Okay prayer partners....I need some prayer!  Everything went fine today at my prenatal visit.  The baby is doing great!  My midwife checked my cervix and I am 1cm dilated.  While that indicates something is going on, a woman can stay at 1cm for weeks.  My cervix was thick.  So my midwife did what they call "stripping the membranes."  I did a little research about this when I got home.  This is a very common technique used when inducing labor.  So here's where I'm asking prayer.  This particular technique can actually bring labor on in a few days.  Please pray that if it be what's best for my baby and myself - that this procedure the midwife did today will work this first time around and that I will go into labor in the next couple of days.  It will be so much better to be able to go into labor on my own. 

I continue to thank all of you for all of your prayers for our baby and for me. 

Everything went well with the appointment today.  The ultrasound showed everything being great.  My little girl is practicing her breathing movements really well!  I had a few questions I wanted to ask the midwife so I asked if I could see her before we left.  You see I was only scheduled for an ultrasound today - no office visit with the midwife.  So they worked me in and I was able to sit and talk with the midwife about my concerns and ask my questions.  She answered my questions.  She also addressed my concerns and my mind is more at ease now. 

Our baby girl has definitely been an active one tonight!  And I love it!  I am scheduled for monitoring on Thursday.  The midwife said that if she sees anything at all that might cause any concern, they'll go ahead and induce me then and not wait until Tuesday.  If everything looks great, I will be heading to the hospital on Tuesday, Feb. 5th to be induced.  It's almost time!!  I am so excited!   

Hello to everyone!  Today has been an interesting day.  It seemed to me that our baby girl wasn't moving around as much today like she normally does.  I called the dr.'s office answering service and they took my information.  One of the midwives called me back and I explained how that the last time of doing my kick counts, the baby didn't do all the movements in the time frame she normally does.  So she told me to come on to the hospital so they could monitor the baby for awhile.  I called my hubby at work.  He came on home, picked up me and the children and off we went to the hospital.  They got me all hooked up for the monitoring.  The nurse took my blood pressure and praise the Lord it was normal the first time around!!!!  I realize you may not understand how huge that is.  I do believe that every visit I have had at the dr.'s office my blood pressure has been a little high and then it usually starts coming down by the end of the visit.  It's no doubt nervousness/stress.  And it's understandable given my pregnancy history.  So imagine how tickled I was to have the very first blood pressure reading to be normal!!!  Yeah!!!  But you see, it's more than just an excitement that my blood pressure was normal.  It's also a rejoicing in the fact that I was not as stressed this time going to the hospital.  You see, before we left for the hospital, In Jesus' Name I prayed against the spirit of worry, fear and anxiety.  And then I claimed the promise of a sound mind.  I spoke that Scripture out loud (II Timothy 1:7) and claimed that promise of a sound mind.  I am learning more powerful prayer and I'm telling you, I believe God was working in me today helping me be more at ease and calm.  I cannot give Him enough praise!

After awhile of monitoring, the midwife came in and said that our baby was not quite to the passing level with the monitoring so she wanted to have an ultrasound done.  Of course, that did cause some concern.  I was so glad that they ordered the ultrasound.  We had the ultrasound done and the baby passed with flying colors.  Everything looked wonderful!  So they sent me home being since everything looked wonderful on the ultrasound.  I am so thankful that everything is fine. 

I am scheduled for another ultrasound on Monday.  Please continue to just cover our baby and myself in prayers.  Thanks so much for all your prayers!

Well folks, we finally have a date!  Woohoo!  I am scheduled to be induced February 5th!  That will put me right at 38 weeks.  My appointment yesterday went really well.  I think our little girl was showing off for the ultrasound tech.  She showed her breathing movements right at the start.  And the ultrasound tech. said her breathing movements were really strong which is excellent!  So I am just continuing to praise and thank God that we are both doing well!

I have another ultrasound on Monday.  Then I have the monitoring next Thursday as well as a regular prenatal visit.  At that particular appointment, the midwife will be checking my cervix to see if anything is happening.  My prayer is that by next Thursday, my cervix will have already begun the process.  This will make inducement much easier and will likely mean they won't have to do as much to help the labor along.  If my cervix has already begun the beginning steps (which I think is called ripening or thinning and so forth) by Thursday, then maybe I'll be able to go into labor on my own instead of having to use any inducing medicines.  The midwife who will be with me for labor and delivery said she tries to go as natural as possible when inducing.  So she will do the least that needs to be done in order to get things rolling and will also employ natural methods to help things along.  I am thankful for that.  I want things to be done as natural as possible. 

I laid around a lot today.  Didn't do much.  By the time my hubby got home from work, I was restless.  My whole family sat around the table and played a game of Sequence.  Me and my daughter against my hubby and my son.  Yep - us girls won again!!!  Woohoo!  After dinner, I got to get out for a little drive to the store.  My hubby drove and the children and I went along for the ride.  I didn't get out and go into the store - I just stayed in the car.  But it was nice to just get out for a little drive.  I am so thankful that I am not on complete bedrest.  I think it would drive me nuts!  :)

Hope everyone has had a wonderful day!

I talked with a staff member at the hospital just a few minutes ago.  My doctor's/midwives office will hopefully have the results by tomorrow.  She told me to try calling back later today to check.  So I know I won't be induced today for sure.  It's looking like I will probably be going in maybe towards the end of next week to be induced.  I'll post an update as soon as I know from the doctor's office what the results are and what the plan is.  I just thank all of you so much for checking in to see how things are going and for praying for me and the baby.  It really means a lot when I find comments from those of you who come and check up on me and the baby.  Thank you so much.

I do feel much more rested today!  I pretty much slept off and on from around 9:30pm until 8:00am this morning.  Of course I got up a couple of times to go to the bathroom.  I really needed that rest.  I was so exhausted last night.  So I'm feeling much better today and will be camping out on the couch a lot.  We're supposed to get some wintry weather today so maybe my family and I can play a game and watch some movies.

Yesterday was a LONG day.  My prenatal appointment on Thursday was canceled due to wintry weather.  I woke up yesterday morning and called to discuss rescheduling and they had me come in yesterday for the monitoring and a regular prenatal visit.  During the monitoring, I noticed the baby's heartbeat would be irregular every now and then.  So the midwife came in and listened and she heard it as well.  She said sometimes babies can have an irregular heartbeat and it clears up when they're born.  She said sometimes it can be because the baby has had hiccups.  They continued monitoring.  The midwife talked to one of the doctor's and they recommended sending me on to the hospital for extended monitoring because of my pregnancy history.  So off to the hospital we went.  We were there for a few hours.  While we were there, they were really nice to give us dinner.  My whole family was with me.  So they let me order dinner and then gave my hubby a couple of coupons for him and the children to go to the cafeteria to eat.  I was so thankful for that because we hadn't had the opportunity to eat since 11:30am that morning which was when we left for my prenatal appointment.  And I have to say - that hospital food was really good!  And the children did really well!  It really helped that they put me in a room and the whole family could be in there with me.  So we were able to watch TV.  That was really helpful!  We are truly blessed with good children.

Everything is still on schedule for Monday.  My prayer is that our baby's lungs are fully developed and matured so that they can go ahead and induce me Tuesday.  Please continue to keep me and the baby in your prayers.  We could also use some prayers for my husband's job situation.  His day job just drastically cut back hours.  Not good......so we're praying for direction and guidance to know what we need to do.  On the other hand, it means that my hubby will be around this week.  With hopefully having the baby, I am thankful that my hubby won't have to worry about daytime work schedules while I'm in the hospital.  He should be able to stay at the hospital with me the whole time depending on how long they keep me.  So I am just ever so thankful for that.  Maybe it worked out like that for that very reason!  You never know.....