After a leisurely shower, mom got dressed and daddy drove us up to the hospital on the hill, OHSU.  We went to the 12th floor, Labor and Delivery to be seen.  They hooked us up to monitors and after a few nurses had been in to see mama, a doctor checked and said that we were in preterm labor with ruptured membranes.  I was doing fine, but the doctor was afraid I was coming too early.  Mama was having a lot of contractions, but they put her on some nasty medicine to see if they could stop them.  The baby doctor came in to tell mama what a 32 week old baby can do, since that was how old I was and they thought I was going to make my entrance.  They were wrong.  Mama was pretty upset, but she kept saying: This is too early, this is too soon, BUT God's timing is perfect.  God's timing is perfect!  Our pastor, Pastor Rob came to the hospital and had communion with us.  Mama was restricted to her bed for the next 48 hours.  That meant she couldn't sit up to eat and UGH! had to use a bedpan!  That was her least favorite part about this part of our time in the hospital.  After a lot of prayers, some medication and confinement to bed, the contractions stopped and things calmed down a bit.  They sent us upstairs to the 13th floor, the Mother Baby Unit.  From the 13th floor, we took each day as it came.  Mama's  perinatologist, Dr. Carey Winkler came to see us most  every day to check on us.  It was his goal to have me get to 35 weeks before I was born.  The routine of the day was to go to the 12th floor for fetal monitoring once each day to make sure I was still doing well and to check my amniotic fluid to be sure there was enough for me to be safe.   Mama got to see Mary on some of those days, a friend from the Singing Christmas Tree.  Things were pretty uneventful most days.  Mama was able to go for a reclining wheelchair ride for 30 minutes a day after awhile.  That really helped her not go stir crazy, because a hospital room can get pretty small when you have to stay there  a long time.  It was nice for her to have a shower and bathroom privileges too. 

To help keep mama cheered up, daddy and grandma helped drag a lot of her scrapbooking supplies to the hospital room.  That did keep her hands busy when she felt like it.  Friends called, visited and sent flowers too.  Aunt Neva was helpful on many occasions as well.  She brought mama a live plant so that it would stay healthy.  Sally, mama's friend, brought her a lot of books to read.  Daddy was very helpful too.  Either he or Grandma Lyon would spend the night with mama so she didn't get lonely.  My sisters visited me too.  Sally and David had Rachael and Larissa stay with them most of the three weeks mama was in the hospital.  They were very well loved and taken care of just like they were when mama, daddy and grandma Lyon went to Tennessee.  Larissa even got to go to preschool with Sally and she really liked it!  To keep busy, mama would do scrapbooking, read, rest or watch a little TV.  Daddy bought mama a new color Gameboy (it was purple) with a new game, "Frogger".  Mama enjoyed the surprises daddy would bring her.  He even brought the household bills for her to take care of.  She managed to keep busy and not get too down because she knew that we were in the best place so I would be safe.  A lot of people prayed that I would stay put so I could be born more healthy, and I did.

To be continued...