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