She's Here!!!

Claire Elise Prather was born on July 8, 2007 at 10:14 a.m. in Big Spring, TX. She weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces and was 19 inches long. Both mother and daughter are doing very well. We will have more pics and information in the very near future!!!

Still Pregnant!

Yes, I'm still pregnant! We've made it to 37 weeks ;) I went to my regular doctor yesterday morning and he said that since I was to be 37 weeks today, I didn't have to be on bed rest or take Terbutaline anymore after last night. He even said I could go to work. So, I came home from the doctor's office, reported what he told me to Scott and went to work yesterday! So, technically, I only missed about 30 minutes worth of work between Friday and Monday. One of the ladies at work is convinced that I am going to have Claire on Saturday and her birthday will be 07- 07 -07. Honestly, I think that would be pretty cool, but I'm not holding my breath.

A small update on my grandma: her surgery went well yesterday; it lasted about 12 hours. The doctor said the tumor was about as large as his fist. It ended up being wrapped around her brain stem, so it is very good that they did the surgery to remove it. He said it was a life-threatening tumor. We are thankful that the surgery went well. Of course, she is still in ICU and I haven't heard anything today, but that is what I know as of last night when the surgery was finally over. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for her.

Well, I'm off to try and take a nap. It's getting harder and harder to sleep at night, so maybe I can catch a few winks this afternoon!

Recent Happenings

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post...whether in sympathy, encouragement or advice. It's so nice to know that so many people care! The next two nights of VBS went more smoothly; I just avoided the "opening ceremonies" in the auditorium altogether and brought Will in time for his class. That seemed to work much better. We survived and VBS is over--yea! VBS is always a stressful time for our family since Scott is one of the main people in charge, so we always feel really relieved when it's behind us.

On Thursday, Scott took a much needed day off and rested as much as possible. That night, he and I went on our last Midland trip before Claire comes. Will stayed with his surrogate grandparents while we went shopping for a few essential baby items.

Why was it our last trip you ask? Well, because on Friday morning, I became really dizzy and swollen very quickly. I called my OB/GYN office to see what I needed to do. The nurse told me she would feel most comfortable if I went up to L&D and let them check me out. So, we went back up there, me thinking that this probably wasn't necessary...maybe I just got too hot or something. Well, evidently I was wrong. When we got there around noon, I was dilated to 2 cm. I already knew this because my doctor had told me so at my regular appointment on Monday. They of course hooked me up to the fetal monitor and discovered I was having contractions--again, something I already knew because I'd been having sporadic Braxton-Hicks contractions for a couple of weeks. Problem being, I was having a lot of them, and they started to become a little more regular/closer together than they wanted. So they flushed me with fluids for a while trying to see if maybe I just wasn't well hydrated. That did not stop the contractions. So they then gave me terbutaline (a contraction-stopping drug) at two separate times. At about 4:45, the contractions had pretty much stopped and they were ready to let me go home. But, of course, they had to check my dilation again. It had progressed to 3 cm with all that contracting. They still let me go home, but I have to take oral terbutaline every six hours for this next week. And I have to "rest." So, therefore, no more working, shopping, etc! It was a good thing we got that last Midland trip in before this happened :)

I'm feeling alright, but of course I'm paranoid that I'm having contractions and not knowing it. Also, the terbutaline makes me very shaky and kind of crazy feeling. I guess it also makes my heart race, so I feel more tired than normal too. I will be 37 weeks (full term) on Tuesday, so maybe if we can just get past then, everything will be good :)

This has made us really get down to business on getting ready for Claire's arrival, though...we finally hung up the shelves in her room and washed the infant carrier seat pads today. Our bags are packed and ready to go, too. Please pray for a safe and uncomplicated delivery...I have no idea if I'll be able to post again between now and then :) It seems my babies don't like to cook as long as they're supposed to!

33 Weeks and "Glowing"

I'm in the shadow because the sun was SUPER bright and it was really hot out, so we took these as fast as we could so we wouldn't be all sweaty at church! :)
In front of the pomegranate (sp?) trees on the other side of the alley. This is what I back my car into everyday :)

Sickness, Seniors & Storms

Sorry it's been so long, my friends! It's been an interesting week. Our family was stricken with some type of bronchial/sinus infection and all three of us are on anti-biotics. Mine started way back when I was in Houston and kept coming and going, but my body finally decided this weekend that it had gotten the best of me and put me down for a while. I was feeling quite miserable. On top of that, I had some massive back pain on Friday that was just compounded every time I coughed. It hurt so bad all day without letting up that it got me scared enough to call Labor and Delivery and see if I needed to come in and be monitored. They "said" (not really) to go ahead and come in so they could check it out. So, we spent about 2 hours in the hospital on Friday night and everything was completely normal. They chalked it up to round ligament pain. I was still hurting on Saturday, but I could actually get up and walk around, so it was better. (Sorry, Mom, if you're reading this now and freaking out, but we didn't want to call you on Friday night and scare you and I was feeling so bad the few days afterwards that I never got around to calling. You can scold me later.) Anyway, Will ended up spending the night with his surrogate grandparents on Friday night and we picked him up at around 11:00 on Saturday morning. I'm sure he would have stayed there and played all day (they live a few miles out of town in a more "rural"-type housing division, so there's lots of room to run around, and of course, they have fun things like "tractors," four-wheelers, and golf-carts to play on), but we made him come home and take a nap :)


On Sunday, our congregation honored the graduating seniors by giving them a Bible and having a potluck in their honor. I barely made it through that and got home in time to crash. Thankfully, it was also a 5th Sunday, so we didn't go back for evening services (on 5th Sundays, they have worship, lunch, and worship again right after). On Monday, I was still feeling much too ill to go into work. In fact, I still felt pretty horrible on Tuesday, but went ahead and went because I felt bad for being gone two days already. Thankfully, there was a huge stack of statements to stuff, seal and stamp, so I basically got to sit and do that the whole time. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon and had to drink the oh-so-yummy orange-flavored glucose drink. I was sort of thankful I was so congested because I couldn't really taste it! I had my regular nurse this time so I asked her if we could take another little peek at the baby to reassure me that it's a girl and not a boy. I felt bad that Scott wasn't there with me to see her (it's pretty much definitely a girl, by the way!!), but we took such a quick little look that he didn't miss too much. We basically just wanted to check those specific parts and that was it. She did get a little face shot (not great) that I'll post. I won't embarrass my daughter by putting her woo-hoo on the Internet for all to see, but believe me, I'm not worried anymore that she'll come out a boy :)

Her face is on the left, eyes looking at the "camera," her tummy is on the right.

While at the doctor, I asked him what else I could take to clear my head and he suggested gaufinisen (sp?) which is the real name for Mucinex, and between drinking the orange stuff and getting my blood drawn, I went and picked some up. It has helped tremendously! I felt so much better last night and today that I actually got my house picked up and laundry done! My house doesn't look as much like a disaster area as it did--yea!


Today, we had a big storm come through town. It looked really nasty outside. There were reports that we might get some bad hail, but it never really hailed here except for a bit of pea-sized stuff. Odessa got slammed pretty badly, though. Thankfully, we were just doused. Unfortunately, however, that meant that for the second week in a row, I missed out on Girls' Lunch Out with Harmony and Abby. I was disappointed, because I feel like I haven't seen either of them in a long time. Harmony has been super-busy with tax season and Abby has been to Lubbock a lot. So, I need to see my girls sometime soon (hint, hint!).


This weekend is Harmony's baby shower and next week my in-laws are coming to town because Will is turning TWO!!! I cannot believe that my baby will be two years old in almost seven days! Where does the time go? Enough rambling for tonight. I'm sure I will have something much more interesting next week :) Have a good one!

A Few Belly Shots

It came to my attention that I rarely include my face in my belly pics, so I tried to get one today. I still think I look pretty bad, but oh well. I took these pictures myself, so that is why the angles might look a little funny.

In other news, Will and I will be traveling again, this time to Houston. We wanted to be able to fly Will one more time while he is free :) Hopefully this crazy cold front won't interfere with our flight plans tomorrow. We will be at my parents house for a week and Scott will stay home and hopefully do some handy-man things around the house! I will still have Internet access there, so I won't be completely out of pocket. We are looking forward to our visit!

Two Bellies

Last week I was blessed to be able to see my good friend Kara and her family! Will and I had good trips to and from Carlsbad, even though we got stuck behind a lot of slow traffic :)

The kids enjoyed playing together and it was amusing watching them learn to share. They did pretty well. We didn't do anything spectacular; we just enjoyed catching up and being goofy again. Here are a couple of shots of the two of us and our pregnant bellies. Kara is 34 weeks (she's almost done!) and I am almost 24 weeks in the pictures.

Waxing Gibbous

"Waxing gibbous" is the term our preacher likes to use for us pregnant ladies. So here I am "waxing gibbous" at 21 weeks and 4 days.

Hope everyone has had a happy St. Patty's Day :)

Baby #2 is a...

...girl! Well, at least there is an 80% chance that it's a girl. I'm still kind of scared to believe it myself. I wish they could be a little more definite. However, I definitely did not see a "turtle," and it did look much more like girl parts than boy parts. We are excited! I now have to do a lot of looking at all the wonderfully cute girl items out there to choose what I want for the nursery. There are just too many things to choose from, if you ask me! I've been doing some surfing on eBay today already.


In other news, we got Will's new big boy room painted this weekend and somewhat put together. His new bed is good to go and valances are hung. We do need to do a few touch-ups around the room, though. We are still waiting on a rug I ordered that will hopefully look really cute and pull it together. Thanks, Mom, for all your help. We really enjoyed having you here!

Certifiable

Well, not that kind of certifiable, but I am now certified for pregnancy Medicaid. This is a huge blessing for us. We do have individual insurance coverage, but no individual plans offer coverage for maternity. You can only get that through a group. So, this pregnancy was going to have to be completely out of pocket on our part. With some help from the hospital business office, we were put in touch with the Texas Dept. of Health and now are covered by Medicaid. This came at a great time because our very expensive "big" sonogram is coming up on Monday. Whew!

Anyway, that's what's happening with us today. My mom is coming this weekend and is going to be helping us paint and put together Will's new big boy room. She is bringing the old twin bed that my brother and I used as kids for him. So exciting! She is also bringing him an outdoor play structure that you can climb on and slide down. He will love that because he is really into playing outside lately. Now we just have to be really diligent about picking up doggy doo.

Have a great weekend :)

Okay, so I really don't have anything to say, but I figured, why not blog?


For those who do not know (which is probably most of you), I am taking a leave of absence/hiatus from my job for a while. I am really tired and it is a good time to lay low in-between busy times. So, for the last four days, I have been back to being a stay-at-home-mom and I am loving it. It is so nice to have a pretty much constantly picked-up house, clean dishes/sink; I even mopped my floors today--a major accomplishment! So, I am pretty proud of my Susie Homemaker skills. Sorry to toot my own horn, but for those who know me well, you understand why I am so pumped about this.

Pregnancy related news: the baby is most definitely moving around in there. I have a little acrobat on my hands. It's so much fun to feel it move! I always thought that was pretty much the coolest thing about being pregnant (other than the fact that you are helping to bring another life into the world, that is). On the flip side, I think my pregnancy is affecting my eyesight. I remember reading somewhere when I was pregnant with Will that the fluid levels (or something like that) can change in your eyes or behind them and cause temporary changes to your vision. Well, let me tell you, this is really annoying because I have had a constant headache for about a week now, and I am ready for it to go away! If it is still persistant by my next appointment, I'll have to ask for medical advice. "They" say you shouldn't get a prescription change while you're pregnant because it could be just a temporary change, but what do I do in the meantime...just suffer? Anyway, just thought I'd share my weird eye problems.

This weekend the First Baptist Church in town is hosting a Beth Moore simulcast. She'll be speaking based on her new book, "Get Out of That Pit." I'm planning on going and I'm excited about it. We've been doing her "Patriarchs" Bible study on Wednesday nights at church and I have really enjoyed it, so this should be really great, too. [By the way, Lubbock friends, in case you didn't know, I hear that one of the churches up there is doing a simulcast as well; if you are interested in attending.]

Next weekend, my mom is coming and I'm really excited. We had to postpone her trip for about 3 weeks because of our unexpected trip to Florida, but now she is able to come and will even be here for my big sonogram on the 5th. I'm looking forward to seeing her.

I guess that's about all I have for now...I hope everyone has a great weekend!

***Okay, just in case it happens again, I have no idea why blogger insists on making this whole thing one paragraph. Sorry if this is confusing to you! I did try to fix it!***

16 Week Baby Update

Well, in less than a month we will (hopefully) find out whether the newest addition to our family is a boy or a girl. I went to the doctor today for my monthly check-up and everything seems to be going just fine. We heard the baby's heartbeat and I had my triple-screen blood test. All in all, not a too exciting appointment, but next month's will be.

In other baby news, I am about 99% positive I have felt the baby move. It feels just the same as when I first felt Will move, so it just has to be. Even though it's early, I think I am feeling it just because I know what to "look" for. It's pretty cool!

Not much else is happening. We are getting ready to head out on Thursday and as soon as I get back next week, I will be thrust into the fire at work because it will be Valentine's Day! It is always super-crazy, so it should be interesting when I get back. Tonight I am going to have a girls' night with Harmony and some other friends of ours. Harmony's family is out of town, so she is having a little get-together at her place. It should be fun. I'm looking forward to it. Tomorrow, I get my hair cut. That's always fun. I really just like it because they wash your hair and it feels so good :)

I'm not sure that I will post again until after I get back from Florida, so everyone have a safe and happy weekend and Happy Valentine's Day :)

My Bump--My Lovely Baby Bump

Here I am at 14 (almost 15) weeks. It's getting bigger!

This weekend was spent in Ruidoso, New Mexico, at Mountain View Christian Camp for a youth retreat. We had a good time up at the camp seeing fellow youth ministers and gleaning from the word. Scott Jarvis and his son, Tyler, were the speakers, and from what I hear (since Will kept me from most of the sessions), it was amazing. Of course...would we expect anything less from Jarvis?

The camp was covered in about 6 - 8 inches of snow, so that was really fun for all the west Texas kids who came. They had numerous snowball fights and built snowmen. The funniest thing, however, was the fact that all the church vans and buses got stuck in the snow. One of the youth ministers brought his own pick-up, which thankfully had 4-wheel drive, so he pulled all the vans and buses up the hill onto the highway on Sunday morning. Fun was had by all :)

Unfortunately, I don't think we got any pictures of the snow. Oh well, we were a little busy.

Anyway, now that we are home, there is plenty to do. This will be my first full week of the morning schedule, so hopefully I will be productive in the afternoons. I don't think I will today, though, I am really tired. Will decided not to sleep much this weekend, so we didn't sleep much either. I might just lie down and take a little nap...

Changes

Things are changing, once again. But not in a bad way. I am going to start working in the mornings at Dakota's instead of the afternoons. I think this will work out a lot better than our current schedule. Scott is even more of a non-morning person than I am, and he is just more productive in the afternoons. I think this will be better for all of us. I start this new schedule tomorrow.

Scott and Will both went back to school today (ACU and Children's Day Out, respectively) for the first time since before Christmas. CDO started back up two weeks ago, but Will had that bad poop/diaper rash thing going on and then last week we were iced/snowed in. So, here we are. Scott has been working for the last two weeks on his car (it has taken him so long because of the weather) and he was supposed to take it to ACU today, but when I just went outside to check the mail, I noticed the car out front and the church van was gone. So, I guess it wasn't fixed enough quite yet. Maybe he can get it right before next Wednesday.

I really don't have anything interesting to say. On the pregnancy front, I am in that awkward stage where my regular clothes do not really fit and yet, neither do my maternity clothes. Finding things to wear has proven quite interesting lately. My morning sickness stuff seems to completely left me now; yea! I am hungry almost constantly. I have been wanting fruit (especially apples and grapes), orange juice, cheetos, cheese, bagels, burritos, and Nestle Drumstick ice cream cones. It's amazing the things you want when you're pregnant. With Will, I couldn't get enough oranges and Nutter Butter cookies. I guess that's about all. Maybe I'll have something interesting later in the week :)

Until next time...

Wednesday Report

I would like to thank everyone for their congratulatory comments on our new bun in the oven :) We are so excited and we are so thankful for all your prayers and well wishes. It seems like now that I have announced this, so many other people are turning up pregnant, too! Congrats to all my fellow expectant-mom blogging buddies out there! We will have to compare stories.

Today we woke up to a beautiful, peaceful white blanket of snow. I think this snowfall was a little heavier than the snowfall we had in November. It was colder and and the sun didn't come out til much later, so it stuck around longer, too. Scott was supposed to go to school at ACU today (his first day of class), but we didn't want him to risk driving there and back, so he called his professor and said that he would not be coming. ACU had already delayed their first day of the spring semester by one day. When Scott got off the phone with ACU, we got an interesting phone call from the LCU Alumni Relations office. The main A.R. lady went to camp with Scott back in the day. She was calling to tell us that there was an LCU student who was stranded in Big Spring because of the weather. This student had taken a bus to get back to Lubbock and ended up in a motel in Big Spring last night and didn't have enough money for another night's stay. Would we take her in? Of course, we said. So we have spent the day getting to know Sarah, a senior psychology major. She had started her travels last Thursday from Wisconsin and got stuck for 3 days in Dallas--sleeping in the Greyhound station--and finally ended up here. At first, we thought she might not get back to Lubbock til tomorrow (Thursday), but there is a bus running at midnight tonight. I hope that she gets back home safely and can finally relax. What an experience!!

Speaking of good ol' LCU, we are planning on attending the festivities during Master Follies weekend. This year is our five year reunion, so we are planning on attending that function, club breakfasts, chapel, the afternoon show, and a couple of receptions for past big time award winners like Scott (that's sort of a joke--Scott was Mr. LCU and recieved a special award from the Bible Dept. his senior year). Anywho, we look forward to seeing all of our friends in February!

I really can't think of anything else to report right now, so I'm signing off. Have a great Thursday :)

Back from the Dead

Literally! Our computer finally died a couple of weeks ago, so that is why I haven't been blogging (not like I did it constantly before, but, hey...I read other people's!). So, if any of my friends out there still stop by to see if I just might have posted something, I have returned. We purchased a new computer with our Christmas money and it arrived this afternoon! Yea!!!

On to other things! It is freakishly cold here. So cold and treacherous, even, that our church services were cancelled on Sunday. I didn't think any amount of precipitation could cause our church to close it's doors, but lo and behold. I think most of the churches in our area cancelled; and I think it was a wise decision. You know some people (I'm mainly thinking of the elderly) will get out in whatever conditions to get to church. I'm thankful that they decided to just cancel so those people and the ones that live miles and miles away would just stay in rather than risk it. Anyway, it's been very icy and tonight it snowed! We have had a fire in our fireplace (not nonstop) for the last four days. It's been great! I looked at Scott at one point on Sunday afternoon, while reading my novel in front of the fireplace, wrapped up in my fleece blanket, and told him, "This is great!" And it was.

Our family was ill last week. We got "the bug" that has been going around. I got it Tuesday night and missed work on Wednesday and part of Thursday. Scott got it on Wednesday night. Will was also sick, but his was a sinus infection and then his antibiotic gave him bad poops. He had a horrid diaper rash, too. But, we are all much much better now!

Although computers crashing, ice and snow, and sickness is all very interesting and newsworthy, believe it or not, I have bigger news. At the end of July, Will is going to be a big brother! That's right, I am pregnant! We are very excited. Last week (Tuesday as a matter of fact), we saw the baby's heart beat and it was moving all around. When Scott can scan the sonogram pictures at work, I will post them for all to see.

This pregnancy has been quite different from my first. I was quite a bit more nauseous this time and it lasted much longer. With Will, I was nauseous about two times. This time, it was more like every day, all day. But, I never did loose my breakfast, so that was nice. I am now about 12 or 13 weeks along, so hopefully all of that is about over with. In fact, I have been really hungry the last few days. I have been eating quite a lot. Also, my "bump" is starting to grow. I have to rubberband my jeans. I did put all of my maternity clothes in my closet, but it will probably still be a while before I can wear most of them. It was just a good weekend to clean and do things like that :) Scott is laughing at me because I start the whole "nesting" thing really early. I feel like I have to get organized! Now! It's kind of important, though, because we are going to try to get Will into a big bed soon. However, we kind of need to know the sex of the new baby before we start really getting his room together. If the new baby is a girl, she will go in the guest room because it is painted pink. But, if the new baby is a boy, he will take Will's room and Will will get the guest room (repainted, of course!). So, until the beginning of March, it's just a waiting game.

Well, I have probably rambled on much too long. I have missed all of you and hope to hear from you that you haven't given up on me :) Love to all~~