Day 17

9 daysuntil 32 weeks

23 days until 34 weeks

37 days until 36 weeks

Currently: 30 5/7 weeks

Today starts Day 17...a day I wasn't sure we'd ever get to. When we started this journey and we had 26 days (rather than 9!), it seemed daunting...it seemed a far fetched hope to get this far. But here we are...and hopefully will continue onward.

I wish I could say that things were staying nice and quiet, but last night they changed just a bit. Nothing drastic, nothing detrimental, but non-the-less, a change. I've started actually feeling my contractions, which in all reality, means that they are just getting stronger. Dr. VanEerden was on yesterday and thought it would be best to check my cervix and see if there had been any changes. Thankfully, no changes...still 1 cm dilated, although maybe a BIT thinner than before (50% effaced, rather than 60%...very minimal and expected). So more than likely, my cervical length has decreased again. Everything was ok...we had talked about possibly going home on Friday if things stayed quiet, but then I started noticing more contractions. Luckily, the medication that I'm on (Procardia) is still on the low-dose, so today we decided to double the dose up to 20 mg every 6 hours and see if that does the trick. These contractions are not consistent, which is key for active labor. Just because they are stronger doesn't mean that they are actually doing anything, like changing my cervix. So I'm not sure Friday is still the plan or not...probably depends on my comfort level and if I feel like I'm having less contractions. It's like as soon as I'm somewhat comfortable with how things have quieted down and we start thinking about home, something else pops up.

We can't complain about this...we've made it 17 more days than I thought! We're just hoping that we will get a few more weeks out of this pregnancy for Monkey's sake...well, and our sake too. It's just hard because this entire pregnancy, all I've thought about is Jack and him getting to meet Monkey for the first time. I bought the big brother t-shirt and the little brother/sister onsie and have just imagined him rounding the corner of my hospital room, all excited to meet Monkey in their adorable matching shirts. There's always been that small part of my brain that kept saying "don't get too excited or hooked on that image...it may not happen" but I didn't really think that would be the case. Now we're having to try and explain the NICU to Jack and how he won't be able to go back and see Monkey until Monkey is ready to come home from the hospital and that we don't know how long that will actually be so it may be a few weeks until he actually gets to meet and hold Monkey. Try explaining THAT to a 3 1/2 year old and see how much they understand!! I guess the only silver lining to this is that he himself was in the NICU, so we have lots of pictures to show him what Monkey's isolette will look like, the monitors he was on and so on. So maybe in his little mind, that's just where babies go after they're born. Hopefully my image will come true and we will get that perfect family moment, like everyone else does. But if we don't, we'll manage and I'm sure Jack will do fine. Thank goodness for Skype and the ability for him to see Monkey and talk with him/her. Pray for us, as this situation will be stressful for all of us. We can't predict the future to know when Monkey's arrival will be...anytime between now and August 5th! That's 65 possible days this could happen...crazy to think about!

We have a few prayer requests (like always!).

1. Please pray that this dose of Procardia will do the trick and keep things calm for a few more weeks.

2. Please pray for Jon and Jack, who thankfully now have the help of Grandma and Oma this summer.

3. Most importantly, please pray for a great high school friend of mine who delivered a little boy, Jaden, at 24 weeks while they were on a long weekend trip over Memorial Day. They are away from home and family and could use even more prayers than us right now!!