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. :)

Our Amazing Creator

Between reading pregnancy / birthing books and taking classes, I have learned some things about pregnancy and birth that just leave me speechless. The nurse who taught our birthing class said, "I don't know how anyone can do what I do and not believe in God." She gave Him credit for all of the amazing things that happen during pregnancy and birth that can't be attributed to anything other than our amazing Creator. The nurse / lactation consultant who taught the breast-feeding class agreed and mentioned how clever God is to have created our bodies with such care that we (women) are able to provide nourishment for our children and all of the intricacies involved in that. The midwife we saw Friday teared up as she spoke about the miracle of birth, and she's been delivering babies for more than 25 years! She told us that God already knows how our birth will go and reminded us to trust that His way is best. Wow!

These are just a FEW amazing things I've learned that blow my mind.

1. When a baby's lungs finish developing, she releases a hormone that initiates labor in the mother.

2. During labor, a woman's body releases endorphins that are more powerful than morphine.

3. If put on the mother's chest (skin to skin) after a natural (non-medicated) birth, a baby will "crawl" to her breast and initiate feeding within the first 30 minutes to an hour of life.

4. A mother's breast will create the amount of milk her baby requires, however much or little that might be.

5. Amniotic fluid, as well as breast milk, are "flavored" based on what mom has eaten. This introduces the flavors of the house and helps children get used to them from a very early age.

6. Immediately after birth, the mother's chest acts as an incubator. If put skin to skin with her mother a baby begins to learn to regulate her own body temperature. If the baby's temp falls, the mother's will rise. If the baby's temp rises, the mother's will fall. In this way, learning to regulate her temperature can be achieved in 90 minutes. This can also be done with the father if the two are draped together with a blanket. If taken away from the mother (or father's) bare chest within the first 90 minutes, learning to regulate her temperature can take baby up to three days.

How great is our God?!

The Things We Take for Granted

When we go to Guatemala in the summers, part of our mission is to build houses for widows and their children. One of the hardest parts of the trip is the see how the family was living before. The pictures below are two examples of "beds" where the widows had been sleeping.





Inside the house we build a bunk bed out of raw wood and top it off with a small mattress. This past year, some of our folks got to go back and visit a widow we had built a house for earlier in the week. The widow was SO excited to see them and thanked them endlessly. But, one thing she said really struck us. She said, "I LOVE my new bed. It makes my bones not hurt."

I get a knot in my throat just thinking about it, because you have to understand...when we say "new bed", we're not talking about a queen pillow top mattress or even a memory foam topper. It's the kind of mattress that middle class Americans might let our dogs sleep on, but never our children and certainly not ourselves (see below).



I didn't fully understand the significance of her statement until the past couple of months. If you've ever been pregnant, you know that sleeping can be a challenge as you near the end. For the past couple of months, I would wake up everytime I turned over. For one thing, I had to rearrange the four pillows I had all around me. For another thing, my hips and ribs were KILLING me. Sometimes they would hurt all day, sometimes just for the first couple of hours in the day.

Now, you should know that I not only have the four pillows to make me comfortable, but I am also sleeping on a great mattress PLUS a memory foam topper, and I STILL hurt! After a few weeks of this, I couldn't imagine it getting any worse or lasting for the next few months. So, Andy and I prayed that God would relieve this pain and help me sleep. And, I tell you, He did!! Now, when I get up for one of my many trips to the potty during the night, I thank God that I don't feel the pain. Last night, when I thanked God, He reminded me of these women and children who were sleeping on MUCH less than me and hurting all day everyday. Boy, was I humbled. Pray for them as you crawl in bed tonight. And, if you feel so led, you can help them here.

8 weeks to go!!

I can't believe I am 8 months pregnant and we will get to meet Beulah in about 8 weeks!! People have always talked about how fast time goes when you have kids, but I didn't realize it started before they were even in the world! This has really flown!

These days Andy and I enjoy sitting and watching my belly morph and jump. We've got one active little girl, thank the Lord! In the picture below, you can see how much she's grown. :) It's the first bare belly picture I've posted, although I walk around the house like that all the time. I wish I could go everywhere like that!



Last Friday the doctor released me from pelvic rest. She said she doesn't see any reason to believe that I will have to have a c-section! They will check me again at 36 weeks (I am currently at 32 weeks). After she left the room, I just sat on the table and breathed several deep sighs of relief and praised God! I was able to exercise some last week, but it's slow going since it's been a while.

Last weekend Andy and I went to the most wonderful birthing class at the hospital where I will deliver, CMC Pineville. We are praying that I will get the nurse who taught the class (or someone like her) to attend the birth, because she was AMAZING!! We learned SO many helpful things. She was really good at talking to the husbands in the class about their role during labor and delivery, and I think it really helped give Andy some much needed confidence. We are more and more excited every day about meeting Beulah!

On Valentines Day, I came home to some beautiful gerber daisies (my favorite) from my husband, and some fresh, young tulips "from" my precious Beulah! What a treat! Beulah and I also had a gift for her daddy. (See the shirt below.) He loved it. :) (Thanks for the idea, Aunt Danielle!)

What's in a Name?

As you know, we have named our sweet little girl Beulah Grace. I mentioned in a previous post the meaning behind Beulah. But, I've not talked about Grace.

All of my grandparents passed away by the time I was three. I didn't get a chance to know them or really understand that grandchild / grandparent relationship. We are so glad Beulah will get the chance to know both sets of grandparents!

Grace was my great-grandmother. She lived well into my teen years and we visited her every couple of years in South GA. She was an amazing cook, well known for her pecan (pee-can) pies. Yum, Yum!! I didn't know too much about her, but she was the only grandparent I knew. My mom says she had quite a colorful mouth. :)

It's kind of neat that we had a relative named Grace, but that's not why we picked the name. To see the real meaning of Grace in our lives, please click on the link to my Infertility and Adoption blog for the NEW post, which explains it.

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!!

Intriguing Documentary

Not long after I found out I was pregnant, a documentary was recommended to me, The Business of Being Born.  I enjoyed and appreciated what I learned very much, and it has definitely effected the decisions we've made throughout my pregnancy.  The video is for anyone who may be having a baby now or in the future or someone who's just interested in the history of birthing as well as current birthing options and practices.  I recommend watching the trailer before watching the full film to see if you're interested.  I do not recommend you watch the film if you are not interested in watching women birth babies.  It's definitely not a "clean", feel-good film.  :)  I also do NOT recommend you watch this if you will be giving birth soon.  FYI--If you have a Netflix account you can watch the film instantly online.

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.  :)