Our New Addition

Thank you for all your prayers. The wait is finally over! Poppy Anne Clark was born on February 26, 2021, at 4:14 am, weighing 8 lbs. 14 oz.

Poppy passed all her tests including her glucose tests. Leanne is doing pretty well. She came home around noon today (Saturday). She lost a lot of blood during the delivery so she is supposed to take it easy for a week. She is not allowed to do much around the house including moving between floors more than once per day.

I wasn’t actually able to be present for this birth due to my certain toilet dependency but I’ll never forget one particular phrase in Leanne’s text message informing me of the birth of our new daughter: “…she is so perfect and adorable”. I concur.

The girls were ecstatic to hear the news of Poppy’s arrival. Daisy spent a good portion of the day making cards for Poppy and Mommy and searching the house for baby things Poppy might need. I wasn’t sure Harry cared at all but he surprised us today when he asked to hold Poppy. He probably just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

I can’t adequately describe how blessed I feel. I have 4 wonderful children, a loving wife and a tolerable dog. I still have cancer but I am also still alive and will not let my affliction prevent me from enjoying these wonderful blessings God has given me.

Thankfully Poppy was born on a non-chemo weekend so I was able to help send Leanne off to the hospital and watch the kids the next day. The lack of sleep was hard as I definitely need a lot of sleep when recovering from chemo but I survived (and went to bed at the same time as the children).

I am still enduring chemotherapy every other week. My next session will be on March 5. I am pretty sure the chemotherapy is working though as I have a rash and my CEA level has started dropping again. My nausea pills are still working but my new challenge is diarrhea. I used to only have diarrhea on a single day but now it is lasting for over a week. This is also one of the reasons I did not accompany my wife to the hospital. Interestingly enough, the hospital bathroom was where Poppy ended up being born, so maybe we could have made it work… I also had to shave my head again as my hair was ridiculously patchy. My head gets really cold.

Please continue to pray for us.

Please pray that Leanne will recover quickly and that she will have the strength (and enough sleep) to care for Poppy.

Please pray for our whole family as we adjust to this wonderful new addition.

Pray that God will keep me around for a long time.

Pray that the chemotherapy will continue to work and that I will be able to withstand the resulting symptoms.

And praise God for the safe arrival of Poppy!