Pray with Us

Today I am 35+ weeks. Saturday I will be 36 weeks; NINE MONTHS PREGNANT!!! Unbelievable!!

We started our appointment with an ultrasound to see if Beulah has turned. I knew she hadn't, but I was excited to see her again anyway. We were SHOCKED to hear that our "little" girl has gained more than a pound in less than two weeks!! She is weighing in at a whopping 6 lbs 3 oz!! The tech said she's going to come out will fat rolls!! Check out this beautiful picture of her FAT little cheeks! I had fat cheeks 'til I graduated college. Guess she's going to take after her mama!


This is a straight on shot of her face. Her eyes are faded into the dark top, so you're looking at her nose, lips and CHEEKS!! What a little chunker!!

She is still sitting with her bottom at the bottom of my uterus and her head at the top. Her LONG gorgeous legs (measuring at 39 weeks!) are straight up in front of her face. :) She's a flexible little bugger; again, like her mama!

The doctor recommended doing an external cephalic version TOMORROW, before she gets any bigger! Basically, I would have to go to the hospital, be put on an IV, medicated to relax the uterus, and the doctors would turn Beulah with their hands, externally. They would have to monitor her heart rate and my fluid, and if there were any signs of complications (cord entanglement, etc.), they would have to go ahead and take her. There is only a 50% success rate, and even less with first time moms.

Because of the risks involved, the drugs required, the stats, and the fact that we want to leave it in God's hands, we decided against the version. We are stepping out on faith and trusting that God knows what's best. We believe whole heartedly that He can turn her and do a better job than the doctors. We also believe that He is sovereign over her birth. If I have to have a c-section because she doesn't turn, we believe He has His reasons for that. We would LOVE to see Him turn her (against all odds) and get all the glory for it rather than the doctors. So, we ask that you pray for that with us. She is currently only consuming the space from my mid-line to the left of my uterus. It appears that she has plenty of space to use the right side of my uterus, and she is VERY active (see video taken this week--35 weeks). So, there is no reason to believe she is settled into her birth position yet...not to mention we serve a God who specializes in the "impossible!" :)


Beulah moving 35 weeks from Michelle Crissinger on Vimeo.

I bust out laughing at the end because Andy was watching with his mouth hanging open saying, "Woah!!!!!"

Latest Beulah Pix!

Saturday our families came to town and we got to take them all to see a 3D ultrasound of Beulah! It was wonderful to hear the oohs and aahs of Beulah's Ninnie & Paw Paw, Nana & Pop Pop, Aunt Heather, and of course Mom & Dad. Beulah weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs. 1 oz! She had gained 2 oz since Monday!

Beulah is super flexible like her mom. The tech had a hard time getting a good picture of her face because her feet and hands were in front of her face the whole time! She is sitting on her little bottom (which is on my bladder), and just plays with her feet all day. What a life! And, what a treat to see her. At one point, we even got to see her open her eyes and move her eye ball around! I can't believe it's possible to see her in such detail when she's still inside my belly. I thank God for our precious little girl, and in 3-6 weeks we'll get to hold her in our arms!! I can't even handle it!!!

sweet fingers



bottom of her foot: See those yummy, chubby toes?!!

Our Crazy Day!

I'll start from the beginning.

7:00 AM - I woke up to discover that I had been bleeding in the night. Andy (calm and collected-thank God!) called the doctor.

7:11 - The midwife on call returned the call, asked questions, and recommended I call the ob-gyn when the office opened at 8:00 to see if they could fit me in today.

8:00 - I called the ob-gyn and got an appointment for 9:45.

9:45 - We saw the midwife, who asked a bunch of questions and did an exam. She said she didn't see any active (red) bleeding. It all looked like old (brown) blood, which is good. The doppler showed that Beulah's heartbeat was strong! But, she recommended we have an ultrasound to look at the placenta.

10:30 - The ultrasound showed Beulah playing with her sweet little toes! Too cute! She said Beulah has "chubby toes" and is weighing in at 4 lbs 15 oz!! She's a big girl! She looked great, and wasn't in distress at all. She is breech, but that's another story. However, the view of the placenta showed some dark spots. As she was looking at them, she said, "It looks like you're going to be heading back to the Women's Center (the high risk doctor)." She left the room to talk to the doctor. A few minutes later a nurse came in and said the tech was on the phone and needed some text books. Hmm, that didn't sound good! The midwife came in several minutes later to tell us that they weren't exactly sure what they were seeing and had made me an appointment at 12:45 with the specialist. They said that if Beulah was in distress at all or if the placenta wasn't supplying her with everything she needed, they may have to take her!

11:20 - We called our families and some friends we knew would be home and asked them to pray. By God's grace, we had an unexplainable peace.

11:30 - Andy took me to Brixx, my favorite brick oven pizza restaurant. I told Andy that I wanted to go there before we had the baby, and we thought this may be our last chance!

12:45 PM - I had another ultrasound, during which Beulah was still happily playing with her toes. :) After the ultrasound, the tech brought the doctor in, who did his own ultrasound. He asked questions as he looked. He said the dark spots are "placenta lakes", pockets of blood, which can be normal! He looked for blood behind the placenta (which would be bad), but didn't see any. In the end he said he thought everything was fine! What?! Of course! We found out later that in the short amount of time since we had called family and friends, they had spread the word and we had been added to several prayer lists! This child has been a miracle from conception, she is in God's hands. What better hands could she be in? We don't have to worry. What a relief!

2:00 - We drove home praising God.

4:00 - We took a nap. :)

Thank you for your prayers today. They were heard once again! While we want Beulah to stay in as long as she can to develop fully, we'd be lying if we said we weren't a little excited at the thought of meeting her. We'll wait till she's ready though. :)

HUGE Praise!!!

Your prayers have been heard!! We went to the high risk doctor this morning. The first person we saw was the ultrasound tech, and as it turns out, she goes to Eternal and heard Andy preach about us having been infertile for six years before the pregnancy! She was amazing! She did a full anatomy scan of Beulah and said she looks very healthy (another praise!). THEN, she switched on the 3D ultrasound and gave us these!!



We are totally in love with this little girl and can't believe she actually smiled at the camera! What a ham! Already!

Next, the Doctor came in. He was the absolute sweetest man. He did a bit of the scanning himself, but he was looking at the placenta. The original concern was that I might have a condition called vasa previa. I didn't understand that at the time of my last visit with my ob/gyn, but it is much more serious than placenta previa. Placenta previa is where the placenta is blocking the cervix. Vasa previa is where blood vessels or the umbilical cord are between the fetus and the cervix. Click on the link to read more.

The Doctor was looking for the point where the umbilical cord inserts into the placenta. He found the insertion point high up on my right side! So, he ruled out vasa previa! The next order of business was to see where the end of the placenta was and if it was still blocking the cervix. It wasn't!!! It was sitting just to the side of the cervix!! We (including the Doctor) were ecstatic! He said he'd like for me to continue on pelvic rest since it was so close, just to prevent bleeding. But, he thought it looked very promising for the placenta to continue to grow UP as my uterus continues to grow. He did not see any reason to believe that a c-section is inevitable. By the time she's ready to get here, that placenta could be out of the way and I could deliver naturally!!! Hallelujah!!

We just praised God all the way home! We are floating on cloud 9 and honestly can not thank YOU all enough for your prayers. God is good!!

High Risk?

Friday was my 28 week check up, glucose screening, and the follow-up ultra sound they promised when they saw my low lying placenta in the last ultra sound.  At the time, there wasn't much concern because they figured the placenta would move up as my uterus grew.  This was just a precaution to be sure that it had.

In the ultra sound we saw that Beulah is doing great, praise the LORD! She has beautiful long (dancer) legs, and her hands were clasped in a prayer position up by her face. Precious!

leg and foot (up left)

praying hands

After the scan we went back to see the doctor. She told us that in all of her 9 years of practice she's never seen a low lying placenta do what mine did. It went down instead of up. Which means I have placenta previa. I have been placed on "pelvic rest", which limits my physical activities, including exercise, house work, grocery shopping, intimacy, etc. Thankfully, I haven't had any bleeding, so they aren't putting me on bed-rest...yet. If I see any blood, I have to call the "authorities" immediately. Oh, and I've now been labeled a "high risk pregnancy".

Beulah is not in danger at this point. The only way this would be a problem for her is if I went into labor. They believe I have a blood vessel running along my cervix that is supplying blood to Beulah. If I were to dialte at all, the blood vessel would rupture, which would be a danger for us both. The only way to be sure that doesn't happen is to deliver her by c-section up to three weeks before her due date.  The doctor, who has been cold and uninterested in the past, rolled her stool up next to me, put her hand on my knee, looked me in the eyes and said, "This is serious. Do you understand?"

To be sure they know exactly what is going on, they are sending me to a high risk doctor Friday at 8 AM. I'm not sure exactly what that will entail, but I think they'll be using a higher powered machine to see the blood vessels clearly to make sure Beulah is getting what she needs from the placenta.  If the vessels are showing signs of constriction at all, I will be put on bed-rest.  Of course I'll let you know what the doctor says.

Sunday, some friends along with the elders of our church filled the tiny chapel at the YMCA to pray over us (James 5:14).  It was the most amazing moment.  As they were praying, Beulah was moving more than she's ever moved at once!  After one person prayed, the next would say that the words that were on their heart had already been spoken by someone else.  They prayed for protection for me & Beulah and prayed that God would move my placenta out of the way if it's His will.  Our hearts and prayers were all in unity, and we left with such a peace and calm in our hearts (Matthew 18:20).  No matter how God chooses to bring Beulah into the world, we feel confident that both she and I will be safe and healthy.  Thankfully, I haven't worried too much, and my peace has been confirmed through others who are praying for us.  My cousin said that every time she sits down to pray for us, God tells her to "Move on.  I've got this one covered."  :)

While we were praying, one of our elders found this comforting verse.

Isaiah 66:9  "Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?" says the LORD.  "Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?" says your God.

These encouraging words have also been given to us from multiple sources this week.

Philippians 1:6  "...being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion..."

Philippians 4:6-7  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

In the past week, many women have shared similar stories about placenta previa.  In some cases the placenta moved and they were able to deliver "naturally".  In others, the babies were successfully delivered by cesarian.  We're praying that God will move the placenta (Matthew 17:20), but we trust His sovereignty no matter how she gets here (Psalm 56:3, Isaiah 26:3-4).  Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!  We are so excited that we're getting close to meeting our baby girl!!

Meet Beulah!

Here she is!  This is Beulah's anatomy scan taken at 18 weeks.  She's gorgeous!!!

It's another long video (16 min), so you may want to jump around.  Some of the best parts are about 15-20 sec clips beginning at the following times:  3 min 35 sec, 8 min 10 sec, 10 min 28 sec, and 14 min 10 sec.  

Since it's an anatomy scan, most of the video is spent locating and measuring organs, which is fun for me to see, but maybe not as fun for you to see.  :)  But, just in case you want to watch the whole thing, here's what you will see.  The first circle you see is the abdominal cavity (AC).  The things that look like holes are actually organs!  The second big circle you see if the top of the head, the beautiful brain.  Here is a little key to some of the abbreviations you'll see.

4 CH Heart = 4 chamber heart (When I saw it I said, "Hallelujah!")

Cereb = cerebellum

NF = nuchal fold

Lat Vent = lateral ventrical

3 VC = 3 valve cord (umbilical cord)

R Vot = right ventrical

L Vot = left ventrical

Placenta Sag = means the placenta is low

Rt Ov = right ovary

LLT Adnexa = ????

Because my placenta is low I get to have another ultra sound in 10 weeks!  They say it's not blocking my cervix, so we're not worried about placenta previa.  They just want to check it again to make sure it's moved up as my uterus grows.

Enjoy my beautiful little girl, our daughter!!

Beulah Ultrasound 2 from Michelle Crissinger on Vimeo.

It's a GIRL!!

If I could express my excitement in characters on a computer screen, I'm afraid it would come out like this @#%^&*!  I am refraining from putting an infinite number of exclaimation points at that end of this sentence:  IT'S A GIRL!!!  (Could you tell by the changes to the blog?)  Our poll results?  17 people (38%) voted it was a girl.  27 people (61%) voted it was a boy.

I don't know how I knew it would be a girl (see last night's post), but I did.  The greatest blessing of all is her great health!  The tech said everything looked "normal".  We saw the four chambers of the heart, the brain, liver, kidneys, bladder, 10 fingers, 10 toes, spine, ribs, etc. and she is just perfect!  She is still measuring a week ahead of schedule, but they're not planning to change the due date.  She's the most beautiful sight we've ever seen!  Praise the good LORD!!  I told Andy that he was glowing.  He's worried about having to give her away one day.  :)

And now for the name reveal...drum roll please...

Her name is Beulah!  When you get a chance, read Isaiah 62.  I cried when Andy read it to me last night.  It has so much significance to us.  Beulah is the new name God gives Zion when he redeems Israel.  It also says in verse 4, "No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate."  That's what we were through six years of infertility.  Not anymore, Hallelujah!!  Verse 3 says, "You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God."  That's our prayer for Beulah.  

We're still toying with the middle name, but we tend to say Beulah Grace.  I had a great-grandmother named Grace.

I'll post the newest video of our beautiful Beulah after I've had a chance to talk to my friend Greg, the computer whiz.  :)

I didn't sleep well last night.  I dreamed that my clock went off at 6:30 and so I turned it off.  As I was laying there thinking about our ultrasound, I fell back asleep and woke up at the time of our appointment.  My mom was here with us (in my dream), so I made her call the doctor while Andy and I frantically got ready to go.  I kept saying, "This was supposed to be our anatomy scan.  We were supposed to find out the gender today!"  It was more of a nightmare than a dream.  I was happy that it wasn't true.  I woke up early.  :)

Since she (Did you hear that? I said SHE!) started moving a couple of weeks ago, the bonding has been so much easier.  And now that she has a name, it's even more-so.  We couldn't be happier or more thankful for this incredible blessing.  Now, I'm going to go praise our LORD for the miracle of our precious baby, Beulah.

Our Baby!

Here it is, thanks to Greg!  It's a LONG video (13 minutes) but it gets better as it goes on.  If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, start it at the 7 min. 30 sec. mark.  That's where you'll really see some action.  

Throughout, the tech stops to take measurements.  One time you see the arrow point around the boy/girl area, but she was pointing to the bladder, so don't get too excited.  Although I got pretty excited because that was a good sign that the kidneys were working properly!  At one point you'll see the crown of the head.  It might look like a circle to you, but if you look in the circle you should see a butterfly.  She said it's called the "butterfly effect" and it shows the two hemispheres of the brain.  And yes, that little flutter you see is the HEARTBEAT!!

I wish I could watch it with you so that I could point out the times where you can tell I'm laughing.  You'll see the walls of the uterus contract quickly and repeatedly.  She was trying to make me laugh so that the baby would move and change positions.  My favorite parts are when you can see the spine, the little bottom, the legs kicking, etc.  It's amazing that they have the technology to look inside and see all of that at only 11.5 weeks!  Unbelievable!!

Our anatomy scan should be the week before Thanksgiving, so don't forget to cast your vote for boy or girl in the poll on the right before then!

Baby Crissinger Ultrasound from Michelle Crissinger on Vimeo.

I Saw My Baby Yesterday!!!

Have you ever been really excited about something just to have your joy squashed by someone's words?  I don't know if we realize how powerful our tongue can be.  If you tell people that you're pregnant before your second trimester you better be prepared to hear a variety of responses.  Most people we told were ecstatic, but the ones that showed hesitation to be excited or asked questions that were leading to the possibility of miscarriage or other complications, those were the ones that stuck to me.  I mean, I understand why.  Some of them have been through some really traumatic experiences and don't want to see us hurt.

Most of the time I could fight off the fear by reminding myself that God is the one that made this happen in the first place and that He would take care of this baby, but then my fear would consume me again when I had a few days without symptoms and thought that maybe the baby had stopped developing.  So, you can imagine the anxiety with which I climbed up on the table yesterday for my first ultra sound.  I knew this was the moment that would determine my journey for the months ahead.

If you've been through this before, you know that feeling...I'm laying there with hopes and fears swirling around together, dying to know which will win.  The ultra sound tech puts the warm gel on my belly, I hold my breath and grab Andy's hand as she puts the wand to my abdomen, and there it is...the most beautiful sight a mother could see, MY BABY!!!!  We gasp together and watch eagerly as she scrolls over this tiny little person inside me.  How amazing it is to see that tiny little beating heart, that gorgeous spine, those arms and legs moving, the two hemispheres of the brain!!  She said she could see the bladder, which means the kidneys must be functioning properly!  I'm not typically so attracted to organs which is one reason I knew I could never work in the medical field, but I must say, I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life!!  We got a DVD of the whole sonogram and our first baby pictures to capture the moment.  What a treasure!  I'll post some ASAP so you can meet baby Crissinger.  Uncle Mike is getting married this weekend, so we haven't had time to do it yet...maybe next week.

I am so incredibly thankful for this blessing.  I know that I have been guarding my heart and not letting myself fall in love with this baby for fear that I would lose him/her.  But, seeing him/her on the screen yesterday changed that...and the bonding begins!