboring as though she were having her second, not her first, child. By 2:55 Caroline was ready to start pushing and just over an hour later our beautiful baby was delivered. God totally answered our prayers for this pregnancy and we know he worked through the prayers of many others interceding on our behalf.

I’ve been reading through Matthew recently and these verses apply very well to God’s desire to answer our prayers:

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh recieveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heavengive good things to them that ask him?”

ps – hey, bonus for finishing this long blog post, check out pictures of Kenneth III at http://kenjr.us/baby1 (public) and http://kenjr.us/baby2 (facebook login required)