He's finally here...(Rusty, sorry--not the baby)

According to our plans—the baby can come now! Thank you for all the prayers to keep Philip Andrew in the womb until Rusty made it down here. Rusty arrived Friday night around 10pm—Tiffany and I were so excited to see him!!!!

This week has been good—mom and I went to dinner with an amazing couple on Tuesday night. We ate at Sonny’s BBQ (yum!) with Tina and Josh who are Ella’s parents. Ella is a precious little girl with CDH currently being treated at Shands by Dr. Kays. Tina and Josh were great about answering all of my questions and letting me know what to expect from doctors, nurses, etc. when Philip Andrew gets here. They have been here about 90+ days already but their spirit is amazing. There strength comes from the Lord and were quick to say that being in His Word is the only way to make it through. Rusty and I know this—but it is so important for us to hear that over and over—I can only imagine that the trials to come in the next few weeks are sure to test our faith and being reminded of the truth of God’s perfect timing and plan is something that we can’t afford to tire of hearing.

Rusty was able to commit to coming to Gainesville on Thursday or Friday—so with that information and our new friends in Josh and Tina, mom felt comfortable enough to leave me by myself for about a day—so she flew home to Birmingham Wednesday evening. It wasn’t too bad (of course I missed her company). I had to wake up super early to get to my 8am appointment—I realize how much I need my mom here—I arrived 10 minutes early (that’s good) but to the wrong place (that’s not good). You should know that my appointments have been at 2 different locations each time—so it is easy to get confused. Although the other place was a good 15 minutes away, they were able to squeeze me in and I wasn’t that late. They did another NST but Philip Andrew wasn’t behaving (he was sleeping) so we had to give him a jolt of grape juice which did the trick (after 1.5 hours). While I was there they picked up contractions at 12 minutes apart—but I only felt a few and the doctor laughed when I asked if I was in labor—she said, “Sure…and you may be in labor for 2 weeks!” I didn’t think she was very funny—but glad there wasn’t any emergency—especially since no one was there with me.

Of course, Thursday night was spent snuggled up with Tiffany watching Grey’s Anatomy—but it was very depressing not having someone to comment to at each commercial! Friday morning I woke up late but then got going doing “wifely duties” to prepare our nest for Rusty. I went to the grocery to get his favorite things and made sure they came and made the bed and stuff.

Saturday was really relaxing—Rusty got to experience the Homewood Suites breakfast (which is pretty good if I haven’t mentioned it before) and then I gave him a quick tour of Gainesville (really, I showed him where to take me if I go into labor). He spent a good bit of the day getting his remote office set up and I wanted to make sure I stayed out of his way—so I graciously went down to the pool (the worst part is that I don’t feel guilty—I am carrying his son!).

Saturday night we celebrated our anniversary by going out to dinner all dressed up. It was nice to have a real date with my husband! We came home and I fell asleep while he continued to settle in—and then I was up most of the night with raging heartburn—and unfortunately, it kept Rusty up too. Oh well…a taste of parenthood I suppose.

Today was nice—we woke up late and had breakfast in the room (my super-hero husband went downstairs and brought it up to me!) and then went to church at 11:30. Afterwards, we went to lunch and then came “home”—it has been a rainy afternoon. As usual, I slept a few hours. Rusty has watched some TV and gone exploring. Tonight we are going to Barnes & Noble to look for books on childbirth—I can’t wait to see the look on Rusty’s face!!!!

Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers for us. We know God has blessed us so much with everyone’s sweet words, emails, letters, notes, etc. We ask that you will pray specifically for us to have patience for God’s perfect timing with the arrival of Philip Andrew. As of now, we are just waiting—even Rusty commented today that this is hard (and he is one patient guy!) Please keep in touch. Much Love, Liz & Rusty