We’re pregnant!

Baby Bentley coming May 2017. Yes, we’re as surprised as you might be. Thanksgiving means even more this year with this unexpected gift from the Lord after our miscarriage while in Australia.

We told the kids a week ago Sunday. Lizzy’s question, within 5 minutes was, “When can we start planning?” Here’s what she subsequently wrote out. (Translation: “kat”=”cot” = “crib” in Aussie English.)

Can you interpret the other items in Lizzy Phonetical Language? I’ll be sad when this season is over and she learns to spell!

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Welcome Elizabeth “Lizzy” Maree Bentley!

Elizabeth “Lizzy” is now almost 1 1/2 weeks old and it’s amazing how quickly 2 adults can be exhausted after caring for a tiny, 7-lb. little person. We’re grateful, though.

She was born our May Day baby on May 1, weighing 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 19 1/4 inches, born a bit early at 37 1/2 weeks. (Yes, just the day before a friend came over to help organize baby clothes and we got 1/2 way done. Another friend came over the night before she was born and we got the glider recovered about 1/2 way…then, my water broke the next morning. So much for projects!)

We named her Elizabeth Maree Bentley.

Elizabeth is a name we both just love in general, but also chose it because of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist in the Bible. She’s a woman who believed God, taking Him at His word. Elizabeth “Lizzy” is the heroine in Pride & Prejudice, one of Angie’s favorite movies made from the 1811 Jane Austen novel. Lizzy is fun, witty, honest, beautiful.  Maree is the middle name of Angie’s mom and grandmother.

Praises:

• For a diabetic mommy, the labor went extremely well and my blood sugar stayed really steady as they let me stay on my insulin pump the whole time. I’m still floored that we were able to have Elizabeth without interventions diabetics often have. Thanks, Lord!
• Friday we came home after being in the hospital for 2 days to get her bilirubin count down (Jaundice).
• It’s a new day and I’m so very thankful. We 3 slept a little because Elizabeth did better last night after a day of what seemed like perpetual tummy hardships.
• Our community of friends has been incredible. We came home from the hospital to an amazing surprise: a house that had been cleaned and organized (amidst all those 1/2-way done projects) by dear friends so we could re-enter home life more calmly. Another friend has come twice to help with laundry and finished helping us get the nursery ready. And meals are coming to our door in the hands of other dear friends.
• I’ve absolutely loved seeing Scott as a dad and as a husband to me as we both figure out how to be parents to this incredible gift from the Lord.

Prayer Request:

• For Elizabeth to put her trust in Jesus at an early age.
• For me as I’m pretty weary, teary and tired most days. I truly didn’t know how hard this season would be of sleepless nights and trying to decipher what our new daughter needs. I’ve felt pretty cooped up so we’re trying to find a way for me to get out for a walk and some kind of errand every day to get sun and clear my head a bit. Scott is loving me really well and isn’t fazed by my tears the way I think I am—I’m thankful.
• For us to live in the grace God has for us for each moment.

It’s a Girl!

In the sea of hardships that diabetes brings, there is a perk: ultrasounds to see baby girl Bentley each 4 weeks!

We’re so grateful to God to report that she’s growing well and Angie is feeling great, not taking either for granted.

Our biggest prayer for baby Bentley (besides that she not be 10 lbs.) is that she would put her trust in Jesus at an early age.

Thank you for praying for us 3!

(Ultrasound taken at week 21, right after Christmas. Angie in green taken at week 22.)

Bentley Baby News!

We are thrilled to share the wonderful news that we’re expecting a Jesus-loving-basketball-playing-Jazzercise-dancing baby on May 18, 2011.

You might know that I (Angie) got a new insulin pump recently, along with a  IV-type sensor that continuously reads my blood sugar.

The timing couldn’t have been better.

I had to order a new insulin pump (they only last about 4 years) and the rep asked if I was pregnant or looking to get pregnant, because she’d recommend the pump that has a larger reservoir for insulin as preggo diabetics need more.

Well, at the time, my heart was especially tender and scared to continue to hope for a baby because it wasn’t happening.

My wonderful husband urged me forward, to order the bigger one as a means to keep trusting the Lord and keep my heart open.

We got the new pump in the mail Sept. 9. That night we took the test…and found out we are going to have a baby.

Thank You, Lord. This little one is Yours–and a gift.

The biggest prayer request is for this to be a healthy, normal pregnancy amidst my type 1 diabetes. I’ve got great doctors and am very thankful to be teaching Jazzercise and on the insulin pump, to help make it a healthy pregnancy.