We had an appointment on Friday and it was uneventful really. It was just a midwife appointment. My vitals and Brielle’s vitals all look great, Brielle is just as active as ever and we’re just waiting for Brielle to arrive. I did find it hilarious to note, I measure at 52 weeks. Which is a year, so I appear to be a year pregnant. A woman asked me the other day how many babies I was expecting. One, just one.
Brielle had her first Halloween and turned 39 weeks! I wasn’t sure if I’d still be pregnant when Halloween came around, so I hadn’t planned anything. I introduced Brielle to the first Halloweentown movie (a yearly tradition for me) and then we went out and bought candy for the trick or treaters. David had bought a bag, but it was not the type of candy kids like, so we took it back. I did not anticipate the rush on candy at 4 in the afternoon. Goodness gracious, we went to Kroger, Rite Aid, and Publix in search of all the candy we needed. Brielle loves Skittles and I was determined to get some for her. David finally found a bag at Publix. Thank goodness, Brielle’s Halloween had to be perfect. We also picked up a pumpkin to carve for Brielle, her first jack-o-lantern!
We also went to a used book store and picked up some more books for her. I was shocked to find a couple of my favorites, “The Rough-Face Girl” and “The Legend of the Bluebonnet,” which is about a Comanche tribe, which I’m pretty sure is the tribe my family is descended from. My great grandfather wasn’t the greatest guy, so we aren’t sure what tribe we come from, but the Comanches are the only tribe we resemble. I read her both books and she liked them both! Especially “The Rough-Face Girl,” she started wiggling a lot when I read the part about the Invisible Being recognizing how beautiful the girl was even though she was scarred from fire.
When we got home I started munching on candy and Brielle had a bit of a sugar rush. David fastened Brielle’s mermaid costume onto my belly, I can’t see the bottom of my belly now. My parents bought that sweet outfit for her, I didn’t know if Brielle would come before Halloween and I wanted something for her. This worked out really well, especially since I’m not sure she’s going to fit into it anymore. She’s a full size baby now and has incredibly long legs, David and I are going to breed a race of giants.
Later we carved her jack-o-lantern and passed out candy to the trick or treaters. We turned on the movie Hocus Pocus (another yearly tradition) and watched that. Brielle had crashed by the time we watched Hocus Pocus, too much sugar for a little girl. But she had a lot of fun tonight. She did her dancing and wiggles and kicked her Daddy a lot!
Brielle’s big sisters celebrated Halloween too! I dressed Emmy (the oldest) in a cheerleader costume that says “Rah, Rah, Ruff!” and I dressed Rosie (the baby) in a glow in the dark pirate costume that says “Trick ‘Arrr’ Treat.” My dog children love dressing up, it made their day when I pulled out their costumes. Especially Emmy, Emmy is a flat-coated retriever which are known to be scary smart. So Emmy actually picked out her costume. I know that sounds weird, but really she’s so smart. Everyone says that about their beloved pets, but Emmy just knows and understands things. Her breed was used nearly to extinction by the English in the World Wars and I can see why they are such a popular breed for war. They have a calculating intelligence and a seriousness most retrievers don’t have. The girls, as I call them, also had pumpkin treats and enjoyed a brisk fall day outside. They were very happy and were thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day.
I’m so happy we got to share this holiday with Brielle. It was a very happy day, in a sugary sweet, happy family way. Those are my favorite type of days, I’m so thankful we got to have another one as a family.
I also made a Halloween playlist and have been playing it for Brielle. We’ve had a few hits with her. Interesting to note, she doesn’t like the Monster Mash or Time Warp, she really doesn’t like Time Warp.
*Update on Brielle last night and our chat with the minister.*
Brielle was such a silly girl last night! We watched the pilot of the new show Supergirl and Brielle really liked it. She was kicking up a storm. We then watched the Bones and Sleepy Hollow crossover, Brielle liked Bones, but wasn’t too crazy about the Sleepy Hollow episode. She’s so funny, I have no idea what was so stimulating about Bones and Supergirl, but she had fun! Later that night David read her “Little Red Riding Minnie” and Brielle loved that story too! Which is good, David had been reading some duds that she was not enjoying.
*If you want to skip the theology talk, just read the last two paragraphs. And I’m not claiming an opinion on this at the moment, I feel like I am still in the process of forming an opinion. So make what you will of the theology talk.*
Okay, long update about our talk with the minister on Wednesday. So some background information about David and I. We were raised on opposite ends of the spectrum in regards to church theology. I was raised Church of Christ which tends to not believe in supernatural things, such as miraculous healing. David was raised Pentecostal, which believes in supernatural things. David grew up hearing about healings and such, I was raised to believe those stories were made up. Skepticism was pounded into my head from infancy, whereas David has a more natural skepticism, perhaps even a healthy dose of skepticism. Combine college with my upbringing and I hardly believe anything, not something I enjoy about myself. I must add, this is not a criticism of mine or David’s upbringing, but rather a statement of our past.
David has been praying for healing this entire pregnancy, I have not been open to that idea until the beginning of October. It took quite a bit of strong nudging from God for me to finally listen, again, skepticism. So I’ve spent the past month reading everything on the subject, learning as much as I can. And what I found was wild extremes that resulted in an even deeper confusion and ignorance on my part. But I did realize that the Bible was pretty clear that healing is something that happens and something as Christians that we should be open to. So David scheduled a meeting with someone we could speak to about all of this and give us advice. What do we need to do? Are we doing enough? Is our mindset off? David and I were both lost as to what we needed to do and we needed help, advice.
The minister explained to us the far right and left of healing theology. From those on my end, to those who believe it and claim it. Meaning those who say God has healed my (fill in the blank) and because I have declared it, it will be done. He explained the problems with both. One gives no room for God to work in our lives, the other makes it so that we have to do all the work in our lives and we end up battling our faith and belief instead of trusting God’s will.
He proposed that healing falls more in the middle of these two opinions. That it is something that still and does happen and that we should be open to it and “by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). But that God can answer in varying degrees. He could answer with a no, he could answer with a process of healing, and he could answer with miraculous healing.
If he answers no, it’s not because he doesn’t care or want to, but rather because there is more to the situation than we understand. Similar to how a parent handles a request from a three to four year old. Their request may be perfectly acceptable, but saying yes may not be the best option. Personally, I don’t like that answer, but really, no one does.
If he answers with a process of healing, he also has a reason for that. But this was interesting to me and something I had wondered about. Does God ever kind of heal, can his healing be tampered with, and does his healing take time? Well that’s what this option was about. The minister believes that when we pray for healing, not miraculous healing, that God answers with a process of healing. Meaning things begin to change, and if something goes wrong because of outside forces, such as medical or personal intervention, that can cause a problem and get in the way of what God intends.
Then we talked about instant or miraculous healing. And this was interesting, because I just assumed God would heal instantly. He said that sometimes God answers a healing prayer with instant healing, but that a lot of times, you need to pray for miraculous healing to get that instant result. And even still, God may not answer how you want.
We talked about wanting proof and how that isn’t a bad thing to ask for and doesn’t lessen our faith. We talked about how an ideal faith is trusting God with the outcome, no matter the result.
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3: 17-18
Then we talked about what has happened in our situation. We told him about how Brielle suddenly developed teeth, her weight and measurements were suddenly brought into the normal range, the physical things I had felt when we had prayed, and the improvement in her mental state. We explained how Dr. B seemed confused and bewildered at times and we shared other experiences that had occurred during this pregnancy. The minister looked stunned and said that since we hadn’t seen a confirmation of full healing, that he believed God is in the process of healing her and that the things we had seen may have very well been confirmations that she is improving.
It was incredibly encouraging to hear affirmation from someone who has experience with this. David and I feel a bit lost at sea through all of this, and it was good to have someone to talk to and encourage us. We definitely needed it. Our doctor’s appointments aren’t what I would call encouraging or hopeful. They feel more soul crushing and pessimistic.
Brielle is 38 weeks! This past week has been very busy for us. Since October 18, Brielle has been back to her wiggly happy self, which has been a lot of fun for David and I. We missed our happy girl. Brielle and I have been taking it easy for the past few weeks, so I haven’t had too much to post about. I didn’t want to worry anyone, we just didn’t have anything to talk about!
Saturday our nephew brought down David’s mom, Brielle’s Bebe. David’s mom is getting on in years and we wanted her here for when Brielle was born and to check on her and see how she was doing. Since David works during the day, I’ve been busy taking care of her this week.
Sunday we went to church together as a family. I think Bebe enjoyed getting out and going to church and Brielle loved it! She wiggled and danced during all of the music (except for one song), in fact the whole day she was a wild animal! I woke up to Brielle dancing around and went to sleep with her dancing, she was awake the whole day! Monday Brielle slept pretty much the whole day, and I can’t blame her, she must have been exhausted.
Tuesday I took David’s mom to the hair salon I go to to have her hair colored and permed. It was a very long day for all three of us (Bebe, Brielle, and me). But Bebe’s hair looks beautiful now!
Wednesday David and I went to meet with a minister at our church, which I’ll talk about in another post. I think it went well. And then I rested for the rest of the day. I was completely exhausted yesterday.
Today (Thursday) has been a day of rest too. Brielle is getting very heavy and I am tired. But she is having fun, right now she is dancing to Ellie Goulding’s On My Mind. So as you can see we are not quite as exciting as we used to be.
Please pray for us today. We’re about to meet with someone and need prayers.
I plan on updating today or tomorrow. We’ve been very busy with family matters (not to mention tired) and I haven’t had a chance to update everyone on what we’ve been doing.
I will say sweet Brielle was dancing her little booty off to Magic Bus by The Who this morning.
lovingbrielle.com 