The Best News.

I'm just gonna cut to the chase because I can't contain my excitement...Lena's pocket of fluid is 5 cm. FIVE OF THEM!! Five! You guys, I don't think she's ever been above a 2, which is the cut off for "danger zone." And today, incredibly, she's got the most beautiful pocket of fluid you've ever seen (oh? You didn't know that pockets of fluid could be beautiful? Um, they absolutely can.)! I didn't realize that we were going to do a quick scan today, but they took me to the clinic (you better believe I took a shower and put on some clean jammies for my big ride across the hospital!!), just to measure heart rates and fluid pockets and to look at Lena's blood flow. When they looked when I got admitted two weeks ago, and then when we measured them again last Wednesday, her fluid level was right around 1.7, which I was elated about because at least it wasn't 0.5 (the lowest it's gotten). But somehow, miraculously, she's got this amazing pocket of fluid around her now and she is so active and mobile, and I'm fairly confident it's her way of thanking all of you for praying so faithfully for her. We didn't measure the babies today, but visually they all look a little bigger, even Lena girl (and the sonographer confirmed that...it's not just wishful mama thinking!). Her blood flow continues to be the same - absent in a few places along her cord, but it's not deteriorating, and that is a huge blessing. She's obviously not out of the woods yet, but I'm over the moon. And you can that tell by the number of run-on sentences contained in this first paragraph, none of which I'm even going to go back and fix, because...FIVE!!!!!!

That's our big news for today, but Mavis, Amos, and Oliver are looking awesome as well, and I don't want to take that for granted. As we have seen with Lena, anything can happen, and I never want to lose sight of what a huge gift it's been to not have much to worry about with those three pumpkins. I am so, SO thankful for their good health and continued growth. Poor Mavis is shoved so far down by the weight of the other babies, that she doesn't move much these days, but her little extremities flail about all willy nilly, and I love watching her fight off her brothers. I'll be so excited to see her sweet face when she gets here, since it's been hidden from us for weeks now. Amos and Oliver, on the other hand, are total show offs. They are turning circles and kicking like crazy and one of them has his feet lodged in my right ribs 98% of the time. I'm pretty sure from the way they are arranged that it's Oliver. Typical middle child. Just wants to make sure I haven't forgotten him. :)

Other than Lena's amazing news, this was my favorite thing that happened at my scan today:

So, this is Oliver, with his legs stretched out and over his head, basically in a U shape sticking his butt in his brother's face...

And then 30 seconds later, this picture was taken of Amos, literally with his nose in Oliver's tiny little butt. The "C" is where Oliver's buns are and the "B" is Amos' head. Oh, boys. I think they're going to keep us on our toes.

Other than that, things continue to remain stable. My labs are still good, my blood pressure is okay (steadily creeping up, but still in the normal range...just the upper portion of it), and there's nothing indicating that these babies are coming anytime soon. Which is completely insane and for which I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Yesterday I got to take a tour of the NICU, and honestly, it was amazing. Yes, it's completely overwhelming to think about all of the challenges they will face in the outside world, but to have a visual for where we'll be and what a baby that size looks like in person was actually really comforting. I've joked about the fact that our babies will look like aliens because they just won't have any fat on their bodies, but after seeing some itty bitty babies up close yesterday, I have to eat my words. They were perfect. Seriously. All of them. As perfect as you can imagine a baby being. Maybe your perspective changes when you know you're going to have four of those itty bitty babies yourself before too long, but they really did look like baby dolls. Beautiful, tiny, proportional, sleeping baby dolls who occasionally flail their arms and legs about and bring tears to your eyes because they are so incredibly perfect. When God says that he knits us together perfectly in our mother's womb and that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139), he was not lying. These babies are perfect are I can't wait to see our tiny little doll babies in a few weeks.

Prayer warriors, you are incredible. From the bottom of our hearts, we cannot thank you enough. We are watching God change our little girl's situation, and we have not been this encouraged about her well-being in weeks. Thank you for fighting on her behalf, and really on behalf of all of us. Nick and I have felt so very loved and cared for by all of you, and I'm confident that your prayers and encouragement are what's sustaining all seven of us during this crazy time. Bless you!