Looking Good

Short little update for you - saw the doctor this morning and he was encouraged about the heartbeat tracings from last night for both babies. This means that I'm back to monitoring three times a day instead of all. day. long. So thankful for that. After a while, the all day monitoring begins to feel like you've got three belts tied real tight around your waist. And you're just better off if you don't try to move and lie still .. because if by chance you do try to turn to your side, you've got two nurses in your room trying to locate baby b's heartbeat for 45 minutes. And baby b's heartbeat hasn't actually gone anywhere - she just wanted to move too.

Blood work from this morning came back good as well. I'll now have blood taken every three days to make sure that they have a current "type and screen" on me (I think that's a fancy way of saying that they'll be ready down at the blood bank whenever these babies come just in case). But bless the lady from this morning - it was 7 AM and I think I had just gotten to sleep when she came in to take it. They certainly get moving on Saturday mornings around here - breakfast and housekeeping were both here before 8 AM as well. Hello, lady with two babies and no sleep here .. and it's Saturday people. Needless to say, I wasn't worried about the trash but I'm glad that I was alert enough to stop her from going into the bathroom where Justin was taking a shower ... twice she did her best.

So things are looking good - babies are stable and bleeding has pretty much stopped. No signs of infection so the doctor thinks things have stabilized. But I'd have to say that both Justin and I were ready to deliver the babies yesterday after this whole ordeal - it had us both fearful that something just crazy was happening. I mean, we're very aware that several more weeks in there for the babies is best, but when you're thinking that them being in there is worse than them being out here, it's amazing how fast you'll think about getting them out .. and pronto. But thankfully our doctor is a balanced care taker who can weigh the risks and the benefits and through much discussion with us, we all felt better knowing that they are okay right now, I'm okay right and so we wait some more. It could be a day, it could be two weeks. But every day that they don't come equals three days that the babies don't have to spend in the NICU. And that equation is one that doesn't take a genius to figure out.

Hope everyone has a great day - one of my best friends from high school, Melissa, is coming to visit today all the way from Louisiana. I'm looking forward to seeing her and her little girl and I'm glad she'll see me still pregnant! For those of you who have asked for pictures, yeah, sorry. Not a priority obviously and when we did make our feeble attempt, the batteries died. So we're working on it ... well we're working on getting more batteries just so we're prepared when the babies come as Justin will have probably about a minute to snap some shots before the babies go to the NICU. But when we get batteries and if I remember it, I'll do my best to get some pregnant pictures posted for your viewing ... I would say viewing pleasure, but not everyone enjoys pictures of pregnant people and I can only assume that some of you reading this are agreeing with me (although you'd never admit it).

Thanks again for those of you who are praying for and lifting us up. I continue to be overwhelmed with the comments, messages, emails, etc. that I've been getting regarding our situation. Some from people we don't even know. Wow. God is good and we are thankful that he is using his people to encourage and support us. Please know that even though I can't possibly respond to every single person, we see your comments and read your emails. And we're grateful for every one. Justin and I were talking last night and I told him that I was ready to know the purpose of all of this ... what are we supposed to do with our experience? When? How? And of course he said the wisest thing - we won't know until these two arrive and we see what God does through them, through their lives, through their gifts. All we can do is be faithful in the best way that we know how.

And I realized once again that we may never know on this side of heaven the meaning of our experiences, trials, joys. But God does and in this life, he gives such simple instructions - do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. How a simple concept can be so darn difficult to do is beyond me - but isn't it? I mean, good grief, if I could get this one set of instructions down, I'd be so incredibly elated!

Yesterday was filled with anxiety for me and I didn't know what to pray. And I wasn't too fired up about being thankful either. But last night God's peace certainly transcended our understanding of the situation as we gave this back to him once again and lifted up the little ones inside me. And prayed for ourselves, our fears, the doctors and nurses, and the list goes on. And he gave his peace, which is just what he said he would do.