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Pregnancy: Update at 14 Weeks

November 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This past week has probably been the most stressful week so far during our pregnancy. I have had to take Donna to the Emergency Room two nights in a row because she couldn’t urinate. This has been the weirdest thing in that she has no problems at all going during the day but in the middle of the night she has had trouble going. Both times at the ER they were able to put a catheter in and have been able to drain her bladder and get some relief. The second visit they left the catheter in overnight but the next morning we removed it after speaking with our OBGYN. The risk for infection is just too great for her to have a catheter in all of the time so he got us in to see a Urologist to help us track down the problem.

While the Urologist wasn’t able to really give us a reason why she is experiencing these issues he did say that he didn’t feel like this was something that we would have to deal with long term. He said that he was hopeful that it would only last a week or two and that we could get by using an at-home catheter kit (which Donna said was a lot better than the ones they used at the ER). One thing is for sure, my wife is a whole lot tougher than I am when it comes to things like this. If I was faced w/ the idea that I had to have a catheter 4 times a day I’m pretty sure I would freak completely out.

On the upside to all of this, each time we have visited the ER we have been able to see the baby on the ultrasound and hear the fetal heartbeat. The heartbeat has been very strong and during the ultrasounds we have been able to see it moving it’s head around and even sucking it’s thumb (or at least that’s what it looked like to me). Being able to see these images of the baby has really helped put us at ease knowing that God has his hand on this pregnancy and is walking hand in hand with us throughout each of the challenges we are faced with.

As for my problems w/ the stomach ulcer, etc. I am doing a lot better, my doctor put me on a pretty strong medication to treat the ulcers and I have been able to start eating breakfast again, although the smell of scrambled eggs and anything with garlic in it still makes me pretty nauseous. We will move into our 15th week this Sunday, Praise the Lord!! I’m curious, have any other dad’s to be ever experienced morning sickness while their wife was pregnant? My mom says that my dad did while she was pregnant w/ me. At any rate, it’s an interesting phenomenon that can’t be explained…

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Pregnancy: Thoughts at Week 12

November 10, 2011 By 2 Comments

Given our past problems w/ miscarriage early in our 3 past pregnancies, making it to the end of our first trimester (week 12) is a goal that my wife and I were really looking forward to because everything we have read on the topic says that the risk of miscarriage drops dramatically after the first trimester. Well, praise God, we made it to this momentous milestone this past week (see YouTube video below).

I’d love to say that everything up until this point has been a breeze, but I would be lying. Well, let me rephrase this, I wish I could say that everything for me up to this point has been a breeze, but it has not. My wife, the one actually carrying our child, has been cool as a cucumber during this entire pregnancy. Me, on the other hand, is another story. I guess I’ve just been so guarded due to our past experiences. I have been guarding over her the entire time and not allowing her to get too far out of my sight for fear that she will lift something heavy, fall down, or do something else crazy (knowing full well she wouldn’t). Today I went to the doctor to figure out why I have been able to drop 20lbs extremely quick (even though I am on a diet, the weight loss has been a lot faster than I anticipated). I have also had some problems recently w/ sharp burning stomach pains, fever, nausea, and indigestion. Our doctor had me lay back on the table and he basically put his hands right on the center of my discomfort immediately. It was almost like he knew right away what was wrong. Well, long story short, I’ve worried myself into having an ulcer…

The good news is that the ulcer is treatable. I’m already able to tell a difference a few hours later after having taken the medication he prescribed. From this day forward I’m focusing on something that should eliminate this from happening again in the future. Concerning our baby and this pregnancy, I’m pulling back and learning the difference between having faith in God and trusting God. From this point on I’m trusting God. This is an approach that my good friend Garth recommended a few weeks ago and has been in the back of my mind the entire time. If you pray, I would sure appreciate your prayers of support while I walk this walk out spiritually, and of course Donna and I appreciate all of your prayers concerning this pregnancy and the future of our awesome baby!!

In case you missed the Facebook post w/ our 12 week ultrasound on Facebook, here ya go!!

Also, I’m going to expand my Faith Category on this blog to include my daddy blog and renaming it: Faith/Family. I hope you enjoy my future posts…

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Breaking News: We’re Having a Baby!!!

October 21, 2011 By 22 Comments

It’s no secret that my wife and I have wanted to have children for a long time now. Having tried on our own for the better part of our 6 year marriage and enduring months of expensive fertility treatments, out of pocket surgeries, and three painful miscarriages we had decided to pursue another route recently to build our family. After a lot of prayer we both decided to pursue adoption, and were getting started in the process with Abba Adoption Agency, an agency we finally felt comfortable with after visiting with several.

We were both pretty content in our decision to pursue adoption and were both on our merry way providing all of the information the agency was going to need to process our paperwork until one day, totally out of the blue, my wife walks in and throws a pregnancy test on my desk marked “Positive”… Yeah, I didn’t have a clue what to say. My first emotion of course was excitement, but that was quickly followed by concern given the fact that this is typically how this emotional roller coaster starts out. Well, long story short, we told each other that we were just going to trust God that this pregnancy was going to be perfect and that it was totally out of our hands. We also agreed that we weren’t going public with the news until we knew for sure the pregnancy was going to be viable, meaning the 10-12 week mark. Well, guess what…

Yesterday we went in for an ultrasound and not only was our baby doing fine, it had developed some little arms since the last time we had seen him and he/she was doing one of two things. Praising God or calling the Hogs because those tiny arms were moving around in there and we got to see it. The other day we were able to pick up the heartbeat on Doppler and that literally brought tears to my eyes, I didn’t even see that coming either.

A couple of things are different about this pregnancy that I think are worth noting. Donna is doing great, she’s as cool as a cucumber, not stressed about the least thing. I, on the other hand, am not sleeping at night and am constantly having to seek God in prayer to help stabilize my nervousness. The other day we walked out of the OBGYN office and I glanced down to realize that my shirt was soaked through and through from sweat. Another thing that I should also note, our OBGYN is an incredible guy, he and his team have been with us through the lowest points of our marriage during the past miscarriages and always in the past he let us know that he was cautiously optimistic about our chances. This pregnancy he feels totally different, he has never expressed any concern this time around and has even told me that he feels really good about everything.

Needless to say, we are extremely happy right now, and thankful that God has decided to bless us with this child. We know it is all ultimately in his hands and we ask that each of you keep us, and baby, in your prayers! Our expected due date is in May…

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Breaking News: We are having a Baby!

February 17, 2010 By 11 Comments

Image3 After 4+ years of fertility treatments, medical procedures, injections, and one miscarriage, Donna and I are finally ready to announce to the world that we are pregnant.  We are somewhere between 8-10 weeks pregnant according to the nurse who gave us our labs the other day, and yesterday we had our first appointment w/ our OBGYN, Dr. Andrew Cole.

During our appointment yesterday Dr. Cole told us that based on everything he was seeing everything looked perfect to him and he didn’t see any cause for alarm.  Our HCG levels were about 45,000 the other day, and are much higher than that now.  We even got to see everything starting to develop on the ultrasound, pictures are attached below.  Since our first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage at around the 5-6 week period, Donna and I both decided to wait until we knew that this time around was going to be a viable pregnancy before we shared the news with anyone.  I am actually writing this blog post in advance of us telling our church friends tonight at The Church Alive because she wanted to tell everyone in person that had been praying for us before they saw it on Facebook & Twitter, my wife knows me well.

ultrasound-scan-1ultrasound-scan-2

Last week we shared the news w/ Donna’s parents and then told my parents this past weekend while we were in town for my cousins engagement party.  Words cannot describe how ecstatic I am right now, and honestly there are moments when it has even sank in yet that we are having a baby.  It’s hard to describe, but during our first pregnancy, I was nervous about every little thing that Donna did, I was very protective and didn’t want her driving or even getting out of the house to run errands, but this time around I have had a peace about everything that I know can only come from this being God’s will.  I didn’t even say a word yesterday when she came home with a new pair of high heel shoes (you would just have to know my wife). 

As I mentioned earlier, we have been trying to have a baby for 4+ years now.  Just getting to this point there have been moments that I have had to sit and hold her while she cried, as well as moments where she has had to grab me and tell me to chill out because everything is going to be okay.  Any of you that have dealt with infertility issues know exactly where I am coming from, if the feeling of hopelessness doesn’t drive you crazy first it will definitely bring you closer together.  We are both so excited to be at this point. 

If you have ever, or are currently facing issues w/ infertility, I want to provide some words of encouragement as well as give you something to think about based on our journey.  A few months back while we were still trying fertility treatments Donna kept having complications and I could tell that she was absolutely miserable, and as her husband I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to sit back and watch her go through all of this anymore so we stopped our visits to the fertility clinic altogether and just turned it over to God. 

We started looking into adoption, which is also a great thing to investigate by the way, but once we got our mind off of getting pregnant, we finally got pregnant.  Of course, that pregnancy wasn’t meant to be but we saw it as encouragement from God to keep our heads up and to keep trying.  By God allowing us to get pregnant that first time I think both of us found ourselves at ease over our situation and didn’t see it as hopeless anymore.  We continued to pray each morning together, that’s how we start our day, that God would give us a baby.  Fast forward to the present and I just saw my precious baby yesterday on the ultrasound. 

So my advice to anyone going through a similar situation is this, relax.  Put things in God’s hands, he is the best OBGYN / Endocrinologist in the business because he is also the inventor.

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Allocating Personal Time / Priorities

May 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Part of my ritual everyday is reading a daily devotional that is waiting on me in my inbox each morning from Streaming Faith.  Some mornings I read these and then move right onto YouVersion for my daily scriptures and then start the process of responding to emails, but this mornings devotional got me to thinking about all of the things that I do through the course of the day and it kind of hit home. 

Two days ago was my dad’s birthday, and as I walked in my office that morning my intentions were to call him first thing to wish him a happy birthday, but before I could pick up the phone it rang and it was a client who was urgently needing me to walk them through a process.  Well, needless to say I was on the phone for a lot longer than I had planned helping them get lined out, and granted, this was important.  This particular client has been a client for a long time and as a result has sent a lot of business my way through the years.  Well, before I had even gotten off the phone with this client I noticed an urgent email roll into my inbox from another client so I immediately went from the first phone call right into another phone conversation with the second client, I usually call this “putting out fires”.  Well, once I had the second issue resolved I realized that I hadn’t eaten any breakfast and my stomach was letting me know about it so I walked into the kitchen to fix me something to eat, and it was then that my phone rang and it was my dad (we speak on the phone everyday, sometimes 2 or 3 times).  It was deflating for me because I wanted to call him first since it was his birthday, and I know that at the end of the day it really didn’t matter to him as long as we got to speak to one another.

I wished him a happy birthday and then we went right into talking about the usual stuff (what I am working on and how things are going on the farm), but it continued to bother me a little bit that I didn’t have the opportunity to call him first thing that morning.  Well, now that I have laid the groundwork, you can see why this mornings devotional struck a cord w/ me…

Establishing Priorities
Bishop E. Earl Jenkins

"Teach us to use wisely all the time we have." Psalm 90:12 CEV

Growing up, Dr. Tony Campolo says he spent many Saturdays at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia visiting Ed Bailey, the guy who ran it. Campolo writes: "His encyclopedic mind fascinated me. He knew something about everything…I was friends with Ed until he died. After a serious stroke I went to visit him…I told him all the places I’d been to speak and how I’d come right from the airport to see him.

He heard me out, then said, ‘You go all over the world to people who 10 years from now won’t remember your name. But you haven’t time for those who really care about you.’" Campolo continues, "That…hit me hard and changed my life. I decided not to let all my time be used by people for whom I make little difference, while I neglect those for whom I’m irreplaceable.

"One day a friend of mine got a call from The White House asking him to consult with the President. He said no, because it was a day he’d promised to spend with his granddaughter. The nation survived…the President didn’t miss him, and his granddaughter had precious time with her Pop-Pop."

Somebody said that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing! David put it like this: "Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom" (Ps 90:12 NLT).

Time is an equal-opportunity employer. We all get 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds daily, and we must account for how we use them. So ask yourself how you would spend the next 24 hours if you knew that you’d stand before God tomorrow – then get busy!

I am not going to say that I plan on drastically changing the way I prioritize my day, but I will say that I am going to pay closer attention to the things in life that are more important.  One thing that I have always admired about my partner Greg is that he makes a conscious effort to spend time with both of his sons just about everyday.  It might not be anything other than going to Karate or a ballgame with them, but he manages to be there for them.  We haven’t ever spoken about it or anything like that but I have noticed it over the years and never really gave it a lot of thought until today at how well he has managed this arena.  There are other folks that I work with that are just as diligent about prioritizing their time with the ones they care about but he came to mind first. 

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A Few Personal Goals for 2009

January 2, 2009 By 8 Comments

Gosh, it’s going to take forever for me to get used to putting 2009 instead of 2008, seems like I just got used to putting 2008 on checks and things the other day.  In lieu of a New Years Resolution this year, I have a few personal goals for 2009 that I want to achieve instead.  I figure that if set several goals for things that I want to achieve as instead of locking myself into one thing like I have in the past I will have a lot better chance for success, even if on a smaller scale. 

By the way, my resolution this past year was to lose weight and get into shape, and I am happy to report that I somehow managed to do just that for the first time in my life!  Over the past few months I have managed to drop about 20-25 pounds, and most importantly corrected some bad lifestyle and dietary habits that I had accumulated over the years which should help me long term in my overall quest for wellness. (I am still losing weight so hopefully it will continue).  If anyone is interested in my diet just drop me a note and I would be more than happy to share it with you.

Here are some of my goals for 2009, in no particular order:

  • Personal Ministry: It has been my belief that God gave me certain talents and abilities in order to make a good living, but the main reason for this gifting is to further his kingdom, which I have strived to do over the past few years by working closely w/ several evangelists and ministry centers.  I plan to take this to a new level this next year by incorporating some cutting edge technology into my online ministry projects.  Stay tuned…
  • Business Networking: I have honestly taken the last few years off in terms of business networking, I used to meet at least 10 new contacts a month during the startup years of Powersite but since getting the business off the ground and later co-founding Pleth, I just haven’t done a lot of that anymore, this is going to change as I find myself craving new and exciting projects for the coming year. Also, Pleth just opened a satellite office this past year in Jonesboro, I hope to make it over there a lot more this next year to re-connect with some old friends and make new ones within the industry.  I am also looking forward to meeting with new clients in Northeast Arkansas to share some ideas and continue to work on awesome projects from that part of the state.  I am also going to make it a goal to finally get out and meet new people in the Conway area.  I have managed to stay busy this past year on client projects and haven’t devoted a lot of energy toward establishing my presence here yet, I hope to change that this next year by becoming more visible in the business community.
  • Expand our Print Business: This past year my partners and I added print and graphic design to our list of service offerings. Since that time we have been awarded numerous bids on print jobs and design projects.  I hope to do a better job of marketing our services in that realm and providing our clients with more comprehensive marketing solutions.
  • WordCamp: I would love to attend a WordCamp somewhere in the United States this year and network with other WordPress Developers out there and build some relationships within the community.
  • Ministry & Non-Profit Service Offerings: Focus on adding Ministry & Non-Profit Web Solutions to Pleth’s portfolio of service offerings.  We have had great success this year in packaging some key modules for podcasting, blogging, video, and content delivery for Church’s and since this is an area I am passionate about I would like to turn this into not only a valuable service to further the kingdom but will also turn into a profitable product offering for our company as well.
  • Social Networking Integration: Explore further the possibilities of social networking integration into applications we develop for our clients.  This past year I was successful in obtaining Facebook Developer status, w/ the help of a few fellow developers from the community, to launch some Facebook Connect applications on a few websites.  I see this as an emerging technology that should be absorbed and not ignored.
  • Powersite Real Estate CMS: I want to Devote some time to finally release my Powersite Real Estate CMS to the masses both as a packaged download w/ installer and as a PHPR template download.
  • CSS & XHTML: Devote some time to getting a better grasp of CSS and XHTML.  This past year I made some great strides toward teaching an old dog (myself) some new tricks and ways of doing things.  I am by no means a master but should be able to get a lot better grasp on it over the next 12 months.
  • Java scripting: I also want to familiarize myself with some of the emerging JavaScript technologies out there like scriptaculous, jquery, etc.  I have seen a lot of new uses for JavaScript over the past 12 months and I see this continuing.
  • Podcasting: I have been giving a lot of thought towards adding a podcast on my personal blog to discuss my favorite topics, PHP Development, Facebook Connect, and WordPress.  Podcasting is an awesome commitment, guys like Mitch Keeler just make it look easy but I can only imagine the amount of work that goes into producing a weekly or even monthly show.
  • E-Commerce: My partners and I share the same goal on this one, we are looking to further enhance our e-commerce and security offerings this next year.  Stay tuned to the Pleth website for news and updates regarding this venture.
  • Email Solutions:  Over the past few years we have really built our premium email solution into one of the top saas (software as a service) solutions on the market, but we aren’t going to rest on our laurels, staying on top of the industry isn’t easy, we are going to be adding lot’s of new features to our already successful product this next year, stay tuned.
  • Online Properties:  My business partner Greg Smart and I were discussing an online property that his mom manages that has sustained profitability this past year through a bad economy and has seen increased readership and ad sales.  We (Pleth) own several online properties that to date haven’t really been a primary focus for us because we spend so much time developing projects for our clients, but this next year I want to expand this into a profitable business model for us.  I get a lot of inspiration for doing this by watching how our friends at Demand Media have been able to be successful w/ their online brands.  Just to give you a preview as to what my first online project will be, think NASCAR…
  • Increase My Blog Traffic and Readership: I have seen a lot of traffic to my blog this past year and I hope to see that continue over the next couple of months.  I am hoping to leverage some of the social networks (facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) to do just that.  Stay tuned, and if you are a reader of The Cotton Club, please be sure to share my blog w/ your friends.
  • Learning to Fly: This was one of my 2009 resolutions and I only managed to sneak in 2 classes, I hope to devote some time toward ground school this year and hopefully get up in the air on my own in the next 2 years.  With some of our friends moving out of state, multiple offices, and a long list of clients who are pretty spread out, this is something I really, really, want to make happen.
  • Health & Wellness: I want to continue on my trek toward getting back into size 32 jeans.  This past year I went from a size 38 to 33, so I only have a little bit further to go toward this goal.  I am going to implement a wide ranged workout routine that help me to continue burning fat and building lean muscle, this routine consists of everything from walking, cycling, running, boxing, and possibly some weight training.  I know it’s a stretch too, but I would love to be able to get myself into shape to compete in the Little Rock Marathon, or comparable 5k this next year.  I have historically gotten into great shape quick but fell back out just as quick.  I know it’s going to take an increased level of determination on my part but hopefully I can make this happen.  Out of all of my goals set above, this is the one that I probably wouldn’t wager on.

Best of luck in 2009, and I hope that all of you have a prosperous, healthy 2009 and achieve everything you set your sights on.  If there is anything that my business partners and I can assist you or your business in this next year, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line, we would love the opportunity to work with you!

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We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I did this video when Bella came over to visit us for Christmas. She told me that the night before she was excited about coming to see her Un-Cotton!

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Merry Christmas!

December 24, 2008 By 1 Comment

I just wanted to take a few minutes this morning to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!  It is my sincere prayer that we don’t somehow get Frosty the Snowman or Flip and his tongue frozen to the flagpole mixed up with the true meaning of the season!  A baby was born who would grow up to one day pay the ultimate price for our sins!  I know it’s tough sometimes, we have transformed this holiday season into something out of a horror movie, but let’s all try to remember the true reason for the season!

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Jayden Eats a Lemon…

January 20, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I shot this video tonight while we were all out to dinner after church.  I had picked up Jayden (Garth and Melisa’s boy) and was holding him.  Somehow he had grabbed my lemon off of my sweet tea and was eating on it, the look of surprise on his face is priceless.

 

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2007 Christmas Letter…

December 23, 2007 By 1 Comment

Well this year our Christmas Letter didn’t make it out in time to go into our Christmas Cards, partly due to the fact that my partners and I have been pretty swamped with work as of late, so sorry to those of you who were looking forward to the Novel! Maybe Next Year!

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