visitors!

today has been a good day. joanna and bridget, from work, came over to visit. it was so nice to chat and get to hear all about what is going on at work. it's crazy how much you miss it when you aren't there! they brought me a bunch of stuff ranging from magazines to books to dvd's. i love it! they also got to feel him move, which was super exciting. he has been moving a lot today, which makes me feel so at peace.

oh...and have i mentioned how awesome my husband is???? he is doing so much around the house and went grocery shopping today. he got me all kinds of goodies that i love...ice cream, bananas, pineapple, applesauce, stuff for waffles, yummy cereal, etc. gosh, i'm lucky. he is now cooking dinner for us-pesto chicken pasta. seriously, it concerns me how lost i would be without him! ha ha!

God, thank you for my husband. he's my better half indeed.

come on!!!

i just got a call from the nurse that we saw this morning and she said that my protein levels have increased again. they don't want me coming down to the hospital right now since my blood pressure was looking better this morning. the high levels of protein are one of the things they look at when watching for preeclampsia.

the nurse gave me her cell phone number in case i have complications over the weekend. that way, she can call my doctor directly if i need to be admitted into labor and delivery. let's all pray that this is not the case and that this weekend goes by without any problems. jeramy and i need some days without going to the doctor/hospital. we've been there every day this week.

all of this really gives new meaning to "living day to day"...

good news

we went to the doctor this morning to have my blood pressure checked since it has been pretty high the last few days. it was looking much better today. yay!!! they want to continue to monitor it so that they can catch preeclampsia if that ends up becoming an issue.

i am feeling a little better today...not as sore as yesterday. we did go to the hospital last night because my pain had increased drastically between 4:00 and 9:00. they told us there was possibilities of side effects from the steroids, such as contractions. everything checked out okay, which is, again, great news. we got hooked up to the monitors since we weren't feeling him move and once on them, we were able to see that his heart rate and movement looked great. jeramy and i love being able to see that his heart rate is okay and that he is moving. it is just a lot of pressure, especially for me since i am supposed to go to the hospital if i notice a lack of movement or decrease in movement. it's such a difficult line. prior to last wednesday, when we found out what was going on, i didn't read into anything like that. now, it is so hard though because i don't want to "cry wolf", but i also don't want to be stubborn, assuming everything is okay, if it's not. geez...no wonder my blood pressure has been high!

i am really looking forward to today. my mom and sister are coming over in a bit to keep me company and to help clean. then later this evening, my dad and brother-in-law will also come over to join us all for dinner when jeramy gets home from work. company always makes the days go by quicker!

we love you all and thank you still for your support and prayers. God is good...all the time!

Phillipians 4:19
"and my God will meet all your needs, according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

tough day

today has been a pretty rough day. i am very sore from the two rounds of steroid shots, but...it's all worth it in the end. i am continuing to do an hour of hydrotherapy every day (the only thing my doctor is allowing me to do while on bed rest). for those of you unfamiliar with hydrotherapy, i was right there with you. hydrotherapy is where you are submerged in water to your shoulders in a heated pool. this has been known to help blood flow increase/restore. luckily, my sister in law and mother in law have been keeping me company while i stand in a pool for an hour. i gotta say...pretty boring when you are all by yourself!

speaking of, did i mention that i have been on bed rest "officially" for 3 days and i already am going crazy. lucky for me, my dad came armed with bagels and movies to help get me through the day today. ordinarily, if i was working, bed rest would sound so delightful; however, when you are forced to stay laying down, only to get up to go to the bathroom, shower and eat, it is quite possibly the hardest thing to do ever.

destiny and reggie (along with Alivya) came over to the house this evening and brought us yummy enchiladas and brownies. for those of you who don't know the alfonso's...you're missing out! they are quite possibly the kindest people ever. oh, and destiny is one fantastic cook!

we appreciate your continual thoughts and prayers as we are still living day to day and week to week. again, gavin's next big milestone is getting to 28 weeks. that will be april 13th. come on buddy...keep on growing!!!!

Romans 5:3-5
"...but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. and hope does not disappoint us..."

update on gavin

well, it has been quite a week. i am going to start from the beginning - last wednesday. my hope is that this blog will help everyone stay updated on newest developments. also, i think it's important that everyone has the correct information and now you can hear it straight from us! so...here we go!

up until last wednesday, i had the most perfect, textbook pregnancy. i felt great and i loved being pregnant! we had an ultrasound at 19 weeks to find out the sex of the baby and then were asked to come back at 22 weeks for additional measurements that they were unable to get at 19 weeks. after our 22 week ultrasound, they asked us to come back yet again for an ultrasound 2 weeks later at 24 weeks (that was last wednesday). when we went back, we were told that there appeared to be a few areas of concern.
the first area of concern was a spot in gavin's stomach/intestines that they had been monitoring since 22 weeks. they are still unsure of what this is, perhaps blood, but it doesn't appear to be anything of huge concern at this time...just something to monitor. the next thing they told us was that my amniotic fluid was abnormally low. normal is anywhere between 8 and 25 cc's or some term like that! my fluid levels were at a 7.7. this was alarming to them. the next thing (yes, something else) they brought to our attention was the fact that there was no endiastolic flow through the umbilical cord. let me explain...when his heart contracts as it's beating, there is blood flow, called cistolic flow. however, when his heart releases, there is supposed to be blood flow, called endiastolic flow. our little guy had none. again...this was cause for huge concern with the doctors.

as you can imagine, jeramy and i were so shocked and quite frankly, caught off guard by this news, especially since we have had such a wonderful pregnancy thus far. we then scheduled an appointment for friday with our ob. we met with her to go over questions/etc. she didn't really have any answers for us. she told us this is not something they see and we were a "puzzle" to her and to the perinatologists. we talked with family and friends immediately following our appointment on wednesday and began praying for God's healing touch on our little one. since there were no answers/explanations from the doctors, we knew that this was giving God such a huge opportunity to show His strength and faithfulness to us. boy did He ever!

we went in this past monday for yet another ultrasound. the doctor came in and told us that my amniotic fluid doubled since wednesday. he said, "what have you been doing to get your levels up like this?" jeramy's response..."we prayed". he looked at us again and said, "yeah, but in addition to that, what have you been doing?". my response..."having other people pray". we believe with all our heart that God alone provided more amniotic fluid over those 5 short days. my fluid levels are currently at 15.2 (well in the range of where they should be). the next thing they looked at was the cord and the blood flow in it. they were able to catch movement in the cord when his heart was releasing. they said it wasn't strong enough to get through to him, but there was some movement...which is progress!

they had me go into the hospital yesterday to begin steroid treatments. i had my first round yesterday and my second round today. the reason they are giving the steroid is because it helps lung development for babies born prematurely. the steroid needs to be in my system for 48 hours prior to delivery in order for it to work on his lungs the way that it needs to.

when we met with our ob last friday, i asked her if i am going to lose the baby, deliver early, or carry full term. she said she doesn't know yet. there is still a chance that we will lose the baby although, each day that goes by, i am confident about the progress he is making. and keep in mind that now that my fluid levels have increased, this is less of a possibility. it is pretty apparent at this stage that this baby is coming early. just how early is the question. we want him to stay in there as long as possible if it is the best place for him. however, if the environment becomes to "hostile" for him, and they can grow him better outside the womb, so be it.

at this stage, jeramy and i are living day to day, not knowing what tomorrow brings. but we know one thing......GOD is more in control of our lives now than He has ever been! we have been so thankful to go through this trying time together, to grow our relationship in Christ and with each other. it's a scary place to be with nothing to hold to but your faith, but i have to say, there is no other place we'd rather be.

we are also so thankful for friends and family. people have come through for us in ways we have only dreamed of. a dear friend from church has organized meals for us on mondays, wednesdays and fridays. we are in awe of that! people everywhere are praying...even on the other side of the world. gosh, we feel your prayers. please, please, please, keep them coming!

i realize that this post is extremely long. they won't all be like this as i will be able to update daily...since i am on complete bed rest from now until this little guy graces us with his presence. i hope you feel free to comment, follow, or just occasionally check in with us on here. we will keep you updated as soon as we have more information. like i said, we are going at it day by day.

here are some specific prayer requests...

• pray for gavin's next milestone of making it to 28 weeks inside my belly. the doctors say that this is a huge step in his progress and lessens his chances of ongoing complications.
• pray for jeramy...he is feeling under the weather (understandable right?). he is the most amazing man ever and i respect and admire his strength and Godliness during this time. you have been my rock honey.
• pray for me to get better rest at night and for my mind to stay out of "dark places" (the what if's i often ask myself)
• pray for God to continue to strengthen our marriage and grow us during this time.
• pray for our families as this has been affecting them so much too.

we love you all so much and look forward to going through this time with all of you. GOD IS IN CONTROL!

Psalm 112:7
"he will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord".

oh baby!!!

well...i am almost 24 weeks along and my belly is definitely growing! it has been so much fun being pregnant. i love every single day. i guess i am pretty blessed because i have had a very "textbook" pregnancy. my energy is really high and i feel great going into my 6th month. jeramy and i are really getting excited about meeting him and we love getting to feel him move! i feel him all the time and i have to say, it truly is one of the best feelings i have ever experienced. i find it almost soothing/comforting when he kicks me. ha ha! i love knowing that he's growing and i love feeling him stronger and stronger each and every day.

work is going really well. i am officially on spring break, which is really nice because i feel like i have so much sleep to catch up on! in addition to that, we found out recently that the man we rent our house from is selling it. we had potential buyers come through today to take a look and they love it. fortunately for us, if they end up getting it, they don't want to move in until january of next year. that works nicely for us since a move in the near future isn't quite so appealing to us. jeramy's work is going pretty well with taylor morrison. he is so talented and they just love him over there. we are praying about other opportunities at the moment and know that God will guide us in making the right decisions. after all...He has always provided for us.

we finished painting the nursery today. we went with green. actually the color is called "safari green". it is the greatest color ever! i love it. we found the furniture that we want for the nursery too, which is really exciting. i can't wait to see how it all comes together. my "to do" list is a mile and a half long, which is another reason i am glad that i have next week off. i think we plan on registering this week too, which is overwhelming and super exciting!  Here is a picture of the furniture we are going to get.

have a great week and wish us luck as we move forward, trusting that God will provide!

it's a...

we prayed for this and BOY oh BOY, are we thrilled!!! jeramy is definitely feeling especially proud of himself...apparently, i didn't have much to do with it :) i guess that is such a guy thing to feel proud when you find out you're having a boy. the look on his face during the ultrasound was priceless. we were so excited during the ultrasound because we got to watch him move around for such a long time...man, he's quite the mover! he has the most precious feet i have ever seen and i can't wait to kiss those little toes. i think he already has jeramy's pouty lip and he definitely has my toes from what it looks like!

i feel him move all the time, which is most definitely one of my favorite parts of being pregnant! the not so great parts..........well, let's just say, i have never seen the inside of my belly button to the extent i do now, my clothes are so tight that i feel as though i am suffocating our child, i have heartburn like a 65 year old man, i cry over EVERYTHING (just ask my hubby), my feet are always freezing, i feel like i might as well sleep in the bathroom because it seems as though i have to go every 10 minutes, all i want to do is sleep, my tailbone hurts if i sit too long, oh...and the newest "discovery" i am making is that it can potentially be dangerous to sneeze with a full bladder. lovely!

aside from the "unexpected issues", pregnancy has been wonderful!! i feel great. i am a little over 5 months along now and i feel him move more and more each day. God is good and every day, we get more and more excited about meeting our son! :)

our little blessing

well...it happened. we are having a baby! words cannot even begin to express what it feels like to have a life growing inside me. there are so many changes beginning to take place. it's actually crazy how fast your body adapts to life inside of you! if you were to ask my husband, he would tell you these things: she's very tired, can never choose what she wants to eat because "nothing sounds good", she's nauseas, she cries over everything and she thinks she's getting fat. now, i am not going to disagree with any of those things as they are most definitely true! ha ha!

but in addition to those things, there are things i am experiencing that are really tough to put into words. i feel like the luckiest woman in the world. i got to marry my best friend, we were able to get pregnant quickly, and now i get to do the one thing GOD has called me to do...be a mom. something has happened with my outlook on life since becoming pregnant. there is not a day that goes by when i do not think about our child. there is not a day that goes by that i do not think about what kind of mom i want to be. i want to be courageous, soft spoken, loving, patient, kind, firm, encouraging, invested, a role model, tender, compassionate, a listener, and most importantly, a GODLY mom. i think about what our baby's personality is going to be. will they be shy, outgoing, a risk taker? will they look more like jeramy or me? will they have blue eyes or will they have brown eyes?

among these things, i also think about the blessing that it is to have a baby. i don't take the responsibility lightly at all. i want to raise our baby in the LORD and be able to trust that He holds them in His hand.

there are so many things i wonder about. there are so many questions i have. but there are a few things i know for sure. i know that jeramy will be a wonderful dad. i know that i will love that baby more than i could possibly even try to imagine now. i know that our baby will hear about Jesus and see Christ in jeramy's and my relationship. i know that the other things will come together in due time.

what is truth?

jeramy and i started a new sunday school class about 6 weeks ago called "the truth project". it has been so awesome to learn more concrete things behind what we believe as Christians. i am amazed, however, with how many people in our study have such a wrong view of GOD. it is so strange to me that there is a misconception (even in the church) about who GOD really is. last sunday, we were listening to the speaker talk about evolution and facts that biblically contradict it. yet, there was a man who raised his hand and talked about how since GOD can do what He wants, he could made it "evolution". the response he was given rocked my socks off..."God will not do anything that is against HIS nature and He will not do anything that contradicts the Scriptures. pretty obvious right? well, i thought so. still, so many people still don't get it...and i am talking about Christians. if these are the misconceptions of people IN the church, what is it like for people who aren't even attending church. how much more far off are their perceptions?? scary.

i will praise YOU in this storm

sometimes it is really hard to see God's plan and timing in everything. right now is one of those times. i don't know why i get stressed out about small things when i know that God has never let go of me; however, i still do. i have been heartbroken watching my hsuband deal with so much stress lately, almost daily. the hardest thing, as a wife, is to see your husband going through something and not know how to fix it. i tried...really hard to fix it by myself. but at this point, i know that my job as his wife is to pray pray pray. it is such a weird feeling when things are completely out of your control, yet in some weird way, it is comforting. why is that?? maybe it is because it's a relief to know that i don't need to stress myself out with it. God tells us to cast all our cares on Him. He wants to do this for me. so why do i still feel helpless?? i guess this is a good time to mention that patience is not a gift of mine. i wish that it was. in my heart, i really do trust in God's plan but i can't seem to get myself to wait. we are told to wait on the Lord...wait on His timing. why can't i do it?! i guess i need to pray for myself too. i need to pray that God shows me how to pray for my husband and how to completely give him over to the Lord.

God, i do trust in You. but it is so hard for me!! i ask for your forgiveness in this area of my life...for trying to do it by myself and keeping you out of the equation. please forgive me. i will wait on You.