Today marks 24 weeks!!! We are so excited to get to this first milestone of many! I came up with the brilliant idea of milestone gifts!! The whole Morton family is going to Disney in October (yes I might be crazy taking a 3 month old to Disney) but my first prize is a Mickey ice cream in front of the princess castle. I have been to most of the Disney parks, but I have never been to Magic Kingdom so I'm very excited!!! This first milestone is so big because we were told we had to make it to 24 weeks for any life saving measures to take place for our son! If he came now it would still not be good but he would have parents putting up a fight for him. I am just trusting the Father day by day to give us whatever time he knows we need! Tripp has gotten so much more active! I told Jeff it feels like I have snakes moving in my stomach. Jeff is finally getting to were he can feel the baby moving a good amount! It is so sweet to see the excitement on his face when he gets to feel our son, he is going to be an amazing daddy! Tripp has gotten stronger in his movements, there are times now that you can watch my belly move. It is so neat to see how God created the womb to hold a baby and for there to be signs of life through development. Here are a few cool facts about our sons development as of today!
- His weight should be 1 1/2 pounds (our little guy is already bigger than that)
- His size is equal to a standard envelope
- He will now start gaining 6 oz per week (yep, he probably going to follow the 10 pound Morton tradition :)
- His face is almost fully formed
- He has a full set of eyelashes and eyebrows
- He has hair forming on the top of his head
"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your books were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Psalms 139: 13-16
It's official we are home!! It took most of the day to get all the discharge reports done so I could leave, but I have never been so happy to be home. I think our son knows we are home to because he has not stopped kicking since I got in our bed! Before we left the hospital today God showed us his power again. The perinatologist came in and wanted to check for my birth defect, which you can see it through an ultrasound. He looked for 15 minutes and then said I cannot find it anywhere! I just cried tears of joy because there is no way to explain this except God!!! This means if Father gives us anymore children I will not have the high risk of miscarriage! Now that I am home I am still on very strict bed rest. I have to stay upstairs where our bedroom is and only get up to go to the rest room and take a short shower. My husband has been so wonderful in taking care of me. I'm sure he never dreamed that at just 7 1/2 months of marriage he would be buying an old lady shower chair, but he has not complained one time. Our families have been amazing too. My parents got our groceries and set some things up in our room. Jeff's parents have done laundry, cleaned, and brought us food. We are truly blessed that we have the families that we have. To God be the glory!
I have been off the magnesium since 6:00 this morning and so far no contractions! I am feeling so much better now that this stuff is working its way out of my system! Jeff and I cannot thank Father enough for all the news we have gotten today! We went to the perinatologists today and have gotten so many good reports. First, they checked my cervical length again. When we came into the hospital it was at a 2.5 cm which meant it was thinning. The doctors said they could try to stop it from thinning, but they couldn't make it thicker. Well they must not understand God is the true healer because today when they measured it it had thickened back to a 3.1 cm. This means we have a pretty good "cushion" before labor could start back. Also, they ran a protein test, which would tell them the possibility of me having our son before 34 weeks. The protein test came back negative, which means we have less than a 5% chance of going into labor before the baby can be considered "fully developed." The news doesn't stop there!! When I first found out I was pregnant they told me I was Strep B positive. This can be very harmful to the baby during delivery if I am not treated for it properly. Well today they told us that the new culture came back negative and I do not have Strep B! When my OB came by said she felt confident about sending me home tomorrow! She said Friday when we came in she did not think we would be going home for months unless of course I had delivered. She told us "God must have been shining down on you!" We both said he did more than "shine down" on us he healed me from whatever was going on! God is so faithful and he hears the cries of his saints. He chose to allow us to get to this point and I am SO grateful for this. He has worked in our lives and in the lives of other believers around us. People are sharing so many stories with us about how God has used this to restore faith and trust in him. Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement! To God be the glory, great things he has done!
Well tomorrow I get to go on a field trip!! They are wheeling me over to the perinatologist office to have an ultrasound and some test run. One of the test is to check for a certain protein, this protein will tell them more about my pre-term labor. If it comes back negative we are good, they haven't really told us what happens if it's positive. The doctor feels I am stable enough at this point to try to come off the magnesium!!!! They are going to cut it off at 6:00 in the morning. Which means I get to shower and have my catheter taken out!!! They have talked about starting me on some medication called procardia tomorrow, which I can take every 6 hours the rest of my pregnancy. The only concern is it was created as a blood pressure pill, but it helps with pre-term labor. I already run on the low side with my BP so they are hoping I can handle the medicine. I know God has all of this under control and I am not worried at all! We had several visitors today! Our parents came again today, which is always an encouragement to have them spend time with us. My father-in-law is one of the funniest people I know so his jokes and comments are always good to hear! I also had my best friend Hannah and her mom (mom #2) Darlene come by to visit. Some really cool things have happened today!My parents ate at a place called "Come and Get It", if you are ever around Kennestone you should try it! My dad, who can make conversation with anyone, was talking to the owner. He asked my parents why they were there and they told him about me being in the hospital and what was going on with the baby. The owner stopped taking orders and prayed for me and my family for about 5 minutes. Then, when he finished up orders he sat with my parents for a while and talked to them about his business. His father had died 4 years ago and his dad told him to invest in gold & silver. He did, but when he felt The Lord was calling him into this business he sold them for exactly the amount of money he needed, $333,000 (there's that number again!) The owner went on to tell my parents how God had used his business as a ministry opportunity and how he has been able to share the gospel with a lot of people. Later my parents were searching for a Smoothie King for me and my dad stopped by the rest room. He had a man approach him and say "you were in Nick's restaurant earlier today!" My dad said yes and the man asked my dad if he was a Christian. He went on to tell my dad his wife had killed herself 4 years ago and left him with an 11, 17, and 26 year old. His 17 year old daughter was in Labor and Delivery and did not want the baby girl. He said several people had volunteered to take the baby, but he wanted the baby to go to a Christian home. He asked my parents in they wanted the baby and my dad said he knew someone who was a Christian who would. They exchanged numbers, we are unsure of what the outcome of this will be but God knows! I would love for that baby to go to this home, but if that is not in the plan, as excited as I would be, I have to trust Father knows best! Another cool story came from my best friends. Friday someone had asked her how I was doing and she said she had not talked to me in a few days so she sent me a message, it came as we were getting all this scary news! It meant so much to me that I got a random "Hey thinking about you, hope everything is okay.. love you" the moment the doctors were giving us little hope about our son. She told me today that when I texted back she was away on a church wide women conference in Tennessee, they had 30 women praying for us several times a day throughout the whole weekend. Another group of ladies they knew were in TN as well, and their group was praying for us throughout the weekend. I feel so grateful that so many people are going before The Throne on our behalf. This little baby is so special and I hope he gets to grow up and use all of the many stories we are having sent to us to glorify The Father. Thank you each again for the prayers and love that you are showing our little family! You will never know how much they mean to us! To God be the glory!
Today has been a good day! My brother and sister-in-law came and visited with us for several hours! I love spending time with them. Since I got married I only get to see them about once a month, so anytime we get to visit I get excited. My sister-in-law made us a goodies bag with all sorts of fun entertainment items and snacks. God blessed our family when she was added. She is the type of person who would give you the shirt off her back she had if you needed it! I always enjoy talking with my brother as well, whether we are discussing something about theology or something we have heard or read on the news, he always brings lots of fun. He wouldn't discuss politics with me to much today because my blood pressure reading went up every time we started talking.... I'm guess I will always be a Colston :) Needless to say it was a much needed visit!!! After they left the doctor came around for her rounds. She told me I was still contracting so they are going to increase the Magnesium again if it was okay with me. I told her whatever it takes to keep the baby in was what I wanted. She expresses I would feel a lot worse, but I just laughed and told her I didn't think feeling worse was possible. They are talking about taking me off one of my pill form of medications tomorrow night at 6:00. The medication has been working with the Magnesium to keep contractions down. I can only have the pill for 72 hours after that it can cause harm to me as well. Please continue to pray that we will have peace and that God will continue to allow me to carry our little boy if that is his will. One thing Jeff and I talked about today was spiritual warfare. Not many people know this but a year and three months ago I went through some of the deepest spiritual warfare of my life. At first I was unsure of what was going on but as I clung to scripture and read a lot of theology on this topic I believed in spiritual warfare for probably the first time in my life. To just put myself completely out there December 2012 were some of the darkest days of this warfare. I had gotten so depressed one evening I took my dad the gun I owned and told him I had been thinking about using it to end my life and I wanted him to have the gun. I spent a lot of time talking with my brother and my former pastor, Mitch Jolly about this. They encouraged me by sharing some of their experiences with warfare and telling me to continue to recall scripture and pray. After several months God delivered me out of this. I believe this was a huge growth time in my faith. There were days that I felt I could not function without God reminding me of scripture. So, as I was laying in the hospital bed today just thinking of where my life has been over the last year and three months, I remember reading in a Charles Spurgeon book this quote "When God's servants are active, satan is not without vigilant soldiers who seek to counteract their efforts." I am by no means perfect, but my true hearts desire is to live a life that will only bring glory to Christ and to trust that he has a sovereign will for my life. When this earthly battle is over I want to enter heaven worn out from fighting these spiritual battle as hard as possible. As I was recalling all of these events I could hear The Spirit whispering peace over me. You see had I gone through with what the enemy was throwing at me in 2012, I would not be here today. I am married to an incredible godly man, I have been able to experience the joy of pregnancy, and praying God sees fit to allow me to experience the joy of being a mom! To Him be the glory! Great things he has done!
Today has been a day full of prayer!! We still have no news, which I am learning that no news is usually good! I really appreciate all of the prayers we are receiving. We have heard there are saints in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, and Texas lifting us up to The Father. I wish I could thank every single one of you personally for your prayers and for the encouragement they have brought to me and my sweet husband. We also had quit a few guest come by with prayers and encouragement which has been very uplifting. One thing that I have thanked Father for a lot today is for the gift of my sweet husband. I waited 26 1/2 years for this amazing man and every day of waiting was worth it. He has not left my side..... like for real won't even go down to eat dinner. He has held my hand, prayed with me, read scripture to me, and made sure I have had everything that would make me feel comfortable. I am also so thankful for my mom and dad, as well as my mother-in-law and father-in-law. They have brought us food, clothes, snacks, anything we have asked for they have done it. We are so blessed!! One thing they did tell us tonight was that my initial Magnesium level was very low. It is suppose to be between a 5.5-6.5. After being on a constant drip since Friday it is just now hitting a 3.2. They are going to increase my Magnesium to a higher dose which they have told me is going to make me feel worse. For that reason they are limiting my visitors. We really want to thank every person who has asked to come, but at this point we just need prayers more than anything. We love each and every one of you! To God be the glory!
Today has been a pretty uneventful day. I am not any worse, but I am also not any better. I am trying to make mental notes of everything that is happening so that I can pass it along to family and friends. The doctor has talked to us several times about having an amniocentesis done, but we are trying to hold off as long as they will let us. There is a big chance they could break my water during the test and that would cause the labor to progress for sure. The doctors are saying they cannot understand why I am having contractions and this test would let them know if I had an infection in the amniotic fluid. However, I have yet to run a fever and my white blood count is perfect, so we are hoping this hold them off a little longer. It did get pretty real today when the doctor told us that Jeff may end up having to choose between his wife and delivering a baby. I'm not going to lie, for a few minutes I was shaken, but every time I have gotten to a point of fear God sends a reminder. I know we have a lot of friends and family praying for us and I have a great sense of peace about the whole situation. God has already done more than my little mind ever thought was possible. Not for one moment does he forsake me and I know that is were my mind needs to rest. To God be the glory!
Today is one of those days I will remember for the rest of my life! On 3/20/14 Jeff took me to the hospital because I thought I might have been having contractions. After a few hours they sent us home and told me I would be on bed rest until I could see the OB on Monday. If you know me you know I HATE being still. I would rather scrub toilets than be forced to stay in one spot, so I told Jeff on the way home that day I hoped it would not be permanent (little did I know what was ahead!) On 3/21 Jeff left for work with strict orders not to get out of the bed until we got ready to go see my mom for her birthday. At about 12:00 I started feeling this really strong pressure. So, I called the doctor who said to be in her office at 2:00. I thought at first I was maybe being over sensitive but as I started getting ready I knew something was wrong. It is so neat to me how God gives you intuition. When the OB checked me my worse fear came true.... I was in pre-term labor. We were sent over to the hospital until her night rounds and by the time she had gotten there my cervix had thinned 40% more than in her office. She bluntly told us she was not certain she could stop it and until our son was 24 weeks (which was 1 week and 2 days away) they did not consider him viable to live. Jeff and I had a few tears and then we began to pray that we would remember that in ALL things Father is good and that he gives and he takes away. We prayed we would have faith to endure everything that was ahead. Jeff stepped out to get my mom and go talk to his family and the nurse (who was crying) just held my hand while she finished paperwork. When my mom came in she shared a piece of information that my mamaw had given her at lunch that day. My cousin had been doing research on numbers in the Bible. The number she had researched was the number 333. I cannot remember most of the things my mom had read but I will not forget the verse Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known." My mom and I just smiled and thanked God for the verse to remind us that as children of God he hears our cries. The nurse came back in and my mom asked what room I would be headed to....She said room 333 again we laughed and thanked God. My mom shared the information with our nurse, who is a prayer warrior and she began to cry again. God knew I needed medical staff around me at that moment who had faith. As she was rolling me to my room she explained there would be a lot of people doing a lot of different things when we got there. One of the staff was a doctor for the baby. He measured my cervical length and determined is was at a 2.5cm on a 4.0 cm scale. The smaller it was the worse it was. We were told they could try to stop that from getting thinner but there was no way to make it thicker once it had started. One positive was when they measured Tripp the doctor was floored that even though he is only 22 weeks he is measuring 1 week and 2 days bigger (that's how long we need to get him to "viability".... God is good!) I was started on several different medicines through my IV, one is called Magnesium.... they told me it would make me feel like I had the flu. I have only had the flu once in my life and I do not remember feeling this bad. The medicine works to relax all the muscles in your body..... it strange to see your legs but have no feeling in them at all! As is stands at this point we are just holding on to the faith and hope that God is sovereign and that not a single one of today's events took him by surprise! He is still good and we will praise him no matter what he decides to do!
Welcome to our blog!!! It is our hope to use this blog to keep our friends and family updated on the progress of little peanut while on our journey to 4o weeks of pregnancy! It is just by God sovereign plan that we are even getting to experience the joys of such a blessing! In May of 2012 (way before I met my sweet husband) I had to have a surgery. The outcome of the surgery was because of a birth defect plus endometriosis I had less than a 2% chance of ever having a baby, and if I did get pregnant my birth defect would cause the baby to miscarry by 12 weeks. So, to find out a little less than 3 months into our marriage we were pregnant was a HUGE shock to say the least. We were very excited and even though I was certain I would miscarry I still told everyone! Jeff and I began to pray over our baby in our nightly devotion. We have always thanked God for allowing me to experience pregnancy, but we also told The Lord we knew he was a gift..... he was from God and not our own. Jeff and I have prayed our baby would have a heart that loved and served God, served others, and that he would bring glory to Christ! We also knew there was a huge chance we would lose this baby before 12 weeks, but our prayer has and still is that God is good in all things and that he would give us the faith we need to endure whatever the outcome of this sweet little life is. To God be the glory!
