Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Why today was so precious

Sometimes you don't need any more words than the pictures you see.

Allison Lauryn is here!!!!

It is hard to believe that just 24 hours ago we all figured it was going to be at least another week or so before our daughter would be born. Well, I guess God has timing that we really can't predict. Jody had been on bedrest for 12 long weeks, was taken off bedrest at about 12:30PM Monday afternoon, only to be brought back into the hospital about 1:00AM Tuesday morning. At 12:30 this morning, Jody's water broke, and this time there was absolutely no question. We are so thankful for our neighbor's across the street - Pastor and Mrs. Cournoyer - for all their help. I know woke Pastor C out of a very deep sleep, but he very willingly came over to stay with our boys at 1:00AM

Anyway, we get to the hospital, check in, do all the fun stuff, and I get sent to the store at about 4AM for a few things. By that point Jody was uncomfortable, but still able to deal with it. We both got maybe 2 hours of sleep. By 8AM we knew this was going to be the day. At 11AM, Jody was dialated to "between 3 & 4" as the nurse said, and at 11:38AM Allison graced us with her presence. Yes, you read that right. Jody went from "somewhere between 3 & 4" to 10 and delivered a baby in only 38 minutes!

Allison was 6 pounds 1 ounce, 18.5 inches long. Mommy and baby are doing tremendous. Both are sleeping now (I presume anyway) and I have been sent home to get a little bit of rest before this even, but of course, it is so hard to sleep right now. We want to thank you all for your prayers. We know that only God allowed us to make it this far, and we do believe it is because of the faithful prayers of individuals like you.

I will try to get some pictures posted in the next few days.

Monday, April 7, 2008

False Alarm

Well, I guess God has decided that today is not the day. Please continue to pray though.

Is today the day?

If you remember, please keep Jody and baby in your prayers today. We are not totally sure, but we believe that Jody's water may have broken last night. She is in her bi-weekly appointment right now, so we will know soon enough. We are so thankful for all the prayers to this point, as this is the longest Jody has ever been pregnant by 1 week! Today was also the day that she was supposed to be taken off of bed rest (house arrest, whatever you want to call it). I will send an update when we know more.

Thanks again for your continued prayer.

--Brian

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Just some random thoughts

Well, we are still waiting for our little one to be born. Starting this coming Tuesday this will be my longest pregnancy, which just seems a little weird to all of us, but we know that God is protecting our little one. One of Brian's co-workers made a comment to him the other day that "It has to be a girl, because if it were a boy he would be out by now. A girl on the other hand will only come out when she is good and ready!" I guess there may be some truth to that. We got a good chuckle out of it anyway.

Other than that, please continue to pray for Brian's job situation. We did find out last Friday that his last official day of employment is May 30, so that gives him some time yet, but I know this is all starting to wear on him. Like today for instance. He hasn't really heard anything about a job opportunity in about a week and a half to two weeks, which is much different that when this announcement first happened at the end of November, that from then through about mid to late January he was getting literally 6 recruiter calls A DAY, and very few actually in Minnesota compared to elsewhere. He has flown to Boston for a job interview, has talked with individuals in Miami (no thanks), Dallas, Atlanta, New Orleans (again, no thanks), Phoenix, Denver, Chicago, Indianapolis, Seattle, Las Vegas, Detroit and New York, and then today he talked with people from Northern California, Atlanta (again) and Virginia, and was contacted by email by recruiters from Los Angeles and Philadelphia. I know this is very hard for him, because he has wanted to move out of Minnesota for a long time, yet he also finds the thought of leaving very hard. We just enrolled our oldest son in K-4 (I can't believe he will be 5 in July already!), and then with the bed rest and getting through all the stuff going on at work, I know Brian is just mentally wiped out, and probably is just a little stressed out about everything, but honestly I don't think you would really know it. He is trying to be calm and understanding about everything, but I can tell that at times he has to be getting to a breaking point. But it is like he said the other day, now that he has his end date on paper, that is one less unknown he has to juggle.

Other than that, we are just waiting for spring to actually arrive. The last several weeks have been warm, then snowy, then warm, then snowy, then...well, you get the picture.

Anyway, I hope this blog finds you all in good health, good spirits and in a good relationship with God.

Friday, March 21, 2008

God has a sense of humor!

He really has to. I have come to that conclusion. Take today for instance. We were at the point that most of our snow was melted, even after two small snowfalls earlier in the week. Now today it is snowing to beat the band out, and not just the nice white fluffy stuffy. No. This is the wet, very heavy stuff. It is actually kind of nice (especially since it allowed me to work from home today), but I am ready for snow to be done for the year. The humor part...one of the weather people on the news this morning (again, don't ask me which one, they are all the same) was complaining that "how can you call today Good Friday when the weather is doing this"? Ironic, isn't it?

On the baby front, still not much happening. Jody is as uncomfortable as ever, but the baby is still hanging on. We appreciate your continued prayers, as we know that even though we are ready for this to be over, our precious baby is still premature and this is the best place for her.

My family and I would like to wish you all a very Happy Easter, and remember, Easter is because HE AROSE, not because some stupid bunny hid eggs or something like that!

Monday, March 17, 2008

At our Target Date

Well, although we know this, even though many times we seem to forget, God is GOOD! We have made it to our own target date of 33 weeks, which is even two weeks longer than the doctors originally gave us. We are very excited, but still nervous. Also, my life just got a little less stressful, as we finalized our standard annual filing with the SEC, so now I will have more time to focus on other things. God knew that I wouldn't be able to handle another thing like that.

Please continue to pray for Jody. I just got off the phone with her about 15 minutes ago. She is waiting for her bi-weekly doctor appointment. Her doctor got called into a delivery. She has been feeling very bad all weekend, she has dropped ALOT, and now she is a little nervous. Even though we made 33 weeks, we still want to make sure the baby is healthy. Thank you for your continued prayers, and we will continue to update you as things progress.

Oh, and please continue to pray for my job situation as well. God is opening and shutting doors, and it is going to be very exciting to see where He leads.

Brian