8 Months Pregnant
EIGHT MONTHS PREGNANT!I thought I would take some time to update you all on the pregnant life...I LOVE being pregnant! I have been so blessed to have such a phenomenal pregnancy: no morning sickness, swelling (so far), crazy hormones, or even food cravings or aversions. I've been able (up until now) to maintain life as usual, going to the gym (although toning it way down), hiking, etc...It's been so fun watching baby girl grow inside of me. She moves a TON! Jesse and I get such a kick out of watching my stomach morph and shake as she does her nightly aerobics. :)
GREAT RESOURCES
Some books that have been really inspiring to me during this time include:
"Supernatural Childbirth" by Jackie Mize
"Real Food for Mother and Baby" by Nina Planck
"God's Plan for Pregnancy" by Walker
"Pregnancy and Childbirth" by Kitzenger
I love reading about God's plan for pregnancy. And we love reading the Word over our little girl. Every night Jesse does story time from a chapter of the Bible and we call her spirit to attention to listen to the words spoken. It's so much fun knowing her little spirit is absorbing every word of life!
THE SCARE
While my pregnancy had been going so great, on Wednesday November 9th I had a bit of a scare. I woke up with bleeding and we rushed to the ER. On the way there my body was trembling but God gave me so much peace. I kept speaking life to my little girl and suddenly I felt her kicking inside me which was a huge relief. At the hospital they found the bleeding was coming from my uterus. An ultrasound found a spot on my placenta they described as a clot. But ultrasound gives such a poor picture of what's going on inside so it was hard to determine what was going on. To be safe, they went with the worst case scenario which was abruption (where the placenta begins to separate from the uterine wall). The good news was the bleeding had stopped and baby's heart rate was never compromised, but my contractions (which I luckily couldn't feel) were coming every 2 minutes. Not good.
So they put me on a 24 hour IV drip of magnesium which made me feel like lead, but it slowed the contractions and gave baby's brain a boost in case of emergency C-section. They also gave me a shot of steriods to boost baby's lung development in case she was going to be breathing air that day.
DIAGNOSIS?
Praise God everything stabilized by the second day. They took me off the nasty Mag drip but kept me hooked up with IV fluids and a fetal heart rate monitor and contraction monitor. Not easy to sleep with all that! Jesse stayed with me the whole time on a big reclining chair. He was such a champ. And so full of hope and peace for me. We filled the room with soaking music and kept our minds in a place of worship. I had a 2nd bout of bleeding day 2, which was scary, but that stopped again and didn't return. My contractions slowed and by Sunday they were talking about sending me home. While it was still unclear the exact diagnosis, by the third ultrasound it was determined that the "clot" looked more like a lobe of the placenta that had bled (lots of blood vessels!) and then clotted off. Regardless, if they were talking about sending me home, they weren't worried about abruption.
THE NURSES GET ROCKED!
While we would have never chosen to have to face such a scary situation, we rejoice in the fact that we had so many opportunities to fill that hospital with life. One nurse came into our room the first day and said, "Wow, it feels so good in here! I could just take a nap."
Another nurse who had come in to draw my blood (which they did every 6 hours), had a radical encounter with God when we prayed for her arthritis. Jesse had noticed her doing something odd with her hands and asked what was wrong. She said the arthritis was so bad it was making her hands go numb and threatening to take away the job she loved. We asked if we could pray and in agreement she eagerly grabbed our hands. We asked Holy Spirit to come and arthritis to go. When we finished she said, "Wow my hands feel really tingly. This is new. And, O my goodness! I can feel the knuckle on my pinkie!" Her pinkie had been completely numb for years and she often burned it because she couldn't feel it. She had to leave quickly to be with other patients but was so excited about what God was doing.
Two days later she was back, hustling into our room exclaiming, "O my goodness you guys, I'm so glad to see you! Ever since I met you guys I've been talking to "The Man Upstairs" more than ever. I even got my husband, who doesn't believe in healing or praying out loud, to pray out loud with me. And I have more movement in my hands then I have in years and I can still feel my pinkie!" She was beaming. The love of God had encountered her and we knew she would never be the same.
By the end of our five days, the doctors and nurses were fighting over us. Guess they weren't used to being around patients who were so full of life and joy despite the circumstances. One of them even watched a few minutes of Bethel Church Live Sunday night with us online, remarking, "I wish I could stay all night."
While we know God didn't cause this, He's pretty darn good at turning every situation to good. Jesse said he was determined to make the devil see that sending me to the hospital was the worst decision he made since putting Jesus on the cross. :) HAHA!!!
GOING HOME
Every day since the bleeding stopped, the doctors had come in to say "Your baby still looks great. Blood pressure, heart rate...everything's good." By day five, they determined that I was completely stable. On Monday night we were home. I'm on bed rest for now, possibly until I give birth. At 32 weeks that's only 8 weeks to go! We're believing she'll be born naturally and without complications around January 11th. Luckily I'm not restricted to my bed. I can go to the grocery store occasionally with Jesse if I stay in the car or ride the motorized cart (yes!). I can't cook or clean but luckily I have tons of friends offering to cook meals and stay with me during the day so Jesse can be at school. As I'm typing this, a friend of mine is cleaning my whole house! I am loved! Plus my family is coming for Thanksgiving and Jesse's fam will be here for Christmas. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful, caring family who would do anything at the drop of a hat for me.
Another bonus is that, while one of my baby showers in Newport had to be cancelled (sad face), I instead get gifts delivered to my house! So far every day since I've been home there's been a new package arriving in the mail. It's like Christmas every day!
I'll be getting bi-weekly checkups to make sure everything is going well, but Jesse and I have so much faith that it'll be smooth sailing from here on out. Baby girl is healthy and strong and so is mamma. I feel totally normal, at peace and full of joy. No cramping or anything, just the occasional twinge when baby girl decides to use my bladder as a punching bag. :) She is head down now. Such a good girl. :)
Thank you all for praying for us through this time. We have definitely felt the impact of your prayers. Keep praying for continual peace, wisdom as we make new decisions about doctors, etc, and that baby girl will go to full term naturally without any further complications.
Hope you're all doing great! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
posted by Jessica Skinner @ 1:51 PM
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