Me & Mandy

Over the past year, I've been so blessed to grow in my friendship with Mandy. Mandy and I first met in a women's bible study a little over a year ago and I remember telling Ryan soon after I met her that I felt like Mandy had to be one of the nicest people I've ever met. I really don't think she has a mean bone in her body! She has a little boy, Grayson, who is one week older than Madison Claire. We go to church together and have been in the same small group for the past several months. We both announced we were pregnant again the same night! How crazy & how fun!!! Mandy is having a little girl and is due one month before me. It's been so fun to go through this pregnancy together and we've been able to trade things - she has lots of cute little girl things from Madison Claire for her sweet girl, and she's loaned me lots of cute little boy things from Grayson for our little boy. I look forward to the upcoming months with going through the newborn stage together & our continuing to do life together. I'm very thankful for you, Mandy!!

Here we are - me at 28 weeks and Mandy at 32 weeks

Oh no....Broken foot?

A week ago Thursday, I missed 2 calls from Ryan while I was on the phone interviewing a candidate. When I called him back finally, he said "I think I broke my foot, I need you to come pick me up from the doctor". OH NO!!! While at afternoon workouts at CPA, one of the kids didn't set a piece of equipment up correctly and a 25 pound steel bar fell right onto Ryan's foot. It landed right where his toes meet his foot...ouch!!! After some x-rays, they determined that the foot wasn't broken. We got Ryan home with some pain meds, ice, a boot, and some crutches. He was basically confined to the bed or couch from Thursday night until Sunday night. It was HORRIBLE - for both of us!!! I was basically a single mom all weekend...and I must say, I don't know how single parents do it! I probably didn't serve Ryan as well as I could have - imagine some huffing & puffing as I brought him meals & drinks & drove him to school & picked him up, you get the idea - but I will tell you that I appreciate him and his help more today than ever!!!

So - it's a week or so later, and he's still not back to normal. He walks really slowly and can only get 1 pair of shoes to actually fit over his foot. Say a prayer he heals soon! The picture is from the first night - it hadn't started bruising yet and I promise it doesn't do it justice at all!!

Blow Dry Bootcamp

So - my hair salon had a blow-dry class a few weeks ago and I went. It was such a great idea - it cost $25 but that could be applied to the purchase of a product. They showed us how to do a great blow-out and then we got to work one-on-one with a stylist while we did our own hair and they watched and gave us tips. It was fabulous and I now feel like I can love my hair when I fix it at home - so fun!!! This was the night of the actual event. If you notice my hair looking cute in my subsequent pictures - you now know the reason why.

Step Sing 2011

Ryan and I always LOVE us some Step Sing so when Meredith asked if we were coming this year, we didn't even really have to think about our answer! The McSwains kept Madison Claire and we headed down to Birmingham on Saturday morning. We spent the day shopping and napping before the show that night. Meredith was in the Chi-O show which was a Toy Story theme - she was a soldier as you can see below & had a solo part in the show where she was great! We also had fun seeing some of Ryan's old students! Trevor was in the Dudes A Plenty show (they won!) and Conner's fiance Ashley was the female emcee - big shoes to fill from Meredith 2 years ago!

We had breakfast on Sunday morning with everyone before heading out of town and me, mom & Meredith all showed up wearing the exact same pair of shoes. We just needed Sarah (who has the same pair!) and it would have been complete. It was a little embarrassing!!

Ultrasound

Just a quick update that I had my ultrasound yesterday and everything looked good! The baby had actually turned in the last week from being breech to being head down, and I didn't feel it so that makes them think that there can be quite a bit of movement in there without me knowing. I go back next Thursday but we aren't going to do an ultrasound then unless something changes in the meantime.

They did take measurements of the baby & my amniotic fluid and said that the baby was growing normally and I had a gracious plenty of amniotic fluid in there! They also said the baby was 2 pounds, 11 ounces!

Thanks for all the prayers!

More Prayers Please....

I had my 27 week Drs. appointment today and had a little scare. I mentioned to the doctor that I wasn't feeling the baby move much during the day - I can feel him very consistently at night, but most days, the entire day can go by and I don't feel him move. I wasn't really concerned about it per-se, but I felt like I remembered feeling Madison Claire move more often by the time I was 27 weeks so decided to ask about it. I'm so glad that I did.

Dr. Macey listened on the fetal monitor and the heartbeat sounded great, as usual, but he continued to listen for a good 3-5 minutes to listen for movement - kicks, turning, etc. We only heard about 2 during that time which caused him to want to do an ultrasound so we could look and see his movement. I had an ultrasound about 20 minutes later and the baby wasn't moving much at the beginning, even though I was turning on the table and coughing to try to jar him. The technician had me drink some grape soda and once I got hooked back up, the baby started moving more so she was relieved. She said he scored an 8 out of 8 on the test that she gives him in terms of what she looks for so I was expecting everything to be just fine and the doctor to want to see me in 3 weeks.

When I met with Dr. Macey again, his demeanor seemed more serious and he basically just said that he wanted to monitor me more closely because it's really hard to determine what the right path is to take regarding decreased fetal movement when the baby is so little. So - I'm going back one week from today for another ultrasound to check his movement. I asked him how concerned I needed to be and he said "not very", to which I asked should I have people pray and he said "that wouldn't be a bad idea", to which I asked on a scale of 1-10 how concerned should I be and he said "a 2" (insert note - by this point he realized I was starting to freak out, so I don't think I really believe him!). All that being said, I do think if they were seriously concerned, they would have sent me to the hospital or put me on bed rest, or something so I'm encouraged that they sent me home and want to see me in one week.

Please pray that little baby boy would start moving and grooving during the day and that I would feel him. Please pray also that Ryan and I would trust this precious baby into the Lord's hands and not be anxious about all of the what-ifs that surround decreased fetal movement. Please pray for me also that the emotional stress I am still feeling as a result of what Ryan and I have been through the past few weeks will go away - I know it's not good for the baby and am feeling some guilt that my stress has contributed to this, which in turn, only makes me more stressed. Bad cycle.

Surprise Blessing

In my post regarding CPA, I mentioned that I was specifically praying for Ryan to be surrounded by truth and to have confidence in the amazing man, husband, father, teacher, coach & leader that God made him to be. God answered this prayer in such an awesome way this past Friday night!

We had a date night planned to a nice restaurant in town, Fish & Co. We got dressed up and headed out to spend some time together. While we were there eating, I noticed a family come in that I recognized from CPA. I didn't know who they were, just that I knew I recognized them. I pointed them out to Ryan and he said hello. They proceeded to come over to our table and spend at least 5 minutes telling Ryan how much they appreciated him and how disappointed they were with the decision. They could have just said hello and kept moving, they could have said "I'm sorry it didn't work out" and kept moving, but they didn't. They stopped and went on and on reaffirming Ryan.

There are families at CPA that we know love Ryan and there are families that we know that don't love Ryan. There are also a lot that fall into a category where we don't really know what they think. This family fell into that category so it was just unexpected and refreshing and exactly what we both needed. Praise the LORD!

They also surprised us by buying our dinner. We are grateful for these blessings and hope that one day we will be in a position to bless others the same way. Please continue to pray with me for Ryan (and me).