Baby Room!

This weekend Danny, his brothers, and his dad spent all day Saturday working on our nursery. I was at work all day, and I came home to a completely different room!!!


When I left - this is what it looked like - yes, along with the pile of junk in the middle of the room.

This is what it looked like sometime in the middle of the day....

And this is what it looked like when I got home!

I absolutely love the room :) It's perfect! I'm always a little afraid that things I like in my head won't look like I imagine them, and it'll already be done, so I won't be able to change it!

My wonderful mother has graciously agreed to make the curtains and a crib skirt for me, and I found the perfect fabric here! I'm excited to see how it looks in the end - and it's been fun to watch it start to come together!

Well...that was Saturday. Sunday was a little bit more of an adventurous day. I was supposed to work on Sunday night, so I was able to go to church on Sunday (a great blessing, especially on a weekend that I'm working!) Unfortunately, I started feeling strange partway through, and began to suspect that I was having some contractions closer to the end of church.

Well, after coming home, resting and drinking water, they had not stopped, but were in fact becoming more regular. So...we spent the next few hours in the hospital. The monitor confirmed the contractions. They did some labs, one of which predicts delivery within the next 2 weeks - which was thankfully negative! My doctor sent us home with instructions to take it easy for a few days, call out of work, and call her today.

The contractions have continued, they kind of come and go with intensity and frequency. Because they're not continuing to get stronger, I will be returning to work on Thursday, but only for 8 hour shifts, not the normal 12.

We are increasingly thankful for God's grace in keeping our little one safe, but I would be lying if I said that we aren't a little anxious as well.

Because of all this, Danny stayed home with me yesterday, and rather than sitting being anxious, we decided that Danny would work on the baby's room some more, with my "supervision" and company. :)

Danny working on the crib

My small amount of assistance :) I wanted to be involved at least in some part!

The final product!!!

We love it - and look forward to lying our little one in this crib, rocking in this room, and adding more designs to the walls, depending on what this little one is!

There's a lot going on here in our house these days, but we're trusting and thanking God for each moment, trying to relish these last months as just the two of us, and looking forward to the day we get to meet our little one - just not too soon!

Under 100!! (We hope)

Wow! I opened my blog this morning, and I can't believe we have less than 100 days left of this pregnancy (hopefully). In ways it seems like it's gone by quickly, but most of the time it feels like it's been a long time. Not in a bad way at all, it just takes a long time to grow a baby :) Maybe some of that is because we found out only days after we moved into this house, and it feels like we've been here for a while already.

We're still getting ready for this little one to arrive, although I'm feeling much less uptight about it than I thought I might. Mom and I bought fabric for curtains and a crib skirt this week, so we have colors now. I ordered furniture the other day, after months of looking on craigslist and emailing people, and then not hearing back, or hearing that it was sold. JCPenneys was having a sale, and we decided it was worth it to not have to think about it anymore. On Saturday the 27th Danny, along with his dad and brothers, is going to hang the trim and paint the baby's room! It's crazy - completely. It's beginning to feel more real. We registered on Labor day and it was strange to walk around and think about where these things would go in our house, how we'll use them, etc.

Sometimes I don't feel old enough to have a baby yet (I think that's what a lot of other people think too!) but then again, sometimes I don't feel like I'm old enough to have a house, or a real job, or a husband, etc. But, we are very very excited for this new phase, and can't wait to meet our little person!

25 week marveling

This past week at work I had an interesting, amazing experience. On Saturday, Baby and I hit the 25 week mark of this pregnancy. I realize these 2 things don't seem to have anything in common, but I promise they do :)

At work, we have what is called the "resus" team. This is short for resuscitation team. This team includes a nurse, resident, fellow, and whomever else may be necessary. We attend all premature and otherwise possibly high risk deliveries in order to provide care for the baby. On Friday, I was assigned to the resus team.

Usually, this means that my day would probably include 2 or 3 full-term deliveries that are high risk for whatever reason, or maybe one preterm delivery that we then bring down and admit to our unit. However, on Friday, this meant 5 full-term deliveries that we attended and sent to full term nursery, 1 29-weeker that I admitted to our unit, and one 25-weeker. While I've been resus before, I've never had anything smaller than a 28 weeker, and even then, that was only once. I was definitely nervous knowing that a 25 weeker was on the way, for 2 different reasons. First, 25-weekers are fragile!!! They're still really little, and really early! Stabilizing them is not always easy. Secondly, being 25 weeks pregnant, I wasn't sure how it would feel to see a fresh 25-weeker and be responsible (as part of a team) for the survival of this little one!

God's grace was very evident throughout the delivery and resus of this 25-weeker. The resus went beautifully, the team worked together well, and I was wonderfully supported by both our doctors and my charge nurse. I was so grateful for God's grace throughout the resus! It went as well as it could have, and the little guy did really well! He still has a long road of him, but a good start always helps.

Later on, as I stood by the bedside, I just marveled at the goodness of God. Knowing that this perfectly formed little baby is just about the same as my little one brought me to tears. I wonder, why does God allow mine to stay in my womb and continue to grow when this one was brought out early? On the way home, I heard a song and one of the lines is "God is God and I am not, I can only see a part of the picture He's painting. God is God and I am man, so I'll never understand it all, for only God is God." What a perfect chorus to hear that evening. I am not God, I never will be, and I may never understand it all, but God is God. All I know is that I am amazed at the life He's growing in me, and His goodness to us throughout this pregnancy.