Darin vs. Kristin

Time from surgery to standing:
D:8 weeks; K:5 hours

To walking:
D:3 months; K:24 hours

To helping with the kids:
D:8 weeks; K:1 hour

To mowing the lawn:
D:10 weeks; K:well, she never did that anyway...

To running any distance:
Ha ha ha ha ha

Micah Neal Anderson!

For those of you who were not riveted to your facebook yesterday - here's the scoop:

Micah Neal Anderson was born at 6:47 pm Tuesday (10/27), weighing 8 lbs, 7 oz - 20 inches long. (All of our boys have preferred an evening arrival - Seth a Tues. at 4:46 pm, Caleb a Tues. at 4:56 pm and Joel a Wed. at 5:27 pm.)

We arrived at noon and were processed quickly back into triage - where we waited (the OR was full)... and waited (our doctor wasn't here yet)... and almost went in... but then had to wait some more (I did see the cute twin girls as they came out of the OR, so I guess it was worth waiting)... and waited... and then they took us back around 6 pm. Keep in mind that Kristin wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything since dinner the night before - so all day she was starving (still is, actually - though she enjoyed her grape juice this morning). After that it went quickly and smoothly.

Micah is a sweet baby - he sleeps with his mouth open and makes little murmur noises, almost like he's purring for you. The wonderful nurses here kept him for us last night, so we were able to sleep from about 12:30 until 6 - a pretty impressive first night's sleep! Micah did great, taking 1 oz at 11:30 last night and another at 3:30 am. He's due for another ounce shortly, but is enjoying cuddle time with Mom.

Kristin came through surgery great. The spinal block (and not laboring for 14-24 hours) made the procedure and recovery considerably easier than her previous C-sections (Hallelujah for that big answered prayer!). She was able to get up at midnight last night, not even 5 hours after they closed her up. It was painful, but she did it. She got up again at 6 am, with a little less pain and a little more speed. She is now totally tube free and only in moderate and expected pain. We'll be here at Norton Suburban until Friday or Saturday. Nana and Papa have the other boys (who are excited but a little bummed that they can't see him in person until we come home, thanks to flu season).

(A classic moment for me in this strange modern birthing process - as if updating facebook every 20-30 minutes wasn't strange enough - was getting Paul Bengtson's comment on one of my posts saying, "Darin, put down the video camera, it's time to have a baby." But technically it was an iPhone, not a video camera, so there.)

Thanks for all the encouragement and prayers!

10/27, 2 pm

Micah is scheduled to arrive via C-section at 2 pm on Tuesday, October 27. Please pray especially for Kristin as she cannot have anything to eat or drink after midnight Monday. Her folks will be staying at our house with the boys all week - so that part is well covered. We have everything we need and more to re-enter the baby phase. HUGE thanks to so many of you who graciously shared your baby clothes and stuff. Everyone is very excited - along with a variety of other emotions. We'll update facebook as soon as he is born, and send out an email as soon as we can. Thanks for praying!

19 Days and Counting

October 27 at 2 pm. We've never known our baby's gender before, much less a name and much much less the date and time of their arrival. So it's been fun this time around to be talking about and praying for Baby Micah - and to know that he'll be here well before Halloween. (The boys wanted to dress him up as Yoda, but we decided he probably wouldn't be quite ready for that.) We're also thankful that it will be a scheduled C-section as opposed to the 2 emergency Cs that came after hours and hours of labor (I'd put numbers but Kristin would only have to correct them later).

Kristin is definitely feeling the effects of being 36 weeks along. But she is a trooper and keeps taking care of the rest of us in addition to lugging that chunker around. We reflected that in some ways the last few weeks of pregnancy might be the most difficult of parenting, because you can't put the kid down or get help from anyone else... If he decides to stand up sideways and beat on your gall bladder all you can do is poke him a little and hope he gets bored of it. And if he gets hiccups all you can do is wait 'em out.

Thanks for praying for all of us, especially Kristin and Micah! We are very thankful and celebrate with those close to us who have also just had babies: the Gareaus in Charlotte had Landon James, the Wojnickis in Louisville just had Daniel John and my brother (well, his wife) in Portland just had Sean David. All three baby boys had minor health issues that have mostly resolved but please also join us in praying God's richest blessing on them as well! More young men who will be raised to serve the King!

School and Stuff

The boys have now completed three whole weeks of school - so we're all settling into that new routine. It's been funny to hear them each process the new reality. At different times and in different ways they have each asked Kristin, "So... what do you do all day?" It makes me smile anyway. The truth is that she has been surprisingly busy - with her daily shuttle service to school and church (I did just start driving myself on Monday, hallelujah!), shopping, cleaning 3 levels (!) and feeding this ever growing army. I keep encouraging her to rest, and she usually squeezes in 30 minutes or so with her feet up (or they swell up like overfull water balloons).

Seth had a bit of a sad week. Of the boys, he was the most affected by our move - really missing his Charlotte buddies. So we were very thankful when he made a good friend at Family Camp who also lives in Louisville. And then he immediately connected with two guys in his class - one of which he thinks is the funniest kid around. But on Tuesday he learned that his funny friend had shifted to home school, and his other friend at school will be moving to Germany since his dad is in the army. So pray for Seth as he accepts this new change and tries to be patient and thankful for the friends and family God has put around him.

Caleb has also mentioned several times how he misses his friends in Charlotte (notably Max - who we often suspected of being his secret clone). But he connects with people very quickly, and especially enjoys small children. Our neighbors on one side have a three year old daughter, and every time he goes out back Caleb checks to see if she's around for a chat.

Joel has two buddies he comes home talking about all the time. He really enjoys school - except for the work part and that he doesn't see us very much anymore. All three guys have mentioned that new reality - and K and I feel it a lot as well. We're very thankful for the school - and each of the boys seem ideally suited to their teachers and class environments - so we celebrate Eastide as a wonderful and timely blessing.

Generally, Kristin has been feeling decent. Her feet still swell every day, which does force her to slow down some. Her back has not been too sore yet, we're sure that's coming. Braxton Hicks contractions have already begun, sometimes quite frequently - and she is beginning to wonder if it might be related to how much she tries to do in a given day... Hmmmm. All indications show that the baby (Micah!) is doing great, growing well. Her glucose test came back clear - just a little low on iron which means one more pill a day. The date is Tuesday, Nov. 3, unless she goes into labor early, which we fully expect. It will be a C-section either way, as the risks are greater with a VBAC after each additional C-section.

And I'm doing better every week too. I'm almost 11 weeks out from surgery and can now get my foot to neutral, a 90 degree position. At 7 weeks it was in a toe point of about 35 degrees. I still have a lot of work to do to get to +30-40 degrees and to strengthen all the left leg muscles, but I've got a great physical therapist and am seeing progress every day. 12 weeks is the official time when they don't worry anymore about re-rupturing the tendon, so I should be able to get rid of the boot in just one or two more weeks. And I should also be able to eliminate the limp in that time. No sports or coaching for a while yet - but K and I are looking forward to taking Micah out for long, leisurely walks when her feet will remain normal size and I can normally put one foot in front of the other...

The Value of Christian Radio

You know your kids are always listening - probably hearing a lot more than you give them credit for. Well, Joel (age 5) asked about the lyrics to a song he had been singing, because they had confused him a little - though he did find them catchy. What he heard (and had been singing) was, "I've got a couple ants in my tenders - and I've got some grits in my jeans..." If you've heard Francesca Battistelli's song (I didn't know her name either, I had to look it up) Free to be me you'd agree that it is catchy, and you'd be thankful that those are not the actual lyrics...

Medical Updates

1. We just saw Kristin's doctor - 28 weeks and 4 days - due Nov. 5. The little guy is healthy and growing, measuring ahead of schedule. Strong heartbeat, good position. Likely C-section date will be Tuesday, Nov. 3, unless she goes into labor early.
2. I got out of my cast a week ago and everything feels much better. I've started PT, basically doing flexibility and strength exercises all the time. I started at -30 degree range of motion - basically a toe point position (I've been compared to a ballerina), moved thru -20 and now am around -10 degrees (approaching vertical). I should be walking normally in another week or two, and get the boot off another week or two after that.
3. All three boys are healthy and doing well. Seth got a strange rash two weeks ago that turned out being "5th Disease" or slapped cheek syndrome (because it looks just like you've been slapping your kid on the cheek). It didn't bother him, or the other two boys who got it during family camp. But it caused a little scare for us since it is dangerous for a pregnant woman to be exposed to this virus if she has not had the disease herself in the past. Thankfully, Kristin had it in the past and so is immune.
4. Bella is fine too. And she is much more active when her puppy cousin Donde comes to chase her constantly, nip at her heels and try to grab and hold onto her collar - constantly.

A New Day

So the boys went off to school on Monday. For the first time ever we loaded up backpacks, straightened school uniforms (navy shorts, white polos) and outsourced our children's education. Kristin was definitely the most affected - thought the boys were also quite concerned about how long they would have to be there. Seth's question was, "how much longer than VBS will this be?" Joel still isn't super clear on the difference between an hour and a year (so each day feels like a year to him, I imagine). And Caleb - he's just as carefree as ever - started doing backbends as soon as he sat down on the gym floor with a bunch of strangers (oh, and his best friend is, of course, a girl - named Lilly). Kristin and I held it together fairly well. She said the strangest thing was just how quiet the house was (we need a stereo on the main floor it seems). But she held it together ok until she picked the boys up and heard that they had all had a fantastic first day - then she broke into sobs driving out of the parking lot, so thankful it had been a good experience.

All in all we just feel very blessed to be able to send the kids to this great little Christian school. It's the prefect place for each of them right now. Seth's class only has 6 kids total (4 boys, 2 girls) - so he'll get plenty of individual attention. Joel's class has 14, and he'll love the commotion. And Caleb - well, he's Caleb, so he'll just enjoy each moment (and probably miss half of the assignments as he daydreams). Maybe we should all be a little more like Caleb...

Kristin update July 10, 2009

Well, we were at the doctor for about 2 hours this morning - the doctor from Charlotte hadn't faxed the operative reports, so the doctor here didn't have info on what type of surgery was performed (apparently there are like 5 different ways you can do repairs based on what you find when you get inside), and after placing calls to the Charlotte office (while we were in the office this morning) and not receiving further info, they decided to go the cautious route (not wanting to have Darin progress too quickly through the stages of recovery and then rupture the repair and have to start all over again ... SO, that means Darin's in a black cast (he chose the exact cast Seth had on his arms :)) for the next 3-4 weeks, and then he'll go into a hinge cast or maybe the walking boot -- I think he was a little bit bummed today, but he already feels so much better just being out of that huge white splint thing - the cast is so much more streamlined and comfortable (and his toes stick out and it doesn't come all the way up to his knee like the splint did!)

I'm exhausted - we've had so many early mornings and just draining things lately - I'm taking my parents to the airport tomorrow at 6:30 (they're going to Colombia on a mission trip - that's why Darin's preaching these next 2 Sundays), then we'll be driving 2 hours to go to Darin's cousin's bday party (he's turning 4 - we're starting his lego collection :)), then 2 hours back to Louisville to have dinner with a family from church - it will be a busy, tiring day (right before another busy Sunday), but it's good - maybe this next week will be a week of rest!?! :)

The Waiting Game

How interesting is it that my first official preaching assignment here in Louisville would be on Psalm 6? Not a Psalm I was particularly familiar with. But I had to laugh when I first read it, even as I was coming out of the haze of my Achilles-repair surgery. "My bones are in agony... how long, O Lord, how long?" So I'm preaching this week about waiting for the Lord. Definitely not something I am particularly good at. In fact, it might be one of the things I am considerably bad at. Back when I could drive Kristin would often hold me back from passing road hazards on small country roads like a farmer with a load of hay, a big mower deck or one of those scooters that can't really keep up with cars... Yes, like Indigo in the Princess Bride, "I hate waiting."

Nevertheless, here I am - immobilized until September. Waiting on new insurance cards; waiting on that 10-14 day post-op visit (it's now day 16) to change my lovely leg dressing; waiting to bathe normally again; waiting to drive again; waiting to walk again without crutches. And now trying to actually learn what it means to wait for the Lord.

(p.s. next week I preach on Psalm 7 - about enemies, persecution and injustice... please join Kristin in praying that God does not give me as immediate an illustration for that lesson.)

I am a Genius

Most people, after rupturing their Achilles tendon halfway through their second game of (over 30) indoor soccer, would get the memo. Most people, after surgery and 4 months of rehab, would probably retire to more tendon-friendly pastimes - like golf, reading, wii or video-editing. But no - I am not most people. And, in my defense, I did play for nearly two years after my comeback from the first surgery - probably more than 50 or 60 games (and I even scored once or twice in there). But then, in the last game of the season - my last game in Charlotte... I heard and felt that all too familiar "pop," and collapsed to the turf. In the nanoseconds of my descent to the scratchy green surface a million images raced through my mind: Kristin's face when she got the call, my ortho doc's face when I hobbled into his office again, surgery, recovery, rehab - all THE VERY WEEK we are preparing to move across country, start a new job, and my wife is 5 months pregnant. Indeed, I am a genius.

The Streak Continues

So last Thursday we had our 18 week ultrasound, with very pink expectations and very blue results. 4 of us predicted girl, and Kristin and I (at least) had built up considerable excitement about bows and dresses, long hair and nail polish (ok, I can't say I was that fired up about nail polish, but you get the point). But Joel called it - he said it would be fun to have a girl, but "Come on, it's going to be a boy!" And he actually wanted a boy - since he wasn't sure if it was a girl if he would, in fact, be a big brother... Now, he will definitely be a big brother. Anderson boy number 4 is on his way - still scheduled for November 7 (though a C-section will probably be scheduled somewhat before then). Top name contenders right now are "Luke Daniel," "Drew Joseph," and "J.P. - John Paul." Kristin and I have worked through our disappointment and can honestly say we are excited about another boy - confident that boys are what God has designed us to raise, and that He has a mission for each of our young men to accomplish.

Next Steps

Today is a turning point day for the Anderson crew. First, because we have officially announced that we are following God's call to help build up His church in Louisville, KY. And second because it might (no promises here) actually mark the time when I start to blog (hold the applause, both of you).

This really is the culmination of a dream we've had for over 10 years now - to work with Kristin's mom and dad in ministry - preaching the word, making disciples and planting churches - together! I remember when her folks got to their first senior pastorate in Florida, how Mike (I have to call him that now - Papa just doesn't feel very professional) prophetically invited me to lead his 3rd church plant. I have always been inspired by his approach to Biblical community, centered in small groups - and by his commitment to plant churches. Now we have the privilege of coming alongside two people who have already greatly impacted our lives (and happen to be family members) to do the work of ministry together!

It looks like our last Sunday in Charlotte will be June 28 - please join us in praying for a smooth transition in which we can finish well here and get things started well in Louisville!