Exhaustion

Well, after another long week it looks like I am going to have to revise the poll on the right yet again. While I get ready to do that, let me ask for your prayers. We are pretty much just exhausted at this point. Things have been very atypical since Friday the 13th when we first went to the hospital. First time moms just don't walk around at 4cm. Every time we see a doctor they say, 'oh, you are 4cm... I wouldn't be surprised to see you back in L&D tonight or tomorrow'. We've been hearing that every few days for 2 weeks now. All that has served to do is fill us with hope and then nothing ends up coming of it. At 3 o'clock Thursday night/Friday morning Kass had high blood pressure and our OB had told her to go into the hospital if it got to a certain point... it was above that point so we went in. They kept us till 4:45am and sent us home. That doctor was kind enough to throw in that he'd never seen a first time mom stay at 4cm for 2 weeks, wasn't that thoughtful (note the sarcasm here). Friday night(the 27th) Kass started having some pretty painful contractions. They even got to 10-20 minutes apart for a while... but then they spread back out. We are tired of pointless trips to the hospital so we've decided we aren't going back until her contractions are 5 minutes apart for over 1 hour (as per advice of every doctor/nurse/nursing instructor we have asked) and they are bad enough that she is giving me evil stares and blaming me for doing this to her (the technical advice was that they be strong enough that she couldn't walk or talk through them). So now, after some 'progress' last night we have had a quite uneventful day. We are just anxious and flat out exhausted. Last night I went to bed around 12 and slept solid until 10:45 this morning. I know that doesn't seem like a stretch to a lot of people... but my normal sleep habits are to go to bed between 1 & 3am and waking up no later than 9:30 (naturally, not setting my alarm for that time). Kass sleeps about 12 hours/day lately it seems like and still seems pretty tired.

That said, for those of you in our Sunday School class please pass this information along tomorrow morning and put in a prayer request for us. Also, we do plan to come to the pot luck lunch as we are in desperate need of some face time with you guys.

Go Go Friday!

Well, we had another visit with the doctor today. It was good in that the baby is doing well and so is Kass. But the subject of inducing came up and it was less that stellar news. She said if things didn't happen naturally we would have to wait until 42 weeks to induce! That would be April 12th!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, 2 1/2 more weeks?!?!? She's already been walking around at 4cm for 1 1/2 weeks, which is pretty much unheard of for first time moms anyway. She was kind enough to say that if she had a private practice she'd induce her now, but as it is her hands are tied. This afternoon during nap time at our house our doctor called with great news, well, better news. She talked to her attending about us and got permission to induce us next Friday which would be April 3rd, a few days short of 41 weeks. Still not quite 'ideal' for when we'd like to induce, but WAY better than after 42 weeks.

The real reason for the title of this post has nothing to do with that stuff though. I'm not sure how many of you watch the weather or keep up with the forecast, but the high for Friday is the high 30s. Which means a shift in barometric pressure! Thursday night while this cold front is blowing in is also a new moon. I know it is a common wives tale, but there is some scientific merit to it (see this link) ... and I am more inclined to rely on moon phases because of my fishing habits etc. I'm not into astrology, but you can't deny that God had something very complex in mind when he created the moon... it changes the tide and changes barometric pressure here on earth, etc.

So God is working great things for us with favor from our doctors and her supervisors. Keep us in your prayers, especially Thursday night and Friday :)

No Baby Yet

Sorry to have not updated everyone in a little while. Unfortunately it's not because we rushed off to the hospital in labor and have been wrapped up in babyness ever since.

There is still no change in Kass' progression as of Wednesday's Dr.'s appointment. We go back again this Wednesday for another regularly scheduled appointment. Her actual due date is this next Sunday, so we should be getting closer now.

So please be in prayer for us... especially Kassie. I'm doing pretty good with the patience because let's face it, I don't have to carry around a full term baby in my belly at this point. Kass has gotten a little cabin fever over Spring Break without the distraction of school and what not. (If any of you happen to be free anytime this week let us know, I've been trying to get her out of the house to go hang out with friends to no avail... but if one of you asks maybe she'll go for it :)

Overruled

First off, for those of you who notice I'm posting this right in the middle of Sunday School... we love you all, but didn't really feel like answering the same questions over and over... and she is supposed to rest as much as possible and sitting in a chair for 3 hours is probably not a great idea. She hasn't be ordered to strict bedrest, thank the Lord, but she was told to just take it easy.

Second, I am going to try to post a poll in the right column... Right now we are leaning heavily toward Lakyn Faith... but if we make it till Tuesday and have her then I think it is only right that we change Faith to Patricia. It only makes sense... St. Patrick's Day... she should totally have Patricia Day in her name!! We'll see how it goes if I can get the poll working.

There's No Place Like Home...

So this morning we got sent home. She is still at 4cm and having some contractions, but they are weak and don't seem to be progressing her dilations. So now it is back to the 'comfort' of home to wait this thing out. The nurse that did the discharge what somewhat less than optimistic. She was sure to mention that she wouldn't be surprised at all to see us back this evening or tomorrow... but she also told us to be sure and plan to attend our next scheduled Dr.'s appt which is Wednesday.

Thank you all soooooo much for your prayers for the physical aspect. They have worked I am confident! We are doing what her body wants and not forcing anything along or anything like that. So as much as it stinks to have to come home when we were 'in progress' at the hospital it is where we should be.

I now move my request for prayers to the psychological and spiritual sides of things. As you can imagine it's not the greatest thing to be sent home from the hospital once you'd gotten your hopes up. We are comforted by you guys' prayers and thoughts and appreciate all of those continued on our behalf!

The Update I Promised Not To Give

So it has been a very long day. Well, my body (and kass's) is telling me it has been a long day. It seemed to fly by in about 3 hours. Once Kass reached 4 and they admitted us the contractions continued for a little while then kind of tapered off. So we hopped out of bed and went roaming the halls. Once we got back from that the contractions came back with a vengeance as far as frequency goes. They were piggybacking (just as one starts to go down another would come back up) every 4-6 minutes for most of the afternoon. They were strong enough to be of significant discomfort to my angel, but not strong enough to warrant grunts, moans, and glares of hate.

Right before shift change (6:30pm) they came and checked her and she had not progressed :(. At this point they had already warned that if she didn't progress they might send her home. Luckily her OB professor (Dr. Brice, who is now my favorite faculty member of all time) had come and spent several hours with us, coaching her through her contractions and answering all our (mainly mine) ignorant questions. She had them give her a sandwich so her body would have some source of energy to do its thing since she hadn't eaten since last night at dinner.

AND THEN... SHIFT CHANGE. Dr. Brice was still here when it came time to change nurse/Dr. shifts. Try to tell me THIS isn't a GOD thing: our new nurse comes walking in and immediately is like, "Oh, Dr. Brice... How are you doing?!?!" and gives her a big hug. This particular nurse also went through nursing school and had bonded with Dr. Brice. And get this, she had a baby in January of her last semester of nursing school! So not only do we have an in through their common like for Dr. Brice, but she is totally empathetic to Kass's situation. And to top it all off she is one of the nicest people I have ever met. To top it off, the new attending Dr. is also totally awesome. He came by to visit and was quite jovial and just a great guy in general. Our Dr. had expressed her interest in being here for our birth and she comes on tomorrow. So instead of more threats to be sent home he said, and I quote, "We're just goin' to let you simmer tonight and see where we are in the morning." What kind of Dr. says "simmer"?!?!?! An awesome one apparently.

So after a few trying hours today God has provided an awesome set of care takers and a brighter outlook on having this sweet little girl!

By all means we still need all the prayers we can get. If we are not going to end up getting sent home Kass needs to progress some over the night. They don't want to induce since she is only 37 wks just in case the lungs aren't fully formed, they want to do what her body wants to do. Which is totally understandable, just kind of grating on the ole nerves. From what I hear with first time moms the 4cm to 5cm barrier is the toughest, so if we are indeed meant to get past it pray that it goes well... I'm just kind of throwing stuff out there... you mothers know much better than I do so I'll leave it in your hands.

Love you all. Thanks for all the comments on the last post. The hospital is UMC by the way Ash :)

God is Great

God truly works in mysterious ways. This morning I (Jac) was supposed to substitute out at Frenship. I had gotten up and about and was getting ready to head to the school. As usual I had woken Kass up (as she is quite a light sleeper) but this morning I noticed she had a concerned look on her face. She had been trying for about 20 minutes to get the baby to move but wasn't having any luck. (For those of you who aren't walking calendars, we are 37 weeks 5 days today.) So naturally I called in and we headed to triage. They hooked her to the monitor and found a strong, normal heartbeat.

They decided to hold on to her for a little while just to do some blood work and all that jazz that is normal for when you come to triage. Along with the baby heart monitor there is another one they strap to the mom that keeps track of contractions. Come to find out Kass was having contractions so they checked her progress and she was at 2-3cm, 75% effaced... up from 1cm and 50% on Wednesday. They decided to keep her around for another hour and at that point checked her again and she was 5cm outside, 3cm inside and 75% effaced. So the doctor sent us for a walk around the hospital and an hour later we were at 4cm! That means admission to L&D. So here we are laboring away... obviously I'm not doing much... but Kass is. She has done super so far and is handling the pain and everything very well.

I don't really plan on taking time out to post any more until after our little one gets here. So please keep us in your prayers and I'll let you all know more later on.

6th Post!

Recently a close friend posted her 100th post. So I thought I'd update y'all on our number of posts... SIX!! I know, it seems like only last November since we got started. She also had a celebratory tone to said post, so I thought I'd follow suit. For those of you who were around, you'll remember we were asking for prayer in our pursuit of a home in the metroplex. Well, God through an absolutely amazing deal right in our laps! So here it is as you see it from the street:

And here is the view from the front porch... note the awesome playground in the next lot over, literally.