Wouldn't You Know It...

This has been a very busy week. Monday: Audrey's clinic appointment; Tuesday: OB appointment; Wednesday: Nathan's kindergarten graduation; ultrasound at OB's office to determine of baby has stopped growing; Thursday: Audrey's last hospitalized chemo!; Friday: induction; Saturday: ?

Nathan finished Kindergarten today and it was bittersweet. Nathan participated in the "kindergarten blessing" and read a couple of parts of the program. I was so proud of him. He gets nervous in big group settings and has never done a solo part before. As it turns out, he is much more comfortable doing solo parts rather than participating in a group song or recital.

After the graduation, Audrey and I went to my OB appointment where I had a growth ultrasound to see how the baby is doing, because I have been measuring on the small side for the past couple of visits. The baby is in fact small and is measuring at 33 weeks gestation rather than the 36 1/2 weeks that I am. The baby was confirmed to be a girl! She weighs just over 4 lbs. but appears to be finished growing inside my belly. She has a great heart beat and was moving all over the place during the ultrasound. We could even see her practicing breathing. So she looks to be healthy just not big and not growing at a pace that she needs to be. So, the plan is to get her out and plump her up. I am scheduled for an induction on Friday morning, May 28th. The doctor said the worst thing that can happen is that the induction fails and I will have to have a c-section. If we do not do the induction and wait a week or more, the baby could die. Obviously, we are going with the induction.

While I was at the OB's office I called Ryan to come over. When he arrived I had him take Audrey across the street to the oncologists to have her blood work done and see if she is even close to being ready for chemo. I fully expected that she was not ready and would not be ready for a week or more. Well, I was wrong. She is perfectly ready and so she will begin her final hospitalized chemo Thursday and will be able to leave the hospital sometime on Friday.

Thankfully we have Sandy here with us as she will be helping out with both kids at various times. We also have several friends that we have already called on to help out with watching Nathan over the next couple of days.

It is only fitting that Audrey ends chemo the day Elysse will be born. After all, the day I discovered the growth on Audrey's back is the same day I found out I was pregnant. Maybe these girls just need one another...

Tonight at dinner I began to talk to Nathan about the fact that Elysse is going to be born this weekend. Then came the hard part, I had to tell him that we need to be prepared for a couple of things: (1) Elysse probably won't be able to come home with us for a couple of weeks as she is very small and will need to be kept warm and given lots of food while she lives in a little box for awhile; (2) Heavenly Father may need to have her back. Nathan was very unhappy about the prospect of not being able to take Elysse home immediately and didn't even want to think about her leaving to live with Heavenly Father again.

As we knelt together to pray this evening as a family I passed on my usual turn to pray (mostly because I am emotionally warped right now and I didn't want to cry) so we asked Nathan if he would pray. He happily accepted and then came the most sincere prayer from a sweet little five year old.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We are thankful for this day. We are thankful I could play at Aunt Sandy's today. Please bless us to have a good life. Please bless Elysse not to die. Please make more dinosaurs.

In the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen