Hey Everyone! I am sorry it has been an eternity since I have written. I promise I will get to the point with more regular updates.
What can I say? It has been busy. Since I work at a church, Lent and Easter are a busy, busy season. I was happy to have the day after Easter off! This Thursday I go for my final interview for commissioning. If all goes well, I will be commissioned in June! Please keep me in your prayers!
So with Easter, work, chasing after a two year old, normal mom and wife duties, and being pregnant, I have been busy and tired! Our little Rachel is still a Rachel. Three ultrasounds say so! We are excited! I made a registry for her, and it is so much harder to do that for a girl than it is for a boy. There is so much more stuff for girls! It is overwhelming!
This past week I started experiencing some problems with my pregnancy, and you know that worried me. Last Wednesday I was having some minor contractions. My OB said it was probably a little early for Braxton Hicks, so she wanted me to come in. She did an exam and thought I might have an incompetent cervix (means premature delivery - oh no! not again!). She sent me to the hospital to have a detailed ultrasound to check on baby Rachel. Rachel looked really good and healthy. She is even on the big side. The ultrasound tech told me that probably means I won't have preeclampsia again because preeclampsia babies are small (Yay! Great news!). I also have no symptoms at this point, and in my last pregnancy I started with symptoms around 12 weeks (Thank God). Then I had a test to check my cervix. My OB called me on Friday and wanted me to come in ASAP. My cervix, it turns out, is fine. No incompetent cervix. But my amniotic fluid levels were low. They did a non-stress test to check Rachel. Rachel was fine; moving a lot, her heartrate was good, and I was having no contractions. My OB thinks my levels were low because I was dehydrated. She ordered me to drink plenty and rest when I can, but no bedrest. I go back this Friday and we will take my gestational diabetes test to see if I have that. If I do, that could explain some of the dehydration and fluid issues. But we are trusting God that everything is okay with our little angel.
Overall, I feel pretty good. And I feel good about the news from the OB. I hardly ever drink enough when I am not pregnant, so of course it would be an issue when I have a human living inside of me taking my nutrients. I need to work on drinking more overall. I just feel blessed. It appears we have no preeclampsia, we have no incompetent cervix, and I am not at risk for pre-term labor so that all says there is no reason I should not carry Rachel to term. That makes me happy!
Carrying her to term is my goal. In February, my OB asked me at one of my appointments to make one goal for my pregnancy or delivery and she would try to help me achieve that. She said no one's delivery goes as planned, and I had a lot of hiccups with my last one. She said I can't have everything I want, but to pick something and we would focus on that part of my birthplan and try to make it happen. My goal: to bring my little girl home with me. Carrying her to term or very close to it (like 36 weeks) will help me bring her home with me. Now, that is my OB's goal. It is what we are working on. Unless you have been there, you can't possibly know how hard it is to leave your child at the hospital when you are supposed to be at home bonding. And you can't know how bad I felt delivering early. My body appeared to be a hostile environment for little people. I thought I couldn't do something women were supposed to do and that made me feel like a failure. If I walk out of the hospital with my little girl this summer, I will feel so thankful. I will be the happiest woman in the world. And then I will be able to say that I did it. Please keep us in prayer for the remainder of our pregnancy. I need to make it at least 11 more weeks, but hopefully 12 or 13, and ideally my OB is hoping for 14 more.
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