Great Appointment

We had another doctor's appointment today and it went really well. There is still no change, which is a very good (and surprising!) thing. Because there has been no change, my doctor increased my contraction threshold (amount of "allowable" contractions) to 10/hour. So, hopefully that will keep me out of the hospital a little while longer. (I had to be admitted and put back on the mag-drip once last week.) I will be 31 weeks on Thursday, so we are trucking right along.

And I will also try to post some Mary Laine updates soon. She has been traveling around the southeast visiting family and, by looking at the pictures, isn't missing us nearly as much as we're missing her :-).

29 and 30 week photos

30 WEEKS

29 WEEKS

I Made It!

I stared at this clock for most of the 24 hours that I was on the drip waiting to see this number :-). The contractions are way down and I am expecting them to discharge me this morning. Even though it is no fun being in the hospital or on the mag, I am so thankful that there are things like that available to help keep this baby cooking for awhile longer!

Thanks to everyone for all of your calls, emails, and prayers!!

Mag Drip...Boooo

Just wanted to send out a quick message, Kathryn is going to be staying overnight in the hospital. Her contractions are not slowing down, and so she is now going to be on the magnesium drip for the next 16-24 hours. Please pray that Baby Veritas 2’s heart rate will stay constant (Mary Laine’s dropped precipitously the last time we tried this) and that Kathryn would not get too sick. The Mag drip causes a great deal of headaches and nausea, so Kathryn really needs your prayers. I will try to keep you updated as things progress, and hopefully we will be able to get home soon.

Please don’t text or call Kathryn as she will not be in a state of communication for the next day or so. I will be checking email, so feel free to email me any thoughts, concerns or well wishes.

We're Baaaaack in the Maternity Suites...again

We just checked into the hospital for the first time this pregnancy. We made it past 28 weeks, which was a lot better than last time, but it is still a bit sad to be here. Kathryn's contractions have been elevated the past few days, so we are here making sure everything is fine and to slow down the contractions.

Please pray that Kathryn will not have to go on the mag drip (if you don't know what that is, just imagine 24 hours of headache nausea and sleeplessness), and that the contractions will slow down so that we can go back home. Thanks to everyone that has been so helpful during this pregnancy. We will try to keep you as updated as possible.

Here is a picture of Kathryn and me at the hospital. It is a pretty poor picture of me (makes me look a bit feminine) but Kathryn as you can see is all smiles thanks to the balloons.

28 Weeks

I have made it to 28 weeks with no hospital stays! :-) I had a great doctor's appointment yesterday. There had been little change since our last appointment (which is a very good thing!) and they told us that our little guy weighs 2 lbs, 12 ozs. That is 60th percentile. He's hanging in there and doing so well. Unfortunately, my contractions have been more intense and frequent today, but we are still working on getting things settled down so that I can stay out of the hospital. We won't know anything for sure until around bedtime. Hopefully at that point we'll be able to go to bed instead of heading to the hospital! Here are some 28 week pictures - and I do have shirts that aren't black, just always seem to be wearing black when we think to get a photo. :-)

28 weeks

Profile of our big boy :-)

HELPing Me in My Bedrest Boredom

Today, they have been filming the "toilet scene" at Hilly's house. It has been so exciting to see all of the action. Here are a few of the pics that I was able to snap from my perch.

All of the period cars driving up and down the street

Mary Laine watching all of the excitement

The toilets

Aibileen is in the grey uniform on the walkway and Mae Mobley is far left

The period costumes were GREAT!

Aibileen and Mae Mobley

Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard) rehearsing

More Hilly

Mom and Dad's house - my front row seat

Outpouring of Love

This morning, I was struck by John 11:5 and 6, "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When therefore He heard that he was sick, He stayed then two days longer in the place where He was." This "sickness" is referring to Lazarus, a man whom Jesus loved. And this sickness led to his death. And the second word in verse 6 is therefore. To my human common sense, I would think that a more appropriate way to phrase this would have been "He heard that he was sick, but unfortunately was detained two more days in the place where He was". But that's not at all what it says. It says therefore. Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha and knew that their present suffering was what was best for them and for His ministry. Instead of hearing that he was sick and dropping everything and rushing to his side, he intentionally stayed put for two more days, knowing what the outcome would be. And this was a great act of love.

It can be so easy for me to fall into the trap of thinking that life should be really easy and that my status as a child of God should provide this big band-aid that will protect me from pain and suffering. Wrong! In fact, that status puts a big 'ole bullseye on my back, marking me as a target for Satan to attack. And he would just love for me to see hard things as some sort of proof that God doesn't love me or take care of me. But I choose to see the truth instead. I choose to see that it is in the hard things that God is showing his love for me. He is growing me and changing me and allowing me to see my need for Him. He is working in great ways.

Sometimes I struggle with the fact that I have such difficult pregnancies. I wonder why it can't just be normal and easy. But I am reminded like I was this morning that God loves me and therefore I have to go through hard things. I just pray that I can see how God is working and learn what it is that He has for me to learn through all of this.

And there are so many blessings that have already come in this storm. I just found out that my friends and church family have arranged to have meals brought for us through the end of September - that's almost two months, y'all! And I've done the math - it adds up to 32 meals!! Unbelievable. I have friends and family members who have rearranged their schedules that they can take Mary Laine for weeks at a time - or take time off of work and family to come and take care of her here. I am being shown unconditional and sacrificial love through all of these people and am completely overwhelmed by it. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has or will be sacrificing for us. Words can't express how grateful we are!

Greenwood or Hollywood?

There has been alot of excitement around our little town over the past few weeks. Dreamworks is filming the movie The Help in Greenwood. If you haven't read the book, it is a great book - I would highly recommend it. And, lucky for me, the house across the street from my parents is being used as the character Hilly's house. So, even though I can't get out to see much of what's going on, I have had a front row seat for all of the action lately. I have gotten to see several celebrities coming in and out and have had so much fun seeing all of the special effects. Over the past few days, it has been fascinating to watch them simulate a lightning storm. Not a bad way to spend time off of my feet. :-)

My front-row seat

Mimi and Mary Laine by the period car that is parked in her drive

I have been so star-struck by most of the celebrities as they have come and gone that I have forgotten to get my camera out. I finally caught Sissy Spacek as she was walking out of the house for a break.

19 Months

Mary Laine is now 19 months old. She had such a fun day. Aunt Sis was here to play with her when she woke up. Then she went to play with her friend Leah. I know that they had a great time. My little tomboy came home in a tutu wanting to dance and twirl. When she woke up from her nap, she was so happy to see that her Mimi was home. And then that night, we had a delicious dinner that was made for us by our sweet friends, the Shultzes. Mary Laine went to town on the corn. It may be her new favorite food. Can't believe how quickly the time is going. our girl is getting to be so big!

Time with Aunt Sis

While my mom was out of town, my Aunt Susan (aka "Aunt Sis") came to help with Mary Laine. We loved having her here and I am so so thankful for her help!

Everyone seems to agree that Mary Laine is the easy one to take care of - it's the dogs that are trouble!

Playing Peek-A-Boo

Reading to Aunt Sis

The Big 3-0

Even though I didn't expect to be spending my thirtieth birthday on bedrest, it was a great day spent with some of my favorite people. Gary, Mom and Mary Laine spent the day entertaining me. And little man didn't make any trouble or warrant any trips to the hospital, so that was a special present. Here are some pictures from the day.

I started the day out right reading to my sweet baby

Mary Laine is showing me the giant "K" that Daddy mowed in the lawn in my honor


I think that the cake was definitely Mary Laine's favorite part of the day

And I ended the day reading a story to all of my babies (Deacon included)

The Chair

This is the chair that we hate to love. It is simply referred to in my family as "the chair". It belonged to my grandparents and is so so comfortable. Whenever we would go to visit my grandparents, my brother would claim the chair and spend most of his stay in it. He inherited the chair once my grandparents passed away. I spent the entirety of my bedrest with my first pregnancy in the chair and Walker spent most of his recovery from his amputation in the chair. But as much as we love the chair and are thankful for it, we know that we must be in bad shape when we see it coming. Over the past few years, it has been reserved for helping us get through difficult times. We love to have the chair, but hate to have a reason to need it.

Well, the chair is back. I am thankful to have such a comfortable alternative to the bed, but sad to need a reason to use it. If you need me over the next few months, this is probably where I'll be...

Happy Birthday Aubrey!

Mary Laine has been to bunches of birthday parties this summer. They have actually been for the big kids, though (ages 3-6), but Mary Laine doesn't realize that she isn't one of the big kids. I'm pretty sure that she thinks that she's at least 5 and makes sure to call all of the other kids her age "babies". Here are some pictures from Aubrey's 6th birthday party.

Mary Laine and Sadie playing in the sprinklers

Check out that cake - and it was oh so yummy!

Love it that the grandmothers are in the anywhere chairs taking care of all of the kids

Playdate with Cousin Jane

My cousin Lee and her precious daughter Jane came over to visit while they were in Greenwood. Mary Laine and Jane are going to be great friends growing up. We were sad that we had to cancel our beach trip with them, but look forward to many years at St. Simons together in the future!

Don't you just love that sweet smile???

The only way that we could get them to both sit still long enough for a picture was to bribe them with food. I think that Deacon was hoping for a treat too. :-)

Around the house in July

Here are some cute pics of Mary Laine around the house in July:

We got this bucket when we were at the beach and it is ML's favorite "hat"

She loves to lie on her tummy and read

One day, Mimi set up a "water park" in the backyard. She had a blast!

Happy 1 1/2 Birthday Mary Laine

Since Mary Laine's birthday falls so close to Christmas, we have decided to wait and give her birthday presents on her half-birthday. Mimi and Papa came over to celebrate with us - we had half-cupcakes - pinkalicious in honor of her favorite book - and opened presents. Her "big" gift was an Elmo ride-on airplane. She is very into Elmo these days, so she was thrilled to see something with an Elmo theme that has lots of lights and sounds. We were planning for this to be a ride-on toy to play with outside, but since most of our summer days have been 100+ degrees, it has remained inside. Most mornings, she will ask to play with Elmo before she does anything else. So cute! It is hard to believe that she's already 18 months old. Time is flying and she is getting to be so big. Happy Half-Birthday, Mary Laine. We love you!

Getting Back to Our Roots

In early July, Mom, Mary Laine and I made a trip to Thomastown, MS to visit my Great- Aunt Ada and Uncle George (Ada is my maternal grandmother's younger sister). Both of my maternal grandparents grew up in Thomastown and lived there until after they my Aunt Susan was born. It is always fun seeing the places that they lived and visited. I remember my grandmother's stories of how she would watch "Billy" when they were growing up and thinking about how cute he was. Since my grandparents passed away a few years ago, it is always so great to visit with other family members. And not only did we get a great visit in, but Aunt Ada also cooked lunch for us. If there is one thing that she and my grandmother have been known for, it is their cooking! Yum yum! This was the first time that I'd been able to make it to Thomastown since Mary Laine was born. Hopefully we'll make it back with our son soon after he's here.