The countdown is on!

There are only two weeks left until the big day!! I knew it would pass by quickly so this is no surprise. Baby Larson is still doing really well much to my immense relief. He loves to roll around and kick and punch me all the time and I honestly cherish these moments with him knowing it will be my last pregnancy.

We have finally decided on his name! We'll announce that in two weeks though ;) It seems that my medical team has decided on a final plan for the big day. They had a big meeting about me on the 6th and I am so grateful that my midwife was there on my behalf. I really want to be awake for my little guy's birth so that I can see him and kiss him and get some pictures with him especially in case of the worst case scenario of me not making it through the rest of the surgery. I would want him to have a picture of how happy I was to have him. They were concerned with my BMI because I'm heavy and only 5'1 &1/2 (yes the half counts!) so they were just going to do a general and put me to sleep for everything to be safe because they didn't know what I looked like. Midwife Jackie to the rescue! She pulled up my facebook profile to show them what I looked like and they said it wouldn't be an issue to do a spinal first so I can be awake! How cool is that?! Gotta love technology. They will do the general after the c-section because they really don't know how long the surgery is going to take. The great news about being able to have the spinal first is that they can give me longer lasting narcotics that last up to 18 hours vs just a general where I wouldn't have any pain medication in my system and would have to press a pain pump to give myself medication that would make me drowsy. I want to be able to nurse my baby as quickly as possible so it would be much better if I didn't have to be put to sleep all day. I will have to be in recovery for 12 hours which complicates things a little since I won't be able to see my little guy until I'm out, however, I understand why they want to monitor me so closely for so long. In the meantime I'll be able to start pumping when I'm up to it and that will help relieve Rob from having to do all of baby's feedings since we'll be using donor milk until mine comes in and the staff won't touch it. Thankfully my wonderful sister is going to spend the day at the hospital and will step in to feed our little guy for several hours so that Rob can go home and sleep.

I had the MRI last week which was horrifying but Jesus got me through it. I actually forgot that an MRI was not the same as a CT scan until they were literally sliding me into the CASKET (capitols for dramatic effect lol). I definitely don't recommend an MRI at 32 weeks pregnant for anyone who is the least bit claustrophobic. Oh. My. Goodness. 25 minutes later and I was freeeeeeeee! I literally just prayed, kept my eyes shut really tightly, and sang to myself the whole time. I pray I never need another MRI for the rest of my life. They should now know whether or not the placenta has fused to my bladder so here's praying it hasn't! :)

I have had so many blessings come my way in the last few weeks. My sister Tara helped organize meals that we can freeze for after the baby comes and her hubby showed up with TONS of food last week. I will be completely back on the Trim Healthy Mama plan after baby comes (phenomenal book/cook book/nutritional etc that helped me lose almost 30lbs in three months just EATING normal, natural, and delicious food. You can check out to the side of the page. Seriously, I eat bacon and cheesecake all the time, whatever!) and so there are certain things like refined sugar, etc that I won't be eating. Thanks to my sister's organization I have a ton of on plan food that will help me lose weight and keep baby well nourished. She also dropped off a bunch of groceries from Costco that are kid/hubby friendly and quick to prepare to make our lives easier. Our dear friend Adeline sent us a whole case of specialty pasta that I'll be able to eat which was so thoughtful and our good friend Selene helped orchestrate raising almost $1500 in just a few days to help us keep our electricity from being shut off and paying other bills that we had gotten behind on. Another fellow THM friend sent us more than enough to cover our parking pass at the hospital and even a place for Rob to spend the night if needed (thanks Judith!!!)! I was even blessed with a wonderful baby wrap from The Ottawa Babywearing Group! Apparently they lend out a free wrap for a year to a family facing special circumstances. They only do it every three months and the recipient must be nominated for it. My precious friend Samantha decided to nominate me and they selected me to receive a gorgeous Little Frog Woven wrap. I was really wanting a wrap but there was no budget for one so this is such an incredible blessing to me. What a great thing to do! You can check them out on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ottawababywearing/) or on their blog (http://www.ottawababywearinggroup.blogspot.ca/).

Throughout all of this one thing is consistently evident to me: God is taking care of everything. He made sure that the placental issues were caught very early on so that the medical team would have ample time to formulate a plan and get the best of the best in place to do my surgery. He has kept baby safe all 33 weeks of his life so far. He's taken care of all of our needs and even our wants. He ensured that I haven't been on bed rest so that my hubby could still go to work while I care for our kiddos. He is such a good God and I'm so blessed to know Him. There is just no peace like knowing that a big and mighty God has your back and cares about all of the little details.

I do have a few prayer requests if you're inclined to pray for us.

#1 - My dear friend and single mom Dianne is in the ICU fighting for her life with sudden kidney failure. Please pray that she would make a full recovery and that her condition would continue to improve.

#2 - Please be praying with us that baby Larson's lungs, sucking reflex, and ability to regulate blood sugar and temperature would all be perfectly functional so that he can leave the NICU as soon as possible.

#3 - Please pray that my milk would come in quickly and abundantly (sorry guys I know that's more detail than you probably want lol)

#4 - Please pray that my recovery would go extremely well so that baby and I can be reunited ASAP.

#5 - Please pray for the Lord's peace to continue surrounding us and that I would get/stay healthy and start getting more sleep.

I very much appreciate all of you and am grateful to have such a wonderful support system in my life. Two weeks from today I hope to be holding my little guy in my arms and recovering well. I know that whatever does happen though that God is with me and will see my family through. That's just who He is.

His & yours,

Meggan :)