A Holy Pursuit

Dear Delainey, I am so excited that you're finally here! Of course, you are worth the wait, but it's such a relief to hold you in my arms and watch you breathe. Here are some of the details of your birth... It didn't really go anything like I expected, but you're here safe and sound, and that's all I really wanted. We were scheduled to be induced on Wednesday, April 15, at 7am. Milan spent the night at Grammy and Papa's and I went out for an early morning walk with Riggins for one last attempt at starting some contractions naturally. I felt a few minor contractions but nothing too substantial. Daddy and I got checked in at the hospital just after 7am, and that began a long, slow marathon to your birth. I was given Cytotec to ripen my cervix and then eventually Pitocin was started to induce contractions. After a few hours, my nurse (who also goes to Open Door!) stripped my membranes and broke my water. After a couple more hours and not really progressing...

Dear Little Bear, It's almost time, sweet one! We anticipate your arrival any time now, and honestly, we're really hoping something happens in the next week. The alternative is a scheduled induction, which we would love to avoid. I got to see you again on an ultrasound last week, just before 37 weeks. You were happy as can be in there, and we could see you practicing breathing, which was so fascinating! According to the ultrasound you're somewhere around 8.5 pounds, but it could be off by a pound either way. Yikes! We're just continuing to trust God's plan and His timing for your birth, as well as a safe delivery for both of us. This last month was a tough one for all of us, sweet baby. We said good-bye to your Grandma. She was such a wonderful woman who already loved you so much. She was a prayer warrior and a strong woman of God. She is already so missed and it makes me so sad that you won't know her. But you will certainly know of her strong fait...

The past year has been a rough one. Almost exactly a year ago my mom was told the endometrial cancer, that the doctors thought they had taken care of, had actually spread throughout her abdomen. Chemotherapy treatment started quickly with the hopes of shrinking the tumors enough to do surgery to remove the rest. Mom battled through six months of chemo only to find out that it had done almost no good and surgery was not an option. Outside of a miraculous work of God she would only have a few short months left with us. God chose not to heal Mom on this side of Heaven, but we certainly made the most of this last year with her. We crossed things off our bucket lists and she left us with some wonderful handmade treasures and keepsakes, as well as many, many photos to cherish. We had Mom's homegoing celebration last week and I was blessed to be able to speak at it. It was genuinely a miracle that I made it through without completely breaking down. Mom was my dearest friend and someo...

Dear Little Bear, We had a big, eventful second trimester! The coolest thing was definitely finding out that you are a GIRL! We're so excited to have you in our family, sweet girl, and we're excited to see you have a big, protective brother, too. I've had some fun already beginning to transform the nursery into a girl's room. That was another big thing this trimester- moving Milan into his new room and bed, to make room for you and all the girl stuff in the nursery. He made the transition so smoothly, which has been a big blessing! Next up is some paint and laundering the girl stuff we have already.  You've been a great little travel buddy this trimester, too. We've made many trips back and forth to Indiana to see family, especially Grandma (aka- Bama, as Milan calls her), as much as possible. Bama is sick, and we're not sure how much time we have left with her, but we are making the best of whatever time we have left! We've been working on yo...

I'm currently blessed to be in my second pregnancy. From the very beginning of this one I thought I was having another boy because everything seemed so similar to my first pregnancy. However, I was so excited and shocked to find out that baby #2 is a girl! With both of my pregnancies I have been blessed to have pretty minimal symptoms. Yes, I was tired during the first trimester, but other than that, nothing crazy. I can count on one hand the number of times I felt nauseous with either pregnancy. Maybe I'm just a "pregnancy unicorn" as one of my cousins and dear friend dubbed me, but I have also been very intentional in a few specific areas during my pregnancies that I think provided significant results. I'm going to share with you some of the things I tried and seemed to work well for me. Obviously I can't guarantee the same results for you, but many of the things I tried were just good for me anyway, regardless of being pregnant. I'll post a couple of ...