Updates Galore! The Countdown Begins!!!

Yesterday was my 38 week appointment with the doctor and things are looking good! Maksim has dropped (Stage 2 now...he said I was a Stage 3 last week and now I am a Stage 2...I guess all that's left is a Stage 1...whatever all that means,  ha!), 80% effaced and about 1 cm dilated. Sorry if any guys are reading this and it weirds you out. I never thought I would talk in terms of weeks, effacement, dilation, stages, etc! But, here I am!!!


I asked the doctor whether he thought Maks would come early and he was very general in his speaking (I guess they are so scared of getting lawsuits that they can't speak freely) saying that he could be in our arms before next week or he could wait until his due date to grace us with his presence! I told him the only thing I am nervous about is that I won't know I am having contractions...or I will mistaken them for little pains...Doctor said I will for sure know. We live about 45 minutes from the hospital so that makes me slightly nervous, but from what I hear, the first one is the longest labor wise.


So, the news for now is that if Maksim doesn't get here before September 8th, then we will head into the hospital to be induced. I told my doctor my fear of being induced too early and he definitely made me feel better about it and said that he just didn't want me going past my due date. He said they like for the babies to weight between 6 and 7 pounds because anything bigger than 8 makes the delivery a little more challenging for the baby to maneuver down the birth canal. I am trying to be as nice with my words to not make anyone feel uncomfortable, here...bear with me!

The countdown for today is 15 days until my due date!!!

Grant and I spent the later part of yesterday visiting new babies! We visited two brand new baby girls from two girls/MOMS (!!!) that I have went through the pregnancy process with at the same time! Here are the beautiful baby girls!!! Maksim has some pretty cute girlfriend options to choose from :)

Isabella Ann Epting

(This is the "Tucker" that I wrote about two posts before)

Parents: Mike and Laura Epting

Laura was 2 weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy.

Addyson Ann Butler

Parents: Rhett and Lauren Butler

Big Brother: Reese

Lauren was 8 days ahead of me in her pregnancy.

So, life is pretty much about babies at this point :) Fun! Fun!!!

Here is a little update to our work in Maksim's baby room! We stole this idea from the Epting's where you buy wooden letters and spray glue scrapbook paper to the block letters and then I used an box cutting knife (very small one) to cut the extra paper off of the wooden block letters and the final result were these cool designs! I made a little boo boo with some decals in Maks' room (you will see the final product later with the fix made with these block letters below the elephant decals) so we had to improvise and come up with a cool way to make it not look horrible :)

Here are the block letters that spell out "Maksim" (I used a camera on my Evo phone called "Retro Camera" and it gave these polaroid looking shots) and a picture of our changing table with some new baskets added (boring stuff to some, I would assume!)

On another note...

Today in my quiet time I read about "The Evil Personality". The scripture was from Revelation 2:12-13. Basically it just talked about how Satan runs rampant on this planet as John confirmed it in one of his letters: "The whole world is under the control of the evil one" (John 5:19). It says that we don't engage in a philosophy of evil; we fight against evil personalities...so Satan and his demons are very real! I liked the wording I read today where it said: "Forsake all thought of evil simply as a force in this world. Never depersonalize it. Recognize that there is a relentless, malicious intelligence behind all the pain you see....and when all hell breaks loose against you, rely completely on Him." 

I think that I needed to hear that this week. Not that "all hell" has broken loose against me or Grant but we have faced a few challenges but through it all we are confident in our Lord and his ability to take care of us. If you have ever seen any of my old posts, we have several situations where things seemed impossible to see past but the Lord has NEVER, NEVER let us down. It's pretty awesome if you look at things from an eternal perspective. Looking at things and situations from a worldly perspective will always leave you broken down and discouraged. 

'Til next time!!! I am trying to do better with my posts :)