Big Date!

Well... assuming we can make it through the week, we are scheduled to be induced on Monday, December 29th. I am so anxious to finally meet little Hannah and to introduce her to her big brother, Josh!

I hope that everyone has a WONDERFUL holiday! We will be sure to update with pics and details as soon as we have them!

Mike's Surprise!

As a wonderful surprise, Mike also completely finished the entire nursery and Josh's 'big boy room' by the time I was released from the hospital. He did such a great job!

Still cooking!

I apologize for not having updated in a while. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the contractions started getting closer together and more intense. The doctor had us come in to Clarian West to be checked, and they found that I had dilated to 1.5 cm, 50% effaced. By the next morning, I was at 3 cm., 75% effaced. Clarian West is not equipped to handle a delivery before 34 weeks, so they transferred me downtown to Indiana University Hospital. I spent the next seven days there, waiting it out until I could come back home to deliver locally. After many rounds of medicine and steroid shots to prepare Hannah's lungs, they have not been able to stop the contractions but have been able to keep them from dilating me further. So-- we play the waiting game again! I go back to the doctor in the morning, so I will update at that point.

We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family! It was so much fun to watch the cousins playing together.

32 Weeks!!

Nothing very new to report-- bed rest continues and is only possible thanks to our incredible support system of friends and family!! The good news is that this is Week 32!! The doctors said that as long as we make it to this point (32 weeks completed), she has a great chance of doing well once born! Thank you again for everyone's thoughts and prayers! We are so grateful!

Sprinkle

A huge thank you to my mom and sisters for throwing such a beautiful party to welcome Hannah! It was so nice to get to visit with friends and family, and we received so many beautiful things for our little one. We can't wait to get the nursery all set up with our new bedding/accessory set and all of the adorable new clothes and necessities. We'll post some pictures of it as it is completed. Thank you so much to everyone able to be there to celebrate with us!

Halloween

Our little pumpkin was able to go trick or treating this year! He practiced saying "Trick or Treat" all week and I was so proud that he remembered his "Thank you" at each house as well. I wasn't allowed to go walking with him, so Christy carted me around in her car to watch for a while before letting Daddy take over. He had so much fun going with his friends! Once he realized that the costume = candy, there was no turning back! He learned the word 'chocolate' very quickly!

Josh Updates

Josh is being such a patient little man with all the changes at home. Since I am not able to crawl around with him at the moment, he's been bringing stacks of books over to me, climbing up on the couch, and helping me turn the pages as we read each one. He loves to point out EVERYTHING in the pictures and gets so excited to use all of his new words. Mike and I can't believe how much older he seems all of a sudden. He's becoming such a little boy!

Small Successes!

Good news!! We have met the first 'benchmark goal' set by the doctors by passing the 28 week mark (as of last Sunday). Our next big goal is 32 weeks, but we are obviously hoping to go as close to full term as possible! Keep your fingers crossed-- we have another check-in tomorrow.

Change of address. . .

It was lovingly pointed out to me by a dear friend that I have not bothered to update our family blog in the last few months. :) I guess I have absolutely no excuse, especially given my newfound couch time. For those of you who haven't heard, I started having preterm labor and was put on bedrest up until our little one is born. (Which hopefully will not be for a while!)

I was having some trouble getting our original blog to cooperate, so I have switched to this new host site. I'm hoping that this one will be a bit easier to navigate. I apologize, in the meantime, for the new link. I promise to be better about updates, and count on those same friends to stay on me about doing so!