May 27-June 2

MOMMY
I have been staying home a lot  lately as the kids have been passing around a bug with a high temperature. I have been trying to use this time to pray a lot and try to mentally prepare for everything. This week we have a ton of appointments lined up. Tuesday I ended up taking Elisha in to the doctor because she had been having a high fever since Friday with no other symptoms. The doctor ended up sending her in for lab work at two other locations. Then Tuesday afternoon I had an ultrasound appointment and my first non-stress test. They started me off with the NST which wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be. At first he was moving but his heart rate wasn't adjusting the way they want it to when he is moving. So they had to wake him up by using a lil buzzer. That just made Nathan mad and he moved away from their monitors all together and they spent 10 minutes looking for his heart rate again. Then he didn't want to be bothered so the lady had to hold the monitor on him and follow him around with it instead of just using the bands to hold it in place. Then went in for the ultrasound where he decided he didn't want to be looked at so he kept putting his hands and his feet in the way. Little stinker. By the end of it the Perinatologist said he was still growing good and everything looked the same. Thank you Lord! Got another good 3d picture of his face. He definatly looks like his daddy. :). Tonight after Dave came home from Men's Group we got to talking about everything and he mentioned about how it was getting so close and expressed some of his concerns like how he was worried about me if I have to have a c-section and everything else. I tried to assure him that I would be fine but inside I was trying to tell myself that at the same time.

Wednesday we were home for the day. Kids are still sick so didn't want to take them out anywhere. So made dinner and sent Dave off to church tonight while the kids and I had more time at home. The kids went to bed really early so I took advantage of this time to rest and read my Bible. It just so happens that this months devotionals are on Faith. God knew that was just what I needed at this point in time.

Thursday AJ woke up with a fever so back to the doctors office we go for him. again no other symptoms except the fever. The doctor gave us reccomendations for the fever and sent us home. We had enough time to rest before I had to take the kids up to our friends house who was going to watch them during my appointments today. First off was the Cardiologist. He said everything looked the same and said to have the OB call him so they could get some sort of a game plan down. He then sent us for more tours. We went through the PICU (Pediatric ICU) This is where Nathan will go after his surgery. The lady that gave us the tour was very informative. She talked about visiting rules, security rules, how many nurses per child there were etc. This was hard for me at first because she mentioned older siblings coming in to visit and I just imagined how hard it would be to explain to our other two kids why their baby brother isn't coming home right away. But I know the Lord will be faithful and if it comes to that (I pray he would be healed and we won't have to go through any of this) He will give me the words and the kids the understanding. It was a lot to take in but also very calming to know how well he would be taken care of. Then we looked in the Surgery waiting area where she said that is where we will wait while he is in surgery and how they will inform us of everything that goes on. Then we went downstairs and toured the Labor and Deliever and the Mother Baby Units. All of the nurses there seemed very nice. Then back up to the NICU(Newborn ICU) where he will be taken right after birth to run his tests and get hooked up to monitors and be preped for surgery and all of that. After all of this we sat down with a Neonatologist who will be the people that take Nathan from my room to the NICU and will be the ones who run the tests and hook all his tubes and monitors up. She explained to us the "routine" for a baby with this diagnosis and assured us all would be ok. Then down the street we went to my weekly OB appointment. Not much new at this appointment either. Nathan and I are still measuring on target, his heart beat was nice and strong, and my blood pressure was perfect. AMEN. One thing that was mentioned today was the OB thought about doing a steroid shot to make sure his lungs were maturing well. He chose to leave that decision up to the Perinatologist. After spending a few minutes on the phone with the Peri they decided that it was not necessary because we did not plan on delievering in the next week and after that time we would be that much closer anyway. So we made sure that the NSTs were on the agenda for my weekly OB appointments and headed to pick up our kids.

By the end of this day I was so exhausted and felt like a human pin cushion from all the poking and proding and walking. When I was laying in bed I began to giggle from exhaustion. Eventually it shifted to crying for a few minutes because everything we had just gone through today is so close and making it all REAL. I was able to calm myself down and pray until I fell asleep.

Friday morning woke up sore physically but mentally refreshed from the time I spent praying. Thank you Lord. I know He has it all under control.

DADDY

Although it was a lot of information to take in on one day,  I left the appointments Thursday feeling reassured.  The tours were especially helpful to me, I got to put places and rooms to the "plan" that the doctors had been talking about this whole time. We met with a neonatologist while on the tour, and she took the time to explain the process to us, and show us around, she was very nice and answered all the questions we had.

We were re-informed that with Nathan's condition, best case we would be spending at least a month at the hospital. We are still praying and beleiving for a miracle healing, as fun as spending that much time in a hospital sounds, we still know that God performs miracles.

I would like to thank all you again for visiting our blog, sharing in our story and for all your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate it more than you will ever know, and may God bless you as you are blessing us.