Camp Crosby...Saints football Sunday

We woke up this Sunday morning with Crosby still in the womb, not in the bed. Saturday was a good day. Tara was pretty tired from the lack of sleep the night before, but was able to get a couple of small naps in so that helped. We talked with Tara's OB, Dr. Wiedower, on Saturday about the game plan for the next few days. She said that our goal is still to make it to Tuesday which would put us at 34 weeks. Once Tuesday gets here she will stop the routine medication to prevent contractions that Tara is taking every 4 hours. If Tara starts to go into labor after Tuesday they will try giving her a shot to stop it, but if they contractions persist we will just roll with it and move down the hall to L&D.

Tara was able to sleep most of Saturday night which was an answer to prayer. We had a few contractions right before bed, which was nothing major. I think it was when her medication had worn off and the new dose hadn't kicked in yet. They soon spaced out and then ceased allowing Tara to sleep Saturday night.

We had a few more contractions before breakfast this morning, nothing too intense though. Again the timing coincided with Tara's medication wearing off and the new dosing just getting into her system. We'll see about possibly making some adjustments to the timing. We are doing well on this Sunday morning, or I should say about as well as one can be expected to be doing when the 3 loss Dallas Cowboys are on the TV in place of the 9-0 New Orleans Saints! 98% of the time I absolutely love living in Arkansas. I am pretty sure that the 2% of the time I don't is Sunday afternoons when I'm stuck scrounging the web for Saints updates while the Cowboys occupy my TV. Things must be going pretty well in this hospital room if the Saints media coverage is what I am complaining about.

Thanks for the prayers and support. We feel very loved. We trust that Crosby will be just fine whenever he comes into this world, we are just going to try to give him every advantage that we can by buying him time.

Here are some pics from Saturday:

Camp Crosby...Saturday Morning

We made it to Saturday and Tara woke up again without Crosby in the bed with her.

After being hooked Tara up to the monitors for a little while last night Tara began having contractions. The contractions got to less than 2 minutes apart at one point before they got an IV and some additional meds in Tara to slow them down. There were even a few minutes when we thought that the contractions might not stop and wondered if Crosby's persistence was stronger than the meds...but it wasn't. The contractions slowed but hung around in some form or fashion for the most of the night. They checked Tara and she was not progressing, which was good. She wasn't able to get as much sleep as we would have liked but she is doing well this morning. She made it another 12 hours, which will be 36 hours less that Crosby would have to be in the NICU if he does need to go there.

Tara is doing great and quite the trooper. Her comment to me this morning was that if she was contracting without progressing then she didn't mind the discomfort as long as peanut was staying put. My wife is already a fabulous mother.

We've been here in Antenatal Unit at BMC LR for several days now and I've learned a few things. Allow me to share them with you, some are more serious some are less:

• A smile, a kind greeting, and a word of appreciation go a long way with people. The meal service lady told us this morning what an impression it made on her the first morning. I imagine that a lot of people don't get too excited about hospital food day in and day out. It is now my goal to let everyone here know that what they are doing is appreciated and that they are valuable. It reminded me of the truth from Duvall's sermon last week about how our embrace of our humanity, of human's baring the image of God, should drive our humility and our compassion.


• There is a stash of over 80 DVD's in the supply closet right next to our room.


• There is a free washer and dryer on the third floor.


• McBrides Deli at the base of Medical Towers II makes wonderful food.


• We are unbelievably blessed and God is taking care of us.

We appreciate the prayers and support. Our prayer for now is to make it until Tuesday and that Tara might be more comfortable today.

Camp Crosby...Friday Morning

We cannot thank everyone enough for your thought, prayers, and support. The Lord has blessed with amazing friends and family and we feel it now more than ever. Thank y'all.

They took Tara off of the Magnesium sulfate Wednesday at 8pm. She did great Wednesday night. She was able to get a full night's sleep (compared to 1.5 hours of sleep the first night). She awoke Thursday morning to sunshine coming in the window and proclaimed that she felt like a new person with a full night's sleep and the Mag out of her system. Thursday was a good day. Tara felt well and had no progression though out the day. We had a few visitors and good a full tour of the NICU and NICU stepdown unit. Tara really liked that the NICU at Baptist had individual rooms for each little kiddo.

The protocol in the antenatal unit is to hook the moms up to the monitors every morning after breakfast and each evening after dinner. Thursday night while Tara was hooked up she started feeling some contractions. Of course our night nurse Sherry had seen them from her station and was in our room by the 3rd one. (Have mentioned what great care we are receiving from these Baptist nurses? They are wonderful.) Tara had at least 9 or 10 regular contractions about 2-3 minutes apart. It was a little scary, but Sherry gave her a shot to stop them and within 10 minutes it was working. We monitored her for a while and the contractions pretty much went away. So we switched to an oral version of the shot b/c it lasts longer and it worked throughout the night. Tara was able to sleep the first half of the night, but couldn't sleep the second half.

Friday morning are were blessed with sunshine coming through the window and another day of Crosby hanging out in the womb. Each day that we wake up and he isn't in the bed with Tara (as she likes to put it) is a blessing and a victory. Tara is doing well, but is starting to have some lower back pain and abdominal pain as well. Dr. Hubach just stopped by on her morning rounds and said that everything looks good and they will keep Tara on the same oral med that we started last night after the contractions.

Crosby looks good and active. Tara told me yesterday that she thinks that he was practicing his cycling in the womb, you know that I hated to hear that. (22 years until he is ready for the Tour de France, glad to see him getting an early start.)

Our goal for now is to make it until Tuesday. That will put us at 34 weeks. Once we hit Tuesday we will celebrate and set our sights on 35 weeks. We'll keep you posted. We will just keep camping out here at BMC LR waiting (patiently) for Crosby. Thanks for the all the support. Tara has been amazing. I cannot tell you what good care she has taken of herself and and this little guy. She has said that she'll stay in this bed in this hospital as long as possible, she doesn't care...whatever will help Crosby be the most healthy. No surprise that she is already a selfless mother wanting the absolute best for her child. We are very blessed and we know it.

Here are some pics from the last day or two:
Tara and her dad, Gerald

Tara and her mom, Marion

Tara and Sara Recktenwald

Surprise, Crosby is ready to come

I wanted to give you an update on Tara and Crosby. Yesterday (Tuesday) Tara went to the OB for her regular 33 week appointment. While there Tara mentioned that Crosby hadn't been as active earlier in the day. Her OB hooked up her up to a baby heart rate monitor to check things out. The OB noticed that the heart rate dropped briefly while they were watching it so just to be on the safe side she sent Tara over to the Labor and Delivery ward of the hospital to have them monitor her more closely. They immediately saw that Tara was having contractions and 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced. (I cannot believe that I didn't put my truck in the ditch on 430 when Tara told me over the phone that she was at a 4!) They immediately put Tara on some drugs to stop the contractions and gave her a steroid shot to speed up Crosby's lung development. Both Tara and Crosby looked healthy, but he was just trying to show up too soon (7 weeks early). So they game plan is to slow down, hopefully stopping the contractions for now and give time for Crosby to continue to develop.

We've just been hanging out, trying to get Tara some rest and buy some more time for Crosby to cook a little more. Tara has not progressed anymore in labor and hasn't had many contractions today. She and Crosby both look healthy. We haven't seen any problems with Crosby's heart rate since that 30 second blip in the OB's office. I firmly believe that was the Lord giving us a red flag and a reason to come to L&D, otherwise Tara would have been on her way home to Arkadelphia.

We would like at least another 24 hours for the steroids to have their full effect on little man's lungs, but we will let him stay in the womb as long as he is willing to. It may be a few days or even weeks, but it doesn't look like Tara will come home until after Crosby is here. Tara's OB, Doctor Amy Weidower, and the nurses in Baptist Med Center LR L&D have been AMAZING. We are thankful for Dr. Weidower being cautious and attentive. We feel like we have some highly skilled and compassionate people taking care of Tara and Crosby.

Your prayers are appreciated. The Lord has been watching out for us and we trust that He is in control. We rest firmly in the fact that He is both good and great. Thanks guys, I'll keep you posted.
-Chris

<--This is Tara and Dr. Wiedower

Baby Showers, Baptism & Nursery Progress

I'm pretty behind on updating this blog, so this post is probably going to contain too much info and pictures. I have been blessed with 2 very sweet baby showers in the past month. First, my best friends from college came into town and threw me a shower on the day of OBU's Homecoming. It was seriously the cutest baby shower I've ever seen--such precious details. Crosby and I felt so loved. It was wonderful to have a much-needed reunion with my girls...we only get together about once a year. Thank you, Abigail, Kitty, Sara, Anna & Laurin for making the trip and for a wonderful shower! (Laurin even flew in from her new home in New York City!)

Chris and I also traveled down to Rockport, Texas a few weekends ago for a very special event for our family. Our godson, Johnny, became a Christian, and he asked Chris to baptize him! It was a wonderful weekend with Michael, Nichole, and the family. Such a blessed celebration of what God has done and will do in Johnny's life.

This past Saturday I had a shower here in Arkadelphia at Judy Duvall's house. It was so sweet, and I am overwhelmed by everyone's generosity. Three of the hostesses had just had babies within the past few weeks (Terese & Amy had their babies just the week before)! Yay for all of these healthy, precious babies! Amazingly enough, they were all able to come to the shower, and they looked fabulous! Thank you Judy, Mona, Terese, Amy, Lauren, and Barbara, for such a wonderful baby shower. My mom and Chris' mom were both able to be here for the shower, and we had a great weekend "nesting." Probably the highlight of the weekend was when we got home from the shower, we found Chris and some sweet friends up in the nursery painting!!! Thanks to Caitlin, Stephen, Natasha & Wes for spending your Saturday painting our baby's nursery. It was such a wonderful surprise and such a relief to have that project completed! I have the sweetest husband in the world. Now we are in the fun stage of setting up the nursery.

I am 32 weeks in my pregnancy now and actually still feeling good. Just tired. I know that these last 2 months will absolutely fly by, and Crosby will be here before we know it. Things are really getting busy with all of the trips to Little Rock for doctor's appointments and our weekly trips to childbirth class. Chris and I are so thankful for this little miracle that God has blessed us with and for the amazing love and support that we have felt during these past few months.

Guest Bathroom Project -- COMPLETED!!!

My amazing husband has been slaving away the past 2 weeks to get our (9 month long) guest bathroom renovation project completed before my college girlfriends visit us this weekend. It has been some very late nights, and a few frustrated tears (from the pregnant one, of course), but Chris' hard work finally paid off. It was completed last night (Thursday), just in time for the girls to arrive today. :) Here are some pictures from a bragging wife. Doesn't it just make you want to take a shower in there?! Chris did such a great job of transforming that little yellow and black "bumble bee" bathroom into a crisp modern bathroom. I included one picture from the first day of demolishing the old leaking walk-in shower last December. I am so glad to finally have a decent bathroom for our guests. And now I feel like we can move on to more fun projects, such as a nursery for our little Crosby!