Monday, April 26, 2010

One small cord...

I have been thinking about cords a lot lately. Not the kind you play on a piano or a guitar, and not the kind that you tie around your waist when you wear a choir robe... But the kind that connects you to your mother before you are born. The blood-pumping, life-sustaining, belly-button causing kind.

Shortly after Amelia died, we found out more information about umbilical cords than we knew existed about them. Some are short, some are long, some have three vessels, some only two, some are twisted, (like an old school telephone cord) some are fragile, some are thin, and some are thick and hardy.  Some get knotted, some get stretched, some get wrapped around not just one, but many parts of the baby's body, while others may even snap under pressure. Amelia's was a little short, and it was inserted on the edge of the placenta instead of in the middle - not ideal. My placenta was also a little low - also not ideal. Both of these factors likely contributed to some compression at some point while I was sleeping. Thus causing a shortage of oxygen, and ultimately her death.  This is all educated speculation after talking with several health professionals, one having studied stillbirths for over 25 years.

I am 24 weeks pregnant, with baby number 4. We are very excited, but we are also anxious. I will wake up and not feel anything, and wonder --- did it happen again?  Then I feel a flutter, and then a roll and I am reassured that everything is okay, for now.

I have wondered... hoped... wished... asked begged God... that we'd be able to see this cord on the ultrasound, and that it would be the right length, in the right spot, and would be the life sustaining vessel for however long it needed to be in order for us to bring this new little miracle home.

As of last friday's ultrasound, I have thanked God and praised him for the appearance of a strong cord, attached in the middle of a placenta that was up high. I know that I have no guarantees of bringing this little one home, but I have hope... again. Not without worry, but also not without prayer.

Amelia's sweet tummy, and her cord.

If you have any prayers or comments of hope - I would appreciate them.

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Ridiculous is part of who I am

Some people will never admit to some of the completely normal quite ridiculous things I am about to tell you about myself. Other people really must do these things too, I mean, surely I am not the only one. Maybe I am :) And if you can't laugh at yourself - well, you are just missing a lot of good laughs!

How many times will I get startled over the same piece of coiled up black thread laying on the floor - thinking it is a ferocious spider, of course - before I finally put it in the trash can?  Then as I lay it in the trash, not burying it under other trash, I will be startled once again when I see it in the same suspicious shape on the top of my overflowing trash can. Duh.

Why do I think it is okay to give my boys a grumpy face and then growl when I see them doing something they shouldn't be doing? I really should be dealing with the issue in a proper way, but sometimes it is just way easier to dismiss the need for actual discipline. Sigh. Especially when they have already eaten half of the pack of smarties they just mischieviously took, and if I would confiscate it and put them in time-out, I would just eat it. My metabolism isn't that of a hummingbird anymore, so I really don't need it. Might as well let them finish it, and unleash the growl and grumpy face to let them know it's still not okay.

Now this is only sometimes - but it is seriously ridiculous - even if it only happens a couple times a week month. I have decided there is no need for this nonsense anymore. I mean really, who pulls the laundry out of the dryer, realizes it is cold and wrinkly, and then decide it will be much less wrinkly if I run the dryer for 10 more minutes, give it a nice fluff, and then fold it or hang it up, only to repeat this silly routine 4 or 5 2 or 3 more times. Each time convincing myself that this will be the last time I will need to run it for 10 more minutes. Honestly, how many times can an article of clothing be dried and re-dried before it starts showing signs of undue aging? It wouldn't be such a big deal if my husband wasn't allergic to wrinkled clothes. Ha, ha. I apparently am also allergic - to irons and ironing boards. :)

I like the volume to be on an even number. I don't just like it, I need it to be on an even number. In the car, on the television or radio, or whatever other device might have digital tuning for things like volume. I know it disappears after a few seconds, but I still know what it is on. I want it to be even... I just do. Because that is just a ridiculous thing that I shouldn't care about, but I do.

What is it about the man in the yellow hat? Why do I not know his name? Surely the other characters in the cartoon don't call him the man in the yellow hat... That is just George's name for him, and the narrator has to call him that, because he speaks for George. Ted doesn't count because that name is just from the movie with Will Ferrel's voice. Anyone? Anyone? Please satisfy my ridiculous concern.

My cat just got in a big "cat-fight" with another tom-cat last night. It was a neighborhood tom-cat that hangs out on our porch sometimes. I felt bad, because O-dog thought it was his fault. He said, "Mom, I think I let the wrong cat in, because we have two cats in our house now." This cat does look very similar to Burley. They are both shades of yellow. Burley is a little lighter shade of yellow, more like a butter/beige color. This other cat is a mustard yellow with darker stripes. I can see how the kids would confuse the two.
Anyway, on to my ridiculous self.
I am not really alarmed because I have never seen them fight before, and I will just let the wrong cat out, no problem. Thirty seconds after O-dog tells me of the two-cat situation, and I quickly dismiss this as no big deal, I hear this awful hissing and growling followed by some serious spatting and spitting. Then frantically the two cats come down the stairs toward the door (which is shut) in one big yellow fur ball. There are chunks of fur floating in the air, a lot more spatting and spitting, and all I can think to do is shoe O-dog back towards the kitchen and pick up a couch pillow to throw at the inseparable cats. They are making horrible sounds now, and my lack of composure is evident as O-dog is now glued to the far wall as he watches his mom take charge of the situation with a calm confidence couch pillow. You would think, because of my farm-girl upbringing, that I have seen many of these fights - which I have. And that I should have a good instinct as to how to handle myself in this situation - I don't.
I throw the pillow. A direct hit. The cats separate... I have not thought of the next logical step in my plan. They both sprint towards the door, one banging his head on the glass, because it is not open. Ah - hah! I realize the next logical step. I think about opening the door. Cats are already in massive fur-ball again. I throw pillow again. Direct hit again. Cats separate again. I run to the door, and try opening it as cats are both pushed against glass. Did I mention the door opens inward? Aargh. I get door open just enough so that they can make it outside between scratching, biting, and making other angry cat noises, which I am sure are profanity in cat-talk.

Wow. Not a great moment to be ridiculous. But... that is part of who I am. Although my son was not laughing at the very scary cat-fighting moment, I hope that my kids will be able to laugh at some of their own goofy tendencies. I am sure they will have them - since they are related to me.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Sometimes devotionals are gems...

I get a devo each morning from Back to the Bible, and the last couple of days have been gems to me. Sometimes they are also hard to swallow - those are the good ones. The truth you know is truth, and yet you need to hear it anyway.

Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: A Lamp For My Feet
Scripture Reference: Genesis 39:21 The Lord Keeps Faith




When trouble comes, we are tempted to think we are being punished or that God has forgotten us. He never forgets. He keeps faith--that is He keeps his promises, is faithful to his word, even when it appears that we are forsaken.


Joseph suffered one disaster after another. When, because of the vicious lie of a rejected woman he was put in prison, the Lord was with him there, keeping faith (Gn 39:21). Perhaps Joseph wondered why Almighty God could not have prevented the woman's triumphing over him--or prevented his ever having been victimized by his brothers in the first place and thus being at this woman's mercy. But we are given the complete picture which Joseph did not have while he was in prison--the amazing purpose of God for his chosen people, Jacob and all his family, who because of Joseph's long-drawn-out sufferings, were saved. God keeps faith--He has a perfect blueprint, and He is building according to its specifications.
 
The second one, by the same author, similar themed...
 
Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: A Lamp For My Feet
Scripture Reference: John 17:26 John 17:23


Forsaken? Impossible


Twice in my life I have heard Christians claim, in all seriousness, that God had forsaken them. This is an impossibility. Does Christ live in us? He does. The living Christ dwells in the heart of every true believer--He in them and they in Him. There are no words which adequately describe the intimacy of this relationship. Jesus, in his last recorded prayer for those whom the Father had given Him, asked "that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and thou in me...that the love thou hadst for me may be in them, and I may be in them" (Jn 17:23, 26 NEB).


Jesus Christ, in the extremity of his agony on the cross, asked why God had forsaken Him. In becoming sin for us He experienced a terrible alienation from his Father, a sense of total dereliction. God did not and could not forsake the Son who was one with Him. He cannot and will not forsake us who are not only his sons and daughters, but also the dwelling-places of his only begotten Son. "I will never, never, never, never, never (the Greek has five negatives) leave you or forsake you," is his promise. At times we may be overcome with a feeling of helpless forsakenness. This is surely not from the loving Father, but from the father of lies. The best way to answer that "father" is the way Jesus answered when tempted by Satan: "It is written." Take God's own promise with its five negatives and hold on.
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These devotionals resonated with me. I feel that so much of the time people (me included) base our faith on the mountain tops and valleys of emotion. How a song can make us feel connected to God, or how a trial can make us feel alienated by God. It is comforting and a necessity for me to remind myself that it is not about what I feel at any particular moment, but who God is and what I know to be true about Him. Regardless of how I may feel at any given moment, I am still His daughter, and He is still my loving Father. Nothing can separate us from His hand.

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter!  I also hope that you will always be able to discern when the father of lies is trying to get at you, and you will combat him with the truth that "... is written" from our  heavenly Father.