Hey,
Mom is here, so I am not going to spend a lot of time talking. I'm about 33 1/2 weeks along... I'll be going off bedrest (hopefully) in a week and a half...that will make it 5 1/2 weeks total on bedrest, yeesh. I'm going a bit nuts! I finally got dressed in jeans and stood up a bit to update our photos. Here they are:
Pregnancy Pics
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
God as my strength
Gabriel means "God as my Strength." That is one reason we chose to name him this, and this name is becoming more and more appropriate as the little man develops. The pregnancy started with quite a scare-- I was on bed rest then too, and in fact, the hospital told me I miscarried Gabriel in the first weeks of pregnancy, only to call me back an hour later and tell me I didn't. I knew he was miracle.
On Saturday, January 30th, I went into preterm labor. Sean and I were actually at the movie theatre, and it felt like Gabriel did a cartwheel under my rib cage. It made me jump a bit and yell. I thought he bruised or cracked my rib, or possibly tore a muscle. I went on with night as usual, and I went to bed. The pain did not subside, and it started shooting into my stomach more. I was still pretty convinced he had just torn my muscle, but I woke up with a feeling that I should go into the ER. I trusted that feeling, and I dragged Sean to the ER at 1:00 a.m. The nurses suspected he had only torn my muscle or cracked a rib, but they decided to keep me for monitoring anyway. After an hour, they came in, and I was expecting them to just tell me to go home, but they told me I had started having contractions, which I couldn't feel, and my cervix had started to dilate. They immediately gave me a shot to stop the contractions, and continued to do so every 20 minutes. They hooked me up to an IV to keep my hydrated. I woke up Sean, told him everything that had happened, and he went home to let out the dogs and change clothes. While he was gone, they had to give me more relaxers because I had severe tremors from the medicine and was shaking uncontrollably. The medicine had also stopped working on the contractions. When Sean came back, I was pretty loupy, but I was still with it enough to tell him what had gone on, and he slept by my side all night.
Currently, I am on the same medicine that they gave me in the hospital to control my contractions. I went in again today to get my second shot of a steroid that will speed up the development of Gabriel's lungs in case I do end up delivering him early. Dr. Vaughn did a sonogram on Gabriel today, and he said he looks perfectly healthy. He is changing my medication because I still have some severe tremors, and it is making my heart race too quickly. He said the new medicine is just as effective, and I only have to take it every 6 hours instead of ever 4, which means more rest.
I go in again on Wednesday, and he will tell me where we go from there. I may be on complete bed-rest for the next 10 weeks, or I may be on partial bed-rest--which trust me, I know doesn't mean I'll be able to clean house or workout, so don't worry! I am doing everything Dr. Vaughn is telling me.
If I am still on bed rest after Valentine's Day, my mom is going to come stay with me for 2 weeks. I know it is so hard on my family. They feel helpless. My church family and friends are taking excellent care of me. They are bringing me food and visiting me everyday, offering to take me to appointments, etc. I can't even explain the out pour of love they are showing us. They are the salt of the earth, and God's love exudes from them and their actions. They are living testimonies of God's love. My mom is so thankful to them. She cried when I told her what they are doing for me, and she just kept saying, "Tell them thank you. Tell them thank you."
Sean is also taking good care of me. He bought me magazines to keep me occupied, and he's even been picking up around the house a little bit because he knows that I can't, and I am a clean freak! The puppies are keeping me plenty of company, and I am able to continue working at the TAMU-C writing center because all my work is online, so I can do it in bed.
But truly, God has been my strength through all of this, and I'm sure he has been little Gabriel's as well. As much as I love Gabriel, which is more than I thought humanely possible, God loves him even more, and I find peace and strength in knowing that. I can only do what the doctor's tell me, but Gabriel and I are in God's hands, and I would rather be there than in my own. God is much more powerful, wise, loving, merciful, gracious, all-knowing, and everything good, and he is certainly more capable as well. God is our strength. I ask that you continue to pray for Gabriel Michael. I know we are all excited to meet him, and he's probably excited to meet us too, but he's got to stay in there a bit longer! Maybe he takes after his mama, he likes to get things done early. If things are don't a week or two in advance, they're considered late... he's about 10 weeks early right now, so we need to tell him not to jump the gun and just hold on for a bit!
I love you all, and I will keep you updated. You can call if you want. I have all day and night to sleep, so don't worry about waking me. I enjoy conversation. We have a new number (903) 739-9491
God bless, and may God be your strength also.
On Saturday, January 30th, I went into preterm labor. Sean and I were actually at the movie theatre, and it felt like Gabriel did a cartwheel under my rib cage. It made me jump a bit and yell. I thought he bruised or cracked my rib, or possibly tore a muscle. I went on with night as usual, and I went to bed. The pain did not subside, and it started shooting into my stomach more. I was still pretty convinced he had just torn my muscle, but I woke up with a feeling that I should go into the ER. I trusted that feeling, and I dragged Sean to the ER at 1:00 a.m. The nurses suspected he had only torn my muscle or cracked a rib, but they decided to keep me for monitoring anyway. After an hour, they came in, and I was expecting them to just tell me to go home, but they told me I had started having contractions, which I couldn't feel, and my cervix had started to dilate. They immediately gave me a shot to stop the contractions, and continued to do so every 20 minutes. They hooked me up to an IV to keep my hydrated. I woke up Sean, told him everything that had happened, and he went home to let out the dogs and change clothes. While he was gone, they had to give me more relaxers because I had severe tremors from the medicine and was shaking uncontrollably. The medicine had also stopped working on the contractions. When Sean came back, I was pretty loupy, but I was still with it enough to tell him what had gone on, and he slept by my side all night.
Currently, I am on the same medicine that they gave me in the hospital to control my contractions. I went in again today to get my second shot of a steroid that will speed up the development of Gabriel's lungs in case I do end up delivering him early. Dr. Vaughn did a sonogram on Gabriel today, and he said he looks perfectly healthy. He is changing my medication because I still have some severe tremors, and it is making my heart race too quickly. He said the new medicine is just as effective, and I only have to take it every 6 hours instead of ever 4, which means more rest.
I go in again on Wednesday, and he will tell me where we go from there. I may be on complete bed-rest for the next 10 weeks, or I may be on partial bed-rest--which trust me, I know doesn't mean I'll be able to clean house or workout, so don't worry! I am doing everything Dr. Vaughn is telling me.
If I am still on bed rest after Valentine's Day, my mom is going to come stay with me for 2 weeks. I know it is so hard on my family. They feel helpless. My church family and friends are taking excellent care of me. They are bringing me food and visiting me everyday, offering to take me to appointments, etc. I can't even explain the out pour of love they are showing us. They are the salt of the earth, and God's love exudes from them and their actions. They are living testimonies of God's love. My mom is so thankful to them. She cried when I told her what they are doing for me, and she just kept saying, "Tell them thank you. Tell them thank you."
Sean is also taking good care of me. He bought me magazines to keep me occupied, and he's even been picking up around the house a little bit because he knows that I can't, and I am a clean freak! The puppies are keeping me plenty of company, and I am able to continue working at the TAMU-C writing center because all my work is online, so I can do it in bed.
But truly, God has been my strength through all of this, and I'm sure he has been little Gabriel's as well. As much as I love Gabriel, which is more than I thought humanely possible, God loves him even more, and I find peace and strength in knowing that. I can only do what the doctor's tell me, but Gabriel and I are in God's hands, and I would rather be there than in my own. God is much more powerful, wise, loving, merciful, gracious, all-knowing, and everything good, and he is certainly more capable as well. God is our strength. I ask that you continue to pray for Gabriel Michael. I know we are all excited to meet him, and he's probably excited to meet us too, but he's got to stay in there a bit longer! Maybe he takes after his mama, he likes to get things done early. If things are don't a week or two in advance, they're considered late... he's about 10 weeks early right now, so we need to tell him not to jump the gun and just hold on for a bit!
I love you all, and I will keep you updated. You can call if you want. I have all day and night to sleep, so don't worry about waking me. I enjoy conversation. We have a new number (903) 739-9491
God bless, and may God be your strength also.
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