Latest Belly Pix!

She's not trying to hide anymore!  My little girl is making her presence known!  It's especially intriguing to strangers when only the top button of my coat can button.  :)  Here she is!

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!!

Who will she look like?

One of the most exciting things about being pregnant is thinking about what our little one will look like.  We can pretty much bet she'll be TINY.  Andy and I were both the smallest in our classes until high school.  We were both born a month early and both in the 5 lb. range.  We also think there's a good chance she'll have blue eyes, since both of us have blue eyes.  But, Andy was blond throughout his childhood and my hair was dark brown.  It's fun to think about which features she'll get from me and which ones she'll get from her daddy.  Just for fun, here's some pictures to help us dream about our precious little girl.

To: Beulah

Some cute and sweet gifts from friends.  :)

My New Favorite Thing!!

So, my favorite part of my second trimester was feeling Beulah move.  Now that she's bigger and there's not as much room for her to move, her movement feels very different, and I LOVE IT!!  I can feel her rolling around and I can even feel knees and elbows sometimes!!  I love knowing what I'm feeling.  It makes me feel closer to her because I am more attuned to what she's doing.  She's amazing!!

Our Last Childless Christmas!

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior and LORD.  Andy and I went to GA to visit my family for Christmas.  It was awesome to be able to include Beulah in our celebrations!  See below.  Have a Happy New Year!!  Next Christmas we'll have an 8 month old!!

Me, Beulah & Will Smith

Yep, we made the news last night! I spent the day standing in the rain with my friend Rachel to get free tickets (with a non-perishable food donation) and line the red carpet for Will Smith's movie premier of "Seven Pounds", opening December 19th. I confess, I STILL watch re-runs of "Fresh Prince" every week. I don't get into the celebrity scene, but when people ask what famous person I'd like to meet, I have always said Will Smith or Robin Williams. I just think it would be the most fun time. They crack me up on film, and from what I saw of him last night, Will Smith is the same way in person. I didn't get to talk to him or anything, but I did get to see him speak, beat box, sign autographs, do interviews, make a donation, etc., on the red carpet. I don't think I can embed the video, but here is a link to see us on the news!

http://www.wcnc.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=312489&shu=1

The movie was amazing! Warning: it's VERY heavy. I've never seen anything like it, and I processed it the rest of the night. There was no explicit violence, language (except right at the beginning, but you see the reason for it at the end), or sex scenes, but it's definitely too heavy for children. I'm glad I got to see it. Fun times! Watch the trailer. http://www.sevenpounds.com/

Latest Belly & Family Pix

These were taken on Beulah's first Thanksgiving!  We were in FL with Andy's family, which explains the short sleeved shirts and the water.  :)

Tiny Dancer!

Check her out!  This is Beulah moving at 22 weeks!  I took this video with the camera on my chest looking down at my belly with a remote on top.  The only movement that I made was breathing, the rest is her!  I edited out all the still moments, that's why the clips jump sometimes.  Enjoy the performance!

Beulah movement 22 weeks from Michelle Crissinger on Vimeo.

I Am Thankful...

1.  for God's love in sending his Son to save me from sin and death.

2.  that God provided me with a husband that loves Him and sacrifices for me the way that Christ sacrificed for the Church.

3.  that God still does miracles!

4.  for my amazing and beautiful daughter, Beulah!

5.  for 6 years of infertility that taught me about suffering and the true meaning of grace.

6.  for a family (on both sides) that loves the Lord and loves me.

7.  for spiritual, mental, emotional & physical health.

8.  for a church that believes scripture.

9.  for a community that loves, encourages and supports me.

10.  for friends and family that pray for us.

11.  for friends that let me borrow their maternity clothes.

12.  for a home with things that make us comfortable and heat that keeps us warm.

13.  that while everything is good right now, I can trust that when things are bad, God is there.

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.

It's His Turn!!

As Andy was teaching children's church this morning I was listening with my hand resting on my belly when the baby kicked and I felt it in my hand!  So, tonight when the baby started moving I called Andy over and he was able to feel it twice!!  It is so great for him to be able to participate in the excitement that I feel when s/he moves!

So, tomorrow's the big day!  We find out in the morning whether it's a girl or a boy!  I see on the right side of the blog that most are voting for a boy, so it will be fun to see who was right.  I will post as soon as we get home, so check back when you get a chance, and if you haven't placed your vote...there's still a couple of hours left.

FYI--I think it's a girl.  Andy thinks it's a boy, but he's starting to have his doubts.  We'll see!!  Hopefully I'll sleep tonight.  :)

More Thoughts

My friend, Amanda, took more pictures of my belly a few weeks ago for the gift she's making me and these were the thoughts I sent to her this time.

1.  (after seeing the first ultra sound at 11.5 weeks)  "I never knew a spine could be so beautiful!"

2.  Psalm 139:13-16  The pressure is off of me to be perfect when I consider the fact that God is the one who is knitting my little one together and that He has already planned who he wants him/her to be.  Thank God it's not up to me!

3.  I STILL can't believe I'm pregnant!!

More Belly Pix!

OK, folks, in keeping with election week, you have one more week to vote on our baby's gender! Next Monday, November 10th, we find out whether the X or Y chromosome has won! So, Nikki and Heather, here are your latest belly pix (at 17 weeks) to help you decide on your vote.