Charlene's best friend, Lisa Riviere, came to town Thursday night to watch the kiddos for us.  Lisa flew all the way from Pittsburgh, PA.  Thanks Lisa!   The kiddos absolutely love her...and so do we! Charlene and I went to Centennial Medical Center in Frisco, TX at 9 AM Friday for the induction. They began giving Charlene pitocin almost immediately. At noon, Dr. Petrovski broke her water. We waited and waited and waited all day long. Charlene's nurse for the day was named Lori. She was fantastic. Charlene had only dilated to about 3 cm by 4 PM. Just before 7 PM, Dr. Petrovski told us that she was concerned that Charlene wasn't further along after almost 10 hours of pitocin. She said that if we weren't further along by 9 PM, that we needed to seriously consider a c-section.  We prayed to God immediately for Him to perform a miracle, touch Charlene's body supernaturally, and give us a natural birth with no c-section. At 7 PM, our first miracle happened!  Over the course of the day, Charlene had told Lori (her nurse) about a nurse named Joanna who had delivered Brianna back in 2000 at Lakepoint Medical Center in Rowlett. Joanna was an amazing nurse and we had gone back to the hospital to thank her (after Brianna was born) but she had moved to another hospital.  Well...at 7 PM....Lori and Joanna came laughing into the hospital room. Joanna, the same Joanna who delivered Brianna, was now our nurse to deliver Tabitha! What a miracle. She immediately calmed our fears about a c-section and said she would do all that she could to make sure that we had a normal delivery.  She gave us hope when we were in despair. Hope that we really needed, as we were both exhausted.  We prayed and thanked God for sending Joanna. 9 PM rolled around and Charlene was only at 4 cm, but Joanna remained positive. By midnight we were between 5 cm and 6 cm. At about 12:30 AM, Dr. Petrovski came to talk to us and told us that she was concerned that Tabitha's heartbeat looked like she was getting distressed from almost 15 hours of pitocin. She said that unless Charlene made considerable progression over the next couple of hours, that a c-section may be necessary to avoid complication for mother and child. We began to pray even more fervently for God to perform a miracle in Charlene's body. An hour and a half later, at 2 AM, Joanna came into the room to measure our progress. Charlene was still at 6 cm. She had not progressed at all over the past hour and a half. Tabitha's heartbeat was showing distress from fatigue, and Dr. Petrovski told us (in tears) that she needed to perform a c-section to save Tabitha. We asked for 15 more minutes to pray and discuss the situation. Joanna came into the room - Charlene and I prayed for a sign from God. A Clear Sign. We were so confused, so exhausted, so unclear as to what to do. We had pretty much decided to go with the c-section, since we totally trust Dr. Petrovski's judgment and know that she loves us and wants the best for us and Tabitha. But as they were getting ready to take Charlene to surgery, we asked Joanna to measure just one more time. Amazingly, Charlene was now at 8 cm during contractions. This was the sign we had asked for! We knew that we needed to continue in our efforts for a normal birth. Dr. Petrovski came into the room and measured Charlene. She said that she could feel Tabitha's head coming down. Immediately, we all held hands as I prayed again. I prayed specifically for God to touch Charlene's body immediately and make her dilate to 10 cm. And He answered our prayer with a resounding "YES!"  A minute later, when she measured her again, Dr. Petrovski told us (in sheer amazement),  that Charlene was now dilated to a 10! Praise God! Everyone was shocked!  Charlene pushed 4 times and out came baby Tabitha!  Sometimes, God lets us get to the end of our rope, so that He gets all the glory for His miracles. For those who don't believe in miracles, who don't believe that God answers prayers...I guess you should have been in our hospital room at 2:30 this morning..... To God be all the glory for our little miracle...Tabitha Marie Bollinger!

Our wonderful nurse, Joanna....THANK YOU and GOD BLESS YOU!

Dr. Petrovski - our fantastic doctor - THANK YOU and GOD BLESS YOU!