Updates

Well I do believe my last post was trying to catch you all up on our crazy busy December. I know there are pictures of the actual Christmas holiday itself which I have not posted yet as well as pictures from our trip in January but I feel the need to just verbally blog today and so I will.

January 8th Matthew and I headed to Maui for a ten day "Babymoon." It was so nice to get away and relax. We didn't really plan anything for our days. Just woke up and decided what sounded good to do. There were a couple big storms that came through while we were there with rain coming down fast and furious. At one point the island got 12 inches of rain in 12 hours. Crazy!!! However, all this rain came down in 80 degree weather so we didn't mind. It did get the ocean water all murky so we only got one day of snorkeling in. We had some fun "adventures" but those are better explained by pictures which I will post here in the next few days.

Now some updates on the pregnancy front-
The Monday before we left for Hawaii (we left on a Saturday) I woke up in the middle of the night to go pee ( which I do about every hour now :-). As I was trying to go back to sleep I kept noticing my abdomen getting hard and decided to start timing the bracksten hicks. I had been told by my doctor a long time ago that you really didn't want to be having more than 4 an hour and these were coming about that fast. I called my doctor that morning and they got me right in and did an ultrasound and internal exam. My cervix looked good and was still long. Baby looked great and we were cleared to go to Hawaii!!! We scheduled another appointment when we got back. By my next appointment I was regularly having hours when I would have 4-6 contractions and so my doctor did another internal exam and found my cervix to still be long and no dilation. She told me that some women just have an over active uterus and that I might be one of those. She said that as long as my cervix wasn't changing and the contractions didn't get closer together, we were probably just seeing what is "normal" for my body. So fast forward to last night. I woke up at 11:30 with a contraction that didn't feel the greatest and I tried to go back to sleep but they kept coming every 5-8 minutes. I got up, drank a bunch of water and decided to time them for an hour. Well, the contractions kept coming every 5-8 minutes. I called my OB at 2am and she suggested drinking some more water and trying to lay back down to sleep. If I was still having them that often and I couldn't fall back asleep, I was to call back and go into the family birth center to get checked out. These pesky contractions didn't go away and by this time I could tell when they were coming. Not painful but annoying. Matthew and I headed to the hospital at 3:30am. They got me all hooked up and what do you know, contractions every 3 minutes!!! The doctor examined me and didn't see or feel any change to my cervix (praise the Lord), but she was concerned that the contractions were coming so quickly and that I could now feel them starting. They decided to give me Nifedipine to stop the contractions. Within 30 minutes my contractions had stopped and after monitoring me for a while longer, they sent us home around 7am. Needless to say, today we are both pretty tired. She also put me on modified bedrest for the next four days until my next OB appointment. As of now, my contractions are about 45 minutes apart and I don't feel them coming.

So now I have to share what I have been learning in my daily devotions because I know the Lord is trying to teach me something here. I have been studying Luke and am now in chapter 12. My lesson on Friday was all about not worrying and knowing that the most important things in life are the things of eternal value!!! One of the sins I struggle with most is worry. In fact worry, anxiety and stress landed me in the hospital a couple times a couple years ago. Its a long story but full of the Lords faithfulness and mercy. If anyone ever wants to know what happened or is struggling with similar feelings please feel free to ask me about it. Anyway, I am learning the turn my worried thoughts over to the Lord as fast as I can and pray for His peace. In the past, the events of today would have left me shaken, scared, and down a path of darkness, but praise the Lord, I had total peace that whatever the outcome, the Lord would see me through. I am glad our baby has at least one more day to grow and didn't show any signs of distress!!! The Lord is GOOD!!!

Well, that is it for now. My lack of sleep is catching up to me and my fingers are getting tired from typing. I will keep you all posted on how things continue to go and we would really appreciate your prayers that this little person would wait to at least 36 weeks to make their appearance.