Update 10/29/17

I just wanted to put a real quick update on here about our status. We have no new information at this point and likely won’t have any for about 5-6 weeks. We have 3 different appointments scheduled in the first 2 weeks of December with our current Obstetrician as well as the Seattle Childrens South Sound Cardiology Team who will be taking over his cardiac care after he is born until surgery and the Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialists again as well. We are still deciding between Tacoma General or St Joes for delivery and will probalby decide for sure after those 3 appointments based on their results. We are on many prayer chains and are believing in God for a miracle for our little guy for complete healing! I did get anointed with oil and prayed for by the elders of our church and know that many people in many places are praying for us and we can’t express our gratitude enough. Thank you for the prayers!

Elijah, Moses & Solomon don’t know anything is going on other than brother is growing in my tummy and they all kiss him every day and tell him how much they love him already. It’s the sweetest thing ever. They are all 3 so excited for their baby brother! They did great when we received prayer from the elders and sat quietly at the table with ‘praying hands’ participating as best they could and I’m so thankful that the childcare we had worked out for that time ended up not being available so all the kids could participate with us in that special time of prayer.

Apparently I went into too much detail for some to understand what this little guy is facing so I’ll try to explain it a bit more simply here. The official diagnosis names and terms are listed on my previous blog but the easy way to explain it is that he is missing an entire wall inside of his heart that separates the 4 chambers of his heart. Because of that, his valves aren’t properly connected (because they are supposed to be connected to the wall that doesn’t exist) so they can’t function as they should and all the oxygen rich and oxygen poor blood just pools and swishes around in his heart but it’s not being pumped the way that it should or separated the way that it should. That is all reparable with surgery when he is 4-5 months old with an extremely positive prognosis following that surgery. There are 3 concerns they have with his risk for Down Syndrome. 1. My age (29) (+10) ha. I’m 39. 2. One in two babies with this specific heart defect have Down Syndrome. 3. His ultrasound measurements are potentially indicitave of Down Syndrome. None of that is confirmed or conclusive, it just tells us he is at an elevated risk, I don’t remember the exact percentage the genetic counselor gave us but basically above 70-80%. We won’t know for sure until after he is born, they take cord blood and test it offically with results coming 10-14 days after his birth.

The last concerning thing is my Gestational Diabetes. I’ve had it with all of my pregnancies and have never had a hard time controlling it with just diet and exercise at home. Except this time. It’s a doozy this time and I’m trying so hard to beat it, even with medicine, but we haven’t got a good routine down for me yet. I could use some prayer for that as well please. I’ve counseled with my doctor, the specialist, and a dietician and diabetes educator about it and combining everything everyone has told me and the medication I’m on, it’s still not where it should be. We will be making more adjustments to get to a healthy range but we haven’t quite figured it out just yet. If you’re not familiar with Gestational Diabetes, it’s Diabetes that you have only while pregnant due to the hormonal changes in your body. As soon as I delivered all 3 of our boys before, my blood sugar went back to normal and I’ve been great. I pray that is the case this time as well and that we get it under control quickly and it goes away immediately after delivery.

Right now we are doing well. Bo and I are learning how to support each other in the way we each need. It’s quite a learning process :). Other than prayer for healing, there is nothing we need. We have food in the fridge, the laundry is washed, the kids have been enjoying time at the park during the nice days the past few days and we are just trucking along. The unknown about it all can be frightening but we trust in the Lord and in His plan for our family and know He desires good for us and that is our only focus. Even if we don’t know what will be or how it will be or how healthy our boy will be, we know that God is good and we trust Him and know we just need to focus on His goodness and love and promises so we don’t get wound up in fear and worry.

So that’s where we’re at! I don’t expect to have an update again until mid December after we have all of our appointments, get results from them all and come up with a more concrete plan and more specific prayer requests at that time.

The doctors tell us to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. We are praying for the best while considering what we may be dealing with if he is not healed before he is born. We will need help later, after he is born probably when he has surgery but that’s not likely to be until May/June 2018 if all goes the way it’s expected to. My due date is 1/29/18 and the doctors are hoping I go all the way full term so his heart and lungs have as much time as they can to get strong while in the womb. So there will be a time when we need some help if that is the case and we will be sure to make our needs known so our friends and family can help out as they desire. Right now though, we are doing good and just need prayer!

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