BEDREST DAY 28

Some how I lost the photo that Louis had uploaded on here... Oh well maybe another day...

So we have survived 28 days with the mama of the house being on bedrest:)

I have been here in the hospital for one week. I have to tell you that I am soooooo happy that I am here right now as the thunder is starting to roll through town. Weird, we are about to get a blizzard, but it is thundering at the moment. It is predicted that we could get any where between 8-20 inches of snow. CRAZY!!! That would be record breaking for OK. The last snowstorm of around 2 inches shut down schools for 2 days. It is predicted to not get above freezing until Saturday and with limited snowplows and such I would not at all be surprised if the city sort of shuts down till almost then. A lot of times it just takes until it melts for things to get back to normal. All of the schools are already canceled for tomorrow so we shall see what happens.

Greg brought the kids up here tonight for a couple of hours. It was such a treat to see them as I know that I may not see them until the weekend. I am really praying that they don't lose power at home... I know that I should be just fine up here at the hospital, but we will be having temps below zero. I pray that they will be safe, warm and protected at home. I am just so thankful that I am up here to be able to keep a close eye on Levi as often as needed.

For now they are doing 3 nonstress tests on him each day... he has been doing great on those. Then every MWF they are doing a biophysical profile on him.

Today we had the biophysical profile done and get this....

They estimated him to be weighing 4 lbs. 5 oz. +or - 10 oz. From what I have read, babies at around 31 weeks are usually just over 3 pounds. So most likely Levi is anywhere between 3lb. 11oz. and 4 lb. 15 oz. I am just so happy that he is still growing. That is a good sign that the placenta is still functioning fine at this point even though it isn't looking good. He looked good today and was doing everything he needed to do for them. The blood flow through the cord looked good as well as the fluid levels, all of which help to show that at this point the placenta is doing what it needs to do for now.

So for now.... the longest I will be here would be 6 weeks since they said they would deliver me at 37 weeks regardless. But most likely it will be earlier because of the placenta.

I know 6 weeks seems like a really long time. But for some crazy reason, to me it doesn't . It feels like a very small price to pay to help get Levi here safely. We are so blessed to have friends that have helped figure out a schedule for Greg to do all he needs to do for work, and to have some adults supervise the kids at home a few days a week or to go to friends houses. Another HUGE blessing has been the meals that our church family has provided for us. That has given Greg the time to take care of his work, the kids, and the house.

The kids have really done great considering we have done this for a month now. I am really proud of them and my amazing husband. I believe my husband is getting a whole new sense and appreciation for all that it takes to keep the family going on a daily basis on the homefront.
He is doing a great job.

It has been sort of an emotional week... we will see if I have the energy to post about it... but thank God it has gotten so much better in the last few days.

I am sleeping soooooo much better here. And that feels amazing. I look so forward to this little pumpkin making his arrival sometime in the somewhat near future. It is really hard to wrap my mind around the fact that he really could be born anytime. I pray he gets a few more weeks to continue growing.


I have yet to even walk by the baby nursery... I have a hard time believing that we will have a little guy in there in the next 6 weeks. I know Levi is in the Lord's hands... My heart and brain truly at times can't fully comprehend that I am even pregnant... (I know that sounds nuts) I was sharing with a friend that came by to visit today, all about the whole process of Levi's embryo adoption. I am overcome with gratefulness to God that he allowed this precious little guy to survive the thaw and grow and thrive inside of me... What a miracle and precious gift.

Thanks for your continued prayers friends!

HE MAKETH THE BARREN WOMAN TO KEEP HOUSE, AND TO BE A JOYFUL MOTHER OF CHILDREN. PRAISE YE THE LORD! PSALM 113:9

The kids are coming to visit...

As I type this the kids and Greg are all coming back up to the hospital to see me....

Yep, I had another little episode with some high bp at home yesterday morning. So we had to come directly in. Levi has looked great.... I am sooooo thankful for that. They are running another 24 hour protein check so I think that should be back soon. I may get to leave tonight or most likely if not tonight then tomorrow. We will see, but I did get a great nights sleep here last night. It was wonderful to sleep peacefully.



The kids, Papa and I had a really nice visit. I was able to put little pig tails in Hope's hair. Man, she looks precious with those little curly things on the top of her head.

The 4 older kids and I played a few rounds of Monopoly Deal. That is probably our favorite card game. It is sort of like Monopoly, but has lots of strategy and you can finish a game in 5-30 minutes. It is really fun. Caleb usually beats us all. He is one of the most competitive kids I know.

Anyways, back to being here...

They have me out on the recovery floor and I can hear lots of happy people gushing over babies in the hallways. It has me longing for that happy ending. (Of course I am always longing for that:) But is a little different after losing Samuel. The longing is different. It has me missing Samuel more and in a different way these last few days. I can not help but wonder what my 2 and a half year old baby boy would be doing if he were here now... ohhhhh my sweet little baby boy.

Then at the same time my heart will just burst love for this little boy in my belly. It is a weird but wonderful mix of emotions. I can not wait to, Lord willing tell Levi all about his older precious brother and what a precious gift that each of them is to our family. As much as I know Levi needs to stay put for a bit longer... I am just dying to set eyes on his precious face.

Oh Lord, Please Father protect this precious miracle that you have given to us for the last 30 weeks. Lord, His life is in your loving strong hands. Continue to knit him together, each and every last bit of his body. Lord, carry our family as we wait for him to be born. Give Greg and I wisdom and loving grace as we deal with our other kids and their questions and thoughts with all that is going on. Your will be done Father... make your will our own... Calm our anxious hearts.... may we rest more in you each day! To you alone be the glory!

Much Love friends!

30 WEEKS:)

Here are Levi and I at 30 weeks... Yay... Praise God!!

I am so thankful that we have been able to keep him in there for an additional 3 weeks and hopefully, at least 3 more.

I am shocked that 3 weeks have passed since I have been put on bedrest... it really has gone quickly... except for the hours between 1:00 and 6:00am... I am having such a hard time sleeping... I should be well prepared for the lack of sleep that will come after he arrives, Lord willing.

My appointment with my OB went well today. Levi did just fine with the NST and the biophysical profile again. I called another high risk doctor for a 2nd opinion, but the receptionist said that they don't see people with out a referral... She said she would tell him my situation and then see if he would meet with me and then she said she would call me back. I didn't hear back from them today... I am hoping tomorrow. My doctor did set my mind somewhat at ease. And I know I have said it over and over again... I really do like him. He has great bedside manner.

Greg and I laughed today as we find it so amusing the care you get from different nurses. You would think that they would in general be compassionate people... but that doesn't always seem to be the case. I know and fully understand that I don't know the circumstances that each may face each day... but it is so amazing when you are the patient... how far a smile and a warm disposition can go in making you feel more at ease. Compared to when you may have someone who as Greg says, "Comes in with their MAD on."

It really does make me want to be more attentive to my disposition in general... I have always admired those who just seem to have a soft smile on their face all the time. I remember my Aunt Adrienne, who had 7 kids, telling me once that when she was cleaning she always tried to hum... it just made her feel happier while she was working... I may have to try that... but it might drive my boys crazy:)

Anyways, enough rambling for today...

Thanking God for another week with our Levi... praying for his continued safety and protection... so thankful that God has given him to us...

Jesus in Every Book of the Bible

I have to first off to please excuse all the errors in my last posts and my coming posts. I am doing them all from an IPod so basically it is like I am texting the whole thing. It will auto fill words and also is really hard to edit things...so please bear with me.

Hello friends. Not too much is new unless you consider my eldest son and I are getting reedy to watch a "New to us movie". The Ultimate Gift...together:)

Greg has taken to sleeping in the extra bedroom the night before he preaches since I have started to snore while pregnant and he isn't sleeping as well:( It actually has given the kids a chance to have sleepovers with mama and papa. I miss my honey though:)

I got a call from our insurance company yesterday checking on me after being hospitalized. She was a nurse and asked me tons of questions. She also clearly stated that given all of my risk factors with various issues with this pregnancy...5
previous perfect pregnancies until losing Samuel full term, the Meds I am on... She basically said that she doesn't see any reason why they wouldn't cover a hospitalization at this point. I know it sounds crazy that is what I would prefer, but I want to make 100 percent sure G and I are doing everything we can for Levi. So I may seek a 2 nd opinion early next week if possible.

I wanted to post this awesome video of my godson jack. It is funny because the above video clip has gotten tons of hits on god tube. I have had a couple of people send me the clip ( recognizing the name of our awesome church, Salem, from our time there) asking if by chance
We knew them??

Ah... Yeah... He is my godson.

It was kind of funny!

Well I wanted to share it with you all... I was personally amazed! I pray it blesses and encourages you today!!

Don't forget to pause the playlist on the side so that you can hear it:).

Now I am obsessed...

Today was an interesting office visit with the high risk doctor ... To say the least. First off we stayed the night at our friend house right down themstreet from the hospital... And again tonight as I have another
appointmemt tomorrow. We are so thankful that they let us stay:). They have been incredibly gracious!! And the kids have had a ball. We would have had our hands full on the roads for sure from our house as there was some ice under the snow and they don't do anything for the roads here. All the schools in the area are closed again tomorrow. I think we got maybe 2 inches of snow...

The high risk doctor said more of the exact same thing that my doctor said. "It all is fine...shouldn't be something that progresses quickly without being caught by the monitoring and tests. I know she truly is trying to help put my mind at ease and I appreciate that... But I truly think that unless you have lost a baby... I don't think it can be fully understand... Because I have seen and heard now that what I feel is totally normal when you have lost a baby already. I think that our situation of Faiths baby, the one that we were going to adopt being stillborn too, just makes all these "highly unlikely"'things to happen more likely... We have seen it in the past... So sometimes the impossible seems possible if that makes sense.

She did tell me she thought I was obsessing over it... Hmmm that made me feel a little "nuts" so to speak. I did learn that there is no stage 4 with the aging placenta thing... 3 is the last stage... That left Greg feeling more at peace. Me, not so much. And apparently I have an increased risk of a placental abruption than normal. It is still unlikely, like maybe a 1 percent chance. Please pray against that as that would be really bad, seeing as we are 40 minutes from the hospital.

She did agree for me to be seen 3 times a week for all the testing on Levi. So Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays we will be checked. That makes me feel better that they have a better chance of catching something since it won't be as long between visits. I REALLY appreciate being able to do that.

Believably or not, I actually feel a sense of peace tonight. Thank you Lord!!! I have needed it.

She also said there is no way they would let memo past 37 weeks, and that I probably won't make it there. So at the latest, we should meet Levi the 15th of March, but most likely earlier. Sounds good to me.

Continually crying out to God for peace!!

Continually thankful for all the ways people have helped lately!!

Continually thankful for the prayers lifted on mine and Levi's behalf!!

Continually placing this little guy in the Lord's hands... Can't wait till he physically is in mine:)

Talk with the doc...

My Doctor called this evening on his way home from work... He had an emergency surgery and a c- section this afternoon, so it was late before he could call.

He said the high risk doc wasn't concerned. The appearance of the placenta isn't a sign of how well it is functioning. The tests on Levi show that and those are all good at this point. He said it isn't something that changes overnight... It happens slowly.

He could sense that nothing he said really put me at ease. ( I just have a hard time believing that I couldn't be an exception to what seems to be the rule.). And personally if it needs to get to the point of showing problems in Levi's growth or something, that is too late for me. My doctor had said before that he would have no problem putting me in the hospital anytime. But the high risk doctor said she didn't feel like insurance would cover it at this point. I really like my doctor and the high risk doctor and I want them to know that I really value their opinions... It is just extremely hard after all that we have been through to know that there are issues with my placenta... Yet apparently it is no big deal. I want them to know that I am so grateful for their help and care. But as Levi's mom I have do all I can to make sure he is safe.

I have an appointment with the high risk doctor on Thursday morning. Of course we are expecting ice and snow and being that we live 40 minutes from the hospital and they do nothing with the roads here in bad weather, getting there will be interesting... Being from Wisconsin it is still a little strange to me that they don't have any plows here at all. It is really important to me to make sure we get to the appointment as this is when they check him to make sure the placenta issues aren't affecting Levi at all.

So that is where we are at today. we are so thankful that it seems like none of us have caught the bug Anna had. Thank you Lord! It
seems like this bug is sweeping through other families! So we are so thankful our immune builder tincture seems to be doing it's job this
year. :). Greg works from home tomorrow just to be available if needed:).

I am praying for the Lord to cover us in His peace tonight. Praying you are all doing well also. I miss being able to keep track of all of hour blogs from this little IPod... I will catch up...

Still at home...

We are thankful tonight that little Levi passed his biophysical profile with flying colors:). Way to go little man!!

It was hilarious, during the ultrasound, you could see him yawning over and over again. Our sweet tech even caught the funniest picture of Levi when was sticking his tongue out.

The other good thing was that my placenta looked the same as it did last Thursday.

G and I had a good talk with my OB. He said that he will call the high risk doc tomorrow and then will call me after he visits with her. He was fine with sending me home today. He said there would be some increased risks for me if I am hospitalized like... Blood clots, infection.... Although both would be unlikely. He did say of course that Levi would be getting more monitoring if I was there.

I asked him (knowing fully that he can't make any predictions) if we were for sure looking at a premature baby? He said he didn't feel there was anyway that I would see 38-39 weeks. He said 36 was a possibility... That made me feel good. At least he didn't think at all that anything is imminent:) and we could even see week 36 with the possibility of very little nicu time. That would be awesome! I know the Lord already knows this little guys birthday.

So tomorrow, little miss Hope will spend the day with my sweet friend Shelley and family and the kids and I will crank on the school work from bed until the doctor calls again. Can I just say my rearend is really getting sore after sitting so much...

Small price to pay for this sweet little baby:).

Thanks for your prayers!!