Vance Thomas Holloman

This has been an incredible week for the Hollomans. The Lord answered two big prayers. We feel so blessed! I will post the other answer to prayer in a post below.

On Monday Jeremy and I went to my doctor's appointment as planned and ended up at Northside Hospital. After a few short hours, Vance Thomas was born weighing in at 8 lb 3 oz and measuring 20 in long. He is quite the miracle baby! The cord was wrapped around his neck twice, and there was also a knot in it. That made labor and delivery interesting since his heart rate wasn't as high as it needed to be. We praise God for a healthy baby! Samuel is enjoying being a big brother. Samuel loves to tell Vance that he loves him and he enjoys giving Vance hugs and kisses. We are so thrilled!

Contract on the house

On Thursday we got a contract on our house. We are praising God! We are scheduled to close on July 28. Jeremy and I are so relieved and thankful that the Lord sent a buyer.

July 28 can't come soon enough... Thank you Lord!

in 5 days or less

This picture was taken on May 31 at my dad's retirement party. It was my first outing since May 7th. It was funny to hear people's reaction when I told them that Vance was due in 23 days. Nobody seemed to believe that I was that close... I sure felt that close even then!

Today's update-

My body is definitely getting ready to have this baby. Several times this week I thought that I was in labor. I was even timing contractions the night before last in the middle of the night...

I go back to the doctor tomorrow morning. Since I was a good 3 cm a week ago, she told me to pack my bags because she's sending me straight to the hospital if I'm 4 cm. If I'm not 4 cm, then we will schedule my induction for Friday. I assume that means spending Thursday night in the hospital and then being induced on Friday morning. My mom is spending the weekend with my dad and will be back here tomorrow morning, so she will be here for all of the upcoming excitement. Vance will arrive in 5 days or less. It's so hard to believe!

Only 19 more days until my due date

Being this close to seeing Vance is almost like being at the beach... I am almost there! Praise the Lord that I made it to 37 weeks!!! I am happy to be 19 days from my due date. I go back to the doctor on Monday and look forward to finding out if I'm dilated more now. On Monday I was 2 cm. and 30% effaced. The nurse midwife said she will be sending me straight to the hospital if I show up 4 cm, so I made it my goal to have my bags packed before my visit on Monday.

My mom is here and helping out so much. I thank the Lord for her because right now I just don't have it in me to do what I normally do. She is taking wonderful care of Samuel and the chores.

I think I might have a touch of what Samuel has, but instead of a sore throat and fever, mine came in the form of just feeling yucky. I spent a lot of the morning in bed and will nap as soon as I finish this post. It doesn't help that I'm not sleeping well. That is my big prayer request now- That I would get better sleep. I'm getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night, which is not good and not normal for me. That could be part of the reason that I feel yucky.

Yesterday I worked on my list of what to pack, and I completed what I could. I'm still not able to do much, so I spend a lot of time resting in the recliner or on the bed. Thankfully now I'm not as nervous about Vance's health. That is quite a relief! He is kicking away and moving around a lot, and there just isn't much extra room in there, which makes it interesting!

Thank you for your continued prayers and encouraging words! I am grateful! I will update again once I see the doctor on Monday!

Samuel has a sore throat

Samuel woke up from his nap with a 102.4 fever. I do NOT like fevers. I assumed that he still had the ear infections and immediately called the doctor. Jeremy took him to see the doctor, and he came home quickly saying that it was viral pharyngitis (sore throat). I was happy it's not his ears or strep throat. (They did a swab for strep, and it was negative.) I was also shocked that a high fever comes with the sore throat...

Please be praying for Samuel to feel better soon and for none of us to catch it (me, Jeremy, or Mom). I read on the internet that it is spread by the time the sore throat develops, but that it is still good to keep a child at home until the fever subsides and the sore throat is gone. Samuel will be spending the next few days at home alone. No playmates for Samuel... I guess that means no church on Sunday since the last thing we need is another illness making its way into our home... Oh, and thank the Lord for Tylenol because that took care of the fever right away. YAY! I can rest better knowing he doesn't have a fever.

Sale at Babies R Us on Baby Oxiclean

Tonight my mom took us to dinner at Five Guys. This was a big deal for me since I have basically been stuck inside since May 7.

After dinner, Jeremy and I "ran" into Babies R Us to get a few last minute things for Vance. I was happy to find the big tubs of Baby Oxiclean on sale for $6.99. That was $3.00 off the regular price. I bought two of them... I also bought 2 Born Free bottles. I like to have a couple of bottles in case I have a problem nursing. When I was pregnant with Samuel, I bought Dr. Brown's bottles, but they have BPA in them. I will not be using them again... Lastly, I got Samuel some training pants. We'll see if they help get him out of diapers sooner.

You should have seen us. I kept telling Jeremy that I would see him later since he was walking too quickly for me. It was a struggle for me to even walk the little we did walk. Maybe the walking will put me into labor. Wouldn't that be nice?