Morning Update

No baby yet.

Last night was rough. Things were pretty calm until midnight or so, when Rachel began having regular contractions again. Just like with Christopher, the monitor was not picking them up, so we had a constant barrage of nurses coming in and out trying to reposition the machine, give meds, etc. Rachel needs help getting up because of all of the cords, etc., that she's hooked up to, so neither one of us slept very much.

We haven't seen the doctor yet this morning, but the nurse checked Rachel last night because of the severity of the contractions and she estimates that Rachel has dilated to 5 centimeters (from 3 earlier yesterday). However, in the middle of all the contractions at about 5:00AM, Rachel was praying to herself and trying to psyche herself to sleep, trying to talk her way out of the constant back pain, contractions, and just plain being uncomfortable with having to always lay on her left side. Suddenly, her mind cleared, the contractions stopped, and the pain in her back went away and she was able to grab a couple of hours of sleep. We know from experience that peace only comes from God, so thank you to whoever was praying for us around 5:00AM this morning!

It was a great joy and encouragement to read the emails, text messages, and blog comments from all of you when we both "came to" this morning. Please also pray for my Dad and stepdad Tony who are driving down from Fort Wayne as I write this. Christopher, a natural fighter, is taking most of this in stride, but woke up last night and this morning crying for Mommy and Daddy...it's just hard because it's impossible for him to understand why we're not there.

I was really scared last night, I'll admit it. But today is a new day, and I'm looking forward to visits from family and friends.

"Faith is being SURE of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see." This definition has challenged me a lot in the past 48 hours. May we all have faith that God will protect Rachel and this little one.

--Andy