Home again, home again, jiggety jig...

To the hospital, to the hospital to have a sweet babe, only home again home again jiggety jag.

Yup, we went into the hospital last night around 3 am because my contractions were continuous all night long and became very strong around 2 am. I was monitored and checked all day and after two hour long walks around the hospital to try and get things moving and the dr. actually trying to rupture my water and it not working, we came home early this afternoon. At first I was so discouraged that our baby didn't get to come, but now I truly have a remarkable sense of peace. God greatly changed my perspective during our hospital stay, and most of that took place at the end when I was eating a meal in the cafeteria. While in there, I saw a few cancer patients with no hair...one of whom was only probably 10 or 11 years old. My heart sank for that young boy, and God reminded me that I am healthy and that the fact that I'm having this baby is remarkable in itself...that He would allow me even to experience this pregnancy is such a gift...and that I need to be thankful. When my mom was going through her chemo. treatments for her cancer seven and a half years ago, I saw a lot of children in the oncology clinic, and I always cried when I saw them because I felt sad that the were having to go through such a struggle in their young life. It just didn't make sense, and still doesn't make sense, and probably never will make sense to me. Lord, please comfort those two people that I saw today in the cafeteria...give them your peace and your strength.

So, all of that to say, thank you God for giving me good health. Thank you for keeping this baby safe. (he did really well on the monitoring today) Thank you for helping me to avoid Preeclampsia thus far in this pregnancy. Thank you for showing me some grace today and for reminding me that you are in control...that I need to trust you...that I need to have patience...and that you know the plan for me and for this sweet boy that is very active inside of me. Thank you God for my dear husband who has been so encouraging and helpful and kind through all of this - bless him! Thank you God for dear friends and family who are upholding us in prayer.

Thank you God.

P.S. My contractions continue on, FYI! I still feel pretty strongly that this child will be coming within the next few days, but we'll see!

Not here yet :)

Hey Friends & Family :)

We're still waiting for our boy. My body continues to feel really weird and contractions are more present throughout the entire day, but not yet super close together. At least I know that something is going on and obviously it is inevitable that our kid will come sometime! Today I have had a much more positive outlook than I did yesterday when I was just bummed that this child hadn't made his debut yet. My dear mom has come over the last few days to help me out with things around the house, and that has meant so much to me. I whipped up a great chicken & pasta salad with oranges and dried cherries in it, and we had that for our lunch. Yum! I really have a thing for pasta salads, especially in the summer.

I must remember that God is in control. One verse I was reminded of today was, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." I think that is in one of Kristi's little Bible song books that we've been reading and singing lately, so I guess it is in my head. A good one indeed.

Hope you have a nice day!

On the way?

Hey Ya'all!

I think that Baby Boy is on the way as things seem to be progressing a lot in the last 20 hours or so...we'll see what happens in the next day or two! I thought for sure last night was the night as I had TWO HOURS of strong contractions, but then they stopped and they weren't super close together...I really wanted to go to the hospital, but somehow I felt like it wasn't right and I should just lay down again. Sure enough, the contractions stopped and I was able to go back to sleep for a few hours. Poor Erik! He's so tired too, with all the disruptions in his sleep. What a good sport!

Well, must go as my Little Bug is sitting on my lap...

Tired today...

I woke up feeling so exhausted this morning, so I'm glad to have a little time to myself right now. Erik took Kristi over to his parents home so that they could go out in the rowboat on the lake! She absolutely loves going in the boat, even though she is a little afraid of it. She asks about it all the time! I have yet to see her in the boat. It kind of freaks me out to have my little two year old in a boat already, but she wears her lifejacket and her daddy is a trained lifeguard and expert sailer...so I'm sure she'll be okay. They always stick close to the shore of the lake anyway, so that's good.

Last night we watched a very gruesome movie and I had a hard time falling asleep. It was "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Bleeker Street," which in case you don't know about is a Broadway musical that was set to film just recently. Johnny Depp stars and he is such a talented actor and also has a great voice! The music, written by Steven Sondheim, is brilliant and I enjoyed some of the lovely melodies. In fact, I have sung a few pieces from the show for fun, but really never understood their context prior to seeing the film. The story itself is really violent and there is a lot of blood shed. Erik and I had to look away during all the bloody scenes. After viewing this movie, I am shocked in retrospect to know of a local high school where one of my voice students attends that just this spring performed this production. My student was involved in the pit orchestra and had a good experience playing, but it just shocks me that a high school would even venture into this kind of territory with such a bloody tale. Honestly, I feel that it would be extremely inappropriate material for high schoolers. Then again, my high school also has also done some shows which I felt were very inappropriate for high schoolers and their family audiences. It's all up to the director usually. Whatever the director wants, the director often gets to do. I wish that some directors had more discretion when choosing pieces for their high school (or junior high or college age) students. There are so many good, classy plays and musicals out there that are much more appropriate for high schoolers & college aged & junior highers. I'm glad that I had a chance to be involved in some such shows..."You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," "South Pacific," "Godspell," "Meet Me In St. Louis," "The Pirates of Penzance," "Cinderella..." Those are the ones that I did during high school and college and had GREAT experiences with each show!

Well, today is a fresh start. I'm glad to have some time at home to rest and relax. Last night I also had a hard time falling asleep because I was again having cramps and contractions. I've been wondering just how much of that will happen before I have true labor. Some of my friends have experienced a lot of those types of cramps and contractions before true labor and it has taken weeks for them to deliver. I'm learning that I must must must learn to have some patience. It is a virtue, after all!!!

Nothing New

I went in for my dr. appt. today fulling thinking that perhaps my body might be progressing for the arrival of this baby, but nope, nothing new there! I was kind of disappointed, but the more I think about it, it is better for this baby to stay inside as long as he needs to. The dr. did seem to think that Baby is staying on the small side which is GREAT with me! She thought that perhaps Baby is still shy of 6 lbs, and for 37 weeks tomorrow, that's great. I am hoping that we'll still have this child a little bit early. Now I don't have to worry about him coming early as we're past the danger zone, and I can go about my daily life as much as I'm able to. I am excited to be able to go for more walks as I've been missing that lately!

We went out to dinner tonight near where we used to live, and it was such a fun time. One of Erik's colleagues from Asia joined us, and we had fun visiting with her. Kristi was very chatty and goofy at dinner time. At the restaurant where we went, they had an ice cream sunday bar where you could add all kinds of goodies to your ice cream! I'm talking gummy worms (how fun is that???), crushed oreo cookies, crushed heath bar, crushed m & m's, and a whole bunch of other things. It was so much fun. We hardly ever give Kristi anything candy-like, but she was able to experience her first gummy worm tonight and LOVED it! She kept reaching over to my plate trying to steal more gummy worms, as I had taken three or four.

Well, off to help Little Bug get to sleep finally. I know, it is after 9PM and she's still up. We've been in a bad habit with that lately! I think the summer sunlight staying out later is partly to blame. :)

Blessings to ya'all.

36 & 5

Today marks the day of gestation on which I gave birth to our dear Kristiana Joy...36 weeks and 5 days! So, naturally I keep thinking, "come on little buddy! You can come out now! It's time!" But of course, it is obviously NOT time and that's alright, and I must accept that and move on!

As you can probably tell by reading this, I am at times anxious and agitated to be waiting for la bebe still, but then I also have peace and I must rest in the knowledge that God is completely in charge of this baby and his arrival timing!!! And, I'm so thankful to not be puffed up like a balloon during this pregnancy like I was with Kristi. At this point with her, I was weighing 20 lbs. more and feeling extremely uncomfortable and in pain...THANK YOU GOD for sparing me Preeclampsia to this point in my pregnancy with our little boy! AMEN!!!

Blessings...

Quick Note...

Hey friends & family :)

Just wanted to say that our computer is "sick" and will be sent in for service tomorrow...SO, I don't know how much I'll be able to blog in the next several weeks as we wait for the return of the computer. Thankfully we'll have Erik's computer at home in the evenings, and I'll try to use it for updates and blogging when I can!

Still waiting for this Scandinavian baby to pop out...I keep waking up every morning thinking that today is the day, and then of course it hasn't been the day yet! And that's alright. Wednesday of this new week will be 37 weeks, so if our little one can make it to that point, then that will be even better for his development. Meanwhile, I still have crazy contractions sometimes. At least I know things are getting all set to go and it is very inevitable that this child has to be born sometime soon!!!

Blessings to you all,
Melody

36 weeks and 1 day...

SO, I'm now at 36 weeks and 1 day. I wasn't sure that Baby & I would get this far, but we have, and that's a good thing! However, now I'm getting antsy and wanting him to come soon. Today I was doing some major nesting activity...folding clothes, washing out his dresser and organizing things, etc...and then I started cramping again and decided I better lay down. So, I guess I still need to not push myself too hard but I just see so many things to take care of before our little guy joins us in this home!

This past Monday was my birthday and yesterday was Erik's birthday. It was fun to go out for lunch with my mom and Kristi on Monday, and then out for dinner with Erik that night. Although, we ate WAY too much food for our birthday dinner and we felt like we were going to explode for an entire day! It was an amazing meal!

Now onto more nesting...I think this kid is coming soon...

Still Home & Okay

I went to the Dr. yesterday for my regular checkup and had a good report. Things are still looking the way they should at this point in the pregnancy. I'm now 35 weeks along, as of today! Only 5 more weeks to go...or less, if this little guy starts acting up again! :) I haven't had as many contractions as the two earlier episodes, but there is still definitely something going on. My Dr. said that if I can just get to 36 weeks then she will be fine with the baby coming anytime after that...so, hear this little buddy, you better stay in there a tiny bit longer, okay? Actually, when our boy didn't come onto the scene this past week like I thought he might, I was almost disappointed because I'm really looking forward to meeting him! But then of course my common sense kicked in and I realized that every day he can stay in there is good for him. There's a reason that God made the entire gestational period to be forty weeks! He has it so perfectly planned.

In the meantime, we had a great weekend with a visit from our dear friends Kim & James! It was so much fun to have them here with us for two nights. Thanks for coming you two! Erik was even able to take them out sailing on Monday so that was neat.

And if you have heard about crazy tornadoes coming through our area, they were just about 15-20 minutes north of where we live. We didn't have any peripheral hail damage here at our home, but we know some people who did have some severe hail damage...don't know anyone who lost a home, but there were many of those. Please pray for these families who have been impacted by the storm.

The Waiting Game

Hey friends. Two nights ago, I had another crazy night of contractions...but ended up falling asleep for a couple of hours eventually and decided not to go in to the hospital to be checked. Since then, I've been fairly okay and have so far had two somewhat "normal" days, which has been nice. Little Man is moving around still quite a bit inside of me and that is reassuring. If some more crazy things happen with preterm labor prior to my Tuesday regular OB appointment, I think I will most likely go and get checked.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. We so appreciate them!

We have company coming for a few days and I'm SOOOOO excited! I must go and get some final picking up and cleaning done before our dear friends arrive!!!!!!

Blessings to you all...

And if you feel led, I encourage you to go and read the most recent post on this incredible blog that has been blessing my life recently...the post is about being broken before our Lord and how He pieces us back together...Amen for that.

http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/

Preterm Labor on Break...

Hey everyone. In case you didn't already know this, I was experiencing some preterm labor yesterday and almost went into the hospital to be monitored. I had contractions all day long off and on, and some were more intense than others...but alas, I'm still at home and today haven't had contractions much at all! I feel more normal and that's good. Since I'm at 34 weeks gestation, I'm so glad that our little man would probably be alright if he needed to come early.

All that said, I have a zillion and one things to try to accomplish on my nesting list, and I don't think I'll get all of it done before our boy comes. And now I'm really coming to terms with that, and realizing that life will most likely go on, even if I don't get all this stuff done.

I would appreciate your prayers for our little boy and for me as we await his arrival!

Thank you!