HAPPY NEW YEAR

Mom and Dad Dyksterhouse came into town to celebrate the New Year with us.  Here we are at midnight toasting to the New Year.  We decided to bring in the New Year at 12am Eastern Time, since that came quicker than Central Time, and as you can see by the pictures below, not everyone was exactly ringing in the year with dance and song.

  

Deacon even got into the action with a little champagne (just don't call the cops, he is only 1 year old).   We hope that everyone had a great New Year's Eve and that 2009 brings you the grace and love of Jesus Christ.  Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family.  During the past 2 months of bed rest Kathryn and I have fully realized just how much God has blessed our lives with wonderful friends and family.  We hope that you have had a wonderful day, and continue to have a wonderful Christmas season.  2009 is right around the corner, and we anxiously await the little present that is currently wrapped up inside Kathryn.

33 Weeks and Counting

We are so thrilled to have made it to 33 weeks. I'm sorry that it's been awhile since I've updated the blog. We've had a few more trips to the hospital and several visits from home health, but these have been fairly uneventful and we are happy to say that we are now 33 weeks pregnant and counting. I had a doctor's appointment today and it went so well that she doesn't want to see me back in the office until New Year's Eve! We have over 7 weeks of bedrest under our belts with only 4 more to go. With Christmas with Kathryn's family and then New Year's with Gary's parents coming into town, we have several exciting events to get us through the final stretch.

A few weeks ago, our little girl weighed in at 3 lbs, 14 ozs. This was great news. We won't be able to get a new weight until our next appointment, but we feel confident that this baby is gaining at a great rate and we pray that she will be healthy and able to come home when we do deliver. Thank you all for your prayers, meals, cards, calls, and emails. They really have meant so much to us.

Here's to seeing week 34...

"All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be" Psalm 139:16

How comforting to know that all of our daughter's days have already been written. God has a plan for this little life and knows the day that she will be born. We have officially made it to week 29! When we were first checked into the hospital at 26 weeks, the doctor on call told us that she had her son at 29 weeks and he is healthy. I remember thinking that I would be so happy to make it to 29 weeks and we are here! My contractions were a little higher than they wanted them to be last weekend, so we did spend a few days back in the hospital. We are so thankful to be back home and in our own bed. Gary has been such a trooper - the accommodations for spouses at the hospital are far from comfortable. We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and got a good report. There has been no change which is great news. Thank you all so much for your calls, notes, visits, dinners, comments on the blog, and mostly for your prayers. We pray that this time of bed rest will not be wasted and that God will be glorified through it all!

28 Weeks!

We are so grateful to have made it another week. We had a great doctor's appointment on Monday. I haven't progressed at all (which is a very good thing) and the baby looked very healthy. They told us that she is 2 lbs, 8 ozs. We will go back for another checkup on Monday, and I am looking forward to another outing.

I cannot say enough good things about the home health care that I have received. The medicine that I am now on has been doing a fabulous job of stopping the contractions and they are so concerned and helpful. When they first hooked me up to my monitor, I had 15 contractions in an hour (the threshold that they do not want to see me go over is 3 in an hour). They started my medication and within a couple of hours, I was down to only 1 contraction! And "they" are in New Orleans and Philadelphia. They are able to monitor me and adjust my meds via the computer and phone. Modern technology is so amazing!

Thank you all for your continued prayers. Please pray that the contractions would stay at a minimum and for another good appointment on Monday.

27 Weeks

We are rejoicing with each additional week that we can get in the pregnancy, and today marks week #27. We only have one week to go until we make it to the third trimester. While we are definitely praying that we can have a full term pregnancy, Gary and I know that God has a plan for this child's life and it is much better than any of the plans that we can ever make on our own. So, we are being faithful to take the right medications and stay and bedrest and follow the doctor's orders, but in the end know that God has already planned out our daughter's birthday.

I go back for a doctor's appointment on Monday, so I will let everyone know what our status is at that point. Thank you for your continued support right now - we can't tell you how much it has meant to us.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

11 weeks (I felt like I was showing so much at this point - ha!)

21 weeks

25 weeks

27 weeks

Deacon isn't sure what to think of all of this new baby stuff

Baby Update

Thank you all so much for your texts, emails, notes, calls, and mostly for your prayers!! We are at home now and doing much better. After a very long weekend in the hospital with terbutaline shots and 16 hours on a magnesium sulfate drip, we went into the doctor's office for our regular checkup on Monday morning. Unfortunately, I was still having contractions, so they got me set up with home health to monitor and medicate. I am on strict bedrest, but have the contractions under control!! I will be 27 weeks on Friday and am thankful for everyday that this little girls stays put. I have heard so many encouraging stories from people who have started having problems at this point in their pregnancy and gone on to have healthy, full-term babies. Some even went past their due date and had to be induced! I am so thankful to my mom and Gary who have been here pretty much around the clock to make sure that I stay put and get everything that I need.

Please continue to pray for "Baby Veritas", that she will grow to term and that we will do everything that we can to make sure that that happens. We know that God has a plan for this baby girl and we have faith that this is all a part of it. Also pray for Gary as he has a full load taking care of me right now. He is so patient and such a great caregiver - I'm so thankful for him!

We will keep you posted on our progress. I also have some pictures that I will post soon.