since I have blogged. That should tell ya something...our life has been NUTS!!! Well, before the swine flu epidemic swept through our home, we took a little trip down to Southern Baptist Seminary, just to check it out. I've been telling Josh forever, that he needs to start his Masters. Well, he never seemed to interested, so I kept praying, and finally one morning, he listened to God and me:0)
During the preview weekend at Southern, Josh turned in his application. By Thanksgiving weekend we found out of his acceptance, and so the continued search for a home continued. We had been relentlessly looking on Craigslist. We had only found one that seemed like a possibility and when we came down to see it, oh gracious, it was a total wreck. There was no way on earth we were even going to consider it. Needless to say, we had no idea what to do next. So, as we were praying, driving back to campus, we checked out the housing board. Sure enough, there was the most perfect home that we had been praying for. Within 15 minutes we were being given a tour and we were in love. God is INCREDIBLE!!!
House: check! We get back to Cinci and decided to wait until Christmas and New Years were over with before making the move. The holidays were AWESOME!!!! I think it was probably one of the best Christmas' we've had. The only thing that would have made it perfect, would to be in VA. So, the weekend after New Years was to be the big move. Of course, it began to snow, snow, snow. What an exciting mess this was. Three days later, we finally make it to Louisville. Bless Josh's heart, he pretty much loaded and unloaded the enitre truck by himself. We are beyond thankful for our friend Michael, who helped Josh load all of the heavy stuff. So, we get things somewhat settled and within a few days, head back to Cinci. I had to have my gallbladder taken out b/c it had gone bad during my pregnancy. Sure enough, as our year had gone, my outpatient surgery turned into 2 surgeries and a 2 1/2 day stay in the hospital. With another procedure to follow in March. Josh and Libby were camped out at the hospital for days. One of Josh's friends had them stay with his family for a night to keep from driving back to KY.
As of today, I just had my last surgery, and am feeling GREAT! We have gotten all of our boxes unpacked, except for the books (that's my project this week). This weekend, was the first weekend without snow or rain, so we've been outside cleaning up the yard. Isaac was having a ball yesterday, riding his scooter, picking up sticks for our firepit, and jumping in the leaves. Libby was just hanging out in her pack 'n play, while daddy and I cleaned. I have LOVED LOVED LOVED the snow, but I am LOVIN' this sunshine!!!
Josh has classes a couple of days of week. I absolutely LOVE having him home all of the time. Seriously, I'm praying that he could have a job working from home because I just can't get enough of him. He is enjoying his classes but can't wait to get into his core leadership classes. In due time...I'm SO very proud of my hubs!!! If only all men were God-centered, family focused, and loving, what a difference we would see in this world!!! God just continues to rock my world through him!
So, stats on the kiddos...Aaron is now a very proud 6 1/2 year old. He is literally the smartest kid in his class. This coming week we have to get he and daddy new bicycles. Isaac is 5 years and 1 month old. He got a new bike for his birthday and can't wait to ride it! He is growing so much in intellect and stature. We have the sweetest, funniest, and most curious little men in the world. Libby is now 6 months old. She is a drool-monster, so any day we're expecting to see a tooth. We have her check-up this week. This little one is a busy bee and rolls all over the place. Everything in sight gets put into her mouth and she loves being entertained by her big brothers. Our 3 babes are God's greatest blessings to us!!!
I guess that's about all for now...in the next weeks, I will do better at keeping up our family blog. For now, everyone rest up and get ready for this new week!!!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Thursday, October 29, 2009
A Parent's Worst Fear...
This past weekend, the both of our boys started running low grade fevers. So, all weekend, they lounged around, ate lots of popscicles, drank lots of juices, and watched tons of movies while we pumped them full of Tylenol. To this day, they still have a funky little virus, with fever and coughing.
Well, on Tuesday, Libby started feeling warmer than normal. I began taking her temperature, where it started at 99.7 degrees. Granted, as a first-time momma, I'm started to freak out, because she's way warmer than normal, even though this isn't considered a temp for a 7 week old baby. Josh kept reassuring me that everything is fine and there's nothing that can be done medically until her temp is past 100.4 degrees. Well what do you know, Wednesday morning, Libby wakes up from a totally non-restful night of sleep and is hot! Her temperature was 100.9. I called our doctor and she told us to get to Cincinnati Childrens' Hospital. Within the hour, we finally make it to Childrens' around 7:30am.
After we registered, we were taken back to our room in the ER. The nurses began drawing blood and putting in her IV just for precaution. They also cathed Libby, to have a urine sample to rule out a UTI. Well, it was only supposed to take about 45 minutes to have the labs back on her urine. Our nurse called up to the lab to find out her labs had been lost. No problem, so the nurse comes in and 3 different times, over the next 2+ hours, putting a bag on Libby to catch some peepee. That didn't work. Normally, Libby has zero problems going pee, but on this day, it just wasn't happening. This was such a God-thing, because during that time, I looked at Josh and told him something was not right with Libby. The nurse came in to check her vitals and sure enough, her temperature spiked to 103 degrees...I LOST IT, at this point. Our nurse ran and got the doctors and they immediately began getting the room prepped to do a spinal tap and to re-cath her. They asked us to leave the room, to go get something to eat because they needed about 15-20 minutes to do everything. OKAY, I have never been away from my baby girl AT ALL, since she's been born. I literally thought I was going to lose it. The nurses and doctors had no idea what was causing my sweet baby girl to have this horrendous fever and now they are making me leave the room...I think Josh thought they were going to have to give me valume (sp?) or anything to help me keep it together.
Whew, I cried all the way down to the cafeteria, and as I was eating our little pepperoni pizza. We scarfed it down in a hurry so we could be back there within 15 minutes. We made a pit stop, at the loo, and my oh my, was I looking a hot mess! Oh well...we get back to Libby's room and she was fast asleep. We could not wait to hold her. The ER doctor came in to let us know that obviously we were being admitted to Childrens' Hospital and would be here for at least 36 hours (that's how long it would take for any bacteria to grow in the blood cultures. They were testing Libby for any and everything under the sun, trying to figure out what was going on in her little body). Within 45 minutes, we were moved upstairs, into our room. The doctor got Libby started on tamiflu and antibiotics just in case that she had the swine flu, which they had also tested her for. Let me tell ya, there is no other place that I would rather be, to have my baby girl taken care of. Childrens' is the 3rd ranked Childrens' hospital in the nation!
So, the waiting game began. This morning, as the nurses were doing change over and coming in to assess Libby, they informed me that she tested positive for the swine flu. Praise the Lord that they started her on the tamiflu while we were downstairs in the ER, just in case. That and the antibiotic will be continued even after we are discharged. Our 36 hour window doesn't occur until Friday at 3am. This will rule out any bacterial infections. This morning, as the doctors made their rounds, they heard a gurgling sound, in Libby's right lung. We were sent to radiology to Xray and they came back clear, so there is no lung infection that they could see. For the rest of the day, Libby and I just tried to relax, as much as possible, between all of the assessments being done on her. After Josh got off work, he came straight back here. Let me tell ya, he is my prince, my knight in shining armour. Right now, as I'm typing he and Libby have been knocked out on our pullout bed, in Libby's room. Talk about melting a momma's heart, he doesn't it to me all of the time. Libby has been fast asleep on her daddy's chest for the last 2 hours. Bless her heart, she is just worn slap out!
Lord willing, the rest of Libby's labs will come back clear so we will be going home tomorrow (Friday). The boys have a doctors' appointment tomorrow, since it has been a week with an ongoing fever and cough. They have been in and out of the doctors office so much this past week. Hopefully, everyone will be on the mend and this yuckiness will be over! We will keep you posted on Libby's progress. Thank you all so much for your prayers, phone calls, and concerns. We are so very blessed and humbled by your love!
Well, on Tuesday, Libby started feeling warmer than normal. I began taking her temperature, where it started at 99.7 degrees. Granted, as a first-time momma, I'm started to freak out, because she's way warmer than normal, even though this isn't considered a temp for a 7 week old baby. Josh kept reassuring me that everything is fine and there's nothing that can be done medically until her temp is past 100.4 degrees. Well what do you know, Wednesday morning, Libby wakes up from a totally non-restful night of sleep and is hot! Her temperature was 100.9. I called our doctor and she told us to get to Cincinnati Childrens' Hospital. Within the hour, we finally make it to Childrens' around 7:30am.
After we registered, we were taken back to our room in the ER. The nurses began drawing blood and putting in her IV just for precaution. They also cathed Libby, to have a urine sample to rule out a UTI. Well, it was only supposed to take about 45 minutes to have the labs back on her urine. Our nurse called up to the lab to find out her labs had been lost. No problem, so the nurse comes in and 3 different times, over the next 2+ hours, putting a bag on Libby to catch some peepee. That didn't work. Normally, Libby has zero problems going pee, but on this day, it just wasn't happening. This was such a God-thing, because during that time, I looked at Josh and told him something was not right with Libby. The nurse came in to check her vitals and sure enough, her temperature spiked to 103 degrees...I LOST IT, at this point. Our nurse ran and got the doctors and they immediately began getting the room prepped to do a spinal tap and to re-cath her. They asked us to leave the room, to go get something to eat because they needed about 15-20 minutes to do everything. OKAY, I have never been away from my baby girl AT ALL, since she's been born. I literally thought I was going to lose it. The nurses and doctors had no idea what was causing my sweet baby girl to have this horrendous fever and now they are making me leave the room...I think Josh thought they were going to have to give me valume (sp?) or anything to help me keep it together.
Whew, I cried all the way down to the cafeteria, and as I was eating our little pepperoni pizza. We scarfed it down in a hurry so we could be back there within 15 minutes. We made a pit stop, at the loo, and my oh my, was I looking a hot mess! Oh well...we get back to Libby's room and she was fast asleep. We could not wait to hold her. The ER doctor came in to let us know that obviously we were being admitted to Childrens' Hospital and would be here for at least 36 hours (that's how long it would take for any bacteria to grow in the blood cultures. They were testing Libby for any and everything under the sun, trying to figure out what was going on in her little body). Within 45 minutes, we were moved upstairs, into our room. The doctor got Libby started on tamiflu and antibiotics just in case that she had the swine flu, which they had also tested her for. Let me tell ya, there is no other place that I would rather be, to have my baby girl taken care of. Childrens' is the 3rd ranked Childrens' hospital in the nation!
So, the waiting game began. This morning, as the nurses were doing change over and coming in to assess Libby, they informed me that she tested positive for the swine flu. Praise the Lord that they started her on the tamiflu while we were downstairs in the ER, just in case. That and the antibiotic will be continued even after we are discharged. Our 36 hour window doesn't occur until Friday at 3am. This will rule out any bacterial infections. This morning, as the doctors made their rounds, they heard a gurgling sound, in Libby's right lung. We were sent to radiology to Xray and they came back clear, so there is no lung infection that they could see. For the rest of the day, Libby and I just tried to relax, as much as possible, between all of the assessments being done on her. After Josh got off work, he came straight back here. Let me tell ya, he is my prince, my knight in shining armour. Right now, as I'm typing he and Libby have been knocked out on our pullout bed, in Libby's room. Talk about melting a momma's heart, he doesn't it to me all of the time. Libby has been fast asleep on her daddy's chest for the last 2 hours. Bless her heart, she is just worn slap out!
Lord willing, the rest of Libby's labs will come back clear so we will be going home tomorrow (Friday). The boys have a doctors' appointment tomorrow, since it has been a week with an ongoing fever and cough. They have been in and out of the doctors office so much this past week. Hopefully, everyone will be on the mend and this yuckiness will be over! We will keep you posted on Libby's progress. Thank you all so much for your prayers, phone calls, and concerns. We are so very blessed and humbled by your love!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
So far this year...
I was just telling Josh, the other day, that I don't know many people who could have made it threw a first year of marriage, still sane, like we have had. We were just getting settled into married life and on Christmas Day we found out that we were pregnant...say that we were escstatic is an understatement!!! We had just finished calling everyone to wish them a "Merry Christmas", to have to turn around and call them all back to let them know we were going to have a baby. Well, I was feeling awesome and on top of the world until the middle of January.
At week 9 of my pregnancy, I developed a condition called hyperemesis which left me sick non-stop and sleeping on the bathroom floor for that next month. I was hospitalized 3 times and then was placed on a Zofran pump, in my stomach, to help control the vomiting. I was on the pump and under home healthcare with an IV in my arm, until the end of May. There were so many scares in the midst of all of this, on top of everything else, because there were many times they could not find baby's heartbeat. During these times, we just kept telling God that we knew He was in control and we knew that He was holding us in His hands! Each time we were back in the hospital for an ultrasound, there was our baby girl, b-bopping around, healthy as could be!!!
Then, on August 3, at lunch time, Josh received a phone call that his daddy had just suffered either a heart attack or a stroke and was being rushed to the e.r. We were to get there asap, because they didn't know if he would even make it to the hospital. Josh rushed home to pick me up and we headed to the other side of Dayton, OH. For the next week, we were waiting to see if Papa Brown would wake up. He did not and Josh made the decision to have him taken off of life support. From there, we went to Hospice of Dayton, until he passed away on August 10. At the end of that week, was Papa Brown's funeral. Never in my life have I ever been so proud of anyone, than to see my hubby preach his daddy's funeral. Josh did an incredible job at preaching the Word and sharing the Gospel with all of our family and friends. It was such a bitter sweet time.
In the midst of all of the trauma with Josh's daddy, our sweet little Libby, while still in utero, kept turning sideways in my belly. We had to leave Dayton, in the middle of the week, to come back to Cinci to have her turned. Praise be to our great God, because as my doctor did the ultrasound, Libby had turned face down...she would be able to cook a little longer, she didn't have to be turned, and we were out of the danger zone of having to have an emergency c-section. Fastforward a few weeks...Finally, on Sunday, September 6, 2009 at 4:11 pm our sweet Libby Grace was born! She was 20.5 inches long and weighed 6 pounds 11.4 ounces...she was absolutely perfect!!!! I'll post the birth story later.
Even though this has been a hard year in every which way, we just praise God for His faithfulness, that "He will never leave us nor forsake us"! We know that He is going to use all of these things for His glory, whether we get to see the outcome on this side of Heaven or not. There is so much more I want to write, but I have to stop for now. Sweet Libby is waking up for her midnight snack...these babies just have the life...eating and sleeping all day while being spoiled rotten...I love it!
Good night y'all!
At week 9 of my pregnancy, I developed a condition called hyperemesis which left me sick non-stop and sleeping on the bathroom floor for that next month. I was hospitalized 3 times and then was placed on a Zofran pump, in my stomach, to help control the vomiting. I was on the pump and under home healthcare with an IV in my arm, until the end of May. There were so many scares in the midst of all of this, on top of everything else, because there were many times they could not find baby's heartbeat. During these times, we just kept telling God that we knew He was in control and we knew that He was holding us in His hands! Each time we were back in the hospital for an ultrasound, there was our baby girl, b-bopping around, healthy as could be!!!
Then, on August 3, at lunch time, Josh received a phone call that his daddy had just suffered either a heart attack or a stroke and was being rushed to the e.r. We were to get there asap, because they didn't know if he would even make it to the hospital. Josh rushed home to pick me up and we headed to the other side of Dayton, OH. For the next week, we were waiting to see if Papa Brown would wake up. He did not and Josh made the decision to have him taken off of life support. From there, we went to Hospice of Dayton, until he passed away on August 10. At the end of that week, was Papa Brown's funeral. Never in my life have I ever been so proud of anyone, than to see my hubby preach his daddy's funeral. Josh did an incredible job at preaching the Word and sharing the Gospel with all of our family and friends. It was such a bitter sweet time.
In the midst of all of the trauma with Josh's daddy, our sweet little Libby, while still in utero, kept turning sideways in my belly. We had to leave Dayton, in the middle of the week, to come back to Cinci to have her turned. Praise be to our great God, because as my doctor did the ultrasound, Libby had turned face down...she would be able to cook a little longer, she didn't have to be turned, and we were out of the danger zone of having to have an emergency c-section. Fastforward a few weeks...Finally, on Sunday, September 6, 2009 at 4:11 pm our sweet Libby Grace was born! She was 20.5 inches long and weighed 6 pounds 11.4 ounces...she was absolutely perfect!!!! I'll post the birth story later.
Even though this has been a hard year in every which way, we just praise God for His faithfulness, that "He will never leave us nor forsake us"! We know that He is going to use all of these things for His glory, whether we get to see the outcome on this side of Heaven or not. There is so much more I want to write, but I have to stop for now. Sweet Libby is waking up for her midnight snack...these babies just have the life...eating and sleeping all day while being spoiled rotten...I love it!
Good night y'all!
~Our First Year~
I'll start by telling our story...Back in the winter of 2008, I was still working as a houseparent at the Liberty Godparent Home and taking classes at the same time. Joy and Lori call me up saying that we are going out to lunch, a movie, shopping, etc for a total girly day. I reminded them that I had a million things to get caught up on, in my classes...well, that did not stop the Knapton duo. In less than 30 minutes they were dragging me out of the home for our little adventure.
We had a fantastic day, as we always did. As Lori was bringing me back to the home she said that she wanted to talk to me. Joy and Lori's hubbies had decided that they were going to put me on eHarmony because they wanted me to finally have a hubby! I was nervous, excited, and felt so loved all at the same time. Well, I did eHarmony for awhile and had a blast, but I was getting to the point that I was over it. On April 21st, I was going to close out my account when I had a message from Josh, that said, "I just wanted to say Hi". I was intrigued so I read his profile and I immediately knew that he would one day be my hubby...we started and finished the whole communication process within a couple of hours. That whole week we emailed non-stop and then that Friday he called me and we talked the entire night. Keri and I were supposed to go out for breakfast that Saturday morning, but it got pushed to lunch because I was so pooped. Freda called me during lunch and said that I should come back to the home because there was a special delivery. Keri and I scarfed down the rest of our lunch, got to the home, to find that Josh had sent me 3 red roses in a beautiful glass pitcher and glass (that way, I wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night and walk all the way to the other end of the house for something to drink). I was beyond giggly at this point!!!
From that point on, we talked nonstop...I mean literally, when we weren't working, we were talking...there was no time for anything else, not even sleep! Josh came down to visit 2 weeks later, on Mother's Day of 2008, and then we took turns flying back and forth, visiting each other every two weeks. On Father's Day, he proposed, and then on September 20, 2008 we got married and made our home in Cincinnati!!!
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