All dressed up...

and ready to head to church in the snow!

Merry Christmas!

Today is Christmas Day - I can't believe it. It honestly doesn't feel real still. Even though we attended our Christmas Eve service at church last night, opened stockings and presents and ate monkey bread today. I guess being on bed rest since September has left me feeling like it should still be fall, but it is winter and Christmas. Even though it doesn't feel like Christmas to me, I am thankful that the reality of Christmas is still true. That Jesus DID indeed come to earth, born as a baby, born to be our Saviour. That is good news, regardless of how we feel!

Some pics of our Christmas times...we go to Harrisonburg Monday, barring too much snow!...to continue the celebrating.

Our first family of FIVE picture taken at church last night



Our THREE kiddos :)



The Girls



The boys



Owen with his new guitar strap and pic!



All of the kiddos with their stockings...







Baxter opening a sticker book



Lucy in her VERY pink activity mat

The last week or so

We have been slowly trying to get into a normal swing of things the last week. My time with all three kiddos has gone well, and we've still had some friends come help from time to time too. It's been great for Matt to be back in the office in a more normal routine (though he is still working from home during naptime) and to get a little taste of what life will be like. I am recovering well - though still limited physically. I can't wait to be back to 100%, but I think it will be a while. Lucy is doing great - eating and sleeping like a champ! Here are a few pics of the last week or so...









A trip downtown to the James Center to see the lights - unfortunately the indoor train set was broken, but we enjoyed the lights none the less.



All bundled up to play in our first snow of the season...we are supposed to get 3-5 inches today into tomorrow.

A few hospital pics

Here are a few pics from the hospital that we haven't posted yet. One is from playing cards in my hospital bed and the other is our "Final Four" dinner two nights before Lucy was born. Oh, I'm so glad to be home!

THREE sweet babies

Owen:



Baxter:



Lucy:

Brothers, bath time and sweet girl

Not many words needed to describe these pics!







This one is funny - captures the craziness of her first time in the bouncy seat. Owen wanted to record it, Matt as supervising, and Baxter wanted to be in with Lucy.

HOME

We are home! We have been since yesterday at lunchtime. It was so neat/strange to drive out of the hospital parking lot with Lucy in tow. What a blessing to be done in the hospital and done with bed rest! We are so thankful.

The boys could not have been more excited or dear with Lucy than they were. We'll put up pictures soon. It was the first time they had seen her (other than through a window) and were so tickled - B kept giggling and O kept saying things like "she's yawning," or "she's moving." They have continued to be very dear and helpful - mostly :)

Last night went really well for her first night home! Today I am at home from church napping with her and resting up. Matt will get some rest after church during rest time. I think we'll be going to be at 7:30 or 8:00 for the next few nights!

Thank you for praying - please know how thankful we are for you - we could not have made it with out the Lord and He works through prayer!

Pictures to come I"m sure!!

Lucy has graduated!

Lucy has graduated from the NICU to the regular newborn nursery! Praise God! Please pray for her to get the hang of breastfeeding more and more each day - she is doing well, but because she was born early this will take her a while to get the hang of. Thankful she'll take a bottle of breast milk in the meantime!

We'll post more pics sometime soon - I think she's ready to get out of the hospital onesie and blanket and into some of her own clothes :) Or maybe it's me that is ready for the cute things we brought for her!

Some more pictures of our little girl

Enjoy!

(Also, I just saw our pediatrician and he let me know that sometime today Lucy will get to leave the NICU today if all continues to go well and move into the normal nursery!)

Pictures and update

Here is a quick update and more ways to pray...

We are doing well. Lucy is actually in the NICU, she was having some labored breathing, and so they wanted to keep an eye on her. It seems that it's just caused by the cross between being born at 36 weeks and having some fluid in her lungs. All other tests and vitals are looking good. One of our pediatricians said it could take a day or a couple of days to get the fluid out. We are not scared, just looking forward to getting to be with her. Matt was able to visit last night. I will go today after I'm up and around. I have been so exhausted and recovering from the meds and such from delivery. The delivery went great - my blood loss was minimal. I just had some "real food" so I hope to be getting stronger as the day goes on.

Please continue to pray for the Lord's hand in our recovery and in Lucy's breathing. Here are a few pics Matt got in the OR. He has a few from the NICU we'll put up later. To us, she looks JUST like her brothers did as infants.

Lucy Grace Is Here!

Praise God! She was born right at 5:00pm, weighing 6 pounds 7 ounces, and both Mom and baby are doing great! We'll post some pictures soon.

This is the day!!

My nurse came in this morning at 6:20 to take my vital signs, and listen to Lucy's heart beat. They do this every morning. (Not sure why they come at 6 instead of 7, but that is besides the point.) I have had this nurse for three of the last four nights. She walks in and says "Good Morning...you get to have a baby today!" I rubbed my eyes having just woken up and said "what do you mean?"

It turns out that the second test they ran from my amnio yesterday (which is the more detailed and "golden standard" test) came back with great results. They don't know why the first test was negative, but my doctor and the high risk doctor feel great about this and we're going to go for it!

I am scheduled for 4pm - barring any delay in Labor and Delivery.

I am still in a state of shock - I am excited, and amazed and a little bit unsure what to think. This whole bed rest ordeal is finally coming to a close. We get to meet our sweet Lucy Grace and learn how to live as a family of five.

Please pray for a peaceful day leading up to the surgery. Please pray for protection for Lucy and I during delivery and recovery. Because of my placenta issues, I will likely bleed more than normal, so please pray for protection in that way and that the doctors will act quick and with great wisdom and stop any bleeding.

We'll let you know when she's here!

More waiting...

We just heard that Lucy's not quite ready to be born...we are disappointed and a little sad that we have to wait longer and that I have to be away from the boys longer, but we're trying to trust that all of the Lord's paths are perfect! We will know more tomorrow from a second test that they ran. We'll keep you posted!

Waiting for the results...

The amnio this morning went well - we are waiting for the results. We should know by 3, but we'll see!

Amnio Monday morning

Just a quick reminder...we have our amniocentesis (the test to see if Lucy's lungs are mature) at 9:45 tomorrow (Monday) morning - please pray with us that her lungs will be mature and we can deliver at 4pm via c-section. Also pray for safety and health for Lucy and I during the c-section. And pray for our hearts - we need to trust that the Lord's ways are perfect and full of love and faithfulness! If tomorrow is not to be Lucy's birthday, pray that we'd trust the Lord and wait patiently and full of peace.

Precious Boys

This is not an easy time for our boys, but these pictures capture the amazing grace of God to our boys in this time. Even though their mommy is on bed rest and is now on bed rest IN the hospital and their daddy is ping-ponging between home and hospital and work, look at these precious smiles. Thank you Jesus that you love our boys so much!! And thank you to all of our friends and family who have loved on our boys while we have not been able to as much as normal!

From the Hospital - good and bad things

Just for "fun" I thought I'd write some of the good things as well as some of the bad things from my days in the hospital...

GOOD THINGS:
-I found out today that I can order Chick-Fil-A for lunch!
-I really enjoy talking with all of the nurses about books and life and such - makes me want to hang out with them when we are done in here. One of my nurses today went to college with a friend of mine from High School, and one went to JMU and did Crusade (after our time).
-The nice lady who brings chocolate chip cookies by my room every afternoon.
-Sweet visits with the boys - working on a word find with Owen today in my hospital bed.
-Talking to the boys on speaker phone during dinner, hearing that Baxter made a tower of "St. Mary's Hospital"
-Mini date nights with Matt after he helps get the boys down at home - tonight we're having Starbucks!

BAD THINGS:
-being away from my family - missing those sweet moments and conversations and games of Crazy 8's
-hospital food - though I now have the inside scoop on how to order better food since I"m here "long term"
-eating, resting, hanging out and sleeping in the same bed all day.


Over all this time has gone quicker than I expected and has been full of more peace than I expected. We continue to pray that we'll find out we can meet Lucy at 4pm on Monday via a c-section after our 9:45am test that day. Please pray with us that God would grant that to us, and that if not that we'd have more peace to wait a bit longer.

From the hospital - waiting on the Lord

We're in day 4 of this hospital stay...hoping that Lucy will arrive in 5 more days, on Monday (12/6) (if the amniocentesis comes back with results that her lungs are mature - please pray with us that that will be the case!). Needless to say we are ready to be done with bed rest and hospital stays and be home with our baby girl and learn how to be a family of 5! The hard part is that we have no control over when that will be. It's hard to weather the separation (with me in here and the boys at home and Matt commuting back and forth) and hospital inconveniences and personal spiritual and emotional struggles in the midst of the waiting. I continue to see God hold us up through your prayers with peace and perseverance, but it's a struggle.

I have found some great help yesterday and today from Isaiah 40. Our pastor is preaching on waiting during this season of Advent. Good timing for a number of reasons. I listened to his sermon yesterday from Sunday (11/28), and then spent some time his morning studying and meditating on the scripture he was preaching on. It was fuel for my soul - an anchor for my faith - an encouragement in the midst of my waiting.

Here are some things that I see in these verses:
-He starts out speaking of comforting His people - true comfort from God will happen. Not necessarily the removal of hard times, but true comfort in the midst of them.
-The Word of the Lord will stand forever! Why hope in anything else - my plans, doctors plans, test results, etc.
-He is everlasting, creator, does not grow weary, unsearchable in His wisdom
-I am faint, have no might, faint and weary, exhausted.
-He gives us power and increases our strength
-When we wait on Him ("savoring God's promises by faith until the time of fulfillment" ESV Study Bible notes) then our strength is renewed ("endless supplies of fresh strength" ESV Study Bible notes).

What a great God! Not only is He a great God, He is a great God FOR His people! Nothing else will bring us hope and strength and faith and perseverance!

From the Couch - well, from the hospital bed

Some of you have heard this already, but we are back in the hospital. I am doing well and so is Lucy which we are very grateful for! I had some bleeding yesterday (hadn't bled for 11 weeks! yay bed rest!). I spent 24 hours in labor and delivery. The bleeding stopped and some contractions I was having have also stopped. So now we are back in a waiting game - now in the hospital instead of at home. Most likely we will now deliver at 36 weeks (7 days) instead of 37 weeks (test scheduled for Monday 12/6 to determine Lucy's lung maturity). Of course, at any time that could change if my condition or Lucy's changes. They moved me to antepartum, which is more comfortable and quiet, I'm thankful for that. I had an ultra sound today that shows she is roughly 5 lbs. 12 oz! Grow Lucy Grow!!

Please support us in prayer in these ways:
-perseverance - Matt and I are ready to be done, and this new hospital detail makes it harder. Please pray we'd trust God's presence and purpose and hope and joy in all of this! Pray for us as we wait - that we'd lean hard into the Lord!
-pray for our boys - matt's parents are here to help through Wed, and then my parents will come wed - wed. Pray that they'd do well with their grandparents and that they'd have much grace with each other and just in dealing with life in general
-pray for Lucy - that her lungs especially would continue to develop more and more every day so that we can deliver next week instead of waiting longer.

We'll keep you posted...

Words from Baxter

Baxter has said two things today that are very precious...I thought you'd enjoy!

-- This morning we were reviewing some of the Children's Catechism questions . One of the questions says "Where do we learn how to love and obey God?" The answer is "In the Bible alone." We asked B the question, knowing he'd never practiced this one before. He answered "at church". Then he answered "at the Brown's house" (the Brown's are good friends here in Richmond, Joe is on staff with Matt). Then he answered "at home." All very good answers!

--Just now Matt was putting him in his room for rest time (since he no longer naps!). Matt said "Have a great rest time." B said "Have a good talking time." M "Talking time? With who?" B - "With Mommy, you and her are sweet sweet friends."

He's a handful, but a precious one at that!

Boys

I figured I'd post a bunch of BOY pictures today since we'll have a lot of BABY GIRL pictures to post in a handful of weeks (3 1/2!!!). Here they are just enjoying God's world. I did not take pictures of the times in between these sweet moments where they were doing anything but enjoying God or each other or His world. But do you really want to see pictures of that anyway? We'll just be thankful that there are sweet moments thrown in there! God is good.

Making play-doh pizzas with daddy.



Enjoying some color wonder from Aunt Becky and Uncle Bryan. This was about 20 minutes of both boys coloring in quiet. It was glorious!



Snuggle/Snack time



Proud builders



Just hugging. This most often turns into a crazy tackle time - we're trying to teach the hug and release method.



B has been really into legos and puzzles - here he is peaking through one of his creations



Before O and B went up to bed one night, O asked if he could read "Good Night Moon" to Lucy. It was very sweet.



Just a day in the life of B, or shall I say "Rescue Man" ?!