Posts made in April, 2012
38 Weeks!!
Well Sweet One here we are at 38 weeks! Today we had to have a few tests done including a non-stress test. You did great of course! Mome is still here with me {she’s pretty wonderful} so she came with me to the doctor and snapped this comical photo to send to daddy and pop.
We got a great laugh out of it :-) Can you believe how big my tummy is? That’s because you’re taking up pretty much all the real estate in there.
It is pretty incredible that you are still in my tummy at the moment. In fact, when I tell people some of our stats, they’re pretty amazed you’re still in there and that I have been walking around this way for a few weeks. I’m pretty amazed too! Check this out:
Stats:
- Head down
- 6 cm dilated
- 100% effaced
- Estimated baby weight: 7 lbs. {a week ago!}
Looking forward to meeting you Sweet One! Feel free to make your debut anytime :-)
Love you!
Bed rest workroom?
I thrive on routine. I need to be busy to stay motivated. I get energy from keeping a full schedule and serving others {especially my husband}. The busier I am the better I seem to do.
Eight weeks ago yesterday all that was removed from my life.
Yesterday morning was the first morning I woke-up at the same time as my husband and when I heard the cord of the iron being plugged into the wall I realized I had forgotten to iron his favorite pants. It might seem silly, but I really wanted to iron his pants for him. It has been weeks of not doing anything for anyone else, let alone him, and this was a small thing I could do. I rolled out of bed {because at nine months pregnant you really can only roll} and found him, hugged him and asked if I could iron his pants. He of course was happy to let me do it as it meant he could get ready faster and therefore be at work earlier.
I ironed his pants and made him coffee. And it was wonderful. I mean seriously wonderful. For the first time in eight weeks I felt normal. I was a wife again. I love being Mr. Z’s Mrs. God made this role for me.
When I was first put on bed rest I thought I would take advantage of this time and blog away {among other things}. Simply write and write and write. But if you’ve visited this space with any sort of frequency you know that’s not the case. I manage to bang out the weekly pregnancy milestone entries, but other than that there isn’t really any consistency. There are a variety of reasons for that from not being able to get into a comfortable enough position to even want to attempt to type to frankly, being in a mood where it is simply better to keep my thoughts between me and God. To state the obvious, these last eight weeks have been less than productive.
At the recommendation of a friend I listened to a sermon by Holy Furtik. It is appropriately titled:
“If I have to wait, I’m gonna get to work”
It’s a part of Elevation Church’s newest series, The Waiting Room. Ridiculously appropriate for me huh? {And I’m sure many of you out there as well.} I wish I could say I turned this eight-week waiting room into a workroom, but frankly that’s just not the case. I know none of this time will be wasted as God promises He uses everything for His purposes, but as I listened to this sermon today I knew in my heart there are some serious lessons I need to take into this next season of life.
The phrase “change the waiting room into a work room” was weaved throughout the sermon. And while I don’t feel that’s exactly what I have done these past eight weeks, it is something I must consider in the future and for the remainder of this time.
We are all works in progress and Lord knows this work {pointing at myself} will be in progress until the day I meet my Messiah. Ruth Bell Graham, Billy Graham’s wife, used to say that when she died she wanted her headstone to read:
“End of construction. Thank you for your patience.”
How appropriate.
God’s mercies are new every morning and He has never expected us to be perfect, but He does desire us to be teachable and humbly submitted to Him. After all, we are flawed human beings purposed to bring Him glory. Only He is perfect. But He wants us to seek Him, know Him and allow Him to make us more like Jesus.
So as I near Baby Z’s due date and wait on this little one I’m reflecting on the season where life was put on pause, looking for what God was trying to teach, how He was trying to use me and seeking to be better at it in the future.
Holly brought up three ways to turn your waiting room into a workroom:
- Resist the urge to complain and fill your situation with praise.
- Preoccupy yourself with fulfilling God’s purpose rather than escaping your problem/situation.
- Realize that our detours are often God’s destinations.
I’ll be looking at these questions in light of this season, pondering where I may have put them into play and where I could’ve done better. Hoping to learn for the next time I find myself in a place of pause.
Perhaps this is something you’ve dealt with to? Wondering when life will move on—beyond the current situation you find yourself in?
You might be interested in the sermon too :-)
Read More37 Weeks: Full Term!!
Well Sweet One you have made it to full term! This is nothing short of God’s hand on your little life and mine as well. And you know what else, today is tax day! So daddy’s busiest season is over as well :-) Can you sense how excited we both are?
We’re now waiting for you to make your debut {well we have really been waiting for a long time, but now there is a greater sense of relief}. We of course want to meet you so very badly but mommy and daddy could also use some time to recoup from this busy tax season. We want to be in the best shape possible before we welcome you into this world.
Your room is almost completely finished; we just have a few more little touches before I can say it is totally ready. Y0ur Mome, Pop and daddy helped to get your room to where it is and I think it looks incredible! I can’t wait to show it to you and see your little self in there :-)
Hopefully we will meet you soon. We love you so very much!
PS. Your daddy was home early enough to take this pic.
Do you think mommy was just a little happy to have him home?Read More
Reading Round-up on Motherhood
Lately I’ve come across a few blog entries and articles on motherhood that I thought I would share in this space. I found them all encouraging in one way or another. Enjoy!
This blog entry from the Gypsy Mama is a huge blessing for new moms, young moms and moms who just need to be reassured, it’s going to be okay.
I really appreciate the balance in this blog entry from the blog Passionate Homemaking. I felt like she addressed the two major camps of parenting (baby-wise and attachment) with grace and respect for both “sides.” It’s quite a comforting read for this soon-to-be-mom.
I LOVE Pinterest and if you’ve read my blog for any amount of time you probably noticed that. But this article from the Power of Moms on simply being what your children need rather than what Pinterest or any other social site might tell you you need to be is a great and needed reminder for many of us.
This blog entry from Desiring God a while ago, is a wonderful reminder of what our “job” really means.
And this article, well the author was married one year to the day before Mr. Z and I tied the knot and she has a little three month old girl. I might kinda feel like we have a lot in common so her raw and honest yet positive and hopeful outlook on this new season was a huge blessing of a read for me :-)
Read More36 Weeks!!
It’s Tuesday of another week, which means we’ve reached another milestone and today that milestone is 36 weeks! It is really hard to believe that 7 weeks ago tomorrow we were in Labor & Delivery praying the doctors could stop contractions.
I find I’m in an interesting state spiritually and emotionally these days. I am so thankful that our God saw it fit to keep Baby Z inside and as I go through Beth Moore’s study on the book of James {which I highly recommend} I am doing my best to consider it pure joy as we face this trial of bed rest and limited mobility. As of last week I was allowed to walk around more and who knows, maybe the doc will tell me tomorrow—when I go for my weekly visit—that I can do even more {going to church this weekend was wonderful!}. But I am ready for a change, to begin this new season of life. Waking up every day for seven weeks wondering if today is the day we’ll welcome our little one into the world can be quite trying.
Yesterday a dear friend who has been such a blessing to me during this time, visiting multiple times, said something that I hadn’t considered. She said, “I can’t wait to see how God uses all that you have learned about preemies and bed rest. That’s going to be exciting!” And you know what, she is so right. In my natural tendency to look at my immediate situation and get frustrated I lost sight of the fact that nothing is wasted with God and He will use this time for His purposes. My personality type finds this incredibly comforting :-)
For now we continue to wait and praise God for His many, many blessings during this time. I know there will come a time {hopefully soon} when I look back on bed rest and miss the ability to sleep, even if I wake-up every 90 minutes to adjust, and sit around spending time with my parents, in-laws, friends and even my sister who came to visit!
Can’t wait to meet you Baby Z!
