Mom, 3 centimeters, and Sprite

I need to start by letting you know that my mom has declined dramatically and is beginning the journey towards death. As you can imagine, having to stay here in Columbus is painful for me. All I want to do it to hold her hand and look into her eyes...please be in prayer with me that she remains peaceful and painless. This has been the case. She is staying at a Hospice facililty in Louisville and will most likely not leave that room. This may come as a great shock to many of you... there had been several days of her doing wonderfully previous to this decline. It happened very fast. Please check the blog dedicated to she and Dad: www.thelastestwiththejohnsons.blogspot.com

It explains the journey leading up to now. (A few people have expressed a problem with that web address... but after a couple tries were able to get it working... not sure what the problem is, but keep "refreshing" and it should work eventually)

So my energy, prayers, and emotions are split between she and the babies. It seems as though I can only handle one of the two at any given time. I am doing my best. Yesterday, we learned that I am now 3 cm. dilated. This was all due to a trip to Labor and Delivery (trip #2) yesterday morning. I had experienced a great deal of sharp pain in my right side the evening before. It was not a contraction-type pain... more like a consistent jabbing. Once the constancy of this 30 minutes wore off, it would only bother me when I took a deep breath. We held off until yesterday morning, when a call to my doctor resulted in encouragement to go ahead to the hospital and check it out (could have been a gall blatter issue or high blood pressure). Turns out, I checked out fine on everything regarding the pain on the side (they chalked it up to perhaps skelatal and/or muscular shifting/stretching because of the pregnancy). Since it only hurts when I inhale deeply and seemed to be helped by Tylenol, they were not concerned. However, my tracked contractions while there led them to check my dilation. I just KNEW I was going to be more dilated than the 1 cm. about a month ago. And sure enough, 3 cm I am! Scott and I thought I might have to stay in the hospital to be monitored... but thank goodness they sent me on home, with instructions to be even more careful about time on my feet/hydration/etc.

I have an appointment today designed to check estimated weights and track their heartbeats.

Lastly, wouldn't you know that in the midst of all this happening, I spilled a glass of Sprite on my cell phone over the weekend??? So, it is totally not powering on... and therefore I have noone's contacts. And, of course, I cannot talk on my cell phone. So, direct your calls to either Scott's cell: 614-315-1566 or the land line: 614-607-5793.

We're hanging in there, thanks to God keeping us standing upright (or for me, laying on my left side, rather!). Scott has been and continues to be an INCREDIBLE source of support. I am a very lucky woman.