update

Yesterday at the appointment the Dr. didn't see the need to check if I was dilated yet... he recommended me stopping the Brethaine so my contractions can progress naturally now. Still high blood pressure... so he wants me to rest. If I don't go into active labor in the next two weeks He will induce me at 37 weeks. Ugh.... I DON'T want to be induced.... I'm praying I just go into labor. He will check to see if I am dilated next Monday and if I am .... that might change the plans a little... then they might induce sooner. Please just pray I go SAFELY into labor on my own. =)

Results So Far

Thanks SO SO SO much!!! God has heard your prayers. We had a complete level 2 ultrasound this morning and everything looks great. There is still too much fluid... but no known reason for it. One possibility is that she cannot swallow correctly but they won't be able to tell that until she's born, at which time they'll put a feeding tube into her belly through her esophagus to make sure there's nothing blocking her ability to swallow. If she was not able to swallow, it could explain an extra amount of fluid.
Hannah looks perfect. Her lungs, kidneys, heart, brain, physical structure, intestines, spine etc... all look good. Her head is still a little bigger than her body, but the Dr. thought it might be a hereditary thing since there is no swelling on the brain and not too extreme of a difference. It looks like the amniotic fluid has gone down even though it's still high. The main concern since there is extra fluid is that the baby can move so much she may be at risk of a cord around the neck, also there is a risk that the cord could try to be born before her, causing a blood flow cut off to her. SO chances are if I'm not dialated this monday, they might take me off the contraction meds and allow me to go into labor if I go. If I'm dialated this Monday they might choose induce labor soon so she can be born in a controlled atmosphere and the cord would not fall in the way. I'm still on bed rest for high blood pressure. But enjoying the fire and the Christmas Tree. Rob has been an awesome Husband taking care of things around here. Thanks so much for your prayers!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!
Love Hope

Prayer Request

I'm back on bed rest and

without going into too many details please just pray that Hannah is safe and that my body and hers function properly along with God's will. I have more amniotic fluid in me than I should, so on Monday we will have another ultrasound and Doc appointment to try to get down to the nitty gritty of why. Nothing too alarming, but please just pray in agreement with us that this pregnancy would align itself with God's will and be completely healthy in it's last few weeks as it has been up to this point. More details soon. Until then...here's a new picture of our baby girl!!! Don't you just want to pinch those CHEEKS!!!!

Praise God!

I'm off bed rest but I'm supposed to take it easy. My blood pressure is still high but not as high as it was. I can go back to work!!! My contractions were not and are not Braxton Hicks, they are actual Preterm contractions, but I had a test done~ a LOVELY test I might add~ and the results showed I was safe from going into labor for at least the next two weeks! Pray that I really don't go into Labor until I'm to term though, and that my blood pressure will keep dropping. Thanks for all your prayers!!!

well hmmmmm....

It seems I have high bloodpressure and am having too many contractions too early.... so bedrest until at least Monday...then the doc will reevaluate! I'll keep you posted.

WOW!!!

It has amazed me how life has been reeling lately as we get closer to Hannah's birth.

I have been trying to get four months of lesson plans done ahead of time for substitute teachers... I didn't think that would be so bad... just a lot of sitting at the computer... but I soon have come to find.. .that also means running to the store ahead of time to buy 4 months of supplies, pulling 4 months of story books of the shelf and 4 months worth of files out of the cabinet... it seems so hard to let my kids go! I have AWESOME teachers coming in to replace me... but they deserve the best preparations... so that has been driving me BATTY!!!!

Also... I have been having light contractions anywhere from 5 minutes apart to 30 minutes apart... it's kinda cool... a little uncomfortable though, and it just makes me think of the reality of my Beautiful Baby Girl coming anytime! I want her too come when GOD wants her to come... but I want to be ready! =)

The room is ready... ready enough to live in... but of course I would still love an entire day to nest in it a little more.

The house is ready... but I feel like every tiny dust bunny that pops up MUST be removed IMMEDIATELY!! =) Hehehe... I know soon the reality will hit me... that this will become an impossible task.

Then I was reminded today that Hannah is coming into the world at the end of the TAX SEASON!!! Meaning... I need to get on the ball and be prepared to close the books and send out tax forms.... uggghhhhhh

I have not kept up with this blog because of all this craziness... =) not to mention parent teacher conferences every night in December. But I DO LOVE conferences.

Life is now fast paced and I assume it will be like this for quite a while.

I have an appointment with the Doc. Thursday! If there is any new news I will let you know! AND YES... I KNOW... BELLY PICS!!! I just have to take the time to pose!!! You won't believe my belly. Last week a little girl I used to teach saw me, and her mommy was telling her I was going to have a baby... the little girl said "She doesn't have a baby in there... she just ate the WHOLE Turkey!" And my friends... she could not have hit the nail on the head any more directly... I look like the thanksgiving turkey is stuck in my belly.... minus the drumsticks! =)

BUT I LOVE IT!!! I can't wait to kiss my girl though!!! I'm ready to see her!!!!!!!

Thanks for your prayers!!!!!!!

Update

Well the Doc. said everything looks good! Not much to update you on... but no news can be good news. I have been struggling with losing feeling in my hands, but the doctor said that is normal for some women during pregnancy. Hannah LOVES to move and wiggle and kick. Especially at about 5:00 every morning... but I love it! I just lay there and LOVE it!!!

My dear dear DEAR coworkers threw me a surprise shower. I was so blessed. They went in on buying me a Moses Basket and a cute Onsie. I also received many other nice things. Thanks to everyone who made it happen!

My family is throwing us a shower this weekend. It's such a blessing when you're surrounded by so many people that love you and want to bless you. It's humbling and such a blessing.

I am getting in panic phase since the doctor told me I should be prepared to go into labor anytime after January 1st (even though our due date is still Feb 3rd). It just makes me think of the things we still DON'T have... yikes......

But if God takes care of the birds and dresses the flowers... He will take care of Hannah too.

David and Guillanda have been on my heart a lot lately. I get very emotional when I think of them (which is still very often). Please just continue to keep them in your prayers.

That's all for now!

Happy Halloween From the Three Of Us!

This Halloween, let God carve open your heart, pull out the garbage inside, carve a smile on your face and put the light of His Holy Spirit Inside!

Thank You

Thank you for all your comments about Hannah! We are so blessed! We named her Hannah because of the Bible Story God used to let us know we would be having her, for anyone who was wondering. I grew up having a meaning to my name and loved it... and we both really feel that it's important to know why your parents gave you the name that they did.

Dylan is doing much much better. Thanks for your prayers. He needs to stay home for two weeks now so he doesn't get sick from any outside sources. After the next two weeks he should be out of the woods. I know you'll all be praying for him until then, and we thank you!

God Bless!!!

Some Bad and Some Good

Well everyone. Please continue to pray for Dylan, his fever is high again and they're not letting him out of the hospital yet. This is really scary with a one year old. Please pray for him, he's so little... they need to figure this out soon. Please also pray for his parents. They're worn out and worried. Thank you!

On the other hand... we would like to officially introduce you to our daughter Hannah. (note the new picture of her)
She is just SO SO SO stinkin' CUTE! God did a great job!!!!!!

Oh Glorious Day

So first off... Gibson is out of the hospital and doing much better, and Dylan either is home or will be very soon! They treated Dylan for Kawasaki Disease (yep...we'd never heard of it either), an inflammation of the blood vessels around the heart. He should be fine, but pray him through a little more if you don't mind since they never totally put their finger on if that was the problem or not. They treated him for it anyway and he seems to be doing better. Thanks for praying! Praise God!

Secondly... we go for ultrasound 2 today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO SO SO excited!!!! Can't wait to see our little one again. We'll be sure to fill you in!

And last but NOT least.....

I FINALLY GOT MY PIANO!!! Thank you so so much God! Thanks for giving me the desire of my heart since I was six years old. I hated T-Ball, I hated soccer.... I JUST wanted a piano or violin. I guess good things come to those who wait. We are so so so so blessed. I just about bawled my eyes out all the way to pick it up! This thing is SO huge... it's old too and if you know me. you know I LOVE old! I played it for about 3 hours last night. Rob eventually went to bed without even telling me. He said he didn't want to interrupt my flow. =)

So needless to say.... all these things together... make a GLORIOUS day!

Thanks for praying! Thank you God for hearing us!

pray pray pray

Please be in prayer for two of my nephews! They both live hundreds of miles apart from each other, but they both seem to be suffering from the same unknown something.

My nephew Dylan is only a year old and in the hospital with a 105 degree fever. They thought he had spinal meningitis, drew spinal fluid from him and found out it was not that. Then they thought it was some other disease.... found out it was not THAT and now they are just waiting to find out what might be wrong. PLEASE pray for him, and especially for his fever to go down.

My nephew Gibson is also in the hospital with a 103 degree fever and the doctors are unsure of what HIS situation is too! Please pray the same way for him.

Dylan and Gibson seem to be having the same symptoms and they're both very lethargic. Please please pray for them and for everyone around them. thanks.

Then on a selfish note....

Some of you might remember my blog entry about wanting a Piano. Well... we still have been asking God for one. And we are in the running for a free piano. It's knocking my SOCKS off how God gives us the desires of our hearts!!! There are two people before us that have dibs... but if they don't want it... it's all ours. What a HUGE blessing!!!!! It brings me to tears. So while your praying... you could pray this blessing through for us... also... PRAISE God because one of my dear sweet preschool parents, gave Rob and I a free car seat, BRAND new (only used for a month). We are SO BLESSED it humbles me!

Thank you Lord!

A little bit bigger??

Well we had another doctors appointment today! The baby and I measure a little bigger than expected. But they say at this point they don't know if that means the baby is just a big baby... or that we're a little farther along than expected. Everything is still going well though!
From the last ultrasound they THINK the baby is a girl.... but they're not giving us a guarantee. We get to have another ultrasound because of this!!!! In the end of October. I'm still feeling GREAT! I love this experience. Thanks for all your comments and support!!


Please pray for David and Guillanda's family. We're trying to get in touch with them since after the hurricanes and have heard nothing yet. We want to help if we can, but now we're afraid the dad will not respond to phone calls still. Please just pray we hear something. But most of all pray, they are happy and healthy and in love with God.

God Bless you all!!!

More This and More That

We just got back from our FIFTH anniversary trip to the UP. Every year, we leave for a day trip to go to one of the great lakes and check out a lighthouse we've never seen. We thought this would be a good way to remember how beautiful Maine was, where we went for our honeymoon. So this year... since it's such a HUGE milestone ;-) we decided to take off for the weekend. Only... silly me NO CAMERA!!!! UGGGHHH and we broke tradition.... =( no lighthouse. We did have fun though!

We got to the cabin late Friday night. I heard a woman screaming in the middle of the night, which was odd since we were in the middle of thousands of acres by OURSELVES, so I concluded it must have been a bobcat in the yard... somehow Rob slept right through it!!!

On Saturday, my very patient husband took me antiquing. We found an adorable old quilt for the baby's room and now we FINALLY have a color scheme based on that! Nothing seemed right till I saw the quilt! Brown, yellow, pink and green!!! I'm not one for traditional baby colors.

Then on Sunday we headed to lake Superior and Rob's very patient 5 month pregnant wife, bundled herself up (it was only in the 40's on the beach) and hauled her camping chair and book through miles =) (ok... a few hundred feet) of sandy beach, in order to watch her husband enjoy surf fishing, in which after about an hour and a half he finally caught and released one fish. We then left (my bladder overflowing and stomach grumbling) at about 8:00 as the sun set on the beach. It was nice... really... just... awkward with the belly... but we did it! Yea me!

And on Monday on our way home we went to the notorious "Oswald's Bears". I am PETRIFIED of bears!!! But this helped me get over it. You know... you're 160,000 times more likely to get in a car accident than hurt by a bear... nice to know huh!? This place had ACRES AND ACRES of bears fenced in and you could walk around and look at them. See them wrestle with each other, scratch their backs, nurse their babies... it was VERY cool! I'm just glad there was a fence between us!

That's that! We're back and ready for our sixth year of marriage!!!! What an AWESOME year it will be. I truly have an AMAZING husband.

This and That

Sorry if that last post was a little too emotional for some of you! =)

I just can't put into words what it felt like seeing our baby for the first time. I had always loved that song since we started adopting David and Guillanda, it seemed like it spoke of a family mixed by biology and adoption, womb and heart... a perfect fit for our family. I just bawl each time I hear that song, because it includes all my kids and puts into perfect words how I feel for them. Some people have been wondering if Rob and I feel greater love for our birth baby... but honestly... I can only say... seeing her for the first time was just as emotional as the moment we knew David and Guillanda were supposed to be part of our life. I don't say that to devalue this little one growing inside of me... but each child is equally valued by God.... and in my heart, David and Guillanda will always be part of our family, and I hope our entire family will grow to understand that in a healthy way in which they all feel just as valued.


So the ultrasound... was... AWESOME... I didn't want it to end!!! At all!!! I loved watching our little one move around... and she moves a LOT! Jeepers... they had a hard time getting pictures of her... that ultrasound wand went screaming around my belly at points. I think we have an active worshiper on our hands!!! Certainly not a traditionalist I would guess.

It was awesome hearing Rob's comments and amazement. Not much can draw you closer than a child!!! It's certainly God's design. I can feel the baby move a lot more... I think we might have had our first chance at feeling hiccups yesterday. And baby kicked my mom for her birthday! My nephew got a chance to feel baby kick too.

I honestly CANNOT imagine not having life in me... I can't wait for her to come... but how WEIRD will it feel when there's no more twisting and turning in me where ever I go!!?? Hopefully it's God's will to send us our next one right away!!! =)

So God gave me a beautiful word about our baby and other things today.

As I sat on our porch and prayed, near the end of my prayer, little birds of all different types started flying from here and there and landing on our barn roof. And as they were flying around I heard them all chirping... but most of all... I heard a Robin making a beautiful song. I thought that was weird... a Robin is usually heard singing like that in the spring, not the fall... fall is for Blue Jays! But God seemed to say to me, "even in the end seasons new life can be heard and celebrated, that's how it will be with your child". I'm a very season oriented person... I love all 4 seasons... but I find a lot of times my spiritual and emotional life seems to parallel the actual seasons. This time... it's doesn't seem to be going that way. Last year at this time exactly we were getting a phone call saying our children were going back home with their birth parents. It seemed as the leaves were starting to fall, so was one of our dreams. And spring... brought some healing... some new growth... and one special new growth found in my belly in May. But wait...our little new life... will be coming in the heart of winter. That... does not parallel the season... new life in the middle of winter!!?? I think it's God's way of showing me to be more open minded. We cannot restrict or predict His actions by how life has gone in the past. He has turned our end season, into a new season worth celebrating!

Also, on a side note, while I was praying, I asked God to decrease my selfishness and increase my love and interest in other people... I asked Him to increase my selfLESSness. As I look at this birds on my barn roof...(the STRANGE mix... we're not just talking a common flock... for some reason chickadees, crows, mourning doves, Robins, cowbirds, pheobes and finches were ALL sitting on my roof, God knows I LOVE birds) God said... if I can increase the birds for you, how much more can I increase your selflessness. Just believe.

God is so awesome!!!! Like Christmas every morning!! I love Him!
More updates soon... belly pictures too... coming soon... I guess......