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Cheri got to have an extended ultrasound session this morning, thanks to the medical students who were tagging along with the technician. They spent lots of time watching Baby stretching, Baby rolling, lungs moving… and Cheri’s favorite… Baby punching! Yes, they saw Baby stretch her arm out, open her hand, draw arm back in, make a fist and then PUNCH! Cheri got the interactive side of that, but said it was really cool.

Both lunch and dinner were delivered from outside today from a couple of Cheri’s favorite places. The funny part of dinner was Cheri’s fortune cookie: Time and patience are called for. Many surprises await you!

The nursery is getting a little bit more prepared for Baby’s homecoming. However, with the primary project manager away and the likelyhood of an early arrival, absolutely everything may not be exactly they way Cheri want’s it. However, we have every confidence that everything necessary will be in place in time.

Thanks to the many people at Blackhawk tonight who asked about Cheri and are including her and Baby in your prayers. Congrats to Matt & Jodi Jewell on the birth of their daughter Lydia Sue on Thursday… she is beautiful. Miriam, we pray you get past your morning sickness soon. Chris, thanks for the great sermon on Psalm 49.

Cheri finally had a good night of sleep. The nurse didn’t even wake her up to take vitals. Instead Cheri found a note in the bathroom to buzz when she did wake up … it was around 3:30am. We’ve never heard of nursing staff who let a patient sleep rather than do the scheduled poke & prod.

Doc came through this morning and provided encouragement. Yesterday they discovered that Cheri can’t even sit up for very long without the blood pressure going up.

The hospital dinner last night was supplimented with Cracker Barrel’s Country Fried Steak with potatos, green beans, carrots, sour dough rolls and peach cobbler. It was almost like our regular Friday date night.

It’s monitor time and Baby doesn’t want to be still. They’ve been trying to put the monitor on Cheri’s tummy and Baby kept moving around and squirming out of range. Gonna try again a bit later.

Doc’s visit this morning did include some discussion of when to deliver Baby and if Cheri will be in the hospital until that time. There’s not an absolute of course. Previously Doc had mentioned 34 weeks (Aug13), but today said that if she’s still doing ok at that point, we can keep going.

Baby is coming along well. The ultrasound from Monday was primarily to take measurements. So we now know Baby is at least 3lbs and an ounce. Doc, nurses and everyone else says this is right in line with where she should be.

One of the many pieces of advice from friends about being on bed rest in the hospital has been, “Take her food.” Last night Cheri’s hospital food was supplimented with a double cheesburger basket and vanilla shake from Culvers. At least for a while she had a happy tummy.

Cheri’s doc visited this morning and is very happy with the numbers he’s seeing. Thus, she is properly responding to complete bed rest.

Cheri got settled into the hospital late yesterday afternoon. She got 20 questions, vitals, poking and more questions from a tag team of a CNA, RN, 4th year med student and resident. Then it was on the monitor for an hour and finally some food. Of course it’s not a hospital stay until someone from the lab comes to draw blood. Next up was the steroid shot, which my sister described as the most painful one she’s ever had. Baby is doing fine and a quick ultrasound showed her head down.

The morning report by phone is that Cheri slept about 3 hours overnight, which isn’t all that unusual here recently. This will be the first morning she hasn’t had pancakes in bed since probably March.

Here’s some more information about why Cheri is in the hospital. Oh yeah… room 692 at Meriter.

Thanks for your prayers.

Doc now wants Cheri on bed rest in a hospital bed… probably until Baby is born. They also plan to get steroids to help Baby accelerate development. So sometime this evening we’ll be at Meriter Hospital. More info will be posted as it becomes available.

Today was another ultrasound day … this time to take lots of measurements. Baby’s heartbeat is still going strong around 150 beats per minute. In fact, the grandmas were both treated to a phone call with the heartbeat on the other end.

Baby has learned a new move or two. Cheri reports Baby has started rolling. In fact, when the Eagles are on, Baby rocks & rolls. We’re experimenting with different musical styles. So far we’ve tried Vivaldi, a Baby Einsten classical disc, some country, and a few others … but so far her favorite songs appear to be Life’s Been Good and Funk #49 by The Eagles. Of course the subwoofer in the living room probably helps her hear the beat.

Bindi seems to be slightly depressed because it looks like there’s a new crate in Baby’s room. She actually circled it looking for the door.

Bindi hasn’t had to stay in a crate regularly for over a year. Most recently her crate was in the basement and she absolutely hated being stuck down there.

The bed took about two hours to assemble. It will convert to a daybed in a few years … and a full sized bed after that.