We Survived Our First Contraction!

Okay, so it was a fake contraction during our Lamaze class that we started this past Monday, and there really was not pain, but we did survive it -- breathing in steady rhythm all along. :)

We started Lamaze, and we are taking this really awesome class call "Wonderfully Made Lamaze" which has a God-centered focus, weaving scripture and God truths throughout ... it is really great. The teacher is fabulous, and I highly recommend this course!! We watched a video on the first night of class that again reminded me of how amazing God, and how intricately He designed the female body so that it bear children ... there are soooo many amazing things that happen in our bodies during pregnancy ... Wow! I sit amazed at God right now ...

We have had two of our four sessions and have had a lot of fun. We are lucky because our friends, Mike and Heather Huber, who are expecting their first child (a boy) in August, are also in the class. I think the class is good for Tim and me so that we can know a little bit more of what to expect, and Tim is able to see his role a bit better.

We had our doctor's appointment last Friday ... now we are on the every-two-weeks schedule (yikes!) which means that I already have to go again next week. Everything sounded and looked good, and Linda said that Baby Liby was about 2.5 pounds -- Baby sure is getting bigger! She even felt Baby's head! I heard Baby's heartbeat again ... what a beautiful sound! The only thing is that I got so wrapped up in hearing it that I forgot to ask what the bpm was ... nuts! :)

The progress that Tim made on the house this past week (he took a week of vacation to work on the house) was AWESOME (let's just be honest ... my husband is AWESOME!). We have dry-wall up along the walls and in the hall, so we officially have two rooms again (Mike Huber was able to come and help him hang most of the dry-wall on Thursday ... I hope Mike realizes what a blessing he was to do that with Tim!!). He got some of the insulation in, and is going to blow in the rest of the insulation this weekend. He got the electricity all settled. He got studs up in that attic for knee-walls (our dream is that one day, that will be usable space). He replaced a door in the hallway. On Friday, Grammy Rose and I took off some time from work and we helped him. While he was finishing dry-walling/insulation, we were peeling wallpaper off of the nursery room walls. Grampy Fred suggested (via phone) that we go and buy a wallpaper steamer and that was a great recommendation -- it went SO MUCH faster after we got that. Grammy and I also hammered out nails from all of the trim ... after we worked all day, my feet became more swollen then ever! It was kind-of funny, but it did take two days for them to go back to semi-normal ... at least I can see my veins again!

What's left ... well, Tim needs to finish the insulation, then we are going to have someone come in a do all of the mudding/plaster repair. Tim needs to finish working on the windows (they needed much repair). We need to remove paint from all of the trim, build out the closet spaces, paint and then clean everything and we are ready to move into those rooms ... YEAH!! Then we can start on the living room, dining room and guest room (we are going to wait on the kitchen and bathroom as those are going to be complete remodels) ... any volunteers to help? Let us know! :)

As far as Grampy Fred is concerned, there is not going to be a major internal surgery to fix his breaks. They are going to allow the bones to heal naturally, using the old-fashioned remedy: a cast. There was still to much skin swelling/damage for the doctor to be comfortable with the surgery. So, next Friday, Grampy Fred goes back to Bronson for a quick, minor surgery to remove the external fixature and to place the cast on. Get this, the cast is going to go from mid-thigh all the way to his toes -- talk about large! He does get to pick out what color he wants ... Grammy Rose and I are recommending glow-in-the-dark ... that way, we can't lose him! :) I am sure he will chose a much more practical color like blue. He will remain at the rehabilitation center in Battle Creek until next Friday morning when he goes to Bronson. It has been four weeks today since he was last home, so I think he is very anxious to get back there!

Before I sign off for the day, I have to share this story with you because God is good -- very good -- to us! Yesterday, we were told that Grampy Fred was going to have to come home today (insurance, I guess, deemed that his time at the rehabilitation center had been enough; at the end of the day, the insurance company came back and told us that he was going to be allowed to stay there until his surgery next Friday -- Praise God!). Anyway, the option of Grampy coming home sent Grammy Rose into a scramble to make arrangements ... which she did without hesitation. One of those arrangements involved getting someone to come in for home care. The least expensive quote she had was for $13.50/hour ... times that by 4 hours/day for 5 days a week ... well, that is just a good amount of money. The problem ... insurance won't cover home care ... that means it all has to come out-of-pocket. That is a lot of extra money to come up with if you aren't planning for it. After talking about this with Grammy, I just prayed that God would provide and that he would make this transition worry-free. A little bit later, Grammy called me and shared with me how God answered my prayer. You see, one of the most giving couples I know called her and told her that they figured things money-wise were probably getting a little bit tight, and they were wanting to send my parents some money ... enough money to cover home care for at least a couple of weeks! Now, they were not asked, not even approached, but God had been working in them to provide a smooth transition exactly when the time was right ... that is the God that I love. That is the God that I serve. He is a good God, a God that takes care of all of our needs ... Matthew 6:25 - 34 tells us:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

God proved Himself (again) to me yesterday, and the only thing that I can do when I think of that story is praise Him ... for He is good.

Katie

Welcome to the Third Trimester!

Wow! That makes my stomach turn quite a bit ... and I don't mean from the baby. I can not believe that we are already in the third trimester! Maybe I will feel differently towards the end of this pregnancy, but right now, I really wish time would slow down (conversely, Grampy Fred is wishing time would speed up for him!).

So, as you can see from the updated tummy shot, Baby Liby is getting big. Big enough that his/her movements are getting very strong! It was really cute the other night ... I woke up to go to the bathroom, and when I cam back to bed, Tim was awake. He cuddled into the nice body pillow that we have between us (so that I can sleep on my left side easier) and put his hand on my belly. Baby Liby was moving all around and Tim felt him/her move more then he ever had. He was really excited about it!

We have an appointment with the doctor this week and I need to go and get my glucose test completed (fun stuff!). Tim is officially on vacation from work to work on the house (lucky him) and has been working hard since Friday. We officially have two rooms again (the Master Bedroom and the Nursery) so I guess it can no longer be called the Mastursery ... but it still is the Mastursery project. I tried this weekend, with no avail, to get updated project photos loaded to the blog. Fear not, I will try again, but I was getting annoyed, so I took a break. The rooms are really transforming. Tim finished up with getting the floors boards back in both rooms last night, and it looks great! We have someone coming to give us a quote tonight to help us with plaster cracks and drywalling. Our electricity is in in a few places, and we are waiting for the first inspection (the inspector comes today). Hopefully, we will pass that inspection, and the electrician can come back in this week and finish with the rest of the house. Tim is very optimistic that the project will be done in time for baby.

Oh, and great news on the theme front! Quite a while ago, I had a fun idea for a nursery theme (like, three years ago ... way before we were even ready for kids ... what can I say, I am a pre-planner in some areas!) that I just loved. Anyway, the idea I had was "You Are My Sunshine" and that is what we are going with. Last week, my mom and I were able to go and pick out some fabulous fabrics for the room (she is going to make the crib skirt, curtains, a quilt and accent pillows out of these fabrics) and I was able to take time this weekend to pick out paint colors. Now, when we get the walls ready we are ready to move forward with painting ... yeah!!

As far as Grampy Fred is concerned, he is still at the Rehabilitation Center in Battle Creek. First off, I must state how wonderful this place is ... I mean, what a true blessing! God really has been looking out for us from the very beginning of this entire process! Grampy Fred is ready to be done with this process, but he still has a long road ahead. He goes in this morning (July 21) to the doctor for an exam on his leg. Hopefully, the doctor will set a surgery date for this week (it has been postponed due to the swelling in his leg). The swelling does appear to have gone down a good amount, but there is still some swelling. The best estimate we have right now is that they will schedule surgery for sometime towards the end of this week, but we will know for sure in a few hours.

A few blog-keeping notes ... I have changed the settings so you can add comments "anonymously" -- this allows you to add comments without having a Google i.d. If you do this, can you please, please, please add your name to the comments?! We LOVE to read the comments but it is the most fun knowing who is saying what. When it is from anonymous, we sure can't tell.

Also, I added fun pictures of us registering at Babies R' Us last week ... check them out in the below blog. :)

Look for a new survey coming soon ... we already have the next question. I know there were some troubles with the most recent survey, but it seems that it is working correctly now. So, if you have an opinion as to whether you think Baby Liby will be a boy or a girl, and you haven't voted yet, feel free to vote!

So, after our the checkup this week, Baby and I start going in for every-other-week appointments ... whoa! That is crazy!

And, just so you know, Baby Liby is moving around like crazy right now! :)

Love,
Katie

Counting Down the Last Days of the Second Trimester

Today, we are 26 weeks, 2 days. Who can believe that we are facing the final week of our second trimester? Holy cats!! That means that as of Saturday, I (Katie) will officially be in the last trimester of my first pregnancy ... I can't believe it!! Time has flown by! We have just three short months until our due date and still many things to get done.

The good news is is that we no longer have a masterusery. We actually have a master bedroom and a nursery room. Now, the official wall is not in place, since the electrician is coming today, tomorrow and Wednesday to run electric. Right now, it is studs and plywood -- but there are two distinct rooms. By the end of next week, we should have the entire wall completed. Yeah! Tim has been working soooo hard on the house and has been doing a fabulous job (as you can well imagine). Starting this Friday, he is off of work for a week-long vacation, so he plans on getting tons done in the next week. This will be the last major amount of time he has to work on it before Baby Liby comes ... after this, it will all be weekends. His hope is to have both rooms ready to be painted by the time next week comes to an end. While he might not hit that goal, he is getting closer and closer to it, which feels great. He is wonderful! We have more pictures to add so I hope to get those up soon.

Grampy Fred is still in the hospital. :( He has an external fixature on, and is expected to have surgery this Friday if everything continues to go well. They took the bandaging off of the fixature this morning, and my mom got to see it ... she says it isn't too bad. It still makes me a bit queasy thinking of those pins coming out of my dad's leg! He has been pretty drugged up to fight the pain, so it has been a bit difficult to connect with him. The other day, he was trying to feed himself while he was sleeping ... it was pretty funny! :) Hopefully, he will be able to stay at the hospital until his next surgery. Unfortunately, it is looking more like he is going to have to be transferred to a nursing home until his surgery. We are praying that doesn't happen, but if he does have to be transferred, we have a spot waiting for us in a very good nursing home, so that is a blessing.

In other big news, we started our registry this weekend. It was so fun to start. We had a much more enjoyable time with this than we did for our wedding. Wedding registering was so hectic and stressful, with so many decisions to be made and an appropriate blending of tastes to be had. With this, we had many decisions to make, but it seemed much easier and more fun. I had to laugh at Tim. We were walking into Babies R' Us, and he said, "I think that we will be done with this in an hour." I cracked up! He had no idea how many things a baby can use! :) Three hours and 15 minutes later, we were leaving because the store was closing -- not because we were done. In fact, we only got through about 65% of the store, so we have a bit more to do. But, we have officially started. It feels good because we have our theme, furniture, the registry started and a good start on picking out a chair for the nursery. After that, we are pretty much set.



I have pictures of us registering that I will have to add later since I left my camera at home (oops!). Hope you all are well.

Thank you so much for the love, support and prayers we have received in regards to my dad's leg. We have been very blessed!

Love,
Katie

Another Fourth of July ... Another Broken Bone (Well, Two)

Wow! What a weekend. Grandy Rose, Grampy Fred, Uncle Jeff and Auntie Anne and I (Katie) went to Missouri for the super fun family Fourth of July gathering (Tim stayed home to work on the house). We rarely miss this event since we get to see so much family at one time ... and let's face it, the Noonan's are a blast!! There is a campground at Mark Twain Lake that most everyone goes to ... fun place for most -- for Grampy Fred, it is a dangerous place! Last Fourth of July, when Grampy Fred was there, he fractured his right foot. When he was there in September for his and Grandy's surprise 30th Anniversary party, he tripped on a campfire ring (it was dark and there was no fire in this ring) and came out of that pretty bruised. This year ... well, this year it got much worse!

On Saturday, most of the family decided to go to the water park that is connected with the campgrounds. The day started out very promising with a dip in the Wave Pool. For the second ride of choice, many of the guys got in line to go on a three-story water slide that has a pretty steep angle to it, goes underground and shoots you into a pool of water. You know, the key to water slides is the pool of water at the end that slows you down. The problem with this slide: there was only 3 - 5" of water in the pool. Given Grampy Fred's height and weight, this didn't do much to slow him down as he shot down the slide ... actually, what slowed him down was the concrete wall at the end of the pool ... ouch! Given that his feet were crossed at the ankles, his right leg took the brunt of the force, causing his tibia and fibula bones to break. He has seven breaks between the two bones. Immediately, and through God's provisions, my dad was surrounded by a trauma nurse, a paramedic (my cousin, Mike) and a nurse (my cousin, Kelly). With their help, we made the decision to travel 40 miles to the hospital in Quincy, Illinois. There was a closer hospital, but Mike didn't think they would be able to handle my dad's case.

I wasn't at the water park, so Auntie Anne and Uncle Jeff rushed back to the campgrounds to get me. My heart about stopped when I heard that my dad was in an ambulance on the way to the emergency room because he broke his leg. We got to the hospital and learned that night that there were seven breaks in his bones (we originally thought two to five) and that he needed surgery to install something called and external fixature (I think that is how it is spelled). Basically, it consists of pins that are drilled through the foot and connected with rods outside of his legs. It is bulky and gnarly.

While the hospital staff in Quincy was fabulous, the big decision then was, do we stay in Illinois, or try to get him back home. We decided that given the extensive surgery, and the extensive post-operation care he will need, it would be best to get him home. On Monday, were rented a second vehicle, took the seats out of Jeff's van, put and air mattress in, put Grampy on the air mattress and made the long journey home. Actually, given the number of stops and the distance traveled, we made very good time arriving at Bronson Hospital (where Baby Liby will be born) at about 9:30 p.m. Grampy was pretty drugged up on pain-killers so the trip was fairly smooth for him with little pain.

This morning, he went though his first of potentially two surgeries, and had an external fixature put in. Baring no complications/infections, he will have a second surgery next week to actually repair the break as today's surgery was more to stabilize the leg, giving the skin a chance to heal and stop swelling. I am uploading X-rays of the break to the blog (look at the previous post) ... it looks pretty nasty.

Right now, we are so thankful for many things ... that the injury wasn't worse (it could have been); that we have had fabulous doctors (both in Quincy and at Bronson; that the nurses in Quincy were wonderful and very accommodating; that the car rental guy in Quincy was very helpful; that the trip home went smoothly; that family was around for this whole thing (the Noonan's are one supportive bunch); that God worked many small details so long ago to make this process much smoother ... just to name a few.

The things we are praying for ... of course, a quick and painless healing for Grampy (they are estimating three to four months before he can put weight on that foot again); doctor's wisdom; peace and patience for Grandy, my sisters, brother-in-laws, Tim and me; patience and clarity for my dad; a faster healing then the doctors are predicting ... God can work miracles, and He created the bones that are broken ... He can definitely heal them, too!

Please join us in thankfulness and prayer ... God is good. He has a plan for us all in this, and He will take care of my dad ...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to bring you harm; plans to give you a hope and future." Jeremiah 29:11 (my memorized paraphrase :) ) When God said this to the Israelites, He was doing so while they were in slavery and bondage to the Babylonians. He was telling them that He saw them, still loved them and was waiting to care for them. It feels a lot like my dad is going to be in bondage this summer ... a slave to his leg ... already many summer plans have been changed or put into question. It looks like my Dad has been harmed (well, he has) and while the Israelites were physically harmed in their slavery, God still knew their future and the good things in their future. God is still here, watching over my dad, loving him and healing him with each passing day ... it feels good to know that ...

Katie

X-rays posted below ...

The Breaks

Here are the breaks ... in all of their painful glory ...

Front View:

Back View:

Side-Right View:

Side-Left View:

24 Weeks, 2 Days ... Wow!

Boy! Time is flying ... Tim and I computed the weeks out the other day and were just blown away with the fact that the final trimester starts in just a few weeks ... wow!

We still have much to do with the house, but are progressing. Tim has been working very hard. We are getting closer to the point where we can actually have help with the house. We are actually putting the studs back into the room tonight, so the wall is going back up -- this means we won't have a masterusery! We will have two separate rooms ... yeah!!

I cannot believe we are this close to the third trimester; time sure does fly. I was reading my Pregnancy, Week-by-Week book last night and they showed a picture of what baby looks like in the womb. Let me just say, Baby sure does not have a lot of room to move ... I cannot imagine what it is going to be like in the next months as Baby Liby grows and grows. The upside to Baby running out of room is that I feel him/her move so much more. (S)He remains pretty quite through most of the days, but is very active in the mornings and night. Tim has been feeling Baby move pretty consistently, but oftentimes, when he puts his hand on my tummy, Baby quits moving (giggle!). I am pretty sure that as the weeks progress, he won't have any problems feeling Baby move -- and seeing Baby move!!

We went to the doctors last week for a check-up. Baby's heartbeat was 166 bpm. We go again next month, and then after that we start the bi-weekly visits ... I am just amazed at how fast the time is going. Our appointment was with Linda, again ... she is just fabulous! She really takes the time to let you connect with your baby, and to answer any questions. I never feel rushed in her presence. I truly appreciate her!

I realized that as of right now, I am not super anxious about meeting baby (don't get me wrong, I am super excited about it, but I am not at a point where I just think all about who Baby is, what (s)he will look like, etc.). Maybe that "I can't wait" feeling will come, but as of now, I am very content with how time is progressing ... perhaps it is because we have so much to do that I want time to move as slowly as possible.

Love,
Katie