Thank you all who are donating towards March of Dimes! This is very near & dear to our hearts. We know even a small amount can make a difference for these precious babies. Thank you to friends like Rebekah Underwood for posting our link on her page. Thank you to Kristy at Hopeful Threads for putting our link on her Facebook page.
Our total keeps climbing, & people are spreading the word. Don't forget that you can join us on the walk too! You don't have to raise any $; come meet some amazing nurses,doctors,& NICU grads.
Centennial Park. April 22.
We've been in the house 6+ months & are finally getting internet, hopefully next week. My phone is way too annoying to type on!
I'm off to run 7 miles, the 1/2 Marathon is getting closer:9 weeks!
6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
This verse is from 1 Peter, and was mentioned in the sermon where we attended church on Sunday morning. The pastor was starting a new series, and this service was on 3 types of pain. One type was protective, and he used leprosy as an example. If you don't understand the disease, look it up--very interesting. He described the protective type of pain as ' spiritual leprosy'.
The second type was productive. He use examples of athletes with this --No pain, No gain. He used a quote that went something like, " the amount of training to produce significant results is beyond what the average person is willing to do". This totally made me think of my half marathon training. No one wants to run 5, 6, 5, & 7 miles a week and do cardio one other day. That isn't in many people's comfort zone. The pastor said that the most productive progress comes between our comfort zone & our limit. When you are in the training zone, there is pain. When you are lifting weights, your muscles need to rip in order to grow back bigger and stronger--hence no pain, no gain. We all know James 1:2-3. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. The Bible says in Isaiah that we have been refined as we are tested in the furnace of affliction. He correlated all this to the process of God melting us in order to mold us.
The third type of pain he described was parabolic. The definition of parabolic is :relating to parabola: relating to, resembling, or having the form of a parabola. Think of St. Louis or McDonalds golden arches.Jesus went through pain. He was persecuted. This pain was not to mold him. This pain was just plain ole' mean pain from the devil. But he used and endured this pain to save us. He turned it around, and He used it for the good. I read many blogs from other mommies. Mostly ( because of the NICU journey) are of mommies with babies and children fighting for their lives. I immediately thought of them. Philippians 3 says, "I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. " There are so many mommies I read about that use their experience to show God to others. As I was listening to the last point in the sermon, I prayed for these mommies. I prayed for the Mcgregor family. One of their twin baby boys went to be with Jesus about 14 months ago. Mom McGregor is now about 23 weeks along, and had an echo cardiogram ultrasound this week on baby #4. She stressed through the trials that their family would continue to prise God through every circumstance. I also prayed for Lucy. She has been diagnosed with a rare from of brain cancer, yet mommy still uses her blog to glorify God & share Lucy's story to help others. You can look through the other blogs I read--I thought of each of these examples( adoption, special needs, developmental delays, deaths, infertility) as he spoke on the last point. They are all so courageously turning around these attacks of the devil to show God's love and witness. They are so strong to me.
Today is Ash Wednesday-- the Christian holiday that marks the first day of Lent. In short, for those that don't celebrate, it is a time of 40 weekdays before Easter that Christians use as a period of prayer, penance, fasting, and self-denial. I wrote a little about it back in 2010 click here to read ;)
I have to stop ending my 4 mile runs at 10:30 P.M.! It's now 2:17,& my kiddos will be up & ready to play in 5-6 hours. And then we do it all over again because I don't get done with swim lessons until 6:45, and I need to get some cardio in after. I've been doing this 5 hour sleep thing for over a year now. Dr Travis Stork says that is the cause to my belly fat-- not my bag of popcorn at midnight. ;) I need an outdoor pool. I need some quiet time. I need the sun. Ah, I just need a weekend break! Soon and very soon, I hope. . .
Lucy had speech again today, and is getting right up there where a 1 year old should be. She is finally signing a little! She signs 'more' , then immediately smiles & claps for herself. We got pretty excited and clapped and yayed a good amount the first time she did it :) We need to work on her recognizing objects more. She still doesn't point at things she wants, nor does she point at a cat or dog in a book when you ask her. She IS so close to taking that FIRST step by herself! She is so adorable when we're playing and are trying to get her to take a step. She'll stand up and drop a toy; she knows I like to hold them out in front of her to walk. She is saying, " push me, mama!" She is SO close!
I told her ST today & Luke the other day how I wished I could have seen her now while we were going through the NICU. Everyone says not to worry. In all reality, there is so much those tiny babies have to overcome! Lucy is so blessed. She is so perfect. I can't even explain my love and happiness for this girl. I am so thankful for her health.
I posted a picture a few weeks ago & a caringbridge link for baby Titus. I've been stalking them, ok I've been following and praying for them. Tonight their post says," The count down is on. One last night before heading back to Carthage with 3 Russell's. Each time Titus's loud alarm goes off tonight means we are that much closer till the morning. I think I am more nervous about driving home than I am about bringing little man home. Once home, we have been instructed by the doctors to keep strict guidelines on visitors with Titus. As much as we want to show him off to everyone, until we get through the RSV season, Titus will not come out of the house except for doctor
appointments. All care takers that will be coming over have to have A TDAP vaccine before you are allowed into the house. Titus's lungs are still undeveloped and can be a critical situation if he were to get RSV. We will let you know when the doctors will allow us to have other visitors so in the mean time I promise to keep this site going to keep everyone informed of Titus's progress. The prayers and support that we have received since November is the reason we have made it through this journey. We are forever grateful to you all. As you have prayed for us, I have prayed for you as well, thanking God daily for each of you. I hope the testimony that God has given us through Titus has strengthened and renewed your walk ours has been renewed. We serve a REAL and MERCIFUL God and Titus has been living proof of this. May God bless you all."
YAY! This made me remember something I read the other day about at home care with a preemie from the grandma of one. "And don't be afraid to e labelled a "hysterical" mom. Those who are doing the labelling don't know your realities, so they really have no idea where you are coming from."
I looked back and realized that I never posted on here between the new coming home date Lucy had, and about a week after she was home. So here are a few pictures from the day we busted out of the NICU. Ok, so we didn't bust out. We were pretty scared, and probablly would have loved to take a few nurses home with us!
February 3,2011
Little sister ready to leave!
Didn't want to see these doors again! We look great after a LONG night ;)
She fit in her seat =) I think she was about 5 pounds, pretty close to Landon's weight when he came home...at 5 days old ;)
Over $1000 in gas later, and we were HAPPY to have this cargo in the back seat!
Landon and 'Baby C'. He went from Baby doodoo (his l's were d's) ,to baby Ducy, to baby C, to FiNaLlY Baby Lucy =)
Snug as a bug! Luke wouldn't let me hold her all day long. =( We kept up her 'cluster care' for about a week and a half, and only bothered her when she ate.
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Feb 3, 2012
Lucy wasn't able to smash into her cake at her birthday, so she had fun with this one! It tasted great, and she shared with her brother and cousin.
I'll end this with a little laugh! When Lucy came home, Landon decided he'd learn to climb out of his crib. We decided we'd make it into his toddler bed.
One year ago today was the LAST time we had to go through 4 sets of doors (2 sets locked ), buzz in,& scrub in to see our ' little Lucy', as everyone called her. I had scrubbed, bleached, lysoled,& did it all over again every day for 2 weeks. I had the ' sanatize, remove shoes, no sickies, no kids ,& no touching' sign on the door.We roomed in on the 2nd & she came home the next day. We were supposed to come home 6 days prior, but she decided to stop breathing enough to be stimulated the night before,& her count started over.what a scary feeling of finally taking home your baby!
We will have some cake tomorrow -- she wasn't really eating at her birthday. I'll be sure to post pictures, if I'm ever around wifi ;)
Sweet Lu @ 7 1/2 weeks old.4lbs 9oz.3 days before going home :)
I've been increasing my workouts & long runs, only 12 weeks until the half Marathon! I've started teaching a baby swimming class this week too. Lucy has been eating like a pig lately! She goes back for a well visit mid-march. She also goes for her next hearing test mach 13th. We'll go back to Vandy for that. I didn't feel like finding a new Dr, getting her records moved, & whatever else goes with that. We also plan on heading back down the week before my half Marathon for the March of Dimes walk in Nashville. I plan on taking more baby hats at 1 of those visits, so look at the Lucy's Love page if you want to help out! I've got a handful of people volunteering their machine and time and skills!
I hate typing on my phone for this blog. That explains why I only do like once a week. SOON AND VERY SOON we will have internet again :) Honestly, it took about an HOUR to type this. My psycho phone jumps pages,clicks buttons. . . .Have a wonderful Super Bowl weekend!
