The Baby Is Here!!

Baby Girl was born Monday September 29th at 2:50pm. She was 6 pounds, 9 oz and 19 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful and has dark hair, which is surprising considering that all of our other kids are tow-headed.

My delivery was a little more exciting than we had hoped. Right before the baby was ready to be born, my mother started having chest pains and feeling sick. She was rushed to the ER downstairs and missed the entire thing :-0 In spite of this, God was very good and gave me a peace throughout the entire delivery. Mom's blood pressure was 205/110, but fortunately it was determined that she did not have a heart attack. She was just stressed and had overdone things the past few weeks. After a few hours, she and Dad were able to come back upstairs and see their new granddaughter :-)

I did have some blood pressure issues during delivery and am still somewhat swollen. I have also had some post-partum issues with bleeding, so they gave me Oxytocin even after delivery to slow this down. We came home tonight because with Mom sick, we were having too many issues with childcare. My OB made me promise to stay down and get some help, so Jason is doing his best to coordinate things and allow me to rest. I plan on taking it easy, since I do not want to go back ;-)

Heading for the hospital now. . .

and I will post an update when I can. We are looking forward to meeting our newest family member.

Blessings to you!

Almost to Thailand

For those of you following Derry and Angela's journey to Thailand, here is an update from Angela:

Hey all! We made it into Korea and are now waiting on our flight to Chiang Mai. It will only be a 5 hour flight. We are doing good, both tired and cranky. The food hasn't been bad and we LOVED flying on Korean Air (highly recommend it!). Derry says 'don't buy 'Subway' sandwiches at the airport in Korea.' We have seen some interesting things and they will be blogged on our website soon!

Some how we skipped over the last part of Sunday and the first part of Monday. We left LA on Sunday and around noon and arrived in Korea on Monday around 5pm (all their time of course!), and we will arrive in Chiang Mai on Tuesday morning! It sounds so confusing! My watch is still on US time and I look at it sometimes and think about the things that our families would be doing at that time (especially the Stamm family who we lived with for a month!).

God has truly taken care of us on this trip. Little things like letting us get in the first class line to get our tickets (still flying economy) and us getting to sit next to each other on our Korean flights (our itinerary didn't have us sitting next to each other when we got it).

We love you and wanted to let you know we are okay! We don't want our mommas to worry! =) (Love you mom!)

PS- by the time some of you read this we will be in Thailand! (12:05pm your time!)

Angela & Derry Gambill

www.gambillsgothai.com

http://dagambill.blogspot.com/

Please continue to pray for my brother and his wife on this new journey.

Jones Family Update

Jason went back to the primary care doctor on Thursday and was given a pill to help with blood sugar (we were hoping for insulin!) and *more* pain medication. The doctor feels that the pill will do the trick and will be a more stable option than the insulin, which sometimes causes a quick drop in blood sugar. We wanted the quick fix of insulin, considering how long he has been going through all of this. The doctor is also hoping that with the new medication, healing will speed up and that in a few weeks, the pain medication won't even be necessary. Hopefully, he is right, but I guess we will just have to wait and see.

There have been several evenings this week when we thought we were headed to the hospital to have the baby, but then things would taper off and I would eventually get back to sleep. Unless she comes before then, we are being induced on Monday. Personally, I hope she comes before then, but if not, I only have two more days to wait. My parents are out of town this weekend, which would complicate things somewhat, but I'm sure we could handle it.

Please pray for my parents and my entire family this weekend. My brother and his wife fly out of DFW first thing tomorrow morning. They are on there way to Thailand to work with the North Thailand Christian Mission and are not expected to be back in the states for at least two years. This is why my parents aren't here this weekend ;-) My mother is very emotional because this is her "baby". Also, my brother and his wife are not assigned seats together for their last two flights from California to Korea, and then from Korea to Chaing Mai, so we are praying that someone will be willing to trade with them so that they can be together.

Jason Update

Jason went to the surgeon yesterday. We got mostly good news. The surgeon feels that from a surgical standpoint, he is doing well and that he has done all he can do for us. The bad news is that his pain is still not controlled, so now we are being referred to a pain management specialist. We are also being referred on to someone who can hopefully set Jason up on insulin. We have been told that a pain management specialist can sometimes find non narcotic ways to handle the pain, and we are hoping and praying this is true for Jason. He cannot return to work on narcotics. We are also hoping this is a short term situation and that the pain will eventually resolve itself. Perhaps the insulin can help with this, since we know he must still have a great deal of healing to do internally. Please keep us in your prayers as we move forward with these new options and specialists.

Counting Down. . .

We are looking for baby to be born some time in the next week. If I do not have her before then, I will go in next Monday morning to be induced. There are so many things I want to get done in the next week, but I have run out of energy :-( Trying to delegate isn't working so well for me either, so we will see what happens.

Our church threw a baby shower for us yesterday. We were overwhelmed with blessing. There were so many people there and the food was excellent. We carried home some nice presents--pretty outfits & bows for baby, an Arbonne baby gift set, diapers and wipes, a lovely hooded towel, some personalized burp cloths, receiving blankets, an ABC scripture memory book, and a cash gift (from 38 different families) that will allow us to purchase a swing we have been wanting for the baby plus tons of diapers & wipes. We are very blessed.

Hard Decisions

I have had to make many difficult decisions over the last year or so since Jason got sick. Many times, he couldn't be a part of the process because he was too sick or medicated to think clearly. Other times, he simply deferred to me and let me make certain decisions. Right now, we have a very difficult financial decision that has to be made. There is a definite deadline for the decision (October 6th), and there is no clear right or wrong answer. We have gathered information, sought counsel and now I am praying about what to do. Jason understands that a decision needs to be made, but he is not really feeling up to making this decision. He will go with whatever I advise.

I have always had people tell me that I should never make important decisions while I am pregnant. Unfortunately, there are *some* decisions that I have not had the luxury of postponing :-( Today I have had an epiphany: Making important decisions while you are emotional, sleep deprived, trying to take care of a sick husband and young children, and getting ready to give birth at any moment is like driving while intoxicated. Your judgment is impaired. Please pray for me to have wisdom, clarity and peace about the decision(s) that I need to make.

Baby Update

My doctor is out of town this week, but the OB nurse who checked me today says I am continuing to progress towards labor. I had several good contractions while I was there :-) Baby's heart fluctuated from 143 and then came up to 169 during the contractions, which is considered typical. The nurse told me that I had better not wait too long to get to the hospital if I thought I was really in labor, or I might end up having her in the car ;-)

You Know It's a Full Moon When. . .

you take your daughter to the doctor and she throws up on the doctor and passes out during her blood test :-( Poor thing. She was so brave and hardly cried during the whole thing. She just said that her tummy hurt and she was crying softly, when all of a sudden she leaned forward, threw up on the doctor (who was drawing her blood) and passed out :-0 She was only out for a second or two, but she was completely white and had to lay down on the couch with her feet propped up until she felt better. It also looks like she is still allergic to the milk and egg, so we probably went through it all for nothing :-( We will get the results of the bloodwork back in a few days, so I guess we will see, but the skin prick tests didn't look too good.

"Miney" is going back to the allergist & an Update

I am taking "Miney" back to the allergist. We are hoping that she is over her milk and egg allergies. They will draw her blood and it will be a couple of days before we have results. She is a funny girl. She actually seems excited to be getting her "shot"--and she even remembers what it was like the last time! They will want us to come back for a food challenge if the bloodwork is all clear. If she is over these allergies, this would greatly simplify things. Then we could use more convenience foods and not worry about ingredients in foods that people donate to us.

I am definitely starting to feel more tired and grumpy ;-) I am full term, so we have made it far enough for things to be good if baby was born now. People keep telling me that I should enjoy it, because I will get less sleep after the baby is here. I am having so many bathroom trips at night that I know this isn't true :-0 I can feed a baby and doze at the same time, but I can't go to the bathroom and doze at the same time. . . lol Today is the full moon, so you never know. I will probably go a little longer, but I definitely wouldn't object if she came today :-)

Update on Jason

Jason has had a hard time this week. He has been in bed alot and slept quite a bit. His pain has been hard to control. He tries to get up from time to time, but it doesn't seem to last very long. Please continue to pray for a reduction in his pain level and also for renewed energy for him.

On a brighter note, it appears that we will be able to pay our bills this month. Several unexpected gifts have come our way, and barring any unforeseen expenses, things are looking good. I cannot even begin to tell you the number of times that God has provided for us through unexpected means. Every time that I start to stress about the finances, I know that deep down I am being silly. God is in control. He knows our needs. Even if the bills do not get paid, that does not mean that His Love for me is any less. I can rely on Him to provide what He feels that I need, and if He doesn't provide it, that is because He doesn't think I need it right now. So, October is still a few weeks away, and I'm not going to stress about it (yet) ;-)

Please pray about an important financial decision that we have to make fairly soon. We need wisdom and clarity when making this decision. Pray for God to make His will clear for us in this area.

Some Progress :-)

We had a wonderful meeting with the social worker this morning. He did a complete 180 from when I spoke with him on the phone last week. We will get food stamps and Medicaid (although we didn't get our food stamp card today--that will be a few more days). We left feeling like the social worker was truly an ally and he was impressed that we were honest and forthcoming with the information he requested. He stated that we were definitely not the typical clients he sees in his office (and he meant this in a good way). Praise God for this provision and we are praying that we will be able to get our food stamp cards quickly.

Appointment at 11am this morning!

Please pray about this appointment. We would like to walk out of the DHS office with food stamps and Medicaid for the baby. This would greatly decrease my stress level. Also, that Jason would be able to handle the appointment well. The social worker asked if Jason could come and we are going to take him (hopefully the visual of this man struggling to make it into the office will make an impact on this social worker who didn't seem very sympathetic when I spoke with him last). The kids are staying with a sitter, so it will just be the two of us.

Jason is still having a hard time being off of paid meds and maintaining his level of activity. It seems to be either one or the other right now. We are praying that his pain will decrease to the level that he can start being more active without medication.

Yesterday, a friend washed some of my baby clothes/blankets which had been lying around waiting for me to get to them, and she cooked some of my meat for the freezer. Later, she came and cleaned my master bathroom and vacumned/dusted in the master bedroom. These were things I just wasn't finding time to get to in the midst of all of this.

I spent most of yesterday handling financial/business matters and making copies/sending faxes off for information we need on our various charity applications. It was very time consuming and frustrating, but quite a bit of it got done yesterday. Our church was kind enough to let me use their copier and fax machine, and my kids were able to play up there without me being worried about what they were doing ;-)

"Miney" goes back to the allergist next Monday to be rechecked for her food allergies. We are hoping that she is over them so that we can vary our diet somewhat and not be as concerned when other people bring us meals. She is excited to be going back (strange girl) and keeps asking me every day if she can have her "shot" (blood test) today.

ETA: We are also doing school 5 days a week, so that is keeping us busy too. "Meanie" is doing regular school now and he is doing quite well with the 3 R's. He likes Math the best (I think it helps that I bought him a Transformers Math workbook). "Eenie" is beginning AO Year 4 and is continuing to make progress with her reading. We are starting to add written narrations occasionally so that she can gain more confidence in her writing skills.

Special Delivery

Last night, I got a special delivery of meat from a friend. Today, another friend called and asked if she could give us more. I told her that I had to cook up the first batch before I could fit anymore in the freezer. Considering our circumstances, this is a nice problem to have :-)

Blessings!

Afternoon Update

Today, I have been encouraged by an inflow of offers to help our family. A friend put the story of our situation out on several homeschool email loops and I have been contacted with offers of help ranging from money to diapers to toiletry items. We also have our house payment covered now, and that was our largest bill. PTL!!

Jason went back to the surgeon today. His skin around his drain and around his incision were looking red, so the surgeon took both out since he feels that this will improve his healing. They glued the incision shut with glue and some sutures. He will return to the surgeon on Sept 22nd, and we will go from there.

Thank you for praying! I am encouraged to see how God is moving in our lives.

Update on the Jones Family

We have had a very busy and somewhat trying week. It started Monday night with discovering that the battery to my van was dead and had to be replaced :-0 Fortunately, we had received some cash gifts that covered the cost of this battery, but I definitely wish the $92 that we spent could have been used elsewhere. A neighbor of ours took Jason to Autozone to purchase the battery, and the neighbor also installed it for us. I'm glad we discovered it in the evening because I had a WIC appt on Tuesday morning, an OB appt yesterday, and I have to take Jason back to the surgeon this morning.

Our house payment was due on the 1st and our electric bill is due today--neither have been paid yet. I did get some commitments to pay my water and gas bills that are due next week, and for this I am truly grateful. We are continuing to make calls towards getting help with these bills, but so far we have not received any specific commitments on the house or electric.

As far as my OB appointment yesterday, I am dilated to a 3, 50% effaced and baby is engaged. I could go any time or I could wait. It is difficult to say. Because of the conflicting information we received about my eligibility for Medicaid, I have tentatively scheduled an induction for September 29th. I can cancel this later, if I wish, but this way it is at least on the schedule. That way we will only have to keep his company insurance paid on me through the end of this month, and after that, we can drop it on everyone but him. It is not really my wish to be induced, but at this point, it would be cheaper than trying to pay out a delivery and hospital charge on my own, if DHS continues to persist in their delays.

The surgeon is supposed to remove Jason's staples and drain when we see him this morning. I don't know if this will happen since he still seems to be bleeding from his incision (although the bleeding is much less than it was a few days ago). I will update later with what we find out.

As far as his job, I got a call from his boss last night. He said that the company has done something for Jason that he has never seen done before (God has definitely gone before us in this matter). They are putting Jason on something called a review of restrictions. Basically what this means is that, for the time being, he is not actually fired. They will be getting us to sign forms giving his company access to his medical information and they also will be asking the doctor to complete some reports regarding the liklihood of Jason returning to work and what restrictions he will need when/if he does return. At the end of this review, he could still be let go, but for now this process buys us a little more time. It does not give us any income, but at least we can keep our insurance at a cheaper rate as long as we can continue paying our portion. This would probably take a miracle, but we are hoping that this process takes long enough that I will have had the baby and maybe (this would be the even bigger miracle) Jason might even be well enough to return to work.

Things I Have Learned Today. . .FYI

In the past, I have looked at people who were standing on the street corners holding signs and trying to solicit donations as people who were trying to take advantage of goodness of others. For a long time, I have been led to believe that there are organizations out there who will help people with basic bills if they are truly in need. Therefore, I believed that those who really needed help could get it, if they would apply through organizations designed to help the needy. Thus, there was no true need to stand on the corner, holding signs and trying to get people to feel sorry for you.

Today I have learned differently. After almost a week of calling different organizations looking for help to pay utilities, mortgage, basic bills, I have met with dead end after dead end. Either I don't live in the right zip code, or I don't meet the criteria for that particular organization (i.e., I have discovered that if my husband and I were a highschool drop outs or drug addicts, there would be plenty of help available to us.). I have found a Catholic church that paid my water bill for the month of September, and I have finally received a phone call from DHS scheduling an appointment with me for next Tuesday at 11am. This is all that has happened as a result of hours worth of calls.

I have received conflicting information about whether or not I can get Medicaid to pay for my pregnancy if my husband loses his job. According to the social worker that I spoke with this morning, my husband had some income in August and, since I submitted my application Aug 27th, they are making their decisions off of this income. He told me that even though my income allows my children to be on Medicaid, that for me it is a different number and I am not eligible for August. I asked him if I should withdraw my application and apply again now that it is September and we have no income whatsoever, and I was told that now that the application date was in the computer, that was not possible. Thus, I am unsure if I will be able to walk out of the appointment next Tuesday with food stamps and/or Medicaid to pay for the baby. The social worker also spoke to me about the cash assistance offered through DHS. Since I have a bachelors degree, and they cannot aid me with job training, I am not eligible to receive these cash payments--in other words--if I was a highschool dropout or cocaine addict, they could give me money, but I cannot receive any because I am "overqualified".

I am starting to understand why people stand at the street corner now, and I guess if anything, God is using this situation to teach me a few things and give me compassion on those who do this. I wonder how well I would do standing on the street corner with a sign?!?! :-)