Charlee's Arrival- Summer- Trusting God

Well it has been awhile since I have written an update.  Obviously because Charlee was born and I haven't had much time to get on the computer.
I wanted to tell a brief story of how she got here.
Sunday May 23rd I started having mild contractions in the afternoon and they progressed to the point that I did end up calling my doctor.  They were 8-12 minutes apart and lasting about 20 sec.  I was told to call when I had more than 4 in an hour.  She advised that I take a warm bath which actually did help but as soon as I got out they came back.  Thankfully they didn't happen all night.  But they did start back up Monday (24th) morning so I called back and she had me go ahead and make an appointment to come see her.  They hooked me up to the non-stress test machine and tracked my contractions.  They were showing as mild and I was not dialated so she sent me home with "pre-labor" contractions that I would just have to deal with til my C-section the next morning.
As Monday went on into the evening the contractions got worse.  In fact from about 8pm on they were pretty intense and after midnight they became closer together and longer.  I wasn't able to sleep at all and about 2am I decided it was time to go to the hospital because they were every 3-5 minutes apart and lasting for over a minute each.  So I showered and we got everything in the van and Ryan's dad came to be with Lily so we could head to the hospital.  I had strong contractions the whole way to the hospital.  It was about 3:15am once we got there.  They hooked me up to the machines and started a fluid IV to see if they could slow them down.  I was fine waiting til 7:30am for the C-section as long as they could give me something for the pain until then.  After about an hour or so the fluids were not working so they called the on-call surgeon which happened to be the doctor that did my c-section with Lily.  I am certain this was God's doing.  At 5am they decided to go ahead and do the c-section at 5:30am.  They quickly got me prepped and gave me my spinal block which didn't hurt hardly at all.  This time around was strange to be so alert and not in pain while they got me ready for the surgery.  As soon as the meds kicked in I no longer felt my contractions.  My doctor arrived and they started the surgery on time.  However, there was something unusual about my surgery, according to the doctors and nurses.  Without going into too much detail about it.  My intestines were not where they were supposed to be and they had adhered to my uterus.  So to get Charlee out they had to detach them and rearrange them where they were supposed to go.  The doctors said they had never seen anything like this before.  And with that there would be a greater risk for an illeus like last time.  In order to prevent further issues down the road they had to do this and they put a cheese cloth between my uterus and my intestines to prevent them from adhering again.  Charlee was then born at 5:49am.   Weighing in at 7 lbs 11.8 oz and 19.5 inches long.  Perfectly healthy!  I am so thankful that we had the surgeon we did because the lady that we were supposed to have apparently was worried after hearing about my post-op 2 week illeus after my first c-section.  Not exactly what you want to hear from someone who would be doing major surgery on you.
After the surgery everything went well I was able to go home on time without any issues and I have not had any issues since then.   Praise the Lord!
Charlee has since passed her birth weight weighing in at 7 lbs. 15 oz on Tuesday.  I sure wish her belly button stump would fall off so I can do her newborn pics and Lily's 2 year portraits.  Hopefully this week.

As far as this summer goes.  I am trying to stay positive and not complain about the fact that Ryan is most likely going to be working every Saturday through the middle of August.  I know I should be thankful he has a job and that he will be getting overtime which will help pay for the new air conditioner/heat pump we just had to buy.  But when will we get to do stuff together as a family?  When will we get to go swimming?  Or to the Zoo?  I guess we will have to wait til August.  I just am sad because this means he will not get as much time with Charlee as I know he would like.  But God is good and I know that we are blessed by Him by Ryan getting this job.  And who knows maybe his reward for driving that far and working that much will be that his next job will be closer to home.  Like maybe a 30 minute or less drive!  That would be my prayer but I know we should just be thankful that he has work and that he will have a job to move to once this project is complete.  God give me patience and understanding!

Lady in Waiting

So as much as I don't want to admit it I am fairly certain that we will be going to 39 Weeks.  After this week's tests and blood pressure check I am fairly certain that I am not preeclamptic this time around.  Which is a good thing.  It actually gives us hope for the next pregnancy which we were unsure about.  I think a lot of what has happened with my blood pressure this pregnancy has been "worry" induced because of what happened with my first pregnancy (emergency c-section at 35 weeks due to severe preeclampsia).  That being said I am encouraged that with me not having it this pregnancy that our chances will be even less in the next pregnancy.  Because I wasn't ready to say this is it for us.  I'd like to at least try for a boy next.  Now we may wait longer than having them 2 years apart.  Like maybe waiting til Charlee is out of diapers before we have another one.  That would make things easier if I am to be put on bed rest again for any reason.
So I am operating on the assumption that I have 2 more weeks of bed rest until little Charlee's arrival.  Some things that make me sad about this are that now I won't be having another little baby like Lily was.  But at least she will be healthy and full term.  We won't be able to participate in Life Spring's child dedication service Sunday May 23rd with my friends who had babies this past year.  I've had to miss out on family gatherings and will be missing out on more in the next coming weeks.  My recovery is now going to get pushed back which might prevent me from doing some things that I could if we had her this week.  Like I won't be able to swim this summer until July now.  But those are all just reasons, not good excuses for wishing this pregnancy be over.  I want her to get as much time as she needs in there and now I know that's what God has planned for us at this point.  There's a reason my protein wasn't high enough.  There's a reason my blood pressure couldn't get high enough yesterday at the doctor.  God does not want Charlee to be born yet.  And now that I have accepted that I know that He's in control and whatever complications can still happen at this point I know that He is in charge and not me.  And now I actually have time to read the books for our Women's Ministry book club this summer.  I wasn't sure if I'd have time to read the first one with Charlee arriving this week but now with 2 more weeks of bed rest I should be able to.  Currently Reading:

37 Weeks & Counting...

Well the test results weren't as high as we were hoping.  So no scheduled c-section for Friday.  But my doctor did say that if my blood pressure is high enough at my appointment tomorrow then we can plan to have the c-section done tomorrow and not mess around.
I know a lot of people have been telling me that its better to wait for her to stay in there longer but I am sure that if my doctor felt that needed to happen she wouldn't be willing to do this for us.  She knows my history and knows that Charlee has been doing really well on all the Non Stress Tests and the sonogram 2 weeks ago showed a large healthy baby.  I am full-term now so she most likely feels it is in my best interest to go ahead and deliver before anything else happens with me.  Especially since last time we caught the preeclamsia too late.  Now I do want to do what's best for Charlee and myself obviously.  But I completely trust my doctor's opinion because she knows me and she knows what my body can handle at this point.  My first c-section wasn't normal as in they had to make an extra incision to get Lily out.  This is also a concern at this point because with Charlee being so big she doesn't want my extra incision to cause problems the bigger she gets and the more stretched I become in that area.  So while I do want to do what is best for Charlee and to wait til she's "ready" to come out I also want to trust my doctor knows what's best for me and for the baby and that she would never do anything that wasn't going to be good for both of us at this point.
I'm just ready to be done with bed rest.  Ready to spend some quality time with Lily outside on nice days.  Ready to help around the house again.  Ready to sleep at night.  Ready to be done with the day to day worry about when she's going to get here.  I trust God with this pregnancy and have since the beginning.  If she is to arrive tomorrow then it will happen.  And if not then I guess we wait one more week and hope things don't get worse.  God, I know you are in control.  But a little plan would be nice sometimes ;-)