The Handmade Dress

....Our little Claire! She was born at 8:08 this morning and is just PERFECT! She weighed 8lbs and 1oz and was 21 1/2" long. After a natural labor and birth we are both recovering beautifully. I'll have more details soon, but right now I have to go kiss, smell, and love up on our new little angel. xo, Sam

I made it!  *HAPPY DANCE* Yes mam I did! I went to the doctor yesterday and got a great report! I'm medicine free, pump free, and just, well, free for the first time in months! All of these months of hard work and I have finally made it to the 36 week hump!!! 36 weeks and one day to be exact (that one day counts to me like a half year counts for a five year old). Yesterday on the way home from the doctor's office we stopped by the store and I got to look at baby things! Itty bitty tiny baby things! And I do believe that I finally feel some of that relieved excitement creeping over me! It's heavenly...I'm going to soak up every second of it until this baby is here in my arms (which the doctor thinks will be very soon) and the next time you hear from me there will be baby pictures to show! Itty bitty baby pictures! eek! xo, Sam

Well it looks like we may be in the home stretch. My doctor told me Tuesday at my 35 week appointment that he doesn't think I'll make it back in next Tuesday, even with the pump on. His official prediction was that I will have this babe on Monday (on his birthday). I had dilated more and all of the signs seem to point towards having a baby in the next few days. I'm at peace with that. I've fought a good fight and I have come a long way and there just comes a point that you have to hand it over to God. That's what we have done. Monday, at almost 36 weeks, we have a pretty good chance of bringing baby home and I am so relieved to be past the 35 week mark. I'm telling ya, there were times in the hospital that I didn't think we would make it this time! Thank God I was wrong!  So now we are trying little by little to get those last minute baby preparations done. Well, really, my baby sister and my mom is sort of pressuring me into getting them done. :) ...

Sunday mornings around here have been much different for the last couple of months. I really miss going to church with my family and then to hang out with family after church at my mother-in-law's house, but we have found a way to make it special. Each week now one little one stays home from church to take care of mama. I try to have something special ready for them a snack, a movie, a project, something like that. This week it was Timothy's turn, and just like any little man, he's not hard to please! All he needed was a little junk food! Ben took him the night before to the "candy store" (AKA the gas station) and let him pick out his special prize. He got a bag of chips, some Dr. Pepper, and a bar of chocolate for mama. Sweet boy. So this Sunday morning was spent watching "boy movies", eating junk food, and looking at unusual and "awesome" chips with my sweet little man. And he even let me take pictures of him! Do you see how dirt...

Well I'm sure you can imagine that preterm labor, bed rest, home health care, three kids, a farm, and a home based business aren't always easy to juggle, it's not. Most of the time I'm able to look for the good and focus on that until we've worked through things, but as we get closer to baby coming and my body gets harder and harder to control, I have to admit, it's been much more of a challenge. This week has been full of unexpected craziness! It's been pretty rough, but there is still a lot to be thankful for. And that's how I have decided to write this post, it will be a sort of diary of our week and at the end of every challenge we have faced I want to write what we have to be thankful for....because really, there is so much! Friday, at 33 weeks and some days, the day after my last post, I woke up feeling pretty bad. By that afternoon my nurses (we talk over the phone several times a day) had upped my dosages through my pump, called the doctor,...

Tim had a very special birthday! He ate so many hot wings and cheese fries that I wondered if he really would be sick! He said "I'm going to eat hot wings and cheese fries for my next birthday too!" He got just what he wanted, a skateboard, a watch, vanilla cake with butter cream icing (thanks to daddy and Betty Crocker), and we watched about five hours of America's Funniest Home Videos until he fell asleep. He's one special little man with an amazing sense of humor, a giving spirit, the work ethic of a thirty year old, and the most tender little heart. Our world wouldn't be the same without our little man and he deserved a special day!  Baby and I went to see the doctor Tuesday. I have to admit, after a hard sleepless night my outlook wasn't very good. When the second nurse came in to listen to baby's heartbeat I got a little nervous, when the doctor came in with the heart monitor and wanted to listen for himself I was just plain freaked out...