More Mary Laine

I am going to let Kathryn fill everyone in on the details of the delivery night, but my job is to provide pictures and I even have a video.  Here they are...enjoy :)

And some pictures.....

   

Mary Elaine Dyksterhouse (Mary Laine) Arrives!

Sorry for the shoddy cutup of the photo, but we wanted to get a quick photo out to all our friends and family.  Thank you so much for the prayers, phone calls, texts, emails, and thoughts.  Mary Laine's recruiting profile is as follows:

Name: Mary Elaine Dyksterhouse

Goes By: Mary Laine

Height: 18 1/2 inches

Weight: 5lbs 5oz

Birthdate: January 3rd, 2009

Birthtime: 12:25am

She is hanging out under the warming light, and soaking in the real world.  We love every second we have with her, and hope to bring her home soon.  We will post more pictures when we get a chance.  

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.