ONE HAND!!!

Counting the days until Avery's arrival and we are down to ONE HAND!!!!  Well tonight, counting to induction is 5 days.  Tomorrow, 4 days (with 5 days until her arrival!) Mike and I realized this today while sitting in the doctor's office waiting room.  We both had the "Oh Wow!  Didn't realize so soon..." look on our faces.  I am sure the couple sitting across from us thought we were nuts.

We are truly blessed with the best family and friends.  You all ROCK!!! We have received so many texts, emails, and phone calls checking up on us and asking about appointments, etc.  Y'all are wonderful!!!   I am sure I will update after Thursday's doctor's appointment, but I know many of you have asked how you can specifically pray for us so I wanted share, in case you do want to join us in prayer. I will try to explain some of them to help you understand.

ONE:  For Avery to make her arrival into the world when it is the safest for she and I both. Today at our appointment during our Tuesday/Thursday BPP/NST, Avery is starting to show signs of distress. No panic, yet! Nothing at dangerous levels yet, but for the past 6 weeks she has been such a trooper and hasn't seemed to be bothered by the preeclampsia.  Now,with my blood pressure on the rise and with her being bigger and needing more nutrients, blood, oxygen, etc. the preeclampsia may be compromising what she is receiving from me. This is where my high blood pressure compromises the umbilical cord, not allowing her to receive everything she needs from me. Although some concerns with the BPP Ultrasound, she passed the NST on the monitors with flying colors. If she did not pass the NST, we would have headed to L&D for further monitoring and a possible emergency c-section. However, the NST did show she is still very active, has beautiful movement and a great, strong heart beat.  She is growing and in the 30% which is great!  (anything below 10% is when they are concerned!) We come to the point where we want to be able to try and make it to 37 weeks (4 DAYS AWAY) to give Avery time to reach "term" and have had the chance to grow as much as possible, however, we are now debating whether 4-5 days away is that big of a difference, or do we need to go ahead and deliver her sooner.  After she finally passed, we decided she and I were healthy enough to wait until at least Thursday.  Thursday we will repeat the BPP and NST and then decide if we need to head to L&D or if we can make it until Sunday.

TWO:  Our medical team!! We have been blessed with the best doctors. Although there are over 7 doctors in our practice, the past month we have only dealt with 3 (these have been our 3 favorite from the very beginning, so God definitely has been on our side)...not to mention, Monday and Tuesday two of them are on call at the hospital, so as long as we make it to our induction, either one of them will be delivering Avery.  We are so thankful that we have continuously been in contact with these same doctors, who we are comfortable with, who show true concern and have been and are staying up to date on our case, and who are truly taking mine and Avery's health into consideration.  Their names are Dr. Aundrea Clark and Dr. Benjamin Miles.  We ask that you please join us in praying for them, as they will be the ones at the hospital with us during Avery's delivery.

THREE:  We pray that the delivery and induction go as smoothly as possible.  There are so many unknowns right now, but we know that God is in control...First, for this induction to be successful, we need the Cervadil and Pitocin to both work effectively. Although right now my body is not prepared for labor, we hope it takes well to these induction methods and easily transitions into labor.  There is potential for my body not to respond, or for my body to respond too rapidly, causing distress for me and/or Avery.  Either one of these scenarios ends in emergency c-section.  We just hope that the original induction plan goes as smoothly and peacefully as can be.

FOUR:  Preeclampsia has the potential to get worse during labor and even after delivery.  There is what we have worried about, with seizures taking place and my blood pressure getting outrageously high.  We pray this is NOT the case.  We also pray that I can continue on my Aldomet while in labor (it has been known to slow down and delay the labor process/contractions).  We also pray that we do not have to be put on Magnesium, the "devil juice" to prevent seizures. 

No matter what happens, I definitely feel a peace about things...whether it be a 36 hour labor, whether it turns into an emergency c-section, whether whatever, although I am nervous (which I think is more a first time parent thing), I have this calming peace that no matter what it WILL be okay.  I keep hearing, "Be still and know that I am God!"  I know that no matter what He is in control. I am going to have to put this on a huge poster board in my delivery room. I pray that Mike and I can continue to keep our focus and feel this calming and comforting blanket wrapped around us.

Again, each and every one of you mean the world to us and we cannot wait to introduce Avery to you, knowing no matter how or what kind of delivery we go through, she has made it this far because of your faithful prayers and love!  We pray that God blesses each and every one of you!!

Love,
Mike and Stephanie