31 Weeks and Holding

"He made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away." - Isaiah 49:2

That is the Bible verse that we centered Elliot's nursery around. His blanket has teepees on it. The walls have arrows. His mobile is a dreamcatcher adorned with feathers. It has all turned out to be such a cool little boy's room. However, I feel as though this Bible verse has held more meaning than I ever realized it would when I picked it out.

What first began as an awesome nursery theme has become my mantra. God is polishing my little man as we speak. He is making him stronger every day.

For those of you who do not know, I'm 31 weeks pregnant with him today and on this past Friday, I was admitted to the hospital because of a failing placenta most likely brought on by my chronic hypertension. Right now Elliot's heart rate is strong, but the doctors are saying it's just a matter of time before they start to see dips. When the dips become constant, they're going to take him out. They have no real way of knowing when it will happen, but their best guess is 1-2 more weeks. I'm on constant bed rest as they need to watch Elliot's heart rate continuously and they need my blood pressure to stay down. I see the perinatologist tomorrow morning, so hopefully we'll know more after she comes to see me.

The past couple of days have been a whirlwind. We obviously were not expecting to deliver our August baby in June as it is looking like. I was not expecting to be away from my sweet Adele for this long. I was not expecting to be hooked up to machines for an indefinite amount of time. The prospect of having a preemie is all so unknown and scary. But, as I mentioned earlier, his heart rate has already surprised a lot of people - but I know that's just God polishing him as much as he can.

A lot of people have asked what they can do for us right now, but all Justin and I really need during this time is your prayers. Please pray that Elliot stays in as long as possible. Please pray that Adele is OK without mommy for so long (and that mommy is OK without Adele for so long - trust me I've cried a lot of tears over missing that girl these past two days!) Also, Justin, my amazing husband, has shown me yet again what a strong man he is. I know this has been hard on him too. Trying to take care of me and Adele I know has been taxing and will continue to be so, so please say a prayer for him that he is able to balance it all in the coming weeks.

I'll try to keep everyone posted as much as possible. After all, I'm literally sitting here just waiting. You'll probably be hearing from me a lot!