Spicy food to induce labor is a crock!

Well, as you can see, I am still pregnant with our little blessing :) I put a smiley face, but I must say that I am beyond the joyful pregnant stage and quite ready to meet Finley. As soon as he hit full-term status, the squats, incessant walking, and spicy food all came into play. However, it seems that these are just actions that make me "feel" like I am in control...the truth of the matter is that this little guy will determine when he is good and ready!

We went to the doctor last Thursday and the good news is that all of the contractions I have been experiencing are now at least productive. I have dilated a little more and my cervix is "extremely soft." I hope that it means that he will be here sooner than later!

If you have any tips, feel free to leave them in the comment section :) There will be a reward for the winning idea! As always, love and faith!

And the real wait begins...

Hello hello! This is day 2 off of the medication and so far, no baby...trust me you'd know otherwise! I am continuing to contract on a regular basis, but continue to sit around the 10 minute mark. One of the days (near or far), I will break that and head down the path to closer contractions and the real excitement will begin! One of my friends pointed out that I hadn't posted any pictures recently so here are a few. I have had 2 more showers since my last post. One was a much-needed "Diaper Bash" and the other was a fun "foo-foo" shower (you know...the really girly kind). Finley is spoiled beyond belief and we are so blessed to have such great friends and family :)

Why does Kenna look so surprised with her length of yarn??

OH! And I almost forgot to share our prize-winning costume with you all. If you can't see it very well, Finley is Humpty Dumpty and Kelly is our wall! We won a snuggie for this brilliance LOL!

We'll keep everyone posted on progress...or lack thereof...it's certainly in God's hands!

I'm so confused!

Well, I must say...pregnancy is a true test of patience and faith. As soon as you think you know what's going on, it all changes! It's worse than Texas weather! Well, yesterday I started contracting again despite the efforts of my medication, terbutaline. They started off at about 11 minutes apart (just like 2 weeks ago) and then shortened to about 8 minutes so we decided it would be safest to go get checked out. It took a while to get on the monitor as EVERYONE in San Antonio seemed to have been in labor yesterday! Once hooked up, the monitors confirmed that there were strong contractions about 8 minutes apart...but then...I had about a 20 minute break before they started up again. Strange...then came to find out that my cervix hadn't progressed at all since the last scare. My nurse called my doctor and was instructed to go ahead and give me one more shot of terbutaline to try and keep Finley in a little longer (who the whole time was active and kicking away...obviously irritated at the monitors). He (my doc) passed along the message that after today (35 weeks), if I have this happen again, they are not going to attempt to stop Finley. Well, here is the interesting part. It is now believed that I may have an irritable uterus. If you research this, it is not completely understood, but basically you contract as if you are in labor, but it only affects your uterus...not your cervix. This can mean that you eventually have to be induced! You can however, switch at any moment from "irritable uterus" to "preterm labor" if the contractions become strong enough. If your mind is spinning by this point, don't worry-mine is too! The one thing that I can say without doubt is this is in God's hands...not mine. But we can all anticipate that Finley's arrival will likely be one that is unpredictable..though what child's isn't?! I will discontinue terbutatline after Sunday so we will see what happens after that. If Finley doesn't come by next Thursday, I will see my doctor and find out more then. So hold on to your hats...we're in for an interesting ride. Much love and faith...and Happy Halloween!

Ten Days!

Today was our evaluation after spending the week resting. You will be happy to know that I have not progressed any further and the contractions are under control. My doctor has informed me that the few that I am still having are necessary to get the baby in the right position for delivery. As of tomorrow, I am 34 weeks, which is when most doctors stop giving steroids for lung development in the case of preemies since they are strong by this week. My instructions now are to stay on the terbutaline for 10 more days, which will put me near 36 weeks. At that point, whatever happens, happens :) This could mean he comes on day 11...or to make things interesting, he could come 31 days from now...no telling!!

I was touched today when a friend of mine who gave birth to a beautiful little girl at 25 weeks reminded me that there is no point in worrying..."it doesn't change anything, prevent anything, or help anything." Her little girl is precious and healthy, by the way. She also left me with a piece of scripture that we all need to keep close:

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Roman 8:28

Love and Faith as always :)

Wait a min, Finn!!

As I type this, Kelly and I are sitting in Labor & Delivery at St. Luke's thankful that Finley didn't get his way this morning!! I woke up at 3am with a burning cramp and quickly realized that I was having contractions...the real kind...not the practice Braxton Hicks that I've come to like so much ;) By 5am we were at the hospital being hooked up to a monitor to evaluate the situation. At that point, I was contracting every 10 minutes and was dilated to a 1. So...we had to take measures to stop our eager little man. I am now on terbutaline and am being monitored overnight. So far as we can tell, though, we have the contractions under control. They are a little concerned that I'm still cramping, but we believe it is just the battle that my uterus and the terbutaline are fighting out.

Now..."Baby Big Head." My doctor ordered an ultrasound, which is always very exciting, until they tell you that your 33 week old child has a head that measures 36 weeks!!!! They estimate that he is about 5 lbs., which is great and about a week ahead of his due date. But I'm not totally convinced that his head is not the basis of all these large measurements...though I suppose time will tell. I told Kelly that I should have measured his head before I decided to marry him and he quickly responded, "I should have measured your hips!" Snap! He got me!

Assuming that all goes to plan, we will be released tomorrow and I will be on bed rest until Finn is big enough to let me get off of the medicine. At that point, labor will likely resume and we will get to meet our precious Baby Big Head!!

Please keep us in your prayers...Love and Faith!!

8 weeks and counting...

Hi everyone! 8 weeks to go as of today...yippee!! I didn't post at 31 weeks as I was on my way to Corpus for Finley's very first baby shower...and let me tell you that the child made out like a bandit! He got everything from diapers to a pack n' play to a car seat-far too many gifts and books to name...he's so blessed already! Naturally, as you can imagine, I had a hard time sitting around as I was enjoying mingling...and then when we drove back to San Antonio, I couldn't stop when I had so much fun stuff to go through! Well, leave it to me...I ended up in labor and delivery that night. *KEEP READING-WE'RE BOTH FINE* I started cramping and experiencing lower back pain at about 6pm so I rested on my left side as instructed if this happened and drank as much water as I could get down. By 10pm, I was still cramping so I called the nurse and she insisted that I come in for evaluation despite the lack of contractions. So, we reluctantly headed to St. Luke's to make sure Finn wasn't trying to surprise us early. As we imagined, it was fine. His heart rate was strong...at times a little too strong as he absolutely despised the monitor and visibly kicked it with all his might for almost two hours straight. They also performed a pre-labor test, which revealed that he has not released the chemical that tells my cervix to loosen up, which would result in labor. All in all, we were releaved to find out that Finley is still baking like he is supposed to. The problem is that I now have a harder time rationalizing why I shouldn't slow down...I just don't want to! How terrible of me?!

On a more sobering note, tomorrow marks one year of when Sean and Liam left us for Heaven's beauty. It's a bittersweet time for us as we're so thankful for our healthy little boy, but we can't help but miss and mourn our sweet angels as we reflect on our short time with them. We realize that the space they take up in our hearts will never be replaced because they took it with them when they left. At the same time, we have faith that they are watching us all of the time and looking out for their little brother. Really, Finley wouldn't be here if they hadn't left when they did. So if you all could just keep us all in your prayers as we enter a time of celebration and sorrow...not to mention it is my birthday so that adds another element of complexity. God's plan is simply beyond my comprehension (as it should be), so we just pray for peace as we're on this beautiful journey.

Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

In loving memory of Heaven's Angels and ours...Sean and Liam Meegan 10.10.08

A little on the heavy side!

Finley had his 30 week sonogram today and we were surprised to find out that our little man isn't so little! He's weighing in at 3 lbs. 3 oz. This is not tremendously ahead of the charts (only about a week), but he is certainly starting this trend a little early! For those of you who are unaware, Kelly weighted 8lbs, 10 oz and I was a monster at 8 lbs, 14 oz!! I, of course, am hoping for a healthy 6 pounder, but if he continues with this trend, he may be a little more...fluffy.

The sonogram was amazing (pictures to come). We got to see him making little sucking motions, which gives me hope for nursing! He yawned and kicked, and we "oohed" and "aahed" over every time we saw his eyes blink...it was really pretty pathetic. Even the sonogram technician had to go back and look at his little "neck fat" a few times because it was so darn cute! The sonogram even showed that Finn has hair! Granted, this is not to say it won't fall right out, but at this moment he is sporting a beautiful head of hair (hopefully not too large of a head). Oh, and he is still a boy. Kelly seems to have this underlying fear that they're playing a joke on him. This has to do with the fact that a friend recently told him that they thought they were having a boy until 34 weeks (after 2 showers) and then found out they were having a little princess instead! It absolutely scarred Kelly.

As for me, I am continuing to grow..and grow..and grow. I took my Gestational Diabetes test today and I'm really hoping that I'll pass. I'm not sure how a pregnant woman is supposed to make it through the last bit of pregnancy without the pure bliss that ice cream brings!

Kelly is working like crazy to finish the bathroom and doing an amazing job! Even Cy and Brooks can't wait for the progress to be complete ;) No joke, Brooks (lab) walked right in and jumped in the tub. Sadly, we think he was looking for Kelly.

More to come next week...much love as always! Thanks for your continued prayers and support!