A Near Success

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."  Psalm 3:5 & 6

This verse is so simple and well-known, yet so powerful.  I go over it in my mind when I need to remember that no matter how much knowledge we can ascertain about a situation, it is only God who knows it all and is in control.
Let me first say that Cohen is doing great!  In addition to his rolling around, punching, and kicking, he has added something else to his repertoire; hiccuping!  It's the cutest thing.  But, of course, I worry if he is hiccuping too much!  Although he is doing well, our appointment last week did not go so well.  So, we never did get the snow they said was coming but our doctor's office called and canceled our appointment anyway since our doctor had a delivery that would take the entirety of the afternoon. The doctor's nurse re-scheduled for Friday.  When we arrived, it was like a ghost town because most of the doctors don't see patients on Fridays. I hadn't even sat down before they called us!  Anyway, I came armed with a new batch of questions since we are in the middle of the birthing class.  Let's just say the doctor's answers were too blunt and too "worst-case scenario" for me!  With all that he knew we had been through, I was surprised that he would not choose his words more wisely. And just to slather the icing on the cake, as he went out the door he made an unnecessary, dreadfully unhelpful personal observation that was not solicited at all. Bewildered Chris had tried to smooth over both the doctor's comments by seeking clarification, but it just got worse.  I looked at Chris as the doctor finally exited and the look on his face said it all; he heard what I did and he was horrified because he knew those words would send me into a tailspin for quite some time. Don't get me wrong, I think my doctor is the best there is and I know he is a strong, Christian man who has more experience and wisdom than I could ever ask for, but I spent the following hour waiting for my glucose test in tears.  Frankly, I wanted to cancel my appointment this week, but Chris wouldn't let me.  I prefer waiting three hours to hear those things every other week instead of in a weekly dose.  I'm afraid to ask any more questions.  I think I prefer our good friend Mr. Google from now on.  But, the most important thing is that I trust the Lord for our outcome.  Even though our doctor is the expert, he doesn't know everything. In fact, the day before my trip to the ER, he said there was no reason to worry about anything like that happening the remainder of the pregnancy.

Now on to other topics.  Chandler is doing really well. His hives have disappeared, but his behavior is still a little strange. He gazes off as if unto the vast unknown for several minutes at a time and plays a game pretending as if he will go under the covers of the bed than pops right out and eventually sleeps on our head or near it. He's never been like this before! He always prefers to sleep along my shins and does so for hours. Oh, well. We are closely monitoring him.  Also, to add to our pet woes, Joey had a fairly bad seizure for him on Thursday night.  It is so scary!  The worrisome thing is that this is the second one in two weeks; not good at all. Sometimes he goes several months without one. So, once again, closely being monitored.  Of course it does not help that Chris and I have been going along on on merry way giving Joey two different doses of medicine depending on who feeds him.  I had it in my mind that he received .6 ml after his last seizure and Chris always thought .5 ml.  I was mortified to have to call and ask this question after all this time and even more mortified that Chris was right!  Small victory for him.  He still has a lot to make up, though!

Oh, Birthing class. Last night we were prepared and standing strong. Resolved to conduct ourselves like the adults we are. It went well.....for awhile.  We discussed the last stages of labor and watched a video following a couple through the entire process. Then we watched a delightful little show about c-sections.  I'll let you in on a little tip; do not partake in the snacks in the back of the room ever during this type of class!  Not a good idea unless absolutely necessary for feeling light-headed and woozy or you have a stomach of steel! Anyway, I decided there are no good options to giving birth.  So, just as I was giving  Chris and myself a mental pat on the back for behaving so well, out come the mats and balls!  Chris and I scooted to the side to make room for everyone actually participating in this portion.  Now, I am always some what confused by what the instructor expects of me at this point. She asks me to join in on some things and looks at me to see if I am at least doing the special breathing. This night she decided to give Chris a job. She threw him one of the flat exercise balls and a pump. So, while everyone was doing their "deep cleansing breaths", Chris was struggling in every which way to get the valve out of this ball.  I tried to help and we were both pulling and twisting, then arguing when Chris pulled out his pocket knife.  It was quite the scene for the room that was so quiet. But, we didn't want to let the instructor down.  We would set it aside, succumbed to our fate of failure, then one of us would have renewed strength and start working on it again, nonchalantly. But, you can't wrestle with a huge, blue ball in front of a Lamaze class, nonchalantly!  We gave up and joined in on the coach-massage where Chris nearly knocked me of the ball several times, so we probably remained the focal point for the instructor even though we were doing our best to fit in.  Oh, well. A near success. There is always Thursday night.