I am a TWO!!!!

Posted on by Becky

Which only is meaningful if you have been following my blog, because as I’m sure the rest of you are thinking, ‘many women are dilated 2 cm for weeks or even months before giving birth!’

With three months of contractions, various shots, medication, and bedrest, I have been a “one” or a “loose one” or “between a one and a two” for what seems like forever, so today I’m having a personal celebration that at 37 weeks, 2 days, I have finally moved on.

I stopped taking my procardia on Saturday night and came “off” bedrest on Sunday. By Monday, the progesterone shots should have “worn off” and should no longer be a factor in keeping me from going into labor.

Most of Sunday evening and into the early Monday morning hours, I had fairly strong contractions five minutes apart, which left me wondering, “Is this still my ‘normal’? or should I be viewing it differently now that I’m not on the meds?” I took comfort knowing that I would be back at the Ob’s office the next morning, and could ask Dr. C my question then.

His reply? “Well–you’re not a ‘3’ so clearly whatever you experienced last night wasn’t labor.”

Thanks for that. I realize that–in hindsight. My question is how I should view my contractions going forward.

He said, “This is your third pregnancy. You should know what labor feels like by now.”

But the truth is, I don’t. I know what I’ve experienced. But my first and second experiences have very little in common: First, a  full-term vaginally delivery after 30+ hours of labor. And then second, a 32-weeker, born via emergency c-section, after about a month of preterm labor contractions, when I was just over 5 cm dilated. Now, three months of contractions with a bunch of preventative measures taken, but very little cervical change. . . Three vastly different experiences.

Dr. C said I will just know.

We hope he’s right.

It’s snowing again tonight. . . thankfully, we’re only forecast to get 1-2 inches by morning, so if we had to get out, we could.

Although our road is anything but clear after the nearly 4 feet of snow we’ve received in the past couple of weeks.  This morning, though the main roads are fine, our street was a sheet of ice.

In fact, there was a wreck right in front of our house, blocking our street as I returned from my doctor’s appointment. And, separately (though simultaneously), a tow truck was stuck in the snow and ice only 3-4 car lengths up the street. Another tow truck came to rescue that tow truck. And the kids enjoyed watching out the living room window.

We are looking forward to the 40-degree-weather forecasted later this week!

Maybe then I will “just know.”

We can’t wait to meet our Little Boo!

A Glimpse of the Future? Little Disciples Multiplying?

Posted on by Becky

My daughter Mara Joy has always been quite the conversationalist. And as the oldest child, she and I have always talked about everything.

So early on, I talked to her about God’s love for her and told her that Jesus died for her on the cross. We read Bible stories together most every day, and over the past two months or so, she has asked more and more questions and expressed her desire to go to heaven and be with Jesus. She’s asked me how she can stop doing bad things. She has told me how much she loves God and wants to obey Him. So she and I have recently had many conversations about the foundational truths of the Gospel.

Micah is also a little conversationalist–It’s just that I can’t understand 90% of his jabber yet! Plus his attention span is much shorter. His questions much less complex. In fact, while he often asks to pray (several times throughout the same meal and other random times), I don’t know that He’s ever said ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’ at all. I have often prayed for him, told him how much God loves him, and how I pray that he will grow to be a man that loves God more than anything else. But I don’t think I’ve shared the Gospel with him in a deeper way.

That’s okay–his sister did! The other night at dinner, I just listened to this (one-sided) conversation between my three-year-old daughter and her 20-month-old brother:

“Jesus loves you, Micah, and He died for you on the cross. And we want you to love God and obey God, but you do lots of bad things. But God will still love you, even though you do bad things.”

I don’t know how much (if any) of this Micah was really comprehending, but I was amused that her intensity in conversation was matched by his intensity in expression: his jaw literally hung open as he sat there in his high chair, listening to her soliloquy.

“This is really important, Micah,” she finished.

Up until this point, I sat silently, wondering how she would explain these truths, and marveling at the ease with which she shared them.

Then Mara turned to me: “I told Micah all about God. And I started with the Bible.”

Today the Lord encouraged my heart that perhaps someday He will use my little “disciple” to reach others for Him!  I pray that these truths will be real in Mara’s heart–not just reciting things she’s heard–and that her life (along with her words) will continue to point her younger siblings to Christ!

36 Weeks Pregnant!

Posted on by Becky

This post has been in my “drafts” for days now.

It’s obsolete, because tomorrow I will be 37 weeks pregnant–full-term! I guess I didn’t have a whole lot of motivation to post it, because my weekly ob appointments have become quite anticlimactic, even boring–and almost a joke between my close friends and me.

“Are you still a ‘loose one’?” they ask me. In fact, that was a text message I received today (you make me laugh, Melissa!)

Yes. I. Am. And I have been a “loose one” for almost two months now.

Despite having more contractions than I could attempt to calculate, all the medications, bedrest, and hospitalization seem to be doing the trick! I have to admit my lack of faith when the obs, perinatologist, and my insurance case managers were all talking about “shooting for 37 weeks.” I was skeptical! But here we are: with week 37 just around the corner.

Because we had 28+ inches of snow over the weekend, we couldn’t get the car down our street for my Monday morning appointment. We had to reschedule for Tuesday, because Wednesday we were forecast to receive another 12-20 inches of snow (we got 16 inches) . . . With that forecast in mind, my husband gave me very specific parameters for exactly when I am allowed to go into active labor. Ha ha!

Wednesday night, the night of the second big snowstorm, I had very very intense contractions along with severe diarrhea and nausea.

I guess it was providential that the roads were impassable, because I totally thought that might be “the” night! And with any other weather circumstance, I might have decided to go up to triage, just in case. But since I knew we absolutely could not make it to our hospital (and if we called an ambulance, I would be taken to a nearby hospital which was not my preference for several reasons), that was motivation enough to mentally ‘gut it out’ and think ‘there’s no way I can deliver tonight.’ We decided to increase the frequency of my procardia doses to 5 hours apart, instead of 6. (When I was hospitalized before Micah’s birth, this was one way they tried to hold off labor; my doses were every 4 hours the morning he was born. So we figured that was something small we could try from home to slow the contractions. Not that it worked with Micah!) Finally around 4:30 AM I was able to go to sleep. . . I am sooo ready to be done with these contractions!!!

Anyway, back to my appointment. As expected, Dr. C said I’m “between a one and a two,” the baby is still head-down (her kicking makes that obvious), and her station is -2. I asked about coming off bedrest and the meds early, since I am having so many contractions at night and really struggling to sleep at all (it feels like my body and the medications are fighting all the time and between the very-low blood pressure brought on by my meds, the lethargy from laying around for almost two months, and the lack of sleep while I fight contractions at night, I have very little energy at all),, but it was no great surprise to me that Dr. C insisted that I stay on everything until week 37. . . It was worth a shot. At this point, the baby will be okay whenever she comes (baring something unusual), and I’m sooo ready to stop fighting against my body’s contractions and just let myself go into labor.

We talked about going for a VBAC, and I asked what would prevent me from having one. He said, since I’ve delivered vaginally before, they know that my cervix is capable of delivering vaginally, so just the usual things would cause the doctors to recommend a c-section: if the baby were to change positions, if the baby’s heartrate would indicate distress during labor, if labor were to progress too slowly. . . and then he mentioned if I should have excruciating pain in my c-section incision area, that I should call right away and they would do a c-section immediately.

He told me that I’ll come off the meds and bedrest at the end of the week, and I’ll probably notice quite an increase in contraction activity. (Is that possible?) But he said that won’t necessarily indicate I’m in active labor. That said, he added, “I would like to see you wait to deliver until the first week of March, since that’s when you’re due, but my professional opinion is that you’re going to be delivering early.”

I had two thoughts: First, wow!  a professional opinion! So far, every time I asked the doctor’s to speculate on when I might deliver they would say ‘everyone is different: for some, right away, for others–you could even go past your due date.’ Which, I realize, doctors don’t have a crystal ball to consult on when anyone will actual go into active labor! but I really appreciated his offering a “professional opinion” after looking at my particular situation!

Second, I was struck by his comment wishing I could hold off till March! Ha ha ha! It’s just amazing–unbelievable!–that we’re even having this conversation!

So yes, I’m 36 weeks pregnant! By the end of the week, I will come off bedrest, quit taking procardia every 6 hours, and by Monday, the progesterone should largely be out of my system.

I’m sure it’s wishful thinking, but I’m hoping for a Valentines Day baby! And if she can’t come quite that soon, I’m hoping for some time before 38 weeks!

Other preemie moms share this same sentiment during subsequent pregnancies: The conflict of how very exciting and yet how difficult the last trimester is, particularly with meds and bedrest (especially since we entirely missed out on most of the last trimester with the preemie pregnancies), and how we feel a twinge of guilt saying it, but admitting, “It was nice missing the last two months of pregnancy last time!”

That was nice. I don’t want to repeat the scenario. But that was nice.

For now, I am just thankful that we’ve made it this far. It really is incredible!

Two New Recipe Favorites!

Posted on by Becky

We recently discovered two new recipes that we’re going to add to our family recipe box. Both are fairly easy with only six ingredients!

First: Monterrey Chicken Quesadillas from Kate at Cooking During Stolen Moments. This recipe was perfect one evening last week, because we had a cooked chicken breast in the refrigerator, an already-opened package of bacon, a bag of onions (which has gone largely ignored while I’ve been on bedrest), a package of burrito-size tortillas, a bottle of barbecue sauce in the basement  (which I found on sale a couple months back), and we always have a variety of shredded cheese on hand. So all the ingredients were right there, waiting to be combined. When I stumbled across this recipe, my mouth began watering just reading about it!

But the quesadillas were delectable! So good, in fact, that I completely forgot the ranch dressing (for dipping) and we didn’t even notice! I thought it was more of an appetizer item, but they are very filling. We are definitely adding them to our menu! Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures. But if you want to see Kate’s picture of the quesadillas (and the entire recipe), just click on the link above.

Second: Easy Chicken Enchiladas from my favorite recipe website allrecipes.com. Another simple, simple recipe with just six ingredients–all things I had on hand. Like other reviewers, I reduced the cream cheese by 1/2 and they were still incredibly delicious! I loved the 2 cups of cheese. Sometimes I end up adding more cheese than the recipe calls for, but this was perfect.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

28-1/2 Inches. . . and 12-20 More On the Way

Posted on by Becky

I’m guessing this will not be the only Wordless Wednesday post with snow pictures, since such a large section of the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states have enjoyed blizzard conditions over the weekend! We are forecast to have 12-20 inches more over the next 24 hours. (We’re hoping I don’t go into labor!)

Here’s a window into our world, and I would love to share yours as well!

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.