Renewed Hope

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with thee. (Psalm 139).

I am humbled, grateful, emotional, happy, delirious, nervous, in disbelief, over the moon... you name it, I'm feeling it. I am 24 weeks (actually 24 weeks, 2 days)! There is a plethora of emotions running through my head and heart. I am excited to be here and this pregnancy is becoming more real to me. During this moment of happiness, there is sadness as well. Sadness because I never got to experience this milestone with Alyssa-Joy or Evan. I am rejoicing, but the "if onlys" are lingering in the back of my mind.

I had my 24 week appointment yesterday and as usual, I was a nervous wreck! I did not leave my bed (thank heavens for holidays!) and spent the day researching. I wont say what, but I probably should stay away from the Internet.

At 3:00pm, we were sitting in the waiting room with our hearts in our hands anxious about what the appointment would reveal since it had been 4 weeks since our last cervical check.

These are the highlights from the appointment:

Weight - 188 (4lbs up from pre-pregnancy weight)

Blood pressure - 125/69

Baby's heart rate: 143bpm

Baby's weight: 1lb 7 oz (yikes!)

Cervical length measurement: 4.10cm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (last check was 4.03)

Precautions: Keep doing what I am doing, but relax just a little because we deserve it after all we have been through. The outcomes at this stage with this c/l is awesome compared to when we were at 20 weeks during the last pregnancy (dr's exact words).

Next appointment: Feb 15th, 2011

And for the moment we have all been waiting for...................................................................................

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Introducing our Gift from God:

Spencer Nathan W.

We have a renewed hope. The TAC is working and we are grateful we made the decision to have it done. I keep thinking "what if we had followed the consultant's recommendation and done another TVC?" Would we still be at this stage? Would I still be able to work? Would my cervix still be long and closed? We will never know, but we are thankful that the Lord led us to Dr. Rodriguez and we are excited to be living testimonies to his goodness!

We are telling our families today and tomorrow and are prepared to encounter some hurt feelings. We do no expect the news to be taken with happiness and sunshine, but I hope they understand why we chose to keep it quiet for so long. Wish us luck!

I cannot thank you enough, but THANK YOU for all the well wishes, thoughts, texts, and so on. And please, do not post on face.book until we tell our families.

Awaiting my expected end,

Marie