And It Stopped

After nearly 13 hours of contractions with the intensity increasing throughout the day - it all stopped. Clay and I got a good nights rest while my mom and dad stayed up all night with our girls (who were too excited to sleep).

This morning my showed signs of progression (if you are easily grossed out or male - jump to next paragraph). I started having bloody show about 5 this morning and have had it several times since.

We really hope that means labor will start within 24 hours. I hate having the girls away for so long. I am also really concerned about the burden it puts on my mom and dad to try and keep up with two very active little girls.

Clay and I spent this morning running errands that are hard to do with two little girls in tow. Clay got a haircut, I got a pedicure(though left quite disappointed because she refused to really massage my feet because she said that could cause the baby to slip right out - I don't think we would have been too upset.), and looking for Gabriella a birthday present (any ideas what to get her? we have so many toys . . . any great educational things out there or books that anyone knows of that a two year old might like? Then Clay came back to the house and worked from home, I took a nap, woke up, and then did some cleaning in the house.

But still no real contractions. I have small ones here and there - but nothing that looks promising. I also have a slight dull backache.

We will be going to pick up the kids about lunch time tomorrow if nothing starts up before then.

Prayers for my mom and dad would also be appreciated as they are not use to keeping up with my girls.

Progress Towards Baby

We went to the doctor yesterday. She said I was 50% effaced and 2 cm dilated. As we all know that could mean that I will go into labor today or it could be two more weeks. It was nice knowing that all the pain that I had up till due date was actually doing something (unlike with my other two where I was about 50% effaced but only like 1/2cm at my due date).

Today I have been having constant back pain and some contractions that are more intense than what I have previously been having. The baby is also much more active today than what it normally is at this time of the day. I started having the contractions about 11 this morning and have had them through being at library with girls, fixing lunch and feeding us, cleaning up from lunch, doing some clothes, getting them down for a nap, reading to them, and then me laying down for about an hour. But I still can not determine if it will actually result in me being in actual labor today.

Praise the Lord! Gabriella is doing much better. Her cough is much improved, there is a lot less snot, and her eyes are no longer nearly swollen shut. She has also started playing with her sister again instead of just fighting with her (or more like screaming every time Micah comes near her).

Update:

So it has been 12 hours of contractions that would last for several hours - stop - and then resume with a little bit more intensity. My mom just took the girls with her. Clay and I are going for a walk and then the plan is to try and get some sleep. It is beginning to seem more like this could be it - but only time will tell.

Update on Baby & Family Illnesses

Tomorrow is the baby's due date. I thought I was ready a week ago to have the baby. But Micah came down with a cough and runny nose (we thought that was allergies). On Saturday, Gabriella got extremely grumpy and whinny, started running a fever, quit eating, and drinking, and started screaming every time she said she had to go potty. They have run a urine test on Gabriella - which came back negative - meaning she does not currently have a UTI. She is eating a little and drinking better. She is also not screaming every time she tries to pee. But now she is coughing a horrible cough constantly and sneezing and has tons of snot. Her little eyes are red and swollen. She is miserable and making everyone else that way too. She breaks down in a fit with simple request such as "Gabriella, can you please come here." She bit her sister yesterday and keep whacking Micah over the head.

Anyhow, with all that said, I am not feeling so much like I am "ready" to have the baby. But I am having backaches, contractions, and all the different very pregnant pains. So from that perspective I am very ready to have baby.

We go in tomorrow morning to see our doctor. I have hardly been checked at all during this pregnancy - but she told me up front that she would have to check me once I reach my due date. So we are going along with that & tomorrow should know if my body has made any progress through all the contractions that I've already had.

So, for those of you who read this and would like to pray. Please pray that my little girls would be healthy (they are looking forward to meeting the baby). Pray that the rest of us will stay healthy and that the baby and I will stay safe through labor. Also pray for us to be content in the Lord's timing in this all (even if that means we have a baby two weeks late or if that means that we have a baby while the girls are still sick). I will try and give some sort of update tomorrow.

Pregnancy Moment

I was very tired tonight while cooking dinner. I thought to myself, "I am so tired. It feels like something is wrong. It feels like I could be pregnant." I was just about to say it out loud to Clay, when I snapped into reality, "Oh, yeah - I am pregnant."

Funny Video

Every since I have gotten pregnant with Micah I can smell garlic on almost everybody - especially Clay. During the beginning of pregnancies it makes me nauseated. The rest of the time during pregnancies (and sometimes even when I am not pregnant) it just generally repulses me. So, I pretty much quit cooking with garlic when I am pregnant so that I can stand to be near Clay. And if he ever comes home from work or somewhere and he has eaten anything with trace amounts of garlic in it - I can smell it on him as soon as he gets near. Which is kind of hard for him to avoid because garlic is in everything. So, I saw this video today - and in light of my garlic issues found it extremely funny. I hope that you enjoy!

The Time Is Drawing Near . . .

Nine and a half weeks to go. I know that still seems like a long time to a lot of people. It seemed like a long time with the first. But now that I have two little ones to chase after, I can look at the calender one day and we will be at the beginning of the week. Then it feel like the next time I look up we are already in the middle or the end of the month.

So around here we are getting ready for baby to come. We got the crib set up last week after Micah's 3rd Birthday party (more about that to come - at least that's my plan). Today Clay got in the attic with Micah's help (she has been talking about helping Daddy get the stuff down for the baby for weeks. She is so excited!!!) and got the all the 0-3 month clothing down. I figured that I would go ahead and wash it all since it could easily be a girl this time around too. If its not a girl, then I figure it will be easier to just throw all of the girl clothes in a box and put them back in the attic than it would be to wash all of them at that point.

Looking through all those newborn clothes that my girls wore sure brought back sweet memories. It can be very bittersweet watching babies grow up. It sure made my arms long more to hold this baby than I have so far in this pregnancy. While I've been extremely excited about adding another blessing to our family - I don't think I've really spent a lot of time just looking forward to the arrival of this sweet baby. But now we are in a season of preparation, and hopefully things will continue to be much slower than they had been for the last few months and we will have plenty of time to enjoy the two we have now & dream about the one on the way.

Praise The Lord

I went to the O.B. today and she told me that I don't have to be on bed rest but that I can resume normal activities but not to do anything extra like working out, working in the yard, or prolonged shopping trips!

For those who don't know . . . we had a little bit of a scare. I started having contractions on Saturday when I was bringing my mom home from the hospital (of course she does not know they started then because I think it would cause her to be more stressed & cause her blood pressure to continue to rise). They slowed down when I napped that afternoon but started up as soon as I woke up from my nap. That night we started timing them while laying down and they were about 10 min apart - which was a lot slower than they had been. They went away after a few hours of laying down and then we went to sleep.

I woke up Sunday very sore but decided that we should still go to church. I took it very slow getting ready and sat most of the morning - while Clay got the girls ready. Then we went to church. I started having contractions again after walking across the parking lot and taking Micah to her class. I don't know how close together those were - but much closer than ten minutes - seems as if they were right on top of each other. We got home and Clay fixed lunch and took care of the girls while I laid down. When I was still having contractions about every ten min at around 3 we called the nurse hot line and she called the doctor on call. I was then told to report to Labor & Delivery. We spent several hours there in a labor room monitoring my contractions and the baby's heart beat. After getting some rest their they sent me home to rest for 2 days with only doing what was absolutely necessary and not being on my feet for more than 20 -30 min at a time.

So, today the doctor checked to make sure I have not dilated - which I have not. She then told me to resume normal activity and to let her know if the pain of contractions gets a lot worse or if I have any other signs of going into labor. She said the contractions were probably a result of all the stress we have had and that it is not abnormal for me to start having contractions this early with my third pregnancy. I just hope they don't continue like I've had them because my stomach and back has stayed pretty sore over the last few days. But I guess only time can tell. The baby's heart also sounds great and I am measuring right on the 25th week. So things are looking good!

Thank you to those of you have been praying for this situation - as well as for Gabriella and my mom.

Blessed With A Wonderful Husband

I have a wonderful husband. God has richly blessed me through him. Clay has always been wonderful with helping take care of the girls when he is not at work. He is always thinking about putting his family before other obligations and taking care of us first. But in these last few weeks he has been such a servant in a time in which I have really needed him - and he has done it without complaining.

First I must say that the first probably three months of this pregnancy he has been such a sweetheart to bring me breakfast in be as we have tried to conquer the nausea that this pregnancy brought. Which means that he would also get up with the girls and get them breakfast on most mornings.

Clay has been such servant to
- rush to the doctors office to help me with the girls when he found out that we were in the
middle of having Gabriella tested to see what was making her so sick.
- take off while Gabriella was in the hospital to help ease the burden that was put on me.
- take off from work when he found out that my mom was having surgery.
- clean the house & take care of girls while I was at the hospital during my mom's surgery.
- take care of the girls while I took my mom home from hospital.
- he then took care of the girls most of Sunday while I tried to get some rest.
- do laundry while i have been on "bed rest" these last two days.
- clean up any dishes that we have gotten dirty.
- get the girls their baths
- help get the girls in bed.

Now, it is not unusual for him to help me out around the house. But I know these last few weeks of having a sick kid, projects winding up at work, hospital stays, and a wife having contractions at 25 weeks and being put on short term 'bed rest' has been extremely hard on him. Yet he has been a trooper and I have not really heard him complain.

God has truly blessed me with wonderful, gracious, servant of a husband.

Egg Recipes

We are taking Bradley classes this time with our pregnancy in order to prepare for a natural child birth. One of the things they tell you to do is to eat 2 eggs a day. I am not the biggest egg person and eating them the same way all the time gets really old. So, I found a site online that has recipes for Bed & Breakfast brunch type meals. The ones we have tried we like. I have also been choosing the ones that I can make the night before - and just pop in the oven in the mornings. It has made Clay and my mornings go much better. Hope you enjoy some of these recipes. If you have any great recipes with eggs - let us know!

Bed & Breakfast Inns Online - Recipes

Micah on the Baby

'Mommy am I going to have two babies like Ellie Bellie' (a family from our church just had twins.)

'No, Micah the doctor said that there is just one baby.'

'Why?'

'Well because God only put one baby in mommy.'

'That mommy and daddy took my baby brother and now you only have one baby sister in your tummy.'

Micah starts to cry.


So, I am sure you are wondering what she is talking about when she says that the mommy and daddy took her baby brother. Let me explain. About three months ago my dad broke his ankle and had to have surgery on his leg. When we walked up to the hospital to see him in the ER, Micah said 'Yeah lets go get a baby.' We explained to her that it was not time to go get a baby and that it was inside mommy growing. We told her that it would be a long time until the baby was ready to come out. We thought she understood. After we visited with my dad, she asked to go see the babies. We told her we could just go look and see if there were any new babies. When we got to the nursery window, there was a new little baby boy that was a Mexican, with a head full of black hair, being bathed by his father. He looked very sweet, so we stood there for awhile and talked to the girls about how the baby's daddy was giving it a bath. Then they put the baby down in a bed right in front of the window. Micah's first response, 'oh no - his bottom is hurt.' We then tried to explain to her that he was okay, that he was just a boy, and little boys have different parts. After a few more minutes, the baby's father comes around to the viewing side to take pictures of his son through the window. We tell him congratulations and have Micah tell him congratulations too. Then we leave. A few days after that Micah started talking about how she was going to have a little brother. We never thought much of it - until a couple weeks later she tells Clay and I that we need to go get her baby brother from the doctor's. We told her that the baby was still in my tummy. She kept persisting that we needed to go get her baby brother from the doctor, her baby that had black hair. Then we understood that she somehow thought we were picking out our new baby when we looked through the window. So we tried to explain to her that that was not her brother, that mommy still had her baby, and it would be awhile until we had it. We also told her that the little boy that we saw at the hospital had a mommy and daddy who loved it and he went home with them. Then she started crying, 'THEY TOOK MY BABY BROTHER.' So Clay and I hope that she will not always be traumatized by the idea that we gave away her brother.

Update on Baby

We went to the doctor on Thursday for an ob check up. We took the girls with us and they were able to hear the baby's heart beat. The heartbeat sounded good and everything is going well. When we got home, Micah told me that she liked my baby. As I was telling Clay about her saying that she said, 'I like your baby's heart sound.'

The Answer

The answer to our game that no one cared to play is that it is the ages of our family now and will be the ages of our family in March.

YEAH! We are going to be blessed with another baby. We are very excited. I am now 11 weeks along. I was 10 weeks when we posted the game.

Micah keeps telling us that she wants to bring 2 babies home from the hospital. Unfortunately, the doctor said there was just one.

This information is for blog readers only. Please do not pass this information along to others who choose not to read our blog. We have another way planned to announce to them. Thanks in advance for your cooperation!