Preparing for D-Day

It's been quite some time since we've written a new UpDades post, but honestly, there hasn't really been anything to update.  Dade and Tara are both doing great, so we're in a holding pattern until the little guy arrives.  As of Tuesday, Tara is 33 weeks along, so we should meet him sometime within the next 49 days!  Tick-tock, tick-tock...

We had a routine ultrasound this past Tuesday, and were thrilled that my parents, Derril and Belinda, could join us!  The doctors were able to get a few more views of Dade's heart and still don't see anything concerning.  We're extremely thankful for that!  He's up to 4 lbs., 4 oz. now!

In the meantime, we've been doing as much as we can to get ready for Dade.  Thanks to the mad sewing and creative skills of our dear friend-who-is-really-family and NICU nurse extraordinaire Jenna, and my mother (Mawmaw to the grandkids), his room is about 99% finished!  I'll leave it to Tara to post a few pictures later, but we're both loving just hanging out in his room.  I hope he'll like it as much as we do once we get him home!

Also in preparation, we took a tour of the NICU at Children's Hospital last Friday to see the space we'll be inhabiting for the next several months.  While we've known for quite some time that Dade will immediately head to the NICU, things got real seeing the rooms, the beds, the equipment, and to meet other families with children there.  We already love the nursing staff, and know they'll take great care of Dade.  As we've said constantly, we couldn't be more blessed to be in Birmingham in the midst of word-class health care.

Tara puts it perfectly when she says that God has placed so much favor on our situation, and we have no doubt that that is exactly the case. From our jobs to accessible family to just knowing what we're facing, we're as set up as we can be to face this head-on.  The way that all of this has fallen together has been way too convenient to be coincidence.  Don't get me wrong; if it was my choice, Dade would be coming into the world a lot more quietly.  But it isn't, so he's not, and ready or not, here he comes.