Quilt entry

Blogging about a quilt giveaway so my name will be entered in their draw :) Go and enter for your chance to win as well!! Click on the link to take you there.
Their store link is http://www.mariemadelinestudio.com/

Appointment

Went on the monitor today. Baby was not very active so they gave me juice to drink. Her activity picked up a little. She's been wiggling since the drive home so I think the juice has finally kicked in all the way :) Waiting for Wednesday to find out her position!!! If all goes well, we should have a baby next week (Yay!) The nurse came in and looked at the monitor and said "Wow, did you feel that contraction?" ..... no!!! This pregnancy has been very different with all the false labour and contractions I'm not feeling! I'm wondering if labour will be different too then....faster maybe? Would be nice! They are suppose to do a cervical check on Wednesday as well so I hope these contractions are producing some encouraging results! Just a waiting game right now......oh I can't wait!!

Encouraging week

We had a great Thanksgiving, and a full day today. Off for another appointment tomorrow for monitoring. On Wednesday I have my ultrasound which should tell us if I'm headed for a C-section or just the induction. Still praying and trying to get this little one to turn around. I have no clue what position she is in right now. Sometimes her hiccups are really really low....other times they are at the top. I can't believe she still has enough room to move around so much!!

We were able to share tonight at church how God worked out our insurance issues. It was such an encouragement not only to us, but I believe to so many at church, to see how God worked! Many ladies came to me with tears in their eyes at our news. So many have been praying about this situation, and many people's faith was increased through God's working on our behalf. It is such a wonderful feeling to have so many people invested in our life, who get on their knees for us, who are concerned for us. We have so much love and support and I thank you all for your Christ-like love for our family!

This past week I also had my Christian birthday :) The Lord has continually made Himself more and more real to me throughout the years. He has shown me such a great love and has blessed me all throughout my life. I am so thankful that He died for me on the cross. How hard life would be to face all these struggles and situations without the knowledge that God is in control and cares for me!

Contractions go away :)

Woke up to lots of contractions this morning. I was having aches through the night but this morning I had several strong contractions. I don't think baby turned into position overnight so hopefully the contractions will back off with walking around. It feels like false labour right now....nothing to get excited about yet (in fact they have gone away since getting out of bed). We've had so many people praying for an early delivery because of our insurance issues.....you never know!! We may have a November baby after all.

Hope all our American family and friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to getting together with family today. We have MUCH to be thankful for!!!

Prayer request

After the wonderful praise entry below I have a prayer request :) Baby girl has decided to flip and is now positioned head up instead of head down. It is pretty late in the game for her to do this so we could be headed for a C-section. I have had 3 natural births and would really like to continue that trend!! I have to say I am very nervous about the thoughts of an epidural and C-section. It is something I don't want to have to go through. I am scheduled to be induced a week early so I have less than 2 weeks to 'pray' her into position!!! Everything else looked really great on the ultrasound and I was even having contractions during my visit.
Above all I want the Lord's will for her delivery. No matter what the birthing style I have to go through, I would ask that you pray for health and safety for baby and me, and peace of mind as I head into labour. We're getting closer to her arrival!

All praise to our God!

I want to start by saying My God is amazing! Why He loves a wretched sinner like me I will never know. Why He continues to bless someone so undeserving....it is only because of His unconditional love for me. I sit here in awe....it's a wonderful, crazy, exciting feeling.

I want to recap a little....Hubby was laid off back in May. State continuance allows our medical insurance to continue for an extra 6 months. The end of the 6 month extension goes until the end of November. The problem is that baby is due 14 days after insurance ends!! We went down every road we could think of to try and get insurance to cover the delivery and hospital stay. Nothing worked out no matter what we did. We talked to 3 different insurance brokers and there was no option available to cover this delivery. It looked as though, unless the Lord decided to bring this precious one into the world at least 2 weeks early, we were going to have a very big financial burden ahead.
I could tell this burden was really starting to weigh heavily on hubby. We have seen the Lord continually meet our needs, especially since the layoff in May....but how was He going to meet this HUGE need ahead? We didn't know how, but we knew God was in control.
One evening we headed out to get a new infant car seat. The one we had went through 3 babies and was falling apart. We had found the car seat we wanted and was waiting until we had a little extra room in the paycheck to buy it. Hubby headed into the store to purchase it and on his way in he quickly muttered a prayer that "it would really be nice if there was a sale on that car seat Lord" Well, out of all the car seats in the store, our particular one was out of stock. The employee checked the back room and 2 trucks that had just pulled in. None. The employee tried to encourage him to purchase the next more expensive seat but hubby said no...this is the one in our budget. The employee said they would order one for him BUT couldn't get the computer program to work. Finally they offered the car seat on display for 20% off the price. Hubby walks back to the car with our new seat and looks at me (who was waiting in the car) and said "I think the Lord is trying to show me that He IS in control and knows our situation....He will provide"
So now we get to the good part!! Hubby talked to his former employer who laid him off. He has been doing some side work for them for the past couple months. Was there any possibility that they could re-hire him for the month of December??? We waited........
Today the email has come back. Hubby has been rehired, our insurance picks up from where it left off and we will have insurance for the month of December!! Not only that BUT
...because insurance picks up from where it left off - we have already reached our deductible and out-of-pocket expenses - so delivery and hospital stay are completely covered!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am still in awe.
Hubby and I have grown so much since May. We have been learning about complete dependency on our Lord for all our needs. We knew God was going to supply no matter if we got insurance, or if we received a very big bill!! For this to take place, it can only be of the Lord. Our God is so good!!!! ....our God knows, our God loves us, our God will provide and take care of us no matter the situation.

Monitoring

On the monitor again today. Baby wasn't too active....I think she's getting pretty cramped in there! They recorded 3 contractions and seemed a little concerned about it today (I had a different nurse) She told me if I have 5 or more contractions in an hour, I need to head to the hospital. I had to laugh to myself!! If they are recording 3 contractions in 20 minutes, I would think I'm having about 5 an hour!!! The thing is I don't feel them. I feel the strong ones, but not these weak ones they continually pick up on the monitor every Monday. I think I will just have to rely on strong labour pains or my water breaking as to when to head to the hospital. I have an ultrasound on Wednesday and they will measure her for weight. I always get nervous when baby's activity decreases. It has happened with all of them, but it is still nerve wracking! We are headed into our last week with medical insurance. This should be interesting! I don't know what the Lord has in store but I know He is in control :)

Kids Choir and socks

The kids sang again tonight in the children's choir and recited a verse. Unfortunately I recorded it in Standard version (which is much clearer) instead of Compact version, so I can't post the video on here because it is too big.

I did want to post these really cute socks the kids got from the baby shower I had. A couple ladies had gifts for the other kids as well which was very thoughtful. They absolutely love these socks!!! Our youngest gets upset if his come off :) This is the 3rd day straight he has worn them. This lady also knows him very well because he, of course, got the zebra socks!

Baby shower

Tonight we had a Ladies Fellowship with our church group and they surprised me with a baby shower. I did not expect one at all since it's the fourth child but I think the ladies knew I needed to update my 'girl' apparel and items since it's been close to 7 years since our first baby girl was born :) It was such a blessing to see how God has been providing for us in every area!! We are loaded up with diapers and beautiful soft new pj's and clothes.....in girlie colors! After 2 boys in a row, it's fun having pink again :) Although you can't really see all the beautiful items we got, here is how the Lord blessed us tonight! Thank you Lord and thank you ladies.

Ultrasound

Baby finally cooperated today and decided to show her face. We were able to get some really neat pictures!! This is the first time I've had 4D ultrasound shots....so amazing!! Click on the picture to see a bigger version :)

One of the best videos so far I've seen talking about vaccines for kids and the flu vaccine.

This and that

I had a quick appointment today on the monitor. She was very active and I had several contractions recorded again. I sure hope these contractions are doing something!!! It would be nice to be several centimeters dilated when I go into labor :)

Our boy had a low grade fever last night and this morning. He seems to be doing well right now with a normal temperature. He complained of a sore throat as well. Hopefully it is just a passing thing. I have a bit of a sore throat myself so I'm hoping we are not coming down with anything.

Hubby was officially made deacon on Sunday. It is neat to see us as a family moving into these type of positions that we grew up with our parents serving in. Hubby and I both grew up with our parents in serving positions at church. Please pray for us during this new aspect of our life that we will have the servant's heart God desires to see and that we will be good and faithful servants for Him.

And that's about it for now. Off to rest :)

My baby's growing up

I just had to post this sweet picture of our girl from last Sunday. I made this hat last year and we can change the colored rose by just pinning on a new one. She looked so cute!!...and she's looking so grown up!

As far as my appointment today, my blood pressure was the highest it has ever been.... 163/94. They did some more blood work and told me to keep my feet up and rest. Everything still looks very good with the baby and all my tests so they are not concerned at the moment. Only 4 more weeks to go!!!

Haircuts and more

I did get something accomplished today which felt good. All 3 boys (including Daddy) got their haircut and are looking much better! Our daughter felt left out and wanted a trim but that will have to be put off for another day....too tired!!

I go for another ultrasound tomorrow. Just a quick check on the blood flow and fluid etc. I think I've been so tired lately because I'm growing! Seems like I've gotten bigger over the past few days. The last ultrasound showed her head down but she gets the hiccups alot lately and they are all over the place. Sometimes top right, sometime bottom left...I think she is still trying to do somersaults in there.

This Sunday hubby is officially becoming a deacon at church along with another gentleman. It's an interesting time in our lives right now. I think the Lord is definitely going to be revealing himself to us as a couple much more as we look to Him through these new changes that are coming. Our family is growing, our responsibilities are increasing, our finances will be tested.... each requiring ultimate dependency on our Lord! Isn't growing up fun :)

I still have the need for more nesting around the house. Just don't have the energy right now....little by little! Our daughter has been really putting forth an effort to help out around the house without being asked. It's taking patience on my part when the cinnamon container is spilled all over the floor, or a dish breaks, or she uses dishsoap on the floor to clean the kitchen and diningroom!! She wants to surprise me so much so I grin and thank her as Daddy comes behind her to clean up :) I'm thankful for her willing spirit. I can see that the baby or at least the lack of Mommy's availability to do things right now is starting to have an affect on the boy's especially. Our 4 year old is getting very clingy to me and our 2 year old doesn't want to nap unless Mommy is beside him ....but I do sense their excitement. So with almost a month to go we wait!!

Sleep

I have slept ALL DAY! I don't know what's up but I guess my body is just slowing down :) I literally got up to eat breakfast and laid back down, up at lunch to help with schoolwork and have a shower then laid back down, up at 5pm to help with supper and still just feel like I have little energy. I hope I can sleep tonight!! All I can say is thank goodness hubby is home during the day.

I've been really enjoying the "Say good bye to whining..." book. It is biblically based and talks alot about teaching honor to your children. It is more than just having them obey but going that extra step to show honor. It is really interesting!! Parents can fall short by teaching kids how to outwardly do as they are told....follow the motions (be obedient, be polite, be respectful)...but we really need to concentrate on their heart attitude which is what they will take with them when they are grown. Showing honor is going above and beyond what has been asked because they WANT to show love, they want to honor you and God. I think as a parent one of my biggest fears is when they reach the age where they start making their own decisions....have I done my best to teach them?....have I done my best as their example? Scary!!! We only get so many years to train them up in the way they should go....Have I been doing my best so far? The years are going by so quickly!!!

Another appointment

35 weeks! Today I went for the 20 min monitoring. She was very active and they recorded 2 contractions. I've been having false labor quite a bit. I usually experience at least a few contractions a day. They just advised to drink plenty of water....we need to keep her in there a little longer :) I'm finding it difficult to get around. My outings are basically church and appointments. No news about an early delivery date or anything. We will just wait on the Lord's timing unless doctors advise otherwise for health reasons. So off to the chair I go to put my feet up! I have 2 more books from the library...'Shepherding a Child's Heart' and 'Say goodbye to whining, complaining and bad attitudes'...THAT should be a good read huh!! Not sure if that one is written from a biblical stand point or not but it may have some good ideas in it :)

One year blogging!

It was my one year blogging birthday yesterday! A lot has happened over the course of this year!! It's been fun skimming back through all the posts and videos. What great memories!!

Alphabet

Our little guy just turned 2 and has surprised me at how quickly he is picking up the alphabet! We alternate between flashcards, books and puzzles so I know he is not memorizing letters associated with pictures. Although he can't say his alphabet yet...he is recognizing the letters :) Here is a little sample of him today.

Appointment

I went for another appointment today....34 weeks. Everything looked really good. My blood pressure was o.k. I had an ultrasound and we are still having a girl *grin*. She is just over 5 pounds and all measurements looked great. They do want me in twice a week for monitoring because of my blood pressure. I have to go for monitoring once a week (20 mins recording her activity) and an ultrasound once a week where they measure the blood flow through the cord and her breathing and such to make sure she is doing alright.
So all looks well right now....I have a little boy tugging on my arm to watch 'twinkle star' on the computer. Every time I sit down here he thinks it's time to watch his singing video :)

Railroad tracks, spicy food, any ideas??

Not too much going on here. Kids are getting pretty antsy as is Mommy. Daddy has been out of the house all day with work appointments and such so the kids are 'bored!!'. We are having insurance woes (what else is new right?) Seems like no matter what avenue we take, we are going to pay for this delivery out of pocket. We've talked with 2 insurance brokers so far and unless the Lord decides to see fit to bring this little girl into the world 15 days early....she's gonna be an expensive little cookie (but oh- so- precious *smile*) The most important thing is that she is healthy. God knew what our circumstances were going to be before she was even conceived, so for us it is going to be a walk of faith!! I know we don't need to doubt His provision because we have seen Him do so time and time again.
Our organizing over the weekend went well....but not nearly done!! We put a good dent into it though, so hopefully this coming weekend we will be able to finish it up. I will be happy when everything is in place and all is prepared for baby's arrival.
Now to think about something quick and easy for supper......can't wait till hubby is home tonight!