Doctor's visit

We just got home from the doctor. Kenley was down to 7 lbs 3oz. We had
a really great doctor and she helped me with the breast feeding a ton.
So I feed her for a good twenty minutes and after she was done eating
they weighed her again and she was up to 7 lbs 5 oz! Praise the Lord!
So we have to go back in tomorrow for them to check her weight again.

Please continue to pray for us that Kenley would catch on to
breastfeeding.

Here is how Kenley looks with a full belly :)

First doctors visit

And she is not thrilled! This picture makes me think that I read a
little too much Twilight while I was pregnant with her. She looks like
a little vampire!

I'm not sure how many of you are still following this, but trust me,
the fun has just begun!

I was telling Keri earlier that I don't think I knew the extremes of
parenting. Now if you don't know what I mean by that, I'll explain. On
one side, I knew that I was going to lose some sleep and be grossed
out by diapers and get frustrates with non-stop crying, but wow! Last
night was filled with crying, crying, and some more crying. I'd get to
sleep 20 minutes here and 30 minutes there. I thought that babies
slept at least a LITTLE bit during the night. In reality, the diapers
and crying during the day don't bother me THAT much.

On the flip side of that extreme topic I was speaking of earlier is
the joy of having a child. No woman has been able to melt my heart in
as little as 3 and 1/2 days, and it didn't even take that long for
Kenley to do just that. Even if she's fussy or crying, she's still a
gorgeous child and I'm proud to be her father.

Keri is doing great too. Healing is taking it's time, but Keri is able
to get up on her own now. She even wanted to go for a walk today, but
it was raining. She's very patient with Kenley and me, while I
sometimes manage to sleep right through Kenley's crying. I'm so proud
of her and all her accomplishments. I have definitely been blessed
with a wonderful family.

We're headed home!

We just left the hospital!

Praise the Lord!

Keri and I got 4 straight hours of sleep last night, and probably about 6 total. Is it sad that 6 hours of sleep instantaneously became "sleeping in?"

In other news, it looks like we're going to be going home today! Hooray! Everyone says that baby is very healthy except for a slight case of Jaundice which should go away once Kenley starts eating more regularly. She's still having some trouble figuring the whole eating thing out, but she's doing a lot better with it. I'm sire we'll get it in no time.

Keri is feeling "okay," which is more like an average because she's in a lot of pain normally, but feels great with the percocet!

Thanks for all your love and support. I can't wait for everyone to meet her. Hopefully all our west coast family and friends will get to meet her soon, too. Love you all

Crazy Keri

You know, most people right after surgery just want to sleep and moan
and groan; what does Keri want to do? Crafts, of course!

She wanted to make sure that we got some pottery painted with Kenley's
footprints on her first day, so there we were, late last night, me
holding Kenley and Keri painting her feet all up.

(There's a footprint on the bottom of that shoe)

I'm sure you'll get the post with the finished product once Keri takes
back over her blog.

Kenley June's latest

Kenley is doing great. She's sleeping a lot for long periods of time,
and when she's not sleeping, she's wide-eyed and trying to figure out
the world. Hopefully this means she'll be an easy baby. Even if she is
or isn't, she's such a joy to have. I love her to death. I know
there's a few of you out there who are having babies and you have so
much to look forward to! So congratulations in advance!

Breastfeeding is going a lot better now. Still not perfect and it's
still a struggle, but huge progress is being made!

Keri is recovering very well. The nurses came in early this morning
and "unplugged" her from everything and took the leg compression
thingies off. She was very thankful for that! About a half hour ago
she was able to take a shower and was waking the halls earlier. She's
up and about right now, feeling great.

Kenley's face has changed a lot already from when she was first born
and looks a lot more like the 4-D ultrasound we had in May.

In summary, everything's going perfect and we have had 0
complications! Praise the Lord!

Daddy and Kenley

Keri's Back!

First of all, Is this not the cutest picture? My precious little girl
in the arms of her mother. Keri is now in her room recovering. I was
able to see her right when she was brought up and kenley came in at
the same time. What an awesome moment that was! Keri tried to breast
feed but Kenley wasn't having it. She finally latched on after awhile,
but then just fell asleep. If you can't already tell, I love being a
dad! Love you all! Thanks for all your encouragement.
-Brian

Meet Kenley June Ronk

July 30, 2008 at 10:20 am

8 pounds 5 ounces 21" long

She is absolutely beautiful and I'm a very proud father! Keri is still
getting put back together and I'll give an update on her as soon as I
find out. She was a lot more calm in the OR than she was the labor
room. I'm sure she's happy it's over!

I have a ton more pictures on other cameras. Someday you'll get those.

Kenley is very healthy and there are no health problems. Great set of
lungs! Very moody though. Thanks for all your support and prayers.
Please continue to pray for Keri as she recovers. Love you all!

Well…

probably not the news everyone was hoping for, but still no baby. My most amaIng wife pushed for about 3 hours trying to get Kenley out, but she is too big. I still know that we have an amazing God! Right now, we're waiting for the doc to come out of the OR to give us a c-section consult. Not what everyone hopes for, I know, but this was our last option and we're now at that only option. I feel like she deserves a normal delivery because of how hard she worked, but I know she's ready to meet her, no matter how she comes.

To brag on my wife some more, anyte she was in her most dire need, she went straight to the Lord. What an encouraging example!

Keep praying. It's not over yet...

Thankfully, Keri is still sleeping. Now I get my chance to try and get some sleep myself. If only I could figure out how this stupid recliner/chair thingy works. I know it's getting late on the west and really really early on the east. Blame kenley. It's great to know that we have so much support across the country. Love you all!
-Brian

Update:

Well... Keri got drugs, but on the bright side, I talked her out of an
epideral that she REALLY REALLY wanted. She went from horrible pain to
dead asleep in the span of about 2 minutes. So I went back out to the
faithful who are gathered together in the waiting room. Welcome back
to NC Jim and Jenny. Thanks for making the trip!

Nurse just came in to check her and she said Keri is almost to 7 centimeters. She's in a lot of pain and really struggling o find a comfortable position. Standing is best for her but her legs are starting to get very tired and now has what the nurse called "labor shakes." so if she's laying down she's not comfortable, but when she's standing she doesn't have strength to stand. They let her take a shower which I think will help a lot. Please continue to pray. Things are definitely VERY tough for her right now.

I Apilogize for the big gaps in updates. But last time the nurse checked, Keri was 6 centimeters. I've been reading her all your encouraging comments. You all have been such a blessing to us! I am overwhelmed!

Latest update... As everyone is asking for: we are still at the hospital. They never let us leave cause Keri was progressing. So we're in our own room now which is such a blessing. We've had a few visitors which have kept Keri good company. Keri is really feeling the pain and doubting the whole "natural" thing right now. Please pray for her. She is in a lot of pain but I know she will be so happy if she gets through this. This experience is nothing like I could have ever imagined! I love it! I could not be any prouder of my wife! Our preacher just got here so I'll end this here. Please keep us in your prayers. We love you all!
-Brian

Update:

Well… we're at the hospital and they're checking things out. They say everything looks really good, but contractions are still really sporadic. They'll probably end up sending us home, which is really okay with us. We kind of expected it. Keri's starting to feel the pain, but she's doing great and I am SO proud of her. Have I mentioned that I'm really tired and hungry? Keep us in your prayers. Love you all
-Brian

On our way!

Trust me... She's only smiling for the picture. We're going to the
hospital now, but no guarantees that we'll stay. We're just going to
see where she's at and if she's not that far we're going to leave to
the payne's house which is only about 10 minutes away from the hospital.

Not leaving YET...

We're not leaving for the hospital yet, BUT, we are finished packing up and ready to walk out the door as soon as the time feels right. We're hoping to get to the hospital, pump the baby out, and get back to VBS by 6:30. That gives us two hours. Time us. Ready....go....

Here's Keri on our walk trying to get that darn water to break!

Here's an update: Keri has started labor and doing great! She started
at about 4 this morning and called me home from work at 5:30 this
morning. She's been taking it real slow and doing great through the
contractions. Here she is chilling on the couch eating a popsicle and
watching T.V. Stay tuned for more updates.

I do understand a lot of people want to call, but I'm asking that you
refrain as much as possible. I'll keep this updated as much as
possible when things change and I'll be checking comments also. That
would be the best way to contact us.

Nothing Yet

I was having some contractions last night, so I had Brian come home from work but they never became consistent.

Just got back from the Doc

And... I am dilated 3 cm!!! So the Doctor said that he thinks it will be soon!!

We just took the dogs for a walk and then later tonight we are headed to help out with VBS so hopefully that will help it move along!

Ack

My sewing machine is driving me nuts. It could be the fact that I try overly ambitious projects with my horrible sewing skills. But still why wont it just cooperate? I have been trying to work on these baby flip flops for like 2 months...... GRRRRRR

I got a new job!!

You are looking at the new fabric department worker @ Walmart! Just kidding.... Sort of! I did help 4 customers including myself!

Today after Mickey and Cvon's wedding we headed to Walmart to pick up some fabric to make a roman shade for our bedroom. There were already two people waiting to have fabric cut and they said that they had found a worker who paged someone to cut the fabric a while ago. So we waited a bit longer and then I sent Brian to find a worker. That worker paged over the intercom again and still no one came.

So I decided to grab that little scanner thing and see if I could figure out how to print the tickets. It was super easy so I cut the fabrics and printed tickets for the other 2 people waiting and then I cut my fabric and then as I was finishing mine, another lady came up needing some ribbon cut, so I cut that for her too. :)

You can really tell how humongous I am in this picture :)

Yay!!

I am so excited! This week Harris Teeter is doing Super Double Coupons! So they will double all coupons up to $1.98 value! I missed it last time that they did it and I was worried that they wouldn't do it again . I want to stock up on some Batter Blaster since my coupon is for $1 off and usually they just double $.99 and below! So I am off to shower and then sort my coupons! Hope everyone has a great day!

I made a sling!

Since I have this large baby belly and no baby I will let the chair play the part of me and the Marine Corps Build-a-Bear play the part of Kenley. :)
I used the video tutorial that I posted in the last post. It went really quickly, I started at about 10:30pm and finished around 11:30pm. Most of that time was me trying to get the pieces to line up. The flannel kept sticking to the other fabric making it hard to get it all straightened out. I also bought a really cute teal and cream jersey knit stripe that I found in the $1.50 section @ Walmart that I am going to make another one out of. I would also like to make a brown-ish one for days where the black would not go with my outfit. :) The outside fabric is sort of like a paisley black and the inside is a turquoise flannel and it looks alot brighter in the picture than in real life

38 weeks

Since I posted the maternity pictures that Rosa took of me last Thursday I totally forgot to also post my 38 week picture.
In Doggie news... They now love the trampoline. I see them on it all the time, sometimes they are just lounging and other times they are play fighting on it. I took a video yesterday of the extreme bounce play fighting because it made me laugh so hard. If I could figure out how to get the video off of my camera I would totally post it. But I cant so pictures will have to do. :)
Now I just need to make a trip to the groomer to get their nails clipped so they dont rip my trampoline before I ever get the chance to jump on it. (I have been pregnant the whole time we have had it)

Doctors Appointment

I had a doctors appointment this morning. It went really well, I saw a different Dr. than I have seen before and I really liked him. I brought my birth plan in and he was really good about talking through it all with me. They checked me and Kenley is head down and at minus 2 station so she has a ways more to go. Unfortunately I have gotten the "rash of pregnancy" so that has been the cause of my ridiculous itchiness. They prescribed me some Claritin to try to control the itchiness but it will go away a few days after Kenley is born so now I just want to have her that much more! But right now it looks like it may be while before she gets here, my next appointment is on the 27th!

Jealous!

Remember back when I told you about how when we announced we were pregnant at church that another couple announced at the same time and that we had the same due date? Well she had her little boy yesterday! I am so jealous!

I have an appointment in the morning but Kenley still needs to wait until at least this Friday to come even though I want her now!

Oh well... Hopefully this week I will have lots of time to get stuff done! I am hopefully going to go buy some fabric tonight to make a pouch sling. I was really wanting a hotsling but then I saw this tutorial for how to make one and it looks fairly easy so I am going to give it a shot!

Kenley's Nursery

We are finished with the nursery! Just waiting on the baby! We still plan to add photos on the walls once she gets here and we take some family portraits. I still also want to get a big plant for the corner too. We both just love how it turned out!

Maternity Pictures!

Rosa took some maternity pictures of me today! I love how they turned out!

I cant figure out how to get the wedding pictures off of the slideshow. Sorry :)

While Hubby's Away...

The wife will... Make fridge magnets!

I saw this awesome idea that turned old keyboard letters into magnets. I really liked the idea, but then there is the fact that you would need lots of keyboards so that you could spell different words all at the same time. Then it came to me... Scrabble tiles!!

So I went a thriftin and found an old Scrabble game for .99 cents! Brian was on duty Tuesday so I figured that this could take up a good chunk of my boring alone time! I just cut magnets to size and then hot glued them onto the backs of the Scrabble tiles. Best part is, they will still be fully functional for game play!

My Birth Plan

Since the day is fast approaching I thought I would share with you my birth plan. I basically just copied the one of Meagan from the Prayer of Hannah blog since hers was most like how I want the birth to go. And I know that no matter what my birth plan says, the whole event is really up to God and His will for Kenley's birth. So here it is...

Birth Plan for Keri Ronk and baby Kenley June Ronk
Our overall goal in the labor and delivery process is for both Keri and baby to be healthy and safe. We hope to accomplish that goal through a natural delivery with as few interventions as possible. We have included some of our wishes below, understanding that this is a guide and that unforeseen circumstances may require a change in the birth plan. Thank you so much for your support and guidance in the birth of our child.
Labor
• We expect only the husband, Brian, to be in the room with Keri during labor and childbirth.
• We plan on a natural unmedicated childbirth. As a general approach, we prefer that any medical intervention necessary be taken incrementally, staring with the most minimally “invasive” approach, and going from there only after discussion with Brian and Keri.
• Please offer non-medical choices for coping with labor. We prefer freedom of movement and mobility to increase comfort during contractions. Position during labor and delivery is Keri’s choice. This includes the use of a birthing ball, squat bar, and shower.
• We prefer very little intermittent monitoring with an external fetal monitor. We very much want to avoid internal fetal monitoring unless there is an emergency.
• We would like to eat and drink light foods and liquids as desired. Keri does not want an IV unless there is an emergency. If necessary, Keri will accept having a device (heparin lock?) inserted into a vein so that an IV can be started up quickly when needed, but without the IV being connected until it is needed. Keri does not want a catheter, either, but would like the freedom to use the restroom.
• Because we want labor to progress at a natural pace, we hope to avoid artificial induction or augmentation of labor (e.g., amniotomy, stripping of membranes, pitocin).
• We would like for the nurse or doctor to do perineal massage and warm compresses whenever possible during labor and delivery to avoid a tear. We also want to avoid episiotomy, unless necessary for the safety of the baby. If an episiotomy is suggested, please perform only after discussion with Keri and Brian.
• I will want local anesthesia for repair of tears.
• We hope to avoid the use of forceps or vacuum. If labor stalls or the baby seems stuck, Keri would like to try changing positions and other methods first.
• We view a Cesarean Birth as a last resort and only because of imminent danger to Keri or the baby. If it becomes necessary, we prefer to have husband, Brian, in the room seated at mother’s head during surgery. We would like the baby to be held by Brian as soon after birth as possible, and Brian will remain with baby. We plan to breastfeed as soon as possible!
Post-delivery
• Umbilical cord is not clamped or cut until after the cord has stopped pulsating.
• After the birth, we would prefer the baby to be laid directly on the mother’s chest without washing and allowed to nurse as soon as possible. All testing can be performed while baby lies on mother’s chest. Brian and Keri should be present for all newborn procedures!
• Delivery of the placenta is spontaneous, without the use of Pitocin. Other methods of encouraging delivery of placenta (fundal massage, immediate breast feeding) are used.
• We prefer to breastfeed only—so no bottles, pacifiers, artificial nipples, formula or water.

Mosquito Magnet

I have always seemed to attract mosquito bites. Brian can be outside for 4 hours and I pop out there for five minutes to ask him a question and I get tons of bites while he gets none.

On our honeymoon we went on a night time kayak trip and I got so many mosquito bites that I looked like I had a really bad case of the chicken pox. I even had to go to the infirmary of our cruise ship. I have pictures but I will spare you :).

I am once again covered in bites that are driving me crazy, so I did a little search and came up with this article. In it, it says that pregnant women also attract more mosquito's. :(

Any advice for warding off mosquito's or for dealing with the pesky bites?

Yard Sale Sucess!

Our yard sale today was a huge success! Almost everything we had sold except for the clothes! We ended up buying a deep freezer from my friend Melissa with part of our garage sale money and we still came out way ahead!

I am super excited about the freezer because now I can start making meals to freeze for when the baby comes!

Brian's Marine Corps Life Update

Please pray for God's will in our life right now! As of this moment it looks like Brian will not be getting deployed in September. (YAYYYYYYYYY!!!), Brian also has his application in for the officer program he applied to last year and didn't get, we will find out about that in November, if he gets it we will move back to Washington next summer. He also has an opportunity to be an instructor at Whidbey Island, which would start in September but they will not give him the spot with a pending MECEP application. If he doesnt get selected for MECEP then he will be able to reenlist (w/ a bonus) and then take on that instructor position in January. So yeah there is alot going on right now with Brian's career.

37 weeks yesterday!

We almost didn't get a 37 week picture taken. I totally forgot to do it and as I was lying in bed just about to fall asleep it hit me that I hadn't taken the picture yet. So I woke Brian up and had him come out to take my picture. He was not thrilled :). And then once we got out there to take the picture my cameras battery died. He was even less thrilled :). But here it is, crazy slept on hair and all!

Bittersweet Goodbyes.

Today our good friends the Friedleins are finishing packing up and heading up to Quantico. It is very bittersweet because I am so sad to see them move away but I am also so happy for them that Jim is getting the opportunity to go to EWS (Expeditionary Warfare School) and that they wont have a looming deployment for at least another year. I am so thankful that God blessed us by bringing the Friedlein's into our life.

Job 1:21b- " The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

I really don't have to wait too long to see them though because they are going to come back down here when I have Kenley! (That was my evil plan all along) :)

Here are some pictures of the last few days with Jim, Jenny, and David

David loved our trampoline
Here we all are @ the Payne's house this past Sunday night praying for Jim, Jenny, and David.
Here is Brian, Jim, and Gary doing "Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone" this past Sunday morning.

I never got a picture of just Jenny and I together so I will have to get one when they come back down.

Seam Ripping

I spent most of my morning using my seam ripper. My brain does not seem to be connecting lately. :) So I pinned my boppy cover pieces with 1 right side to 1 wrong side, it wasn't until after I finished sewing it all that I realized it was wrong and had to rip the thread out of the whole thing.

Once I got my brain in gear it sewed up really quickly! Here it is!I love it! Melissa gave me her old boppy and all that I needed to do was get a cover but I wasn't really crazy about any of the ones that they sell so I decided to make my own. Then I couldn't find a fabric that I liked. I wanted something navy blue and nothing really struck my fancy when we went to look for fabric, then Brian spotted the Seahawks fabric at Walmart so I decided to go for it!

This is the tutorial I used. I am going to use snaps to close it off rather than a zipper or Velcro, I just need to wait for my hubby to get home to help me. :) I ended up with lots of extra fabric, I have a very cute plan for some of it! I just need to make a run to Michael's for some more supplies before I get started :)

Chocolate Delight

I said that I would post this yesterday, but we spent most of yesterday trying to squeeze in as much time with the Friedlein's as we could.
Chocolate Delight

Ingredients:
1 Cup Flour
1 Stick Butter or Margarine (melted)
3/4 Cup Chopped Pecans (I left this out)
1 pkg Cream Cheese
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Large Instant Chocolate Pudding
1 Large Instant Vanilla Pudding
4 Cups Cold Milk
1 (16oz) Container Cool Whip

Mix flour, butter, and nuts together. Press into a 9x13 glass baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool Crust. Mix together cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 1 cup of cool whip. Set Aside. Mix pudding mixes with milk until thickened. Stir in 1 cup cool whip with pudding. Spread cream cheese mixture over cooled crust. Next layer the pudding, then top it off with the remaining cool whip. Then sprinkle with more chopped nuts or with some grated chocolate or mini chips.

4 years ago today

Today is Brian's 4 year Marine Corps anniversary! I cant believe it was four years ago that he left for bootcamp. I was so devastated, I wrote him like 3 letters a day everyday for that whole 3 months! Yeah, that may have been a little much :)

Here we are 4 years ago today at the place where we dropped him off to go to bootcampAnd here was us yesterday @ the church 4th of July party. My how we have changed. Especially my belly :)
For his anniversary present Brian got an iPhone!! Well thats a lie, it has nothing to do with it being his anniversary. Yesterday we went to watch fireworks with the teens from our church and Brian come home with his shorts pocket being all pink and wet with no iea how it got to be that way. So he threw them in the washing machine right when we got home and he forgot to take his phone out of his pocket. With a baby on the way there is no way for him to be without a phone. So thats what we did today.

Happy 4th of July!

Today we are headed to our church for a BBQ and softball game, we might even stay for fireworks, we will see how I hold up in this heat! I am bringing dessert of course! I will post the recipe Monday!

Today is also a day that Christians should be reminded that we are commanded to pray for our country, its leaders, and the people who defend our earthly freedom. Of course being a military spouse I am a big fan of our military and all that they do to make it so that we can be free. Jesus did so much more when He died on the cross. He gave us eternal freedom which means more than I think we can ever fully comprehend while still on this earth.

1 Timothy 1:1-6
¹ I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. ² Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. ³ This is good and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. ⁵ For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. ⁶ He gave his life to purchase FREEDOM for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.

(this is the NLT, I liked it because it says freedom, it seemed fitting for today.)

I call it pop.

I was perusing blogs today and came across this map. It cracks me up! Washington is totally a pop state. North Carolina is an undecided state, but still no one here knows what I am talking about when I ask for a pop. :)

Reason #50 million why Target is annoying

I have a love hate relationship with Target. I love lots of their products, they sell cute stuff for mostly reasonable prices. I hate that they are like the stingy-est company ever when it comes to returns and stuff like that.

So Target sent me a coupon for 10% off of everything left on my registry. Woohooo!! Right? Well kinda. So we were planning to use that coupon to buy the travel system that we had registered for. I was under the impression that I could use the coupon as many times as I wanted because I went and bought a changing pad the first time and then went back a few days later and bought just some hangers. Well apparently you can only use it once, yesterday we were in Jacksonville and they wouldn't take my coupon to buy some more of the stuff from my registry. So I am totally bummed because that coupon was going to save us like $20 dollars on the stroller. Don't fear though, I have a plan up my sleeve, :) we will see if it works.

So seriously beware of Targets confusing wording!

Go Watch

I just watched a video of a woman named Rachel who was dying from cancer. If you read the Girl Talk blog you may have already seen it. She passed away yesterday. In the video she made the statement "God in His infinite wisdom allows things to happen that He could easily stop with His infinite power". What an understanding of who God is and what this world is. I really encourage you to take the time to watch this video, she is an excellent example of what a Christian woman should be.

Here's the link

36 weeks!

I realize that I am huge! Everyone at church is getting my hopes up because they keep telling me that I am going to have her early. :) I am totally taking advantage of all of the stork parking spots now!

My Husband...

took leave this week so that he could get a bunch of projects done around the house before Kenley arrives and before he possibly goes to Iraq or we possibly move and need to rent out our house soon.

He has done a ton of stuff around the house, like putting all of our doors back on! Mainly though, he has been busting his butt on the outside and landscaping of our house. We had kind of let it go, mainly because it is super hot and I dont even like walking to get in the car in this heat. :)

He made us a tire swing yesterday! I haven't gotten to try it out yet because I will most likely: A. Not fit or B: Get Stuck!

It definitely looks like fun though!

Happy July!

I cant believe that this is the month that I am supposed to have Kenley!! I am so excited because now when people ask my due date, I can just say the 30th and I dont have to say July 30th!

Happy Anniversary to Amy and John!!!

And Happy Birthday to my Cousin Sean!!!