Waiting for Jacob

20 week ultrasound -
We had five ultrasounds this time around but this is my favorite picture of them all!

37 weeks

Anticipating Jacob's arrival was full of drama from the start. In May of last year we discovered that Jonah had severe food allergies. As June came around we were still working to figure out what life looked like with Jonah's allergies. We had decided that we would wait until Jonah turned one in July before we talked about the possibility of another baby. In the end of June Mike went to Hawaii on a business trip and the kids and I went to St. Louis to spend that week with Grammy and Poppa. While we were there I took a pregnancy test and SURPRISE! I was in shock and to make the surprise all the more dramatic, Mike and I were flying to Charleston at the end of the week to complete the final stages of interviewing for a new job there. When I picked Mike up from the airport I shared the news. He was speechless for about 20 minutes. Not exactly what he expected!

We got used to the idea of a third baby arriving in February and began preparing for a move to Charleston in August. In late July I started having bleeding and after a scary morning and an ultrasound it was determined that I had a blood clot. The doctor told me to stay off my feet and not lift anything and get as much rest as I could. Really?! Mike left the following Sunday for Charleston and I stayed in Cincinnati for another 15 days alone with the kids getting packed and overseeing everything for the move. During that time I had some additional bleeding and more urging from the doctor to be still and rest. God just protected sweet little Jacob because I did not have a choice but to take care of two little children and prepare to move.

After we arrived in Charleston and settled in, the pregnancy moved along much more smoothly. There was lots to do to settle into a new home and city. February arrived very quickly along with the doctor's concerns of a very large baby. We continued to wait and pray and commit our concerns to the Lord. There were many uncertainties about when he would come and how big he would be and who would take care of Emma and Jonah. Thankfully we serve a God who is bigger than all of those things and had them all completely worked out for us. So we set a date for an induction if he had not come before his due date and we waited.