Today we reached another milestone! I'm officially 27 weeks along today. It's the beginning of 27 weeks, but it's 27 weeks nonetheless!!

Here's what is going on with baby this week:

This week, baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like the head of a cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, her brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now.

So that's good news. If she's keeping up with the normal stats, of course. She has been surpassing them since we've been here, so hopefully she'll be at least 2 pounds by week's end.

Today was another good day. This morning our Sunday School class came up here after the regular church service to have Sunday School in our hospital room. They brought yummy Taziki's for lunch and we had a nice discussion about The Trinity (Father, Son & Holy Spirit). Here's a question to ponder..."If you had to describe The Holy Trinity to someone who knew nothing about it, what would you say?" It's tough! I suggested they read the book "The Shack" - a very good book (murder mystery) about The Trinity.

Other than that we had a good visit from all of our parents, and Sayla Grace learned a new trick to scare her mommy...

They monitor her heartbeat once a shift for about an hour at a time. We can hear it and see it on the monitor. I like to listen to it, because it makes me feel connected to her. Well, yesterday when the doc was in here, her heart rate slowly dropped to next to nothing! The doctor took her hand and shook my belly, to which SGP responded by speeding her heart rate back to normal. The doctor and nurses assured us it is not a big deal, but it still scared me.

They say that babies will play with their umbilical cord - squeeze it, tug it, lay on it - and that's what makes it slow down. As long as the heartbeat is normal before and after the drop (which hers is) it's no big deal.

So SGP has decided that her cord is a new plaything. Last night she messed with it quite a bit and had me very scared. Then she did it again this morning. We talked with the doc about it again today, and she told me not to worry one bit. So I've tried not to worry, but whenever it happens, I give my belly a good shake!!

I had some pretty regular contractions late this evening - 4 in about an hour. I'm allowed 6 an hour before they put me back on IV meds. *They already have the IV supplies in the room just in case!!* I got a shot of the oral meds to calm those contractions, and with that and 64 ozs of water later I'm doing much better. Minus the never ending bathroom breaks!!!


*Yesterday they took me completely off of the IV. We had asked the doc how long I had to be on the saline drip after they took me off the penicillin, and she ordered me off of it yesterday. They originally left the line in, and "heparin locked" it so that they would still have an open line. When the nurse flushed it out a few hours later, it hurt BAD (it's not supposed to hurt) and I couldn't move my arm. We determined that the vein blew, so they removed it altogether. Although it hurt, I was kind of glad because it meant one less contraption to be hooked up to!

This little rascal is bound and determined to make me "work" in the business of motherhood!!! She's not going to make this easy on me, that's for sure!!

Our new goal is next Sunday when we'll be 28 weeks. We've been defying all odds up until this point - no doubt in our minds a direct result of prayer. God Himself is keeping this little girl inside, and one day we are going to have a little miracle on our hands. He's got great things in store for her....just you wait!!!