For Edena

We found out about a month ago, that we were expecting a new little one! We were planning on telling everyone after we had our 7 week sonogram, just to make sure everything was okay. Well, on Tuesday, we couldn't find the baby on the sonogram. We thought I might not be as far along as we thought and had plans to repeat the sonogram in a couple of weeks.

On Tuesday night, I was getting ready for bed and was suddenly hit with extreme pain. I thought it might be a gluten contamination issue, but it was way worse than anything before. I "just knew" something was wrong and I had Ryan take me into the ER.

After being there for hours of observation, getting pain meds (with no relief) and having another sonogram that still couldn't see the baby, I was admitted into the hospital. As the early hours of the morning passed, we waited to see the OB doc.

During our waiting time, the pain was getting worse and I no longer could lay down without going into a panic attack and feeling like I couldn't breath. When the OB doc witnessed this, he decided that we couldn't wait any longer and that I needed to go into surgery immediately. Come to find out, I was internally hemorrhaging from a rupturing ectopic pregnancy.

As the Lord planned, on Wednesday morning, we said goodbye to our little one, Edena, as her Maker called her back to Himself.

As you know, I'm still grieving the loss of our little Edena, but I have the hope that one day, I will get to hold her, along with her siblings, Shiloh and Blessed Hope. Until that day comes, I get to look at my three wonderful little boys God has given me here on earth, and I am overwhelmingly blessed and grateful.

I share this with you, not to gain your sympathy, but to ask you to pray for spiritual and emotional healing. My body heals quickly, but my heart does not. Pray that in my grief and weakness, God will be glorified and I will rest in His strength and comfort.

My Opinion of "Natural" Child Birth

Recently, I’ve been reading a slew of stories, articles, and friends’ comments on childbirth. Everyone appears to have a very strong stance on this topic. Many of my friends are strong supporters of “natural” births with some of them proclaiming home-births are the only way to do it.
If you’ve had your child/children naturally without any medication and/or at home without any “interventions”: that’s awesome.
Do you know what isn’t awesome? Alluding to or outright declaring that all births should be drug free and have no medical interventions.
God did not create all women the same. He did not make all women capable of having drug and intervention-free births. I for one am tired of having to justify my three C-sections. I am in labor for the last 3 months of my pregnancy: I don’t get to skip the curse of childbirth pain. And with each of by sons, it was never a lack of desire to have a natural birth. But in God’s sovereignty, He gave me a pelvis completely incapable of naturally birthing children.
God did however enable doctors to know how to safely deliver babies via surgery and thus saving the lives of both baby and mother. On a daily basis, I thank and praise the Lord that I live in the era I live in. A little over one hundred years ago, the mortality rate of a C-section was around 85%. With those odds, all three of my sons, along with myself, would be dead. The boys would have been strangled trying to come out and I would have died of blood loss and infection.
My point is this: Please, if you love your natural birth(s), share them freely but without condemning those of us who cannot have them. Do not dogmatically say all births need to be intervention free and/or at home. God has different plans for all of us. We, as humans, shouldn't contradict what God planned for each of us before time began.

Dress in Progress

Ryan and I get to attend a friend's semi-formal wedding in August! I was so stoked...then I realized that I had NOTHING semi-formal to wear that's maternity. I started looking on-line to see what was available and was shocked to find some great dresses. However, the dresses started at $165 and went up from there. That amount is SO not in the budget right now. So...after debating with myself, I decided to make a dress. I chose a pattern that I hoped would be easy to alter and make into a maternity dress. It hasn't been too hard, but I also haven't started the real dress yet! Here's a picture of the prototype I made...what do you think? Any suggestions on changes? Oh yeah, and I'm 33 weeks pregnant today!

The "Up side" of a Long Day

So today was a little scary for us. I didn't see some oil on the floor in Safeway and fell completely on my belly and Caleb. Caleb didn't move that I could feel and that's REALLY a rare occurrence. Thus ensued a 4 hour monitoring at the hospital to make sure Caleb was okay and that I wasn't having any contractions. Long story short, I and Caleb are fine, praise the Lord! So here's the up side: our little Caleb!

6 Months...Already?!?!

I can't believe I'm already 6 months(24 weeks) pregnant!!! This pregnancy seems to be going really fast. So far, this has been my easiest and least-eventful pregnancy. I had some morning sickness, but it wasn't bad in comparison to my pregnancies with Evan and Noah. I've only gained 2 pounds, which is perfect and makes me super happy! I have a decent amount of energy now and am looking forward to preparing the boys's room for another little one. We got Caleb's new pack 'n' play and diaper bag. And, a very sweet girl from church made him his first beanie and blanket set! Just for those people who might want to see a "belly picture", here you go...

The Boys Today

Evan was totally hamming it up today! So this is the best shot I got. Noah on the other hand was being super cute!

My 12 week shot. Let's see if I remember to take anymore in the coming weeks! ;)

10 weeks!

Our little one is 1.3 inches and is right on track for an August 19th due date!

Best Birthday Surprise Ever!

So this was my b-day gift this year...I am totally ecstatic!!!!!

We're 6 weeks and due August 19th! I know Baby Dowdey only looks like a blob, but I am SO excited, I had to share!

Pregnancy Oddities

Okay, so I've NEVER been a fan of oatmeal. In fact, as a kid I never ate it and I'd gag on it if I tried it. All of a sudden, I now like it! What's up with that??? Maybe Noah is "craving" it!? I've also been wanting hot chocolate...which is weird too as I'm usually a tea or coffee person.

With Evan, I only "craved" two things: salad in my 2nd trimester and frozen yogurt in the 3rd trimester. With Noah, I've been wanting all sorts of different things...for a while I was on a total cheese burger kick then it was all about chicken(something I never could tolerate with Evan).
Anyway, I'm sure you didn't want to know these things but I thought I'd share anyway. :)

Quickly leaving...

Well, my due date officially arrived this morning and as you've guessed I'm not in labor right now. I find it kind of funny that pregnant women all look forward to their due dates thinking "Great! I'll be able to meet my baby on that day!" yet very few babies are born on their actual due dates. I think it's even more ironic in my case since we've had preterm contractions since 28 weeks...I guess our little one likes his or her home a little too much now :) Oh well...our baby will arrive exactly when the Lord has ordained them to arrive and not a moment sooner!
If you think of me, please pray that I will be able to get enough rest to safely deliver this little one and be patient until he or she arrives. Thanks!

39.5 Weeks

Hey Everyone! Mom just took this picture last night so I thought I'd post it. As you can imagine, I'm completely ready to meet our little one.

The Wonders of Pregnancy

Okay, so I woke up this morning barely able to move my legs from side-to-side. At first I thought I was still dreaming...but then reality sunk in. I have no problem stepping forward or backward...which is really strange to me. It feels as if my legs are going to fall out of my hip sockets! After being awake for a few hours though, I now can at least sit and stand up without totally wincing. Relaxin...it's a wonderful thing...just not this early!
I also think the baby has either officially "dropped" or is getting ready to...not the most pleasant or comfortable. At least I can breath better now!
Anyway, that's what's up with me...