Cautiously Optimistic

Wow...what a last few days. A day of thanksgiving! A day to glorify our God! Someone described our past two weeks like a roller coaster that we can't get off. That is correct but to be honest I am not sure God is ready for us to finish the ride...I believe He has a lot more in store for us. We feel lucky that he has chosen us to take on this situation...we prepare more and more each day...but I don't think we will ever be fully prepared...we are only human.

We went to see the specialist yesterday, Dr. Ken Perry. He is another great doctor. The Lord has blessed us with amazing and talented doctors. So for the details...There is more amniotic fluid than two weeks ago which is a good sign. There is a bladder! We (no medical background) saw one kidney, but Dr. Perry believes there are two. Because we are not at a normal stage of amniotic fluid it is still hard to see everything but we see things more clearly than before. In two weeks the baby has grown two weeks. Yippee!! That is really good news. But the baby is also still 4 weeks behind in development. Right now I am 23 weeks and the baby is measuring 19 weeks. The doctor did find two factors that are VERY common in a pregnancy yet they are also factors in chromosomal disorders. In saying that Shea and I do not have a history of these disorders and I am still young in the doctor's eyes which is good. BUT there is always a possibility. To be honest with you all I am trying not to focus on that news...but trying to stay level headed. Our baby is by no means "out of the woods", but we do have more hope than we did two weeks ago.

So our first question was..."what now?". We will see Dr. Benton in Hattiesburg in two weeks...September 18th at 11:00. At this visit we will have another ultrasound and then visit with Dr. Benton. This ultrasound is VERY important. If things are moving on track we should have grown another two weeks and there should be more amniotic fluid...so begin praying! Then we will visit with Dr. Perry two weeks after we see Dr. Benton for another ultrasound. The visit with Dr. Perry is October 6th at 11:00. If things are still progressing we will begin doing fetal assessments around 28 weeks making sure that our baby girl is not in distress. Why 28 weeks??? Well the baby still has a chance of survival outside the womb at 28 weeks. In a normal pregnancy the baby could maybe survive around 24 weeks outside the womb...but as we all know...my pregnancy is by no means normal. If we can make it to 34 weeks then we have even a better chance of survival outside the womb. In a perfect world I would be able to carry the baby much longer and if the baby is okay inside the womb then I feel the doctors will wait until she is ready...but this is a long way away and we still have a steep hill to climb.

A lot of questions have been asked over the past two days so I will try to explain some of the more popular questions...
Maybe your dates are wrong? This is not true. We are 23 weeks. Shea and I had an ultrasound at 5 weeks and the baby measured 5 weeks and then another at 7 weeks to make sure we were growing like normal and we measured 7 weeks.
Will the baby catch up inside the womb? No. We are already under the normal curve. We are four weeks behind...but what we want is for us to stay only 4 weeks behind and NOT lose any ground.
What about the baby's organs? The baby's organs do have a chance to mature and be "normal". We will continue to monitor them on a bi-weekly basis.
Will we deliver a "normal" baby? Our baby will never be a 7 lb baby. We do know that we need our baby to be atleast 1 lb at birth...but of course we would like for it to weigh much more.

So basically we now WAIT!!! As you all know I DO NOT like this word. The good Lord knows that WAIT and PATIENCE are not my best qualities. I believe that is why HE is making me learn more about these two words. I am trying so very hard to be patient...but two weeks is a LONG time in my eyes. I wish I could continually monitor her and watch it day by day but that is not in God's plans. Shea and I need more prayers now than ever. Prayers are so important...just ask us and our baby girl.
Specific Prayer Requests:
- For God's will to be done - We are only human and of course we want you all to pray for continued progress and a healthy baby but also we must understand that this may not be His will
- To prepare our family for God's will - There are so many things that can happen now, the baby may not survive, the baby may be VERY premature, the baby could have chromosomal disorders, the baby may be premature but healthy
- Strength, guidance, and wisdom for Shea and I
- Patience for myself
- Our baby girl - We all know she is definitely a fighter, we just want her to stay healthy
- Blessings to our Lord and Savior and that Shea and I use this baby to glorify Him

As most of you can probably tell I give more details and Shea gives more analytical views...I am an accountant and he is an engineer...what else do I have to say. I am sure Shea will post later. I will be checking in later also and WAITING and PRAYING!!! We love you all and hopefully good news will continue.

A friend gave us these two verses yesterday:

Lamentations 3:22-23: "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."

Psalm 120:1: "In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He heard me."

In His loving word,
Bethany