Just a year ago today Jon Micah came into our lives and totally changed us forever. We held back one birthday gift for him to open on his actual birthday, and something about watching him open a gift and start playing with it just really made it seem real. He’s 1 today. It’s been unbelievably rewarding.

Things continue to go well with our little one. We’re getting very excited… Ann is preparing for Baby Showers, I’m preparing for hauling things from the baby showers. Thankfully one is in a place with what I lovingly call a “Man Cave”: a basement with a 60″ TV, a pool table, dart board and other manly things. A bit of refuge for us manly type people who have to be on standby for these things. The only thing I don’t look forward to at this point is putting more stuff together. Furniture is done, walls in the room are mostly done (just have to finish the trimming) and all together things just go well.

He moves around… A LOT. The good thing is that he seems to be on a schedule. Lets hope he keeps that up! We had another doctors visit today. Ann had some tests, which turned out good, and then the usual “Hey you’re 30 weeks” doctors visit stuff. Next Dr. Appointment: T Minus 2 Weeks. That’s right, we’re down to the every 2 week visits now. Basically signaling that at any point my wife could come running down the hallway, panting heavily and screaming “ITS TIME!” in a very cheesy 80’s sitcom kind of way… except that it never actually happens that way because usually the women folk second guess themselves and aren’t even sure if they are in labor (unless the water breaks).

Either way, i’m ready to meet the newest edition of the Plunkett household. After the troubles with the first pregnancy it is hard to believe that we are where we are only about a year later.

Went by the cemetery today, which I honestly feel like I don’t do enough. It’s nice that we are close by, but it’s in the opposite direction from most of the rest of our lives. It’s weird to see your son’s name on a large stone in a cemetery. It is healing in an odd way too, though.

Well, i’m off to life group in a few minutes. We are settling in there very nicely and having a blast with ministry at our new church.

Well, where do I start?

It’s been a while since i’ve posted. I guess that is probably the most obvious statement you’ve heard all day, seeing as how you can see my last post from here.

Work has been kind of the usual except for the last couple of weeks when the company moved locations. I, being the only IT guy for the company had the distinct pleasure of moving all the servers and about half of everyone else’s crap. The day before we moved, I found that someone in the downstairs suite had removed and unwired my network patch panel, so after explaining in no uncertain terms that I would mess up someone’s Armani suit for them, I spent 5 hours rewiring the patch panel. This puts me somewhere around 1:30AM.. and I have to be back by 8am to get the phone system moved. As it turns out, we didn’t need to get in any hurry because Bellsouth was 4 days late getting our phone lines installed. Fun.

Anyway, I survived that little adventure.

So about a week ago now, my loving wife got sick at church and for reasons unknown would not go to the doc. So we spent Wednesday night in the hospital because she was dehydrated which kicked off contractions. That’s a bit of a problem at 18 weeks. So anyway, we get her some fluids, and on Thanksgiving we head on home. We pretty much 86′ed the family stuff, except I slipped over to my Nana’s house for some lunch. It was very good as usual.

So this brings us up to yesterday.

Ann’s mom came over to visit, and so I decided (in my infinite wisdom) to get in the truck and go over to a nearby field in hopes of spotting a large deer which would be so kind as to get within range of my gun. (Not too much to ask, I think).

Just as I get inside the gate, I hear air escaping my drivers side front tire. Well, this is just a minor setback. I’m just a few hundred feet, maybe 150 yards from my parents house. I’ll go up, change my tire, and ol’ split toe will soon be in my sights. Except that when I get up to the house, my other front tire is now loosing air as well. Apparently in a moment of brilliance I managed to hit whatever I hit the first time again on my way back. So now I have two flat tires.

Great.

This is more than a setback, this is a day-ender. I won’t get to see any deer today unless one crosses my path while i’m changing tires. But all is not lost, I’ve got plenty of time. The tire store doesn’t close for another 3 hours. I’m good. As usual, there is a farm truck nearby to get me back and forth (since I only have one spare, getting my truck there isn’t going to happen). Just as I get my tires loaded on the spare truck my phone rings.

It’s my wife: “Hey, I started having contractions again and the doc wants me to come back to the hospital.”

Remember what I said about having plenty of time? Well that just ended. This farm truck might get me to the hospital, and then again it might not. Great. At least her mom is with her, so off I go, to get my tires repaired. After winning the prize of the slowest tire repair in the history of modern automotives, I finally get back to my parents house and with some assistance I manage to get tires back on the truck and on my way to the hospital.

Fast forward a bit, and it’s this morning. I get a call from my father-in-law from the parking lot.

You guessed it.

“Your right rear tire is F-L-A-T”

ugh.

So now, i’m to 3 tires in less than 24 hours.

Through a process I would rather not discuss, I managed to get my jack stuck underneath my truck in a position that rendered it completely useless.

So after acquiring another, more reliable jack, I manage to get my tire changed and my 4th tire checked, just for good measure.

Next I make it to the gas station, and just as I get about $6 in the tank, the station runs totally and completely out of 87 octane gasoline… and 89… and there is no way i’m putting 93 in the truck. But I can get my truck washed, so i’ll do that. Except that as the car wash gets into the second cycle (the one where my truck is covered in soap), it stops. Dead. Just a drip drip drip on the windshield. Nothing.

So after getting my truck rinsed off from a good old fashioned, reliable water hose I managed to get back to the hospital. I’m sitting here, using the free hospital wi-fi and listening to my son’s heartbeat on a fetal heart monitor. It’s kind of nice, you know? This pregnancy is going so much better than the last one.

I just hope that my day tomorrow gets a little better.

Yeah, it has been a hard couple of weeks. We have just been surrounded with great folks, and more importantly God’s love!

Doesn’t mean that the road ahead isn’t bumpy, and probably still pretty dark. But… God is providing.

I’m back to work… Ann is recovering nicely… getting to spend some time home resting and being with some friends. We plan on going back to ‘bama when Amery Lynn makes her entrance. Don’t know when that will be, but we’re gonna try. I know that will be a time of very mixed emotions for us. We are SO INCREDIBLY happy for J & R, but also still reeling from our own loss.

That isn’t going to stop us from being there for our best friends! We love those guys, and they’ve been through the loss before too.. they know where we are coming from.

You can see that the blog has taken on a new look… something I tried for a few hours before Caed was born. I’m sure you’ll grow to like it.

Anyway, keep those prayers and thoughts going. We still need it.

On a happier note… I did my taxes today… wait, that isn’t such happy news either.

*Sigh*

My first child, a son, was born last night at 6:37. We knew it was an uphill battle. We lost his little heartbeat yesterday morning. He weighed in at 3lbs exactly, and 15 3/4 inches long. Full head of hair. A truly handsome little man.

I love my son. He will always be numbered among my children.

The staff of the hospital was absolutely fantastic.

Ann and I are resting and doing well. We will be with family for the next few days.

No real words. Love… that’s really all. We had a good time tonight with our families. Some laughing, some crying… all comforting. God has truly blessed us. We could not ask for a better support structure than we have been given. We want HIM to be glorified by this.

We appreciate all your prayers, thoughts and kind words.

Much love.