Safe in His Arms....

We have been so overwhelmed, humbled, and overjoyed at the number of people who have prayed for all of us. Our world had a complete turn of events last Thursday. I slipped down some stairs and landed flat on my bottom that morning. I thought nothing of it because I was not in any pain. I called Joseph on my way home from work and he suggested I call my doctor. I am SO thankful that I did. I was not expecting to hear that I needed to go to the hospital, but we went ahead and went. I was hooked up to several monitors and was not expecting to hear the word "contractions". Although I was not having any, they were concerned they might begin since I had fallen and my uterus had been jarred. I tested positive for fetal cells being mixed with mine. There was a concern that since I am positive, if she were negative my body would fight her off. But, it appears she is positive since she looks perfect from every doctor visit. The doctor did an ultrasound in the hospital and there was no tear in my placenta, which was fantastic news! I was sent home on bedrest until Monday to prevent contractions.

Well...Friday contractions began. I was a nervous wreck. I went back to the hospital and was put on medicine to take every 4 hours to stop them. The doctor then told me to not go back to work until I had been cleared after I saw her Wednesday.

We had another scare (it continues), on Monday afternoon. I thought I was leaking amniotic fluid so she told me to come in the next day. The ultrasound showed there was a lot of AF around her and she was perfectly healthy and normal. I had a contraction during the ultrasound because the doctor commented on it when she came in. That evening when I went home I began having very intense pains that had me doubled over. I was better the next day and did not have many contractions.

Today, I called my doctor (again) because I was experiencing those really bad pains. I am very confused now as to what is a true contraction, a Braxton-Hicks contraction, or just muscle ligament pains. To me they have all felt the same. She told me that because I had two laporascopies so closely together and so much scar tissue, when the muscles stretch it will cause doubled over pain. She told me to stop worrying and to relax. She assured me that all the ultrasounds and tests run have shown that Ady is perfect and very healthy. The contractions I've been having have not caused a change in dilation. She did, however, tell me to continue the medicine to stop the contractions. I was not aware of this-but she told me that some women have contractions start about now and they don't deliver for 16 weeks or more because the contractions are not very strong. When she said, "your worrying may cause more contractions", I began to listen up a little more closely. I have become such a worry wart the past few days (well I already was one....) because I just want her to be okay. Ady is a miracle and we tried so long for her. She was a pleasant surprise after being told we'd never have a baby. So any cramp, contraction, unusual feeling I have, I begin to worry. I am resting in the promise that she is safe in Jesus' arms. He loves her so much more than we do and He has a plan for her. We just have to trust that.

"Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.
For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name." Psalm 33:20

On a wonderfully lighter note, here are some pictures of my precious little Ady. We got to see her face in 4D. When I have my next ultrasound on June 9th, she will have more "fat" and we'll get an even better picture. She is so beautiful :)

This is a side profile of her face. If you look closely you can see her ear, her forehead and her arm up over her face.

In this picture, she has her knees bent all the way up. You can see her eyes, nose, and mouth.

Waving hello to the world!

And this is just precious. She is SMILING! As soon as the tech said, "Oh look! She's smiling!" She stuck out her tongue. She is also incredibly active and every ultrasound or doppler check, someone makes a comment about how wild she is! The next picture is just a little closer of this one. I just love it :)