Out of Commission....Now Making a Comeback - Slowly!

Ok...so I realize that it has been a while since my last post....but just a few days after Hurricane Ike - things went wrong and it hasn't been til now that I can sit here for a short time and not be in pain. This is what has been going on...

For several months now, I have been in on again/off again pain with my lower back. It starts in my lower back and runs down my right leg. It was tolerable....but then it got worse and didn't let up. It had been the day (9/24) I had gone in to see my midwife and we weren't able to find the baby's heartbeat. We scheduled a sonogram for that Saturday. Well, that night, I was at work and nearly passed out from the amount of pain I was feeling in my back. Saturday came, and thankfully, we were able to see/hear the baby's heartbeat, but the sonographer also found a 4cm cyst on my ovary - right next to the baby. She advised me to go see a doctor as she knew that a cyst this size could cause problems for the pregnancy AND possibly be the reason for my terrible back pain (Which still had not let up at all). The pain intesified and Monday came. I was able to see a doctor referred by my midwife and my options were hard to swallow. Live with the pain, Narcotics or surgery. Living with the pain was not an option....so far, the pain had literally crippled me - leaving me in bed, not able to do anything for myself, let alone the 4 kids. Narcotics was the greater "evil" as we didn't feel that exposing the baby (now 7 weeks in utero) to narcotics for any long length of time was a good option. Surgery it was.

I had a laparoscopy (through the belly button) and then they made another incision in my lower abdomen to drain the cyst. I won't go into too much detail about this other than the experience was terrifying for me as I had never had an IV or been in the hospital a day in my life. Plus, I had the fear of what the anasthesia may do to the baby. Surgery went well, but recovery was a nightmare. I was bed-ridden for over 2 weeks post-op. Then, I began to spot for 2 weeks after that. Thankfully, we have seen on sonogram and have heard the baby's heartbeat and we are trusting God that our baby is safe in His hands.

The hardest part has been that the back pain STILL has not let up. Since I am pregnant, no one will do an MRI or CAT scan. It is dangerous to the baby. I have 3 kids home full time, homeschooling - a very active 14 month old - and basically the responsibilities that come with being a wife/mom. I have been referred to a wonderful pre-natal chiropracter who has started therapy with me and this has aleviated some pain.....it is a work in progress.

I am going to fight to win this battle with pain. I refuse to live like this forever and certainly appreciate your prayers. We've started to get busy again and get out doing things - so I will certainly be posting again and will update you with pictures of our family!

We Survived Ike!!

Well, thank God -Hurricane Ike is over for the Guntle family - and what feels like a split second, life is suddenly "back to normal". We were spared by this hurricane as it traveled more towards the east than expected. We were impacted by heavy wind and rain by the outer bands, but it still did not create the kind of damage we were anticipating. We never lost power, though Nathan's aunt and uncle who live 1/4 mile behind us lost power and still do not have any!!!

Though we do have some roof damage, we are just so grateful for the prayers that went out on our behalf by all our family and friends! It made a HUGE difference! Here are some photos for you to view:

BEFORE

Our makeshift "Kennel" for our outdoor guard dogs

Jack & Winston - doggie troopers

Mommy & Jonathan checking things out before curfew

Wild wind = wild hair!

AFTER

Jack is done! He wants out!!

Some damage to the roof of our shed

Baby's swing tossed

The inside of our shed - the shingles ripped off and water was leaking in.

Nathan, in the pouring rain, putting a tarp over the hole on the shed.

Our front yard - minor tree limbs down

Over and Out...

It's 11:00 PM on Friday night - the first band of storms are just about to hit us...the rain is coming in sideways and the winds are up to 45-50 mph. Jonathan is so lucky...he is sleeping through everything! The rest of us are awake and will most likely stay up through the worst of it. We appreciate all the emails sent to us praying for us - we could use them right about now...
The eye of this storm is slighty east of us, however, with the massive size of the storm, we have been told that we will still feel wind up to 110 mph!
Pray that our roof holds and that our animals survive and that if power should go out, it would only be a short while. Unfortunately, our water is controlled by our electricity as well...so that is a major concern. We are well prepared for 3-5 days, but that is all.

Again, thank you for your prayers. We will keep you updated, if we can, as we can, through this site, texting and/or Facebook through our cell should power go out.

Much love,

Nathan, Danielle and kids

Hunkering Down...Preparing for Ike!!!

OH NO! It's HURRICANE IKE!!!!



Well, as of 8 AM this morning, Hurricane Ike is headed almost directly for us! Nathan, who is a native Texan, assures me that all will be fine. I trust him; he's been through quite a few hurricanes in his lifetime. So, to take precautionary measures, we've boarded up the house, filled up our cars with gas (and them some more in containers) and bought ice, gallons and gallons of water, as well as canned foods. We've got hurricane lamps, candles, flashlights and of course, UNO! :) We've also stored up about 40 gallons of water in the bathrooms since the water to our home is run on a well, we will lose not only lights, but water usage if power goes out. They are now predicting over 100 mph winds, so we're making sure we are set and ready to go in case of anything.
Funny thing happened this morning. Nathan and his dad boarded up the house into the wee hours of the morning late last night. The rest of us all slept in this morning....there is virtually NO sunlight in our house now...we all thought it was 4 am when really it was 8 am!! Craziness!
Here are a few pics of our preparations...

Jonathan watching the Weather Channel with Mommy

Boarded up and ready for the storm

Water, candles and Cheerios...life's necessities! ;)

Jonathan is ready to use our new hurricane lamp!

Tour Guide Jonathan

Here's a little tour via Jonathan...

Breaking News....

beep-beep-da-beep-beep, beep-beep-da-beep-beep, beep-beep-da-beep-beep.........

This breaking news just in.....

It has been reported that Jonathan Guntle will be a BIG BROTHER sometime in April of 2009. Parents are shocked, but extremely excited. Other siblings, possibly even more excited than the parents!

Accuracy of this report proven through the following pictures:

A few more videos....

Here a few more videos from the last month that will catch you up a little.

This first one is Jonathan and Mommy having a very silly moment!!

Here is Jonathan showing off his drumming skills

And last, but certainly not least, Daddy & Jonathan making music on the acoustic together...

Jonathan at the Beach

Here's a short clip of Jonathan's recent trip to the beach - his first time there as an active WALKER!!

The Guntle's are BACK!!!!

Well, it seems the Guntle family is back on the blog - and it feels GREAT to be back!! There is so much to catch everyone up on... it will take some time to add pics and stories - so for now, I will leave you with a few shots of our family from the last week! More to come....

Daddy teaching Jonathan how to play the guitar

Future Rock Star

This one is hard to explain.... 3 words...Yo Gabba Gabba

Fun in the sun on family vacation!

Garrett doing a front flip off the pier

Jenna jumping for her life!

Wyatt pullin a "Tony Hawk" move

Danielle & Ashlie swimming in the creek
Building a sand castle

Um....who did this to Garrett?

We found the culprits.... :)

Nothin like a stroll on the beach

Jenna

Wyatt


Garrett

Jonathan