Ezekiel

Hello All,

So the big news of today's post is that we have a name picked out for our boy. Ezekiel Reid French will be his full name, Zeke for short.

Why Ezekiel?
1. Ezekiel means, "God Strengthens"
2. Ezekiel is an Old Testament prophet, just like Micah.
3. Ezekiel is unique, like the names Karlene and Micah.

Reid will be his middle name because its my middle name. I wanted my boy to retain a portion of my name, and it was either going to be my initials or my middle. Obviously the first name Ezekiel rules out the initials.

The Book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament is nothing short of amazing. One of the most well known passages from the Book of Ezekiel is "Ezekiel and the Valley of Dry Bones."

Ezekiel 37:1-14 (NIV)
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.
2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.
3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know."
4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!
5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.
6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.
8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' "
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.'
12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.
14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.' "

So that is today's big news. At some point soon I will write on my reaction to the news that I am going to be a father, and my reaction to the news that we are having a baby boy. There is also some extra French Family news that I will post soon.

- Papa French

22 weeks

Taken today at 22 weeks, 3 days

For the past week and a half, at about 10 o' clock at night I realize that another day has gone by without getting a belly picture. Between Christmas, my birthday, family in town, work, etc. it just didn't get done.  On my way out the door to work this morning I decided to take a quick picture until I can get Micah to take a normal one that doesn't disproportionally show how big my belly is. (Trust me, it's way smaller than it looks in this picture). But for now, this will do :)

Baby French is getting stronger.  I am feeling his rolls, kicks, and punches more often now, and stronger.  At night when I lie in bed I can clearly see my stomach moving.  When I was in Sarasota I went out with my siblings to see Avatar. The vibrations from the sound was making Baby French move around the whole 3 hours!

At this point he should be about 1 pound, or a bag of coffee beans. That's heavy!

Still no crazy food combination cravings.  However I did have just one piece of Coconut Cake this year (a Mast Christmas tradition) and it sounds reeeeeally good to me right now.

For a few weeks I've had a strange discomfort just above my belly button that would come and go. I'm sure it's completely normal, and even has a name for it, but it's a mystery to me! I also had pain in my left hip for about a week or so.  Both problems seem to have disappeared and I haven't experienced either for a few days now.  Other than a bad cold that I'm fighting at the moment, I'm still quite comfortable and everything on my end seems to be going smoothly with the pregnancy.  We are so thankful!

I'm currently digging my nose in quite a few pregnancy and parenting books trying to soak up all the information I can. Please feel free to suggest more if you know of any good ones!

20 weeks

Today I am 20 weeks along, half way!

How far along: 20 weeks

Sleep: Other than waking up to go to the bathroom every other hour in the middle of a strange dream, it's been pretty good

Best moment this week: finding out a friend of mine is pregnant too!

Movement: he's rolling around in there but nothing too strong.  Today he was really moving around, so I put my hand on my stomach, and I saw my hand moving!  I ran over to show Micah the new trick and of course he decided to be shy. He seems to get shy every time Micah puts his hand on my stomach.  I bet it'll happen soon though!

Food cravings: slurpees but I'm still not convinced that's a craving related to pregnancy.  I'm pretty sure I always crave a slurpee, baby making or not.

What I miss: not much, I'm too busy being thankful for how well the pregnancy is going!

Milestones: Reaching the half way point!

Better late than never

Tomorrow I will officially be half way through my pregnancy - 20 weeks.  I figured it was about time to start one of these blogs to keep friends and family up to date!


We found out on August 26, 2009 that I was pregnant!  I was in a state of shock.  Micah was beyond excited.  I got over being shocked, however, and we are now both very excited together!

First trimester went well.  I did suffer from all day morning sickness, especially evening sickness.  I managed to never chuck anything up, but I came very very close to it. I slept, a lot... Micah can attest to that.  I think I saw him a grand total of 1 hour in the evenings, if he was lucky.

At one point I had a miscarriage scare (which turned out to be nothing to worry about!).  It did get me an early ultrasound at 7 weeks, 4 days.

It was such a relief to see the little flickering heart beat on the screen!

I am now well into my second trimester and feeling great!  Morning sickness is a distant memory that is quickly fading.  My energy is finally coming back, swiffer is glad to have me again.

A funny story... Micah was being the sweet and thoughtful husband that he is last night and unloaded, and loaded the dishwasher for me.  When I awoke this morning, I walked into the kitchen, and stepped into a large puddle of water.  Our kitchen floor was flooded with soapy water.  Micah, in his determination to make sure those dishes were extra clean, had added some Cascade, and then some dish soap for good measure :)

Two weeks ago Micah and I went in for my 18 week check up and had that famous BIG ultrasound.  The one where you hope and pray that your baby will you show you their goods.  Oh, and to take all those other measurements that are important too...
Pretty much the entire pregnancy I was convinced I was having a girl.  Micah had really been hoping for a boy.  The night before the ultrasound I tried to get him to tell me what he thought we were having.  He gave the whole shpeel about how he would be happy with either one.  I wasn't buying it but he wasn't budging either.
Once we were at the ultrasound, and the technician asked if we were ready to know the sex of our baby, I could tell it was a boy before she even said.  I couldn't believe my eyes as she announced, "It's a BOY!" which Micah replied with, "Touchdown!" At first I was surprised we were having a boy, and definitely not a girl like I had convinced myself, and did my husband really just say "touchdown"?  Micah later said he surprised himself by how excited he was when he found out it was a boy.

It was such a relief to find out that everything about our little boy was growing right on track.  Everything about him looked good!

I had decided against the early tests for Down syndrome. Our technician was able to tell us that from what she could see on this ultrasound that everything ruled out the possibility for Down syndrome. We are so thankful for our healthy baby boy!

We are already in love with his little toes and fingers

The day after this ultrasound, I went to sit down on the floor at work and instead of gracefully lowering myself onto the ground I ended up plopping down.  For the first time, I felt him move!  Ever since then I think I've been more aware of what it feels like.  I now feel him pretty consistently, especially when sitting.  It's so neat!  Still waiting on those kicks!

We thank our friends and family for praying for us and our little boy.  We are so thankful!