Here we go:)

I am 38 1/2 weeks now! Wow how my pregnancy is progressing at a fast fast speed! Yesterday I was 2.5 centimeters at my doctors appointment. Today we had to go into the hospital because Abby has not been moving too much in the last couple days. She is doing great and I am now 3.5-4 centimeters. I was up till 5am with cramps and then spent the rest of the day in bed resting. I am so happy with how fast things are moving along. I still have a week in a half to go but I think she will be here in the next couple days. I do wonder if my doctor and this nurse just measure different but I will take the 4 centimeters:)
Since the beginning I have really wanted Abby to come on My grandmas birthday which is this Saturday the 15th! That really can happen! I am ok with whatever day God brings this precious joy to us that would just be an extra blessing!
Now we sit here in anticipation waiting for our baby girls arrival! Come home soon Abby! Mommy, daddy, and brother are so excited to see you and kiss you and smother you with love!

38 weeks

My doctors appointment went great again! God continues to bless my pregnancy. I am now 2.5 centimeters dilated. MY doctor is so happy with how far I am progressing as a first time mom. He says my labor will be much faster than most. It is super encouraging. He has no idea when she will come but assures me she probably will not be late. I told him I am just not comfortable getting induced at this point and I would like to count my due date as the 25th instead of the 22nd. We will induce on the 26th if she has not made an appearance by then. I really think she will come a week early but I have thought this forever since 36 weeks:) Only God knows and He wants me to rest in His timing and plans. I am feeling so much more at peace about it all. I really only have a week in a half or so left so I can do it! My mother in law will be here on the 20th. It would be so nice to have her here when Abby comes. And of course I have always wanted Abby to come on my grandmas birthday which is the 15th or maybe she will come on our 1 year anniversary which is the 24th. So many fun options.

Now can I please share a picture of the cutest outfit ever! I love the Cubs and always have. Not to the point of watching them or caring if they win but it brings me back to growing up in Illinois and going to the Wrigley Field as a child and watching a game with my family. Our sweet friends from Church are also Cubs fans and we just found out this week. Oh what a fun thing that is for me. This is what they sent us! ADORABLE!!!!! Thank you Michael and Rebekah!

May God be glorified in my weakness

Every day I am growing and learning and stumbling and falling. I constantly have to remind myself that there will be no change without seeking Christ. It seems every day I fail to love my husband and submit to him. Daily it seems I forget that God is completely in control of everything. He knows when Abby will come, He knows what is best for me, He knows EVERYTHING! Yet I find myself battling with control and wanting to do things my own way. Praise God that He is so patient with us. His love endures forever. He does not point His finger at me daily and remind me of all the ways I fail. Why do I do this with Brian when I am not getting my way and he is not doing things as I want. Or when Collin has a bad day why do I forget all of his great days. Why do I expect change in people who do not love Jesus. I forget that I was much worse than they were at one point. I do not ever want to have a self-righteous attitude. I want to rest in the fact that God knows exactly who will be called to Him, He has called them to Himself before the beginning of time. Although I am seeing so much of my sin and failure more clearly lately (which is a good thing), Brian reminds me all the time of my past and how far I have come from where I was. My church family would not be able to comprehend the person I was 8 or 9 years ago and before. God has done such a transformation in me. I am so thankful! I used to always wish I could have been a believer from day one but I am just thankful I did not have twenty more years of sin to repent of and change from. As hard as it is to not act in my old ways I know it could all be so different. I do have 22 years of disgusting sin but now I have 8 years of God transforming me into the image of His glorious SON JESUS.
I love this verse, 2 Corinthians 12:9 "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

God uses these trials and times of growing for our good. I have to remind myself of that in this time where I feel extremely inpatient, hormonal, and just exhausted out of my mind. I want to run to the cross, spend more time in the word, be in constant prayer and not cling to my emotions and things that will bring me no peace.

Oh how I praise God for such a Godly husband. He has been so patient with me these last few days as I have been such a unloving wife. SO grateful for a man who loves me in my weakness and treasures me regardless of where I am. This is unconditional love and my husband is such a sweet example of what that looks like. Praise God for HIM! He is constantly pointing me to Gods grace and love even when I am at the end of myself and do not want to hear it.

This is to encourage all of you that we each have struggles. God does love us through our sin and He does change us. We must cling to Him and not allow Satan to try to take us down and believe lies.

Don't you love being pregnant and hearing peoples unsolicted comments

I wish I would have kept a list of all the remarks people have made since I have had a huge belly. Today was one of the best!
I went to Walmart to return something. The employee helping me looked at my belly, her eyes got huge, and she proceeded to say, "OH WOW!!!! You are having twins! That is great!" ME= "No I am not having twins!!!!!" Her=OH! REALLY!Are you sure? Well you must be due any day now" ME=YES. In the next week or two Her=OH WOW! You are going to have a HUGE BABY! And you still haven't dropped. ME=(as graciously as I can) Yes actually I have dropped and no I am not that big and my baby is not going to be huge!

I was at Petco a couple weeks ago and had almost the exact conversation with an employee

When you are pregnant you already feel huge as it is and then to have to hear everyone's silly comments just adds to all the patience and love I need to pray to have! Goodness people!

Girl TIme, Pedicure, Dinner=relaxed pregnant momma

My friend Veronica (whom I know would not want to be named but I think it is a good thing), came over tonight to bring me dinner. She offered me dinner the day we got home from the hospital from my gall bladder attack but Brian and I had bible study. I am so glad it worked out that way. To start Veronica is a doula. She is an amazing mom to six wonderful kids. She loves babies and loves being involved in pregnant mommies lives. It is so sweet to see the joy she has when she is around babies and talks about her doula work.
Veronica really wanted to bless me so she brought me a delicious chicken and vegetable soup with rice! It was absolutely scrumptious and then gave me a full on pedicure. I thought she would just come and paint my nails and make it quick but no, she had my feet soaked in warm water, trimmed my nails, cleaned everything up, then oiled my feet, lotioned and massaged them, and painted my nails! It was deluxe treatment and way better than a spa! We had such a wonderful time chatting as well! To end our evening she prayed such a sweet prayer for our family. I feel so blessed, encouraged, and relaxed! It has been such a wonderful day! I even took an one hour walk with Livvy and Noah which was very much needed.
Collin came home today and is in such a joyful mood and has the sweetest haircut!
I am so very thankful to God for His work in our lives and how He provides in such wonderful ways! Thank you Jesus for all you do! We do not deserve any of it!

Gods is always faithful

On Monday at 10pm I began experiencing a major burning and pain in the middle of my stomach and upper back. I thought maybe it was heartburn but it continued on for hours. I called Triage and they said it was probably heartburn but to come in and get checked if I wanted too. I really did not want Brian to have to get up since he had to work. The pain was almost unbearable. At 1230am Brian insisted we go to Triage in case something was wrong. They monitored Abby's heartbeat and movements and at 230am I was still in excruciating pain so they gave me an IV and medicine. It helped me to doze off a bit while they did blood work and a sonogram. I kept hoping it was heartburn but could not imagine that pain being caused from heartburn. Finally at 5am they found it to be a gall bladder attack. It was really hard to take in because the nurse persisted to tell me I would have to probably have surgery once Abby comes. I knew God had it all in His hands but the thought of having surgery after Abby came and dealing with all of that sounded so sad and discouraging.
That day we went to my OB who had the results of everything. It turned out to be the best case scenario possible. As of right now we will just wait and see if I have more of these episodes. If I do I will need to have a outpatient surgery. I am praying that is not the case but from all the research I have done most people have recurrences. However, there are a lot of cases as well that seem to affect pregnant women.
I am praising God that none of this affected our baby girl. And I am also praising God because I believe no pain can be worse than the pain I experienced through that, so labor I think will seem much easier to me. It has for sure calmed any anxieties I had:) The doctor and nurse said that the pain I experienced with gall stones is way worse than labor.
Gods hand is in everything and He knew this would happen and took care of everything! I feel a bit traumatized by it all but I feel much stronger because of it. Seeing how patient and loving Brian was through it really gave me a glimpse of how great he will be during my labor.

We also decided that if Abby does not come by the 20th we will induce that day. We hope she comes on her own but our doctor really believes that it will be beneficial to induce to ensure I do not have to have a c-section, so that he is there, and a couple other things. We feel at peace about it after all we went through the other day. Abby is totally healthy and ready for the world. Brian's mom flies in on the 20th as well and will stay with us for a few days to help out. That will be very helpful as well. We want her to be here for Abby's entrance into the world. It will be so great having both sides of the family waiting at the hospital for Abby to come. We have about two weeks left. I really thought she would be here by now but I am feeling pretty good and can't imagine her coming in the next couple days. God knows and that is all that matters:)

Again thank you all for your loving emails and encouragement. It is so fun writing these blogs knowing you are all reading them:)

37 WEEKS!!!!

I honestly can not believe I am 37 weeks! Our little girls is ready to make an entrance any day now! This week I got some good rest towards the end of the week and feel so much more alive. I praise God for this extra boost. My appointment on Wednesday went really good. I told our doctor we decided not to induce. He was totally fine with that and said I am moving along great and he believes my labor will be really good and much shorter than normal for a first time pregnant mom. This was encouraging:) I am 2cm now and still 80% effaced. But I think I am even more dilated now. We will find out on Wednesday. On Monday night I barely slept. I was having all kinds of odd little pains. When I got up in the morning and looked at my belly it looked completely different. I think that was my belly dropping. It is so crazy to think any day our baby girl will be here. We just can't believe we will really have a baby in our home. Yes I have a belly and that is OBVIOUS, but the part about Abby being in our arms and real still does not seem like a reality. We anticipate our girl being here and can not wait! Momma, dadda, and brother are ready to meet Abigail!

Lord thank you for the blessing of carrying a child! What a blessing it is and I feel so honored to be chosen as a mother to Abby and Collin. I pray to never take this for granted and to love my children unconditionally as God loves me. I pray to be a mother full of wisdom from the Lord. I pray to never forget what a blessing and joy and honor I have been given!