Progressing, albeit slowly

November 20, 2008

We arrived at the hospital this morning at 8AM. They hooked Jana up to the monitors, and she stayed that way for 4 hours. They are taking good care of her and are very encouraging! Obviously, Jana is very tired, since she did not sleep at all last night. While on the monitors, she was able to sleep for 30 minutes or so (granted, there were 3 contractions during that, but she fell asleep just after they ended). Not a lot, but it was nice to see her sleep.

She ate not too long ago and they told her to get out and walk. So, we walked to McDonalds to get me food and send out an update. We will go back in a few minutes.

Please pray for strength for Jana and progress on the delivery!

Thad

Pray for energy and endurance

6:20am here, and we head to the hospital in about an hour. Jana's had contractions every 10 minutes all night, so very little sleep was had. They've been pretty hard for her, so pray for strength, endurance, and ways for her to be comfortable. Pray for me to have energy and to be intuitive in knowing how to help her.

Pray also for good communication with the Doctors and Midwives.

Thank you for all of the notes, emails, and messages received. We know many of you are praying, which overwhelms us greatly.

and Home again

November 19, 2008

They said we should be where Jana is most comfortable to wait and see if the tablets work... which is home. We are scheduled to return at 8 AM tomorrow for an IV, if things don't progress this afternoon and evening.

At the Hospital (sort of)

We are in Lörrach, where our hospital is. They monitored and checked Jana this morning. She is having contractions, but is not dilated. They gave her some pills to take that are supposed to help induce labor. She will take those every half hour until 2 PM, then we go back to the hospital for more monitoring. We are not exactly sure what is after that. If things do not really get under way today, we return tomorrow morning when they will give her an IV to really induce labor.

I will post here and/or on Facebook when I can!

Thad

Still Pregnant

November 16, 2008

Jana and I just got home. She is still pregant.

Our doctor had prepared us (hence the email and a few calls) that the hospital doctor would induce labor after a checkup this weekend. When the doctor finished all the checkups, she said Jana and the baby are doing very well and urged us to wait a few more days. So, we continue to wait.

Thank you for your prayers! We hope to have more news soon.

Added by Jana: just to clarify, the doctor I see for the pregnancy is a different doctor than the one who will do the delivery. It was the delivery doctor who thinks we should wait because inducing could potentially take a couple of days. And, since the monitoring showed me to be having some regular contractions (in addition to the baby and me doing fine), she thinks inducing now would be too soon. They will consider inducing 10 days after the due date, which is Wednesday.

How will the announcment come?

November 8, 2008

We have had a lot of people ask how we are going to begin spreading the word when the little guy comes. First, I would like to say that we will try to inform as many people as possible, but time will not be on our side.

We will make a few calls to family. After that, depending on when Jana goes into labor, we will notify a few people in Kandern.

Next, I have an email list that I will use to send out the announcement that we are heading to hospital. If I send that out and I do not have your email address, please forgive me! I have tried making sure I have everyone, but that is not always possible.

While those are going out, I will post here.

Last, before we run out the door, I will change our Facebook status to say that we are driving to the hospital.

In the days after the little guy comes, I will try to find an internet connection (or drive home) to send out updates on how Jana and the baby are doing, perhaps with pictures.

So, it could be any moment now! Please continue to pray for us!!

What is nearly as good as eating?

September 22, 2008

Making the food you are about to eat!  In the last few years, I have begun to learn how to cook, or at least mix some ingredients and heat them.  I credit much of my desire to learn to cook with "Good Eats," a TV show with Alton Brown.  However, while I have learned a lot from Alton Brown, his shows and cookbooks, my true desire in the process is cooking with and for Jana.

When Jana and I team up to make a meal, the making is as enjoyable as the eating, and sometimes more (though, when Jana is involved, the eating is hard to beat... I eat well!).  One blessing of learning a few things in the kitchen has been the last few months.  Jana has not had a lot of energy from the pregnancy, so I have had the joy of picking up most of the meal times.  I thought that would be very bad for Jana, that she would have to endure dinners fixed by me.  I hope that has not been the case. 

One thing I will say though is that practice makes perfect.  In the last year, I have gone from following the recipe on a few things and wondering why it did not turn out, to modifying recipes to fit ingredients and tastes.  That has been fun.

My favorite thing this to fix is, without a doubt, biscuits.  Alton Brown, "I'm Just Here for More Food", Phase III biscuit!  Go buy the book just for that recipe.

Gotta go fix dinner!  (hot dogs, with homemade chili)