A new baby is here!

I have been mostly missing from this blog for the past several months, and this is why! Our new baby is here!

I struggle hard with pregnancy, and this time was no different. So when little Clark made his appearance two weeks ago, I was very happy!

Weighing in at an even 7 lbs, he is much tinier than he looks in these photos. We are all smitten! He gets lots of lovin’ from his 3 sisters and one brother.

God has been so good to us, we are so thankful for this precious child. Every time we are blessed with another baby, I am reminded of the seriousness of our calling as parents.

To teach them to love Jesus, to be strong citizens, to have integrity and love and strength of character.

After the birth, I developed some complications… Within several days of birth, I was having shortness of breath, inability to sleep lying down, and severe exhaustion. After a week of scarcely any sleep, my husband took me to the ER.

(I can brush things off, because I don’t have time to go to the hospital, right?!)

I felt that something was wrong, but I am the kind of person who doesn’t like drama over small things. So I kept saying: “I’m fine!” when anyone asked. I did call my OB the second night, but he told me this was a normal after-effect of surgery. So I reminded myself of that every day.

Then I went in to see my OB later, and the dr said my lungs sounded fine, my heart sounded fine, so again, I figured they knew what they were talking about! But finally after a week of this, my man told me he was taking me in.

They ran a CT scan on me, and did some bloodwork. The dr’s were concerned about a blood clot, but there was none.

However, they did diagnose me with congestive heart failure, also known as peripartum cardiomyopathy. It is a complication of pregnancy/childbirth, where the heart is overloaded and becomes weakened and unable to eliminate the extra fluid.

I had fluid around my heart and lungs. Not a huge amount, but definitely enough to make me miserable. They put me on a diuretic to pull the fluids off my heart and lungs.

They said my heart looks pretty good, so as long as I improve on the medication, then I should be fine. That was over a week ago… today, I feel much, much better! I can sleep great, and have a lot more energy! 

The last few weeks before birth, I was almost unable to do anything. I had extreme fatigue with the smallest exertion. I thought it was just pregnancy, but now I realize it was my heart.

Moral of the story: if you feel something is wrong, check it out! 

 I’m adding some snapshots of our family meeting Clark for the first time.

Update: Here is a link to Clark’s first birthday party and his cute camping cake!