When God Answers Prayers...

What a whirlwind pregnancy is all of itself. The hormones, the back aches, the waiting for your bundle of joy to make an entrance. But, what happens when there is a hiccup in your pregnancy? It is scary. You automatically think of your unborn child. The love you already have for them. The worry of everything being okay. This is where we were for a few months and it was horrid.

I had a normal pregnancy, just like my first two. Go to my doctors appointment each month, do the routine check-up, everything looks good.... See you next month. Get blood drawn, do the glucose test... The normal pregnancy fun.

That was until 26 weeks.

I headed to my blood draw for my 26 week antibody screening and glucose test. The joy. I hadn't eaten for 12 hours, which I think is cruel to pregnant women in the first place, gulped down my orange glucose juice, sat for an hour, got my blood drawn and went home. Easy Peasy. No problem. I had done it all before.

A few days later I received a call from my doctors office. The receptionist said I needed to reschedule another blood draw because something strange had come back on my results.

"What does that mean?" I asked.
"Let me put you through to the nurse." She said.

I waited a few minutes and the nurse got on the line.

She said, "There are no worries as of now. Your antibody test came back with some odd results, so we want to redraw your blood to make sure it wasn't a fluke."

Of course I started to worry.

After my next doctors appointment, and some confusing information, I rescheduled a blood draw and headed to the lab a few days later.

Two weeks after the blood draw AND after my doctors appointment, I get another dreaded call. This time, the doctor and the nurse on the line. Grreeat! This means good news. Not!

"Your results came back again. There is an antibody in your blood can could potentially mix with your baby's and could be a problem. This wouldn't be an issue, but you are Rh Positive, so there should be no antibodies in your blood. We haven't seen anything like this. We are going to schedule you an appointment with a specialist and see what are our options are from there."

A few days later, a routine doctors appointment.

"What are the options with this?" I ask the doctor.
"Your baby could be premature. She may be jaundice and anemic at birth." After he kept naming things that could potentially go wrong, the room got small and his voice started to sound like the teacher from Charlie Brown. Blood transfusions? Premature? Anemia? My baby going through tests and shots? I was supposed to have a normal pregnancy. This was going so good! What happened?

For weeks, we were on pins and needles. We went back and forth to the doctor and to the lab for blood work. We prayed. We cried. We worried. I began reading my bible while sitting on the back deck while the boys played in the yard, looking for answers from God. I sat on the porch swing and prayed. Not sure for what outcome? A healthy baby. A healthy mom. I cried some more and prayed some more.

4 days after my 33 week doctors appointment, Lyndon and I headed to Sacramento to a Perinatal Specialist for an ultrasound. The ultrasound was to determine how Olivia's kidneys and liver were functioning, how the blood flow was from me to her, and overall, the delivery date. Did we need to be rushed to the hospital that day, at 33 weeks pregnant, and deliver her or could I keep her in for a couple more weeks?

We sat in the cold waiting room, hand in hand. I was almost in tears the whole time, terrified. I prayed the Lord would let her stay in my belly for a couple more weeks.

We were called back to the ultrasound room. The technician did her overall evaluation of Olivia. She was big. Measuring a week and a half bigger than she was supposed to be. We were thrilled. If anything, she was bigger than she needed to be. Praise God! But, obviously, the tech gives no answers, she just takes pictures.

When the tech left the room, Lyndon and I stared at each other, waiting for the specialist to come talk to us about the results. When are we delivering? What is wrong with my baby? Are her kidneys and liver okay!? We sat in the ultrasound room, lights dimmed, staring at the screen of our baby inside me. Hand in hand we prayed. Is it going to be okay....?

The specialist made her way in to the room and introduced herself.

"So, do you know why your doctor sent you here today?"

I explained my understand about my blood.

She looked at us and smiled.

"This antibody in your blood isn't effecting your baby at all." She said. "You have a perfectly healthy baby. She is big. Everything is functioning like it should. Go enjoy your pregnancy."

I burst into tears. Lyndon started asking questions to the specialist. I couldn't tell you what he asked. All I heard was my baby was okay.

My baby is healthy!

Praise God!

We left the specialists office and hit the button for the elevator. Lyndon and I stood in the hallway outside the office embracing each other for a few minutes and shed some tears. For months we had been worried about our little girl. For months we had prayed for an outcome and THIS was even better than any outcome we could have ever imagined.

I cried for a good hour on the ride home. I called family members and told them the good news.

I thank God every day for these answered prayers and when Olivia is kicking inside of me, like she is as I type this, I praise God. I am reminded what He can do.

With only a few more weeks left in this pregnancy, I still worry. I still pray for her safety. But, God answers prayers. He is with us, each and every step of this journey.

Baby #3: 32 Weeks

I am really slacking on updates on Miss Olivia! My last update was at 27 weeks, 5 weeks ago! Yikes! Lots of things have happened since then. Here are some updates on my pregnancy this week.

32 Weeks:

About Olivia: She is weighing around 4 pounds and is about 17 inches in length. She is gaining about 1/2 a pound per week from now until 38 weeks. Lots of growing, for Olivia and for mommy! She has been getting hiccups on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day. I'm not sure if she likes them because she tends to kick like crazy when she has them. Her kicks are slowing down, but I'm still getting the same amount of movement. She is a wiggler!

Weight Gain: From beginning weight: 22 Pounds

Symptoms: Sleepiness. I think all this growing is making me tired! Achy hips. They are spreading quickly now, so my hips are paying a price. Braxton Hicks contractions. Oh, BH contractions.... Every pregnancy I deal with these. I have been getting them in the morning and evening, usually when I'm tired.

Sleep: I am up about 3 times a night to use the restroom, so I am not getting a full night of sleep. I try to lay my head down for about 20 minutes a day and shut my eyes while the boys watch a TV show. It helps, but I'm still pretty tired.

Cravings: Nothing much right now.

Looking Forward To: Hitting 37 weeks, full term.

Favorite Moment: All those crazy kicks! And, getting down to single digit weeks!!! :)

32 Weeks Down. 8 Weeks to Go.

School Pictures 2015

School is about to start! Can you believe it?! This summer flew by so fast! I figured it would drag on because I am pregnant, but I'm not sure where the summer went! It flew by!

Alden will be going to preschool this year at a private preschool in town. His teacher goes to church with us and has been with his in the nursery and taught him at Jump Start, so he is very comfortable with her. We recently got him school jeans and school shoes and a lunch box. So he is ready to go!

He will be going Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 8 AM - Noon. My baby is growing up so fast.

Alden: Age 4 (Pre-K)

Collyn will be homeschooling this year with mommy. Just like Alden did last year. We will be doing school on Mondays and Wednesdays while Alden is at school. We will probably do school from 10-11 AM. I have homeschool curriculum that I use and we also use ABCMouse.com, which we absolutely love. So, I will teach him for 45 minutes to an hour and then he will finish up with computer time.

Collyn Age: 3 (Preschool)

Bowling Night!

Last week, we went bowling with the youth group in Chico, CA.

Our plan was to go mini-golfing, but it was 108 degrees outside, so we decided bowling was a better option.

8 youth kids went that night.

This was the first time Alden and Collyn have been bowling. I sat and enjoyed watching them bowl, and Lyndon helped them roll the ball down the lane. Alden asked if we could go bowling again. They really enjoyed it.

Happy 3rd Birthday Collyn!

My baby boy turned 3 on August 5th. Where did time go!? He is growing so fast. He is such a sweet little guy, with a wild streak! He is our family clown who likes to entertain. Our dinner table is always laughing every night with his silliness.

This year has been a little different with his birthday. We celebrated his birthday a day early since we had Youth Group on his actual birthday. Then, Lyndon left for the fire, so we had to postpone his friends party to this coming Saturday. Either way, he has been enjoying the presents and love he has received.

He requested a Daniel Tiger Birthday cake. I like to put toys on the cake as decoration, so they have the toys to play with later.

We had dinner as a family and then opened presents! Of course, the main theme was Daniel Tiger!

After presents, of course we had CAKE! He asked for a vanilla cake with white frosting. I added sprinkles! :)

The next morning, on his actual birthday, I made a special pancake breakfast and we celebrated again. Then the boys played with all the new toys!

Happy Birthday Mr. Collyn! I can't believe you are 3!

California Fires!

California is officially on fire! The whole state! It is crazy! We live in Northern California, so we are close to many huge fires burning. There were some mornings we would wake up to ash all over everything. Our sinuses hated it! It has been getting better as time goes on.

Lyndon left Friday to head to a fire. Since it was declared a state of emergency, Lyndon was on-call to head to one of the fires. He got the call last Friday and will be staying there until Friday or Saturday. He is at the Fork Complex Fire outside of Hayfork, CA.

It has definitely made it crazy around our house without daddy around, but we are surviving. It has been a long few days, to say the least.

Jump Start 2015

Alden went to Jump Start again this summer. It is a week long preschool camp put on by the recreation department here in town. They go from 9 AM - 12 PM. They learn, do crafts, play, go on a field trip, have guest speakers.... It really is a wonderful program!

He was a little nervous the first day, but there were some of his friends there, so that helped. This is the same place he will be doing preschool this year.

Collyn had a hard time without his brother around for a few hours a day, but it was a great test run for the school year. Collyn will get to go to Jump Start next year. He is very excited about that.