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More Ela
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Friday, October 26, 2007
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What everyone has been waiting for. More pictures and videos of Ela on her blog.
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New Pictures and a Video of St. Louis Trip!
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Wednesday, September 12, 2007
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Visit Ela's blog for new pictures from our trip to St. Louis and a video. (The reason we look like dweebs is 'cause the flash ruined the picture and you
obviously can't see that there is a very large tank behind us with very large fish.
I like this picture anyhow because Ela looks like she's playing along.)
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New Posts
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Wednesday, August 29, 2007
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New posts on Ela's blog and on Erica's blog. Check it out!
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Ela's Travels
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Saturday, August 11, 2007
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Visit Ela's blog for pictures of her latest travels.
Also, don't forget that if you want to travel, we're here for you. Visit thomericantravel.com or call (417)529-0545.
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Ela at a Fortnight
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Thursday, June 07, 2007
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Click here to see more photos of Ela at a fortnight...
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Stranger In Our Arms
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Monday, May 21, 2007
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This little stranger crashed into our world almost 2 days ago. She was a stranger to us, we thought, because we couldn't hold her. They told us it could be up to five days, but no fewer than three, before we'd get to do that. So, while we knew in some strange sense she was "ours," she was still a stranger to us.
Last night our very strange friends, Eric and Cara Pagan, came to share the Eucharist with us and fellowship. Erica had been able to avoid thinking about it for some time. But they talked with us about being parents, about trying to measure up to our Heavenly Father, and Eric prayed a fine prayer that sent Erica into tears. She wanted to hold the stranger. I think I know why. What I don't know is the why behind that why.
After Eric and Cara left us in something less than peace, I offered Erica the consolation prize of changing the stranger's diaper, which is a strange thing to want to do for a stranger, but Erica is a strange one too.
We traveled down the way to meet the stranger, again. I slipped the nurse a President Grant and she put the stranger in Erica's arms. Another Jackson put the stranger in my arms, and something strange happened. She remained a stranger. How strange she was, this creature they want to tell me is mine. Holding her, I realized how wrongheaded that is. For several reasons.
Did I form her in her mother's womb? Did I carry her through sickness? When her lung collapsed, did I sustain her with my own breath? Do I know her, that I can claim her? Do I know what she's made up of? What she's going to be? Do I have a claim on her choices, on her fortune, on her future? That she comes from my seed, does that make her mine? To whom does she belong? To her mother? To the world? To some god? Which god? Does she, will she belong to YHWH? Is it to me to determine these things? Is it to her? Is it to circumstance and fortune, to the wind? What is the wind? What is breath? What is this creature? This stranger in my arms.See the paradox for yourselves.
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Don't Stop Now!
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Saturday, May 19, 2007
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Click here to read Don't Stop Now! on Thom's Blog.
 Gabriela was born at 11:47AM on Saturday, May 19th, 2007. She was 7 pounds, 2 ounces, 20 1/2 inches long. I checked Erica's temperature yesterday at 4:45PM, and she was running a fever. I brought her into the hospital. After 2 or so hours, they told us that Erica had a kidney infection, which was causing Erica's (and also Ela's) heart rate to rise significantly. They gave Erica antibiotics and pain medicine and we spent the night. At 8:00 in the morning, they told us we could either induce or wait to see if labor begins. If labor didn't begin, we would eventually induce anyway. (Mind you, Erica had been having regular contractions since 10:00PM Thursday evening, with no labor to show for it. She was still dilated at a loose 2.) So we decided to break the water. When we did, we discovered that there was maconium (sp?) in the amniotic sac, which means the stress had caused Ela to "go to the bathroom." In other words, Ela was breathing in her own fecal matter. Two and a half hours after we broke the water, Erica had only progressed to a tight 3. At that point, they told us we would probably end up having a c-section, because the stress was too much for Ela and Erica was progressing too slowly. After talking about it (and crying a little), we decided to go ahead and have the c-section immediately rather than waiting for nothing to happen and having it later. So Erica had the c-section. I got to be with her. I peeked over the drape several times to see what was going on. They had Erica's stomach wide open, but Erica didn't believe me. She was sure they hadn't begun the procedure yet. I didn't try to convince her. I watched as they pulled Ela's head out, and then the rest of her. Then I watched as they took Erica's uterus out to clean it, before putting it back in. I went over to Gabriela and watched them do their stuff, trying to suction out all the maconium in her lungs so she could breathe properly. Ela was excreting maconium nonstop, which means it is a good thing we went ahead and got her out as quick as we did. They took Gabriela immediately into intensive care. We would soon find out that she had a great deal of maconium in her lungs, so much so that one of her lungs collapsed. They extracted the air out of her chest and were able to reinflate the lung. She is now breathing on her own, but she still has a lot of maconium in her. She will probably have pneumonia for about a week. We won't be able to actually hold her for between 3-5 days. But we can go in and stare at her and touch her as often as we like. Prayer for her swift recovery. She seems to be doing well. She looks strong and alert. I got to stare into her deep eyes for about five minutes. She's beautiful.
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Just the 2.975 of Us
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Tuesday, May 08, 2007
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Our good friend Cara Pagan was kind enough to take some photos of Erica and me here on the home stretch before Gabriela gets here for good. We've uploaded 50 of them to our website. Click on the Photos link above or click here to find them. If you'd like to have one or more of the photos printed, shoot us an email and we'll send one or more your way with a high enough resolution for an 8x10 or less.
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Five More Weeks
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Wednesday, April 11, 2007
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 A good snapshot of Thom's new bookshelves.
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Black Belt Baby, Jr.
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Tuesday, January 02, 2007
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Well. The psychiropractor was a psycho. And I was wrong. I should've known the daughter of my Black Belt Baby was doing all that kicking. Say Hello, world, to Gabriela Madeline Stark.
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Gender and Violence
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Monday, January 01, 2007
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I felt the baby kick last week. It was the first time Erica was able to feel it kick from the outside, and I was right there. I got to feel it too. I haven't been able to feel it since, but it hasn't stopeed kicking. Which leads me to believe that Erica's chiropractor knows his stuff. I just can't imagine my sweet little daughter doing so much damage to a placenta. We're going tomorrow to find out for sure. We'll post the ultrasound photo and the video as soon as we can. Here's to penises or vaginas.
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Psychiropractor
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Saturday, October 14, 2006
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Erica went to her chiropractor this morning to get an alignment and he performed a "muscle test" to determine that we are having a boy. Three more months and our midwife will tell us "for sure," but I don't know how you can get much more definitive than a chiro-muscular gender exam.
There you have it, folks. It's in the muscles. Long live the Stark name. Say a silent prayer for Thomas Elias Stark.
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The Three Amigos
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Wednesday, October 11, 2006
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In passing about four weeks ago Erica mentioned to me that she was five days late. "That's interesting," I said. She agreed. "Especially since the pill is supposed to regulate the cycle." Indeed. "Why don't we take a pregnancy test," I suggested. So we went home to do just that.
Erica went into the bathroom and came out a few minutes later. "Go look at it" was all she said. I went into the bathroom, saw two lines, and breathed a sigh of relief. "See. Two lines. Nothing to worry about." She pointed to the key on the test itself. It turned out two lines did not in fact mean we had nothing to worry about.
So, tomorrow morning we go to listen to the heart beat of our incipient boy or girl. We have decided on names already. We had actually agreed about a year ago on everything but the girl's middle name, which we couldn't think of. But now we have it. If our third amigo is a boy he will be named Thomas Elias Stark, and we will call him Elias. If our third amigo is an amiga, we will call her Gabriela Madeline Stark, to go by Ela (not Ella, since in Spanish that means "she" and confusion would ensue). In a few more months we will post to let you know whether we have an Elias or an Ela on the way.
Until then.
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