A good day

God has answered our prayers for a quiet day...not quite a boring day yet, but a quiet day. The doctors moved Kate back up to the OB Special Care floor this morning around 11:00, which is always a great feeling. Mentally, Kate and I love being up here. The food is not as good and our room is less than 1/4 the size of the delivery room we get on the 2nd floor (they have it reserved for us unless they absolutely have to use it), but we love it. It means that Kate and the boys only require monitoring twice a day instead of 24 hours a day, and the doctors do not feel that delivery is imminent. I was able to get back to work for a half day today, and that was awesome. I have to say, Macatawa Bank has been phenomenal to Kate and I through this process. I have not worked a full day since two weeks ago tomorrow, and they have been nothing but supportive of our situation. My co-workers have picked up the slack to allow me to take time off to be with Kate through these trying times. My boss has even talked with a few of our offices/branches in Grand Rapids to see if they had an open desk that I could work at if I felt I needed to be closer to Kate than Zeeland (where I normally work). What a blessing to work for an organization that cares that much about their employees, particularly in the current economic climate in West Michigan.

Kate had a really good day. She feels like her contractions are spaced out to 2-3 per hour, and the contraction monitor confirmed this tonight. What an absolute answer to prayers. God has been so faithful through this whole experience. In the times when it felt like He was distant, I now realize that our fears were blinding us from seeing His loving arms carrying us through. God has used the doctors and nurses of Holland Hospital and Spectrum Health to stop Kate's labor symptoms 4 times in 12 days. Our boys have gone from having essentially no chance if they had been born at 22 weeks and 3 days when this whole journey began, to now being "viable". Everyday they grow and develop in Kate's womb is a blessing from God, and one we hope to never take for granted.

Also, I get to sleep on my new Aerobed tonight...and I am really excited about that. It appears to be longer than 5 ft, and it is high enough off the ground that I don't think I will have to wear socks to keep my feet from freezing. Kate is concerned that she will not be able to wake me up to help her to the bathroom because I will be too comfortable. I told her that is why she has a "call" button on her bed...the nurses would love to help her out.

We cannot say thank-you enough for the prayers. We have felt the presence of God surrounding us and prayers have been answered. The cards, emails, posts, visits, volunteering to bring food, offers to help around the house...it all means so much. We are so overwhelmed by how many people have taken it upon themselves to pray for us and share their personal experiences with us. Thank-you all.