Gabriel Alexander Barnes was born at 7:56 am. He came out crying which is great! He weighs 6 pounds 7 ounces and is 19 inches long. Both mommy and baby are okay so far but both are still in the operating room. Phillip will call and let me know more as soon as he gets out.

Celia is Being Prepped

Celia is going to be prepped for her c-sectiion any second now. Her hubby will text me and so I can update when they get out of the operating room. Please pray if you're up!!!

No Baby Today

The results from Celia's amnio showed that Xander's lungs are not mature so unless Celia has another bleeding episode between now and Friday, Xander will stay put until then. Please pray his lungs mature over the next couple of days with help form the steroid shots Celia will receive today and tomorrow. Thanks for the prayers everyone!

Game Plan for Celia

I haven't updated on here yet, but have been keeping Celia's blog updated. She is back in the hospital and is there for the remainder of her pregnancy, but the good news is this...

We finally have a game plan!

Celia is probably in the process of getting an amnio as I type this. They are checking on Xander's lung maturity and if he is ready they will be delivering him today at 34 weeks and 3 days. That is option #1.

Option #2 is that his lungs are not ready, in which case Celia will be given a steroid shot today and tomorrow to help Xander's lungs along and he will be delivered by Friday. Obviously, this option is the best we can hope for at this point because Xander will have two more days to prepare for his big day.

Option #3 is that in the event that Celia starts bleeding again between the amnio and Friday, Xander will be delivered immediately.

Please pray the amnio goes smoothly and without complications. Amnios are no fun!

Celia is taking this one step at a time. She said everyone is just in disbelief at this point and that this whole experience seems surreal. She's not freaking out at the moment and said she probably wouldn't freak out until they actually say, "Okay, lets have a baby now!". The nurse talking with her and Phillip about the NICU has Celia on edge a bit, but everyone agrees that it is better for Xander to have a rough start in the NICU than for him to not get a start at all. And they told her she would be wheeled directly from the operating room to the NICU so she could see Xander. I know it made her feel better knowing she would get to see him almost immediately after delivery.

Please keep Celia and her family in your prayers over the next few days. The best thing you can do for them right now is pray, pray, pray. I'll keep you updated as I know more.

Update: Celia has had the amnio and everything went great. She is being monitored now.

I Left my Treasures Unguarded

I'm feeling pretty crappy right now. I don't normally like using that word... but, that's the best way I can describe myself right now.

Normally, when I'm going away overnight, I'll take all of Wyatt's stuff with me. I take his elephant, hair clipping, blanket, his urn... I take everything! Well, this time I decided that I was going to try to take a big step and leave everything at home because we will be back home on Wednesday afternoon. The only thing I brought with me was Ansley's "Wyatt's" Elephant instead of the original. And of course, I brought Wyatt's urn. I figured as long as I brought "Wyatt" with me I'd be fine. HA!

What a great idea Danielle! Not!

Here I am three hours from home and all I can think about are Wyatt's things that I wish I had packed. And by the time we get to our destination there will be 700 miles and about 11 hours separating me from Wyatt's things. I'm having images of our house up in flames and every tangible treasure I keep of Wyatt's being gone forever. I wish we could turn around and get them. I will never leave the house overnight without them again (unless we get an unbreakable fireproof safe... and I probably still wouldn't). My stomach gets in bigger knots the further I get from our home. I know it's silly to be upset over "things", but when it's all you have left...

This is going to be a long couple of days. So I'll keep paying a little something like this:

God, please don't let the house burn down.

...or get flooded

...or robbed

...or taken over by wild animals.

And if by some chance any of the above or something I forgot to mention happens to our home, Lord, will you please keep my treasures safe?

Celia Update {Friday Morning}

The doctor finally came in this morning and told Celia she could go home on strict bed rest. Her contractions are anywhere from 1-6 minutes apart but her bleeding has stopped. Doctor did say that whether he sees her again this afternoon or anytime after and she has another bleeding episode, that is when they will most likely go ahead and deliver. Hopefully, Celia can at least make it until the 3rd which is when they were planning on delivering Monkey if his lungs were mature enough...

I told Celia I would give a quick update because she's exhausted and is ready to crash into bed as soon as she gets home. It's been a nerve wracking night for both her and Phillip. Again, your prayers are deeply appreciated. Please continue to pray for Xander's safe and healthy arrival.

Update on Celia and Xander

I just got off the phone with Celia. She's tired you guys. And trying to nurse a migraine on top of everything else. Poor thing. Just what she needs...

As far as the contractions go, she is still having them every 1-3 minutes and the meds they have given her aren't really doing anything. However, her bleeding has pretty much almost stopped. Monkey's heart rate is in the 140's and he is driving the nurses crazy because he keeps running away from the monitor. Celia said they are having to come in about every 20 minutes or so to "find" Monkey again! What a blessing that Xander is doing great with everything going on.

There is still no word on whether or not Xander will be delivered soon or not. Celia was given the go ahead to eat something so her guess is that they most likely won't be delivering tonight unless contractions or bleeding get worse.

That's all I know right now. I will call in the morning to get another update, and if something happens in the meantime either Celia or Phillip will call me so I can keep everyone updated. Please continue to pray. I know it's scary for them to be dealing with so many unknowns at the moment.

Prayers for Celia and Baby

Please be in prayer for my dear friend Celia. She has been admitted to the hospital for bleeding and contractions and if they haven't gotten both stopped by this evening there is talk that they will deliver Xander by c-section tonight.

Celia seems to be doing okay, but is just trying to process everything right now. She is only 33 weeks and 4 days so Xander's lung development could be an issue. Please pray first and foremost that the doctors can get both the bleeding and contractions to stop. However, if it's Gods will for Xander to make his entrance this evening please also pray that he will do beautifully despite being born so early. I know Celia, Phillip, and their family deeply cherish and appreciate your prayers. I will keep you updated as I learn more through out the day.

I would have preferred flowers... {Answer to Giveaway}

There have been some really great guesses with this little guessing game. I really didn't think anyone would guess what I found in our coat closet, but I was surprised that a couple of you guessed correctly after I gave the hint that my husband was in the Marine Corps.

Before I tell you what exactly it was that I found, I want to share the story leading up to finding it. You all will get a great laugh at my expense, but it's just way to funny not to share with you.

I was really deep cleaning the house when I got the brilliant idea to clean out the closet by our front door. It's been f-o-r-e-v-e-r since that closet has been cleaned out and since we keep the kids toy bin in there it was in desperate need of a good cleaning.

As I was getting everything out, I pulled out a grocery bag that had a few of Joseph's military items in it. No big deal. I'm always finding his military gear everywhere! I pull out one of his tan belts, a toothbrush, a couple of canteens, and a pair of his green socks before my hand hits something cold. I grab it, pull it out of the bag, and scream out loud "OHHhhh My Gosh" as my heart nearly leaps out of my chest. I screamed so loudly as a matter of fact, that Ansley hears me from the other end of the house and yells "Mommy, are you okay?". "Sure honey", I replied, but I was far from okay. I think you would have been ready to have a full blown heart attack too if you'd pulled this out of your coat closet...

Did I mention the kids toy bin was in this same closet?

Anyways, I just wanted that thing out of my house and away from kids! I tip toed to the front door, down the front steps, and out into our yard to where our truck was parked. I very carefully set the grenade in the floor board of the truck before closing the door as softly as I could. As soon as the truck door was closed I ran as fast as I could into the house, grabbed the kids and my phone, and we all sat at the end of the house farthest away from the grenade.

I {may} have sent Joseph a not so nice text demanding that he explain why the heck I found a grenade in our house next to the kids toy bin.

He called me when he was able to take a break and I told him the story of me finding it and how I'd put it in the truck and sat at the other end of the house because I was scared the heat might make it blow up. Joseph was practically in tears by the time I finished telling him the story which was upsetting me. I was hacked off. Here he was laughing at me and I'm imagining scenarios of the thing blowing up in the middle of the night and killing us all. Or the kids thinking it was a toy and... well, I don't even want to think about that now!

Turns out the thing was a dud that had no explosives in it at all. Apparently, you can tell a grenade is a dud if it has a hole in the bottom like this...

Forgive me for not seeing the hole in the grenade Joseph and for bringing disgrace among Marine Corps wives,... finding a grenade in our coat closet got me a little shaken up!

And congratulations to Ann at Momma and her Soapbox. You were the first person to guess correctly. Please e-mail me at finchumfamilyjda@yahoo.com with your address so I can get your prize out to you! Thanks for playing along everyone. Hope you had a good laugh!

Oh, and honey, if your reading this...Next time you want to surprise me, I'd prefer jewelry or flowers!

Hint Number Four

Let's all remember, Joseph is in the Marines.

Hint Number Three

It was brought into the house by my husband. One more hint to come around 6:00 EST before I reveal what I found at 8:00 EST. So far we know it's small, not living, and was brought into the house by my husband! Hmmmm....

Hint Number Two

It's not alive. And just so you know, nobody is even close! Good luck!

Would you like to guess? {Giveaway}

I found something when I was cleaning out the coat closet the other day that scared me to death. It's something you would NEVER expect to find when your cleaning out a closet, much less find anywhere in your home. I'm writing the blog post about it now, but I thought it would be fun to see what your guesses would be to what I found. There is a prize to the first person who guesses. And may I suggest you get very creative with your guesses...

I'll give a hint every two hours until 8:00 EST.

First hint: It's small

Three Week Portraits

I've been dragging my feet getting Seth's three week portraits up. I had fun with tree branches and a make shift stork pouch! I hope you like...