A thought came to me last night, “live without regret”. Often times we hear this saying and we automatically think about doing all the things that we may not have the confidence or courage to do, and sometimes we need these cliches to encourage and inspire us. I realized however, that there is another way to take that saying, as a word of caution. When bad things happen, we often struggle with regrets, “If only I would have _____”. As I contemplated this more, I realized that I am in a season, where I don’t want to live with regret, but it is a word of caution instead of a word of inspiration. After our diagnosis of placenta previa 4 weeks ago, I’ve definitely tried to slow down, but continue to find myself still very busy. Of course working part-time, building a house, and just typical life stuff have been great reasons to be busy, but maybe I should tone it down a bit more.

On a different note, I’ve recently been challenged to stop spending money. I’m always amazed how quickly money goes out the door, and I barely can see where it went. From eating out, trips to Starbucks, that cute outfit that our baby girl just has to have, to wanting stuff for our new house…the money just doesn’t go as far as I think it should. So I decided to just try to be more focused about spending.

Today we had our 32 week OB appointment. Since our diagnosis of partial placenta previa 4 weeks ago (the placenta was partially covering the cervix), we got to see our baby girl again today. She is BEAUTIFUL. It is so fun to see her grow and move inside. She is doing great, with an estimated weight of 4 pounds 8 ounces! Then we met with the doctor, all to hear that the placenta is completely covering the cervix and the cervix is shortening a bit. So what does that mean without all the medical terms? Basically we went from the doctor saying, “take it easy”, to “you are allowed activity for about 2 hours a day, and the two hours can’t be back to back”. My mom and husband were there and quickly asked the doctor to clarify specifically what is ‘activity’. As we went through various scenarios and the doctor shared more medical rationale, bottom line is ….I won’t be doing much of anything for the next 4 weeks!

You may be thinking, “4 weeks, I thought she is only 32 weeks pregnant!” Oh that’s the other news, the doctor doesn’t want to take any chances of me going into ANY labor, so it looks like we will see our baby girl in about 4-4 1/2 weeks now. WOW! That puts her birthday sometime end of July. We will have a scheduled date soon, so I will keep everyone updated.

I see now how the Lord was preparing me for this news. Feeling convicted to shop and go out less and then feeling the need to take it easy so I don’t have to have any regrets? Yeah, that’s the Lord. I love how gentle He is with me sometimes. At first I didn’t even recognize it, but after today I see how the Lord was preparing me for this. 4 weeks-no problem. After 4 1/2 years of infertility, 6 infertility treatments, 3 surgeries, and 2 miscarriages, I think I can manage 4 weeks of doing nothing so that I can look into my baby girl’s face and have no regrets. Of course at that point, I know I will be so overwhelmed with love that every bit of this journey will be well worth the wait.

I know all who read this are friends and family, and I welcome your prayers, specifically:

For Savannah’s health and growth!

For no complications of bleeding or preterm labor for me.

For a smooth and easy delivery (c-section)

For grace and strength for Kyle as he manages a new business and being caretaker to his wife and baby!

For perfect timing regarding our house being finished and the house that we are in selling.

I promise to post pictures as soon as I figure out how

My sister and her husband were in town this weekend babysitting four kids. On Saturday my parents and Kyle and I went over to hang out with them. It was a great day of relaxation at the pool. As we sat around, of course we talked about one of our favorite things right now…baby Savannah. Four year old, Jack overheard….

Jack: You have a baby?

Kristy: Yes I do.

Jack: Where is it? I want to see it?

Kristy: It’s in my belly, you can’t see her yet.

Jack: You ATE her? (in complete disbelief)

His sister then tried to explain the situation: Jack you were once in a mommy’s belly too!

Jack: I got ATED ?!?!?!

This morning we were able to see our little girl once again via ultrasound. She is doing perfectly! She currently weighs 2 pounds and 14 ounces. Her femur bone (from hip to knee) is 2 inches long. We are officially in the third trimester now. It looks like she we will get to see her sooner than we thought. We were able to get another ultrasound because last time the placenta was covering a portion of the cervix (aka placenta previa). We were hoping that after a few more weeks it would have grown out of the way. Unfortunately, it hasn’t, and the doctor wasn’t very optimistic that it would any time soon. So what does this mean? a planned C-section. Basically, they don’t want me to go into labor because of the risk, and if I do it would mean an emergency C-section. They would probably plan it around 37-38 weeks, which puts us around the first week of August.

At first I was disappointed, but I know that it is only my expectations of having a “normal” delivery. As long as my baby girl is healthy, then I am happy. After going through all of this infertility, I have long since given up the ideal of “natural” and “normal”. Thankfully, I am well aware of the risks and the benefits of C-section, so I’m choosing to focus on the benefits (and there are some). I would much prefer to know that I’m having a c-section, than to go into labor and still end up with one. I hear that labor is overrated anyway.

Then I got home and did a little more research, all to find that I’m basically one step away from bedrest. No more traveling, no more exercising, and no more heavy housework (not that I did a lot of that anyway Now my biggest concern is keeping her in there as long as possible. As for prayer requests, please pray that there won’t be any bleeding, if so then I end up in the hospital and end up on bedrest, but most of all pray that our little girl continues to grow and develop just the way she is supposed to and at least makes it to 36 weeks.

The best news though, is I thought it would be at least 12 weeks before I would see her beautiful face, and not it’s only going to be 9-10. Wow! It will be here before we know it!