Blessings Abound

* I'm now 32 weeks and still pregnant - thank you for all of your prayers. I will continue on full bed rest for now.

* Though it's not the same as being with my church family, watching MacArthur's church service streamed live on Sunday morning is such a blessing to me.

* My husband has been able to take a FMLA leave to care for me and Bear Cub. He is working part time from home and going in to work one day a week, but mostly he is free to take care of our needs.

* He has done a wonderful job of learning "mommy things" and is enjoying spending more time with Bear Cub.

* Bear Cub and I have found new ways to have "mommy time":

* And he's found plenty of ways to entertain himself while Daddy tries to work:

* I have been really blessed by reading "The World Tilting Gospel" by Dan Philips and "John" by RC Sproul.

* I have wonderful parents and in laws who have been helping out when my husband needs to go to the office.

* I know I haven't blogged about this, but I didn't know where the Teen was for awhile. I now know that he is safe and staying with a Christian family - what a wonderful answer to prayer. That situation is only temporary, but at least I know he is safe for now.

*****

Lamentations 3:22-23

22 Because of the LORD’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end.

23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!





Brothers

I had an ultrasound today (30 weeks) and I was amazed how much this baby looks like Bear Cub. The new baby is on the left and Bear Cub is on the right.

Isn't God's handiwork amazing?

Whate'er My God Ordains Is Right

Whate'er My God Ordains Is Right

1. Whate’er my God ordains is right,

Holy His will abideth.

I will be still whate’er He does,

And follow where He guideth.

He is my God,

Though dark my road.

He holds me that I shall not fall

Wherefore to Him I leave it all

********

The words of this wonderful hymn have been in my head and on my heart this week.

Its been a long and hard week, yet I can trust that God is fully in control of all the circumstances of my life, and all that happens does so in accordance with His providential will.

My husbands aunt, who was a lovely sister in Christ, went to be with Jesus last weekend. Though we are deeply grieving her absence here, we are glad to know the she is home with the Lord. The true gospel was clearly preached at her funeral and we are praying that the predominantly catholic family that was there will carefully consider what they heard.

On Sunday I was sent to the hospital with preterm contractions. It took much longer to stop them than is usual for, but I am very grateful that they did eventually subside with only minimal cervical change. I had to return to the hospital on Wednesday because of an adverse reaction to the meds they sent me home with on Monday, but I am feeling much better now. I am on partial bed rest, which is difficult with a busy 15 month old at home, but we are making the best of it and reading lots of books. It does look like my husband will be able to take a medical leave to be home with us - a HUGE answer to prayer. I'm so thankful that he has a good job with great benefits during a time when so many are out of work and uninsured.

******

Updates

Since it's been a month since my last post I though I would start back with a few updates.

First, the baby is a boy!

I'm currently 23 weeks pregnant and getting bigger. I'm enjoying the feel of this precious little baby kicking and moving and growing - what a wonderful blessing. I've been VERY tired, but I'm thankful to have discovered the reason for that - anemia. Bear Cub is completely weaned now and I've been taking iron supplements in addition to the prenatal vitamins, so I'm hoping to feel better soon. The morning sickness is lingering, as it usually does for me. I'm very happy to not be on bed rest yet, and I hope it stays that way. I started bed rest with Bear Cub at 24 weeks and it was at 28 weeks with the Teen, so I'm quickly approaching the time when I usually start having trouble with preterm contractions/labor.

Bear Cub is 14 months old now and is walking well, saying more words everyday and is getting into EVERYTHING. This video was almost a month ago, so he's walking even better now - but I'll share it anyway.

Psalm 127:3-5

³Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

⁴As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

⁵Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.


*Click here to few the video if viewing in an email or RSS reader

34 Week Pregnancy Update

I just love OB appointment days. I get to get out of bed, shower, dress, wear make up, leave the house, and see people!

Thirty-four weeks was the goal and we made it. No more Niphedipine. No more Terbutalene.  Which means he could be here soon!

-Weight gain: 18 lbs

-Morning sickness has returned.

-Anxious to meet my new baby boy but hoping it will be at least another week or two.

- Seriously missing the soon-to-be big brother

33 1/2 week pregnancy update and a prayer request

First, the prayer request. My friend was due with her first child 10 days before me. Her daughter Shula was born six weeks ago at 29 weeks gestation. Precious little Shula is having heart surgery this afternoon to close a hole in her heart. Would you please pray for Shula, the doctors, and her family?
**Praise report: Shula's surgery was successful and she is now home with her family after nearly 8 weeks in the NICU.

And now for the update:

(Ok, so this is last weeks photo, but he's just so cute!)

Not much has changed since last week.

-No trips to the hospital this week, although the OB Homecare nurse wanted to send me on Monday. I was contracting every 2-3 minutes while she was here, but they weren't too painful and I wasn't worried.

- Weight gain: 16 lbs

-Morning sickness has returned - yuck.

-Looking forward to reaching the 34 week milestone on Tuesday. I will take my last dose of Nifedipine at 10PM on Monday and if I go into labor after that they won't stop it. I'm still hoping to make it to at least 36 weeks.

-Feeling the overwhelming urge to rid my house of cobwebs and get all those cute little baby clothes put away - must be nesting. Or almost 9 weeks of bedrest is catching up with me. Either way, the cobwebs will have to wait as I'm still stuck here in bed.

-I'm thankful for everyday this precious boy grows in my womb and not in the NICU.

Week 32 Pregnancy Update

I just love those cute lips!

-Weight gain: still holding at 15 lbs

-Still on bedrest

-Dr H says we will stop the Nifedipine in two weeks and see what happens

-feeling very emotional these days

-I haven't thrown up in a week! Could it be that at 8 months I'm FINALLY over the morning sickness?

-Very happy to still be pregnant.

The Scariest Thing and the Sweetest Sound

The scariest thing:


I had a scare this week which gave me an even greater appreciation for every precious moment this baby grows within me.

Yesterday afternoon I discovered I was spotting; not a lot of blood, but after two miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy it was definitely NOT what I wanted to see. I would love to say I responded with complete faith, but I didn’t. I freaked out. I cried. I prayed. I begged God to save my baby.

By then it was too late to call the clinic, so I called the after-hours number and the on call OB said to stay down and see what happened; there was not much they could do at this point (12 weeks).

My husband prayed with me and I slowly accepted that all I could do was wait on the Lord.

On the way to the clinic early this afternoon there was a preacher on the radio talking about Genesis 1 “Let Us make man in our image, according to Our Likeness.” That really struck me. This tiny little baby is already an image-bearer of God, and surely God already loves this child as I do; or more.

The sweetest sound:

The first thing the OB did was check for a heartbeat, and it was the most wonderful, glorious, reassuring sound in the whole world. Everything was fine; it was just a broken blood vessel.

On the way home I couldn’t help but think of all the times I nearly lost my son while I was still pregnant with him. Yet he’s now a healthy fourteen-year old. And even though I didn’t know the Lord at the time, God had His hand on my Son. He gave me this boy, an image-bearer of God. We have had some really tough times with him lately, and this was such a good reminder to me that he really is a gift from God.

Thank you Lord, for a little blood spotting to remind me of how great and powerful You are.