Weekly Doctor Visit

We are now almost 34 weeks along. The doctor is hoping that we can go just a few more weeks so we shall see.

This week's doctor visit was again uneventful. The doc opted to not "examine" Angela again this week. She is still measuring big however. They said that she is actually measuring 36-37 weeks, but again they want her to go just a little longer. The baby has been kicking her pretty hard in a couple of places. She has said that it feels like he is stretching his legs and arms.

She has continued her strenuous regime of sleeping late and wandering out to the couch and watching TV. She has a pretty regular schedule of what shows to watch. Some of the highlights are The Price is Right, Boy Meets World, Gilmore Girls, and Alias, just to name a few. Our friends, Christine and Sean McConnell, also loaned us their XBox for the time being. Big thanks to them for helping to keep Angela entertained.

In all seriousness, Angela has also been making the most of her time with a number of craft projects. I won't elaborate because I want it to be a surprise for Christmas. Tracy Podraza bought her a gift of a Knifty Knitter. She has worked it quite a bit already. Again I will leave out the specifics as some of you may see the finished projects this Christmas season.

I talked to my dad from Kathmandu tonight. There was a bit of a delay, but it was sure great to hear his voice. They are all back safely to a reasonably safe altitude. He was able to get to 16,800 ft (or so) and had to be helped down. I am still not certain if he had acute mountain sickness or food poisoning or whatever, but the great news is that they are safe and he sounded GREAT! They will be returning to the states very soon...Tuesday or Wednesday. I am glad that C-Bob has decided to wait until his Grandpa returns home.

Mobile Shower

Well its official, we can take the baby home when he gets here. And we can dress him and diaper him for quite a while. Among the many gifts that we received we got the car seat/stroller combo and a whole bunch of CUTE clothes and diapers and other things. Huge thanks to all of the families that blessed us from this shower in Ohio. It was great to have Clayton's Grandma and Aunt here this weekend. They brought all the stuff and left us with a freezer full of food. I cannot believe how blessed we are. It is clear that this little guy is going to be loved by so many people around the globe.

Speaking of around the globe, my dad is currently on a trip to hike up to base camp of Mt. Everest. He was asked by a friend of his to make the trip to reflect on leadership, life and a bunch of other things. I heard via my mother that several of the men were taken back down the mountain due to illness. Unfortunately, one day away from base camp (their summit) my dad was forced to turn back due to illness. Although he did not get as far as he had hoped, I am still very proud of him. I can't wait to hear all that my dad has learned and discovered about himself and life in general. My prayer is that he will get well and that he will arrive back safe and sound.
More can be read about them on their Everest blog. They are currently not able to post new info but should be posting new stuff soon.

Angela is continuing her daily trip from the bed to the couch. She has taken up several craft projects and is having a ball. She would definitely love to get an email or visit from folks during this time of bedrest. She has also signed up for a Netflix account. That will hopefully help pass the time. Currently she is about 33 weeks along and the doctors want us to get to at least 36 weeks before they are even ready to think about the baby coming out. We will know more after our appointment on Wednesday.

Our hearts also go out to my brother in Tampa and the rest of the state of Florida that are about to get blasted by Hurricane Wilma. Take care of yourselves!

House Arrest?

So far this week has been relatively uneventful. Angela has been confined to our home per the doctor's orders and is having tons of fun watching lots of TV and reading lots of magazines. Honestly she has been able to get lots of thank you's written and rest up as she approaches the biggest change that we have ever had...the birth of our (what we think will be a very active) son. I am sure that the rest will allow her to more manage and take care of C-Bob when he gets here.

We have now moved to weekly appointments. We had one today and not only was it very quick, but it was also very uneventful. Uneventful is good though. The dr. said that everything looked really good, even though Angela lost 3 1/2 lbs. All I can figure is the day or 2 on the IV and the increased body temperature from the drugs has caused her to lose a little weight. Doc said it was no big deal. We need to hold this kid off for about 3 1/2 more weeks and then Angela can possibly begin to be a little more active. The dr. mentioned something about headstands and cartwheels, but I disagree (if my opinion matters.) She is still contracting some, but they are not "productive" and the more she takes it easy the less they come.

She did have a big day. She got to drive, see people at the church, ride the elevator and we split lunch at the Purple Onion. So much fun all crammed into one day. She admits that she overdid it a little, but its all good. She will have tomorrow to rest up.

This weekend we look forward to our mobile shower arriving from Ohio. Angela's mom and sister are going to be coming to visit for the weekend. I know that she cannot wait to see them. They should be arriving late Thursday or early Friday.

One of the things that I am doing in anticipation of the baby is to redo our shower. It is not a voluntary project, but a necessary one. We had a tile that fell off at the bottom when I pushed on it (several months ago). I eventually removed some more tile to reveal the drywall that was almost all the way rotten from water. There was also some mold. I stripped that wall down to the studs and have started on the other walls. I should be able to get the remaining wall torn down and begin figuring out just how to put up drywall or tilebacker and tileboard for our new shower. Should be interesting. I just hope that I can kill all of the mold and get the job done before the little guy gets here. The good news is that as I tore some of the tile and drywall off, some of the ugly wall paper came off too. Can't wait to tear it off next. Pink paisley...what were they thinking.

Momma is Home

Angela was able to come home today...YIPEEE! She is delighted to be back in a bit more familiar surroundings. She was blessed to come to a cleaner house, huge thanks to Tracy Podraza and my mother (I helped some but I will take no credit whatsoever.) She was also surprised to find a table full of gifts from friends and family. It was a great supply of very essential items just in case this little guy decides to come too early. It sounds so cliche', but all of the stuff is SO SMALL! It is unbelievable to think that some of this stuff is going to be too big at first. It is so exciting to think that he is about to come out and play so soon. Just remember little guy, don't come too soon!!!

Today was a busy day on the job front. Being a children's minister makes for a crazy schedule anyway but this weekend was extra crazy. I had made arrangements for someone else to teach for me this Sunday in our 4th and 5th grade class, but something came up and I was asked to step in. New series, new stage, new lesson...lots of stress. The new series is called Lost World and dives right into the why it is so important for all of us to seek out the Lost that are out there to bring them closer to Christ. It has often been said that there are about 100,000 lost people within 10 miles of our church. Needless to say there were lots of potential problems with everything from sound and lights to too many people being out this Sunday.

The lesson stressed the point that lost people matter to God. He is willing to go to great lengths to go after them and bring them into relationship with Him. One of the big problems is that people often don't even realize that they are lost. It is our mission to take God to these people or maybe vice versa, bring these people to God. Our church is designed to be a place that allows people to invite their friends and give them plenty of reasons to check it out and come back for more. I challenged the kids to use the opportunities that they have to build relationships with those around them in order to bring them closer to Christ. Kids have so many ways to do this with the kids in their classes, sports teams and neighborhoods. I wasted so many of these chances when I was a kid, I just hope that some of them heard me and react. What an incredible revival could be started if these kids heed these words and invite their friends to church. I have always had incredible faith in children, that they can make a huge impact in their world. My prayer now is that they will act on these words.

Our Sunday evening service also had its own stressors, but seemed to go off without a hitch. The highlight of the evening is really a toss up. Our "fun" activity is designed to be an attention drawer and interest the kids in coming. We couple that with a short but appropriate devotional and also use the time to practice for our upcoming Christmas musical. The fun activity was a Lego Build-Off. Really a pretty easy idea, but the kids loved it. The Legos were sorted evenly and placed in lunch sacks. The kids were grouped into groups of 3 or 4 and each group was given a bag of Legos to work with. They were given about 20 minutes to create whatever and then were voted on...every group was a winner of an award such as: Most Creative, Most Original, Most Practical, Best Theme, Largest Project and Most Unique. The kids loved it! What an easy activity, but something that all of the kids liked. I highly recommend having a few of the kids that arrive early help you sort the legos into same size piece piles and then make sure that all of the bags get an equal amount of pieces.

The most fun part (at least for me) was the devo. This month we are focusing on prayer and teaching the A-C-T-S method. We have covered Adoration and Confession and tonight we talked about Thanksgiving. My first thought was to talk about Thanksgiving, like the holiday in November, but wanted to steer clear of the holiday and talk about what it means to really give thanks in all things. With the week that we have had, in and out of the hospital, medicine that has made Angela sick, steroid shots, LOTS of contractions and now bed rest, I certainly have had reason to not be thankful. But instead I was able to talk about how all of the things that have happened are reasons to celebrate. We have doctors that are able to diagnose these problems and help solve them. The meds although they make her sick have slowed the contractions. The steroids were not any fun to get, but will help in the development of C-Bob's lungs. And bed rest is truly not all its cracked up to be, but is allowing Angela to get the rest that she has missed out on the past few months and allow her to get rested for what will be some exciting weeks, months and years. I then presented the kids with a blessing basket full of several mementos and explained what each meant and why I was thankful for these things. After I had emptied out the basket, I gave all of the kids a chance to write down their blessings and add it to the basket. I can't wait to read them tomorrow.

I just meant to write a few things and wow did I ever write a few things. Angela jokingly told me that she has finally figured out a way for me to journal. I guess she is right.

Saturday afternoon at the hospital

We have had a fairly uneventful day here at Brookwood. At this point in the game we are certainly thankful for days that are uneventful. Angela has been taken off of the magnesium sulfate and her dose of Brethine has been increased. She is still contracting but they are very minor and the nurses don’t seem too worried. We did receive a couple of phone calls from the baby shower in Ohio that we were not able to attend. Hey all of you up there. We can’t wait to see you Grandma C and Aunt Heather. Sounds like they had lots of fun; we can’t wait to see the pictures and video of the shindig.

We are waiting to see if we will get clearance to head home this afternoon or if we get to go home tomorrow or later than that. She is now only dilated 1 cm and effaced 40% so that is really good news. But she is now confined to the house for the next 2 weeks…any thing that we can do to keep him inside of there for a few more weeks. Angela will of course be able to check email and talk on the phone but anybody that can visit and hang with her would make her day!

Angela has been hooked up to the 2 monitors for most of the afternoon to monitor her heartrate, the baby’s heartrate, and Angela’s contractions. She has had 9 contractions in a previous hour, but again they are pretty mild. We should know more news soon.

On a different front, Angela’s women’s small group has been busy planning a secret “drive by” shower today. So far it is still a secret to Angela so don't tell. There has been some concern that if this little guy gets out here we are not going to be equipped with the stuff to take care of him. It is so amazing that there are so many people that God is using to take care of us.

Breaking news… looks as if they are going to keep Angela for another night at least; kind of a bummer but the whole point of being here is to keep that little guy inside of her. So we will do what we can to make sure that happens.

Lessening the MAG

After a long day in a hospital bed with a huge needle in her arm, Angela is happy that they have begun to reduce the amount of magnesium sulfate that she is getting. Since the "mag" is a muscle relaxer she has been in somewhat of a drunken stupor. They will continue to reduce the dose until they can get here back on the other Brethine that can be taken orally. Unfortunately we are unable to make the trip to Ohio for the baby shower, but they are going to have the shower anyway. Angela's mom and sister will be transporting the stuff down here next weekend.

Baby seems to be doing fine. No real news on him except that he continues to grow strong as momma keeps him inside. It's pretty cool to sit in the room here at the hospital and listen to the fetal monitor with his heartbeat and the occasional kick or other movement. Seems like he is going to be an active one. His current heartrate is 140.

We currently have a visitor from Angela's women's small group. Tracy has joined us for the weekly screening of Angela's favorite show ALIAS. Tracy wanted the world to know that her favorite color is blue. They are now playing the popular card game of Nertz. Tracy and her husband Paul have been a true blessing throughout this past year and especially the past few weeks. It is so great to have friends that can drop everything and come up the hospital at 7:30 in the morning and then back in the evening.

The nurse just came in to check Angela's vitals and everything is normal and she only had 2 contractions this past hour...HALLELUJAH! Finally getting those things under control. She is feeling much better now and less sluggish.

We are hoping for a great day tomorrow as they continue to back off the "mag" and life will hopefully get back to its normal level of craziness.

Who is C-Bob anyway?

Just a note to clarify...C-Bob is the illustrious nickname of my firstborn (almost) son. His given name will be Clayton Robert. Clayton for his mother's maiden name and Robert for 2 of his grandfathers first names. C-Bob is just something that rolled off of my tongue and thought that it just might be the perfect nickname for my child. Sure hope he likes it!

C-Bob is set to join us on December 11, but as of the last few days it looks like he is trying to make his way into the world a bit early.

As of this morning Angela is at Brookwood Hospital here in Birmingham, AL with a magnesium sulfate IV to help slow or stop the contractions. She is expected to be there for today and possibly tomorrow. Your prayers are much appreciated during this time.

C-Bob may be on his way!

As of 6:45am, we're on our way to Brookwood Hospital because C-Bob just doesn't seem to want to wait!

Posted here below was the last update we got from the doctor's visit yesterday from Angela...

Hello everyone!

Wanted to send you all an update on our doctor's appointment today.
Here's the scoop:

Even with medication, I still had contractions yesterday. They have slowed significantly today, and I am taking medication that makes me really jittery every 4 hours. Hopefully, this will help to hold off the contractions for a little while longer.

I have dialated to 2 cm, and I am not due for another 7 1/2 weeks. Obviously this is cause for concern.

Because I have continued to progress, the Dr. Ross has put me on bed rest. This means that I am really only supposed to get up to go to the bathroom and get food. I can sit, lay, recline, or whatever, but I need to be pretty low key.

Dr. Ross is hoping that Clayton will wait at least 3 or 4 weeks to come, but at this rate, who knows. If we continue like we have so far. . .

Good news is that Clayton is measuring 2 weeks ahead of time. I've heard that an average baby weighs about 3 1/2 pounds at this point, while Clayton actually weighs 4 lbs, 11 ounces. He's a big boy!

Since the biggest problem with babies born early is their lung development, they gave me a steroid shot, and I have to go back tomorrow for another. My appointments will continue weekly from here on out.

Good news, we had another ultrasound today and he is so cute! He was taking a nap. It looks like he's going to have his daddy's lips. :) We also know that he has some hair. :)

So for now, I am sitting on the couch, eating bon bons, soaking up the relaxation! I'll see you all again. . . some day!

Love you all!