A turtle's pace...

I went to work for a partial day yesterday - which felt really normal. I'm doing really well but moving at a turtle's pace for the next few weeks. Yesterday Graham hit the 33-week mark! The doctor tells me I need to keep up my leisurely pace for the next few weeks - until 36 or 37 weeks - and then I can just throw caution to the wind! (My words, not hers.) Below are a few sweet pictures of Kona. She is always very close to me walking around the house, and when I sit down she's always on my lap. Graham was kicking so much last night that Kona's head must have felt it.

Our hot date at Harris Teeter...

Kyle and I had a hot date tonight at Harris Teeter, and I rode on the little motorized cart. Little did we know that when you hit the reverse button, it beeps!!! The first video was taken in the produce aisle, and the second one was taken on the sly as I was passing by the shampoo aisle.

Bed Rest...

Today ends my Monday-Friday week of bed rest. Modified bed rest. Surprisingly, it hasn't been as bad as I thought. I've been able to work all day every day from home on my laptop, and the fact that the financial markets are imploding around me has kept me very busy with clients. My sanity is still intact!

We went to the doctor yesterday, and she said that because I've had a fairly smooth, uneventful week I can begin to add activity back to my life. Good news! So, Kyle and I have a hot date planned tonight at Harris Teeter. He tells me I have to ride in the motorized grocery cart so I don't walk all around the store - that grocery cart/ golf cart combo that people with broken legs ride in. I told him he's got to bring the camera. If I let Kyle loose in the grocery store by himself, I worry he would come back with beer, pizza, chips, and cookies. (I don't give him enough credit - he's been amazing this past week - so gentle, so careful, taking care of everything around the house. I don't know what I would do without him.)

We'll take some pictures tonight and get back to you all...

A recent picture of Graham...

My little brown nurse...

Kona and Molly must know that something is not quite right. And, Molly is having a crash course in the word "gentle". Kona, however, has always been very intuitive about when something is not normal. She has been attached to me at the hip and won't let Molly be rough. She loves laying next to me, and she especially loves laying her head on my belly. She just makes me melt!

Here's a picture from last night. (The resolution might not be the best since we took it with Kyle's phone, but you get the idea.)

We thought we'd take a moment to update you on the past few days in our life. It's been a whirlwind to say the least! I was admitted to the hospital on Thursday night with some pretty scary symptoms. They whisked us right away to labor and delivery and thought that Graham was going to be welcomed to the world that night - not quite 31 weeks. So, quite a bit early. Throughout the night, they had us sign all the necessary paperwork - c-section, blood transfusion because of my loss of blood, met with the neonatologist. We were pretty numb throughout the entire process and luckily we made it through the night without meeting Graham! Friday morning we realized we were out of the woods for at least a short while which was such a relief. And, the gravity of what had happened and the resulting support from our family, friends, and church was moving. We received more text messages than we can count and were on so many prayer lists that we just had a hard time understanding the love and support we felt. We are confident that the Lord did hear our prayers and answered them with a miracle. Friday morning was definitely quite reflective as we realized the power of the Lord and the power of encouragement that He provides in our Christian family. We were moved. Friday afternoon we received quite a bit of testing to determine what had happened and decide what the next course of action is. The short story - Graham is perfectly fine and most likely didn't know what was going on. I probably had some blood vessels pop, but we may never know for sure. We stayed in the hospital through Sunday and had so many visitors that the hospital stay wasn't as hard or boring as it might have been. Our families spent most of the weekend at the hospital, and quite a few of our friends visited. We were checked out on Sunday afternoon, and I'm on bedrest for the rest of this week at least. Because what happened to me is not a normal occurence, there isn't specific instruction on what I am allowed to do. So, we go back to the doctor on Thursday to see where we are.

Some humor in the midst of our crazy weekend - during the ultrasound on Friday we were able to get a few pictures of Graham after they checked him out from head to toe. He had the nerve to stick his tongue out at us! (We'll see if we can post some of his pictures - we've been lucky to get quite a few 4D pictures, but the most recent ones are really sweet.) He is shaping up to be quite the trouble maker.

Thanks for all your prayers - we keep thinking there would have been no way to make it through this without our faith and the prayers of everyone we love!

Kid Classes...

Kyle and I had our first "how to birth and care for a child" class last night. We determined it was a very good thing we didn't go to college together. We would have just joked around in class and actually graduating could have been iffy. So, we're in class with about 15 other couples. A few highlights from the evening...the couple to our left, let's call them Jane and John, brought Jane's mother. And Jane's mother doesn't speak English. (She's obviously not going for a grade.) Jane's mom proceeded to move about the room throughout the evening taking pictures of her daughter and son in law. Later in the class, the teacher had us practice exercises that will help during labor. Even the guys had the pleasure of practicing. We've learned that Kyle is completely unable to do pelvic thrusts. (And Jane and John will have the wonderful pictures that Jane's mom was taking to remember Kyle by.) Even though I am 31 and Kyle is 34, we were terribly immature; we just had uncontrollable fits of laughter. Needless to say, even though we haven't yet learned much in this class it's been highly entertaining!

A bit about the brown girls in our life...

Our two dogs, Molly and Kona, have had an exciting summer. They both have gotten two sets of shoes - primarily so we no longer have to spend our spare time in the vet ER getting their paws fixed up after they connect with oyster shells while they swim in the river. Do you know how hard it is to keep an eye on EIGHT feet?! Molly finally has learned to swim, and both she and Kona love to swim laps in the pool. And they've perfected lounging in their pool chairs after a long swim. Here's a picture of Kona getting ready to go on the boat and go swimming - wearing her shoes. (Molly isn't too excited about putting shoes on her feet, yet...) And, I've included a "lounging" picture. Molly has really started to enjoy being part of a family. Yeah, we're smitten with them both.

How big is the pregnant lady?

The picture above was taken last week at 29 weeks, and the picture below was taken today - during the 30th week. Finding clothes that fit these days has been a challenge. A friend from church who had her baby about two weeks ago passed along all of her maternity clothes. So nice to be able to "shop" in my own closet for fun new things!