Noonan's Test Results

This will be a super-quick update as I am pretty tied up with about a half a million things.  I received this awesome email from our genetics counselor at Baylor College of Medicine yesterday and just had to share:

Mrs. Arredondo,

I wanted to let you know that we have gotten the results for the Noonan syndrome testing and Spinal muscular atrophy testing that were sent to Northwestern Reproductive Genetics lab from the prenatal sample.  Good news – both tests were negative with no mutation detected in the genes associated with these conditions.  This significantly reduces the chance that the baby has either of these conditions.  If you have any questions please let me know.

Sandra

We are thrilled.  We are officially now at a 70% chance of a healthy baby.  Please continue to pray for her, and know how powerful those prayers are.  I’m thinking it might be easier to pray for someone with a name, so we will be announcing her name here sometime in the next few weeks.  Be watching!

In other, less exciting and dramatic news: We are still negotiating things on both our house and the house we are purchasing.  We close (supposedly) in three weeks.  I’m beginning to wonder why this is so hard, and if we heard God right about this move.  If you have some breath and time left when you are praying for baby, please ask for clarity for us in this situation. 

Favorite Sounds

There are sounds that I think could listen to endlessly. One of them is my baby’s heartbeat on the Doppler. That steady thumping has, at times, brought with it such a wave of relief that I’ve wept. Avery’s laughter is another noise that always stirs my heart. Sometimes I hear her giggling in the backseat of the car and have no idea what’s funny, but find myself genuinely laughing with her. If the absence of sound can be counted as a favorite sound, then I would rank snow pretty high on my list, especially early morning snow. How can something so beautiful and pure appear with so little acoustic fanfare? Unfortunately, we don’t get much snow in Houston, and lately, we’ve been longing for ANY kind of precipitation. We have been enduring an extreme drought and record high temperatures for over a month, so rumbles of thunder and the tip-tapping of raindrops at the windows this morning were like a beautiful and vaguely familiar symphony.


I’m thankful for the rain this morning, thankful that our little baby has a heartbeat, and thankful that Avery is happy and healthy. I’m struggling to feel thankful for our housing situation. As of today, we have been negotiating a house contract of some sort every day for TEN DAYS! We thought everything was ready to go, and then we had the inspection on the new house Monday. There was a major, deal-breaking, expensive problem, and we are still trying to work out an agreement with the sellers that meets everyone’s needs. We have to close on our current home on July 22, and if the contract on this new house doesn’t work out, we will be pretty pressed to get a loan on a different new house processed and ready for closing by that time.  Potentially, we could end up moving out of our house and without a new one for some period of time. I’m pretty confident God will provide something, but I am tired, and wanting some resolution to this situation. Did I mention my issues with control and not knowing about the future? Clearly, God is still working on me in this area.

When you’re thanking God for the rain the rest of this week, and when you’re praying for baby Arredondo, as I know you have been, could you please lift up the house negotiations too? I know it’s going to be good, but I’m a little bit anxious waiting to see what God is going to do with this situation.

It's All Good

For those of you who are short on time, or who like to read the last page of the book first, let me help you out. The baby doesn’t have any detectable heart defects! This is a HUGE hurdle. Dr. Carpenter looked at baby’s heart for over half an hour and the rest of her for another 15 minutes and actually used the word “normal.” We have yet to hear anyone use this word to describe her without the word “not” or the prefix “ab” attached. When he said normal, I said, “except the cystic hygroma, right?” Are you ready for this? IT’S GONE! Like the hydrops, it has completely resolved. In one of my posts at the beginning of this journey, I gave you the timeline the geneticist gave us to help pray for the baby. I’m quoting it here:

Week 12-15: The hydrops (the biggest threat) needs to resolve. The fluid needs to somehow get reabsorbed from around our baby’s organs and under her skin.
Week 12-20 – The cystic hygroma needs to shrink. A lot. The measurement is currently 6.7 mm.
Week 18-20 – We need to have a fetal echocardiogram that does not detect any cardiac problems

Though we didn’t have a fetal echo, and may still end up having one at about 24 weeks just to be extra cautious, the baby's heart looks perfect, and everything is resolving right on cue. When we spoke with the geneticist last week, she said that if this happened, AND our last genetic test for Noonan’s came back from Chicago normal, we would be looking at a 70% chance of the baby being born healthy. That test result should be back in the next few days and we are praying with nearly every breath that it is normal. Seventy percent would be amazing! At the beginning of all of this, we were quoted a 1 in 3000 chance of a live birth. If God can take us from 1 in 3000 to 70%, what’s another 30%? We are learning that for our God, who can part a sea, deliver Daniel from the lion’s den, and turn water into wine, NOTHING is impossible. I knew this before, but seeing it up close makes it so real. The beach, in photographs, is beautiful, but feeling the soft, warm sand underfoot and the waves lapping at your ankles is something different. I wish everyone could have an experience in which they see and feel God doing something unimaginably good in their life, a sand and waves experience. I know that for many, trials come, and they aren’t able to see how God works good through them for a long time, maybe not even in this life. Maybe those dear sisters and brothers are stronger in their faith or more patient than I and He knows that they can take the waiting. Maybe He wants to refine them in a way that takes an extra long time. I don’t know His reasoning. What I do feel, is that I’m so, so blessed to be able to witness what He’s doing in my belly, and in my heart, and so undeserving as someone who has had such weak faith. I know there is a work being done in me, and I pray that sharing this story somehow opens the door for Him to work in you too.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

House Drama

I’ve been MIA from my blog for a while because we are trying to move and things got a little hairy. We’ve wanted to move for quite some time for a number of reasons. We are blessed to be in a nice home with good neighbors, but the home is NOT kid friendly. First of all, it is on a busy, through street, so playing in the front yard is not an option. The backyard is the size of a postage stamp and backs to a major, major road. It’s impossible to hold a conversation outside at rush hour because it is so loud. We have four bedrooms, but one is so small that it really only holds a bed and nightstand. Almost all of the floors are wood, which is beautiful, but losing its beauty a little more each day. Not thinking about future children and their pull toys when we bought the home, we put in soft, shiny, engineered hard wood. Finally, we only have 2 bathrooms. I know that in some places in the country, this is a luxury. Teenagers and toddlers, however, do not exist well in the same bathroom. Think loose razor blades, spilled nail polish remover, hairdryers in the sink… We would gladly share the master bath with the babies, but the tub ledge is about a foot wide and the tub is a deep soaker tub. Not accessible or safe. With new baby coming, we really would like to have one bathroom devoted to little people.


We’ve had our house on the market for almost two months, and finally got an offer last Monday. It was low, though, and the contingencies and the closing date didn’t work for us, so we started negotiating, and negotiating, and negotiating. We had been looking at homes and had two we liked in mind just in case this offer came in. Unfortunately, one of them decided to lease out their home instead of sell several days before our contract came in, so we had to go with option two. We submitted an offer on house two, which, according to the comps, was priced unreasonably high. The owners would not even counter. They came back saying, “Please submit a reasonable offer.” Really? We resubmitted with what was close to the very most we could do. No dice. They countered (a day later mind you), at about $1000 below their asking price. Our lender warned us that he didn’t even think the house would appraise for that much and our loan was contingent on the house appraising for the sales price. All this time, we had our potential buyers waiting for us to take their offer because we didn’t feel safe taking it without a house to go to. Just when we thought all hope was lost, the lease on house one fell through! We immediately put in an offer and it was accepted after only one round of negotiating. Our buyers were still waiting and are all ready to close with a price and dates that are workable for us. We are soooo thrilled about our new house. Here’s a photo:

We got a wonderful deal, and our interest rate is going to drop a whole percentage point and a half. Also, we will have a shady front yard on a cul-de-sac, a third bathroom, an extra play space, nearly indestructible tile floors, and a huge, covered back patio to protect us from the hot Texas sun. The house is a block from a park, about 12 blocks from the neighborhood pool, and is zoned to great schools. We couldn’t ask for anything more or be more blessed. We also have had a great real estate agent, Renee Tomochek with Realty Associates. We have spent so much time with her that she has begun to feel like family. Several nights ago, I even dreamed that we were in a new home, sitting at the dining table with Renee, and were all in our pajamas, including her.

Even though we will be pretty busy getting ready for the big move, I plan to keep the blog a little better updated. We have a big appointment late this afternoon with the high risk OB. He will be looking at the baby’s heart, and I will let you know how it goes tomorrow morning.

The Lord Has Done Great Things

Yesterday was one of the best days I’ve had in a long, long time. First, we went to see Dr. Faro and had an ultrasound with Cynthia, the fabulous sonographer I’ve mentioned. No new prayer requests for Baby Girl Arredondo! This, in itself, is an answer to prayer. Please, please keep praying for her. While we were at Dr. Faro’s office, Dr. Faro’s uncle, Dr. Sebastian Faro happened to come by. He is one of my very favorite people in the entire world. He and his niece (my current OB) delivered Avery. Dr. Sebastian was not delivering babies in his practice anymore when we got pregnant with Avery, but had been my OBGYN for a long time and made an exception. I got some serious superstar treatment throughout my pregnancy. Do you know he even held me and let me put my head on his shoulder while they put in my epidural? About a week after he delivered Avery, he announced he was retiring from private practice. I am so honored she was the last baby he delivered.


After we got home from the Dr., we got dressed to go to the pool, but were caught by the phone as we were going out the door. It was our real estate agent, Renee, telling us that we had a contract coming in tonight on our house! Actually, what she said was, “You should leave your underwear hanging in the laundry room more often. It brings you luck.” I called her Sunday after the house was shown to tell her how mortified I was to realize in what state I had left the laundry room. We’ve had the house on the market well over a month. It’s no surprise that I posted on Facebook Sunday asking for prayer for the house to sell and the contract came in the next day.

Finally, to make a historically awesome day even better, while we were waiting for the agent to come over with our contract, Avery took her first steps. I’m so thankful that Mario and I were both here to witness it. What a moment! We caught the second steps on video:

All the joys of today and all of the people who were part of them are blessings from God. Thank you, dear Father, that this, as unlikely as it seems, is a season of joy.

Our mouths were filled with laughter,

our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

“The LORD has done great things for them.”

3 The LORD has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy. - Psalm 126:2,3

Leftover French Fries

I’m always amazed at wives and moms who tell me that they don’t feed their families leftovers for dinner.  These are real women, with busy lives and average grocery budgets.  These special girls deserve a round of applause for their creativity and hard work.  At our house, leftovers are a menu staple.  I don’t even try very hard to disguise them as something else for the second go-round.  Sometimes, tacos will magically become quesadillas, but that’s about as clever as I get.  I make my meal plan on Friday or Saturday for the following week, with leftover days strategically planned on the two days I work.  It usually looks something like this:

Sunday: Poultry or fish, vegetable, starch

Monday: Casserole, soup, pasta, or other one dish wonder, fruit or green salad

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Another casserole, soup, pasta, or one dish wonder, another salad

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Salad, sandwiches, or baked potatoes 

Saturday: Something grilled or takeout

Here’s what got me thinking about leftovers today:  Yesterday we went out to a grill for lunch and the waiter brought Katie regular fries instead of the sweet potato fries she had ordered, so she ended up with two orders of fries and LOTS of both kinds leftover in a doggie bag.  Avery loves the sweet potato fries, so I tried reheating them to go with her lunch today.  I hadn’t tried to reheat French fries since graduate school or earlier and had forgotten an important kitchen truth:  Fries of any variety do NOT work as leftovers.  They become sad, limp strips of mushy, flavorless  grease.  So this is where I draw the leftover line: French fries.  I’m so curious about others’ policies on leftovers.  Are most like my awe-inspiring, non-leftover-serving girlfriends, or are many of you quietly serving up round two of chicken spaghetti?  Let's find out.

  

THIS. WILL. BE. FUN!!!

I think this blog needs a little levity, so at the urging of my friend Katie Sample, I’m going to share about a memorable day she and I had last week.  Katie and I made plans to go to the pool on Wednesday afternoon.  If you have, or have had children under 2, you will understand when I say that getting prepared to go to the pool is a MAJOR undertaking.  Getting a toddler dressed at all is a little like trying to put an octopus in a loose mesh bag without any of the arms hanging out.  Getting a toddler in a swimsuit with straps that are supposed to criss-cross somewhere (I’ve yet to conclude where, and she’s worn it several times) and a hat is….  more challenging.  Sunscreen is another big issue.  We really had a tussle with the lotion the first time we went to the pool, so I thought I would do better if I was armed with the Coppertone Water Babies spray.  Wrong.  Avery was terrified of the spray.  I ended up chasing her around the kitchen floor, trying to aim the spray at her exposed, moving parts.  Have you ever chased a cockroach with Raid?  Horrified that this image came to mind, I gave up, hauled out the lotion, and used the baby spray for myself.  Then, there was the gear.  Floaties: check;  canopied floating saucer: check; extra sunscreen: check; sippy cup of ice water: check;  towels, cover-ups, sunglasses… the list goes on.  Half an hour later, we were out the door.  We planned to go to a pool in a neighboring community rather than the one down the street, because I had driven past the nearer one and it looked very crowded.  I thought I knew where we were going.  Half an hour later…..  Yes, really.  We did finally find it, and Katie and I both managed to get all our gear together and each carry a baby.  I was sooooo ready to put my big belly and fussy baby in the water.  Some moms of older kids were sitting outside the pool chatting, and I should have known something was up from the looks of pity on their faces as we neared them.  “You know all the pools opens tomorrow, right”  one of them asked.  “They’re only open for the swim team kids today.”  Resourceful, optimistic Katie turned to me and said, “ I have a baby pool at home!  This will be fun!”  She did have a baby pool!  And it was not inflated.  No problem.  Katie had a hand operated air pump.  Half an hour later, with both of us huffing and puffing from having taken turns trying to air the pool, Katie yelled as she slammed the pump handle down, “THIS. WILL. BE. FUN!!!”  We finally resorted (did I mention Katie is resourceful?) to using a hair dryer, and got the pool pretty much blown up.  I’m sure the sunscreen had worn off by then, but it was already about 5:30, so I’m thinking we were OK.  There was only room in the pool for Grant and Avery, but we plopped them in it with some bath toys and settled ourselves  to watch.  They loved it!  Ten minutes later – Grant became fascinated with the grass just outside the pool and emptied most of the water reaching over the edge to pull up blades.  Left without her playmate or much water to splash, Avery became intent on trying to get a stick up her nose.  That seemed like a good cue to start drying off and packing up.  Katie’s prediction was right.  It was fun.  The whole afternoon was actually fun because it was spent in great company and created memories that are still making me, and hopefully you giggle. 

Comets and Other Such Wonders

Our genetics microarray is normal!  Dr. Carpenter’s nurse, Angie called me just a few hours ago to give me this incredible news.  This is one more answered prayer, one more hurdle crossed to get to a finish line that includes a healthy baby.  I asked Angie, “Have you ever seen a baby with the problems ours has come out OK?”  She said no.  She has seen a few babies with a resolved cystic hygroma that have come out OK, but never one who had hydrops like ours.    Our geneticics counselor, Sandra has seen it happen twice; Angie has never seen it.  I’m smiling now, not despairing.  I feel a little like I have felt getting up late at night to see a rare astronomical event.  I feel like we are about to witness God doing something spectacular, and I'm giddy with anticipation and excitement. 

When I’ve stayed up to watch an eclipse or a comet, it has always been with friends or family.  We’ve wanted to marvel together.  We’ve prepared in advance, choosing the perfect, unobstructed viewing spot.  Then, we’ve huddled together and kept our eyes fixed on the sky.  Right now, I’m lying on a blanket in an open field, and I’m definitely not alone.  I’ve no idea what this is going to look like, but I’m ready.  Are you watching? 

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Today, I went to my OB appointment alone, but I have never felt less alone going somewhere by myself.  I am so blessed by all the people in Dr. Faro’s office.  I feel genuinely valued and cared for every time I’m there.  The sweet nurse, Gabi, came in the room as I was about to leave several weeks ago, looked me in the eyes, and said, I want you to know I really care about you.”  Then, the next week, the ultrasonographer told me she thinks about our family often when she’s not at work.  Dr. Faro herself has gone above and beyond on more occasions than I can count.  The day before our CVS, she called to make sure I had her personal cell phone number in case I should have questions or feel anxious during the night.  These people more than know my name;  they know my heart and are willing to walk along beside me whether it is grieving or rejoicing. Today, it was doing a little of both.

The cystic hygroma had not shrunk anymore as of today, but it hadn’t grown either.  Dr. Faro spent a long time explaining the new concern I mentioned last week, the membranous insertion.  It is not something that is resolvable or fixable.  It will be there for the duration of the pregnancy.  It means that the cord is abnormally attached to the placenta.  For now, this is not a problem.  It can cause growth problems in the baby later in the pregnancy, and it necessitates a planned C-Section.  Mine will be no later than 38 weeks, which is November 11, my and Mario’s anniversary.  I’m so, so thankful we found this problem, because babies who have undetected insertions almost all bleed to death either when the mommy’s water breaks, or as they are being born. 

Right now, my prayer request is that we don’t need to add any more prayer requests for this baby to our list.  I’m having a hard time keeping up with all of them, so I can’t imagine how our friends and family are feeling. 

Speaking of friends, mine are such treasures.  My friend Katie came over for lunch and I went to her house for a yummy dinner.  Our sitter, Sheryl, kept Avery on short notice while I went to the Dr., and Kelly has offered to watch Avery more times than I can count.  I know too, that so many are faithfully praying.  I can actually feel that we are being lifted up. 

Thank you for walking through this with us.  I’m honored to be able to share it with you.

Answered Prayer #1

May 27^th was a day of answered prayers.  I had my appointment with the high risk OB, Dr. Carpenter that afternoon.  I hadn’t seen him since the NT scan.  My regular OB, Dr. Faro, sees me the weeks he does not, and they make a wonderful team.  Unlike Dr. Faro, who is overflowing with engagement and compassion, Dr. Carpenter is very matter of fact.  He doesn’t give anything away with tone or facial expression, so it took me a minute to absorb what he was saying as he examined the baby on the screen.  What he was telling me was that there did not appear to be any excess fluid in the baby’s body.  The hydrops was gone!  Completely reabsorbed!  Remember prayer #1: (12-15 weeks)?  Answered!  Next, he started looking at the cystic hygroma.  He took multiple measurements, and they ranged from 3.4 to 3.7 mm.  Prayer #2: Answered!  The cystic hygroma had done quite a bit of shrinking!  I shared with him that this was exactly what we had prayed for, and that I knew many other people were praying.  He almost smiled.  The med student in the room observing actually did smile.  Then, Dr. Carpenter said, “So much for the good news.”  My heart sank.  He explained that we have a new potential problem, a membranous insertion.  I still don’t completely understand what this means, other than that it can cause problems with the baby’s growth later in the pregnancy.  She’s perfectly on track growth-wise right now, but we need to start praying that she stays that way.  Dr. Carpenter also reminded me that our baby is still not healthy or out of the woods.  He did confess, however, that she has a better prognosis than the 1 in 3000 survival rate we were previously quoted.   Thankfully, God is not limited to medical statistics, however advanced.  As I’m learning this – I mean REALLY learning it, not just Sunday School lesson learning – I’ve stopped obsessing so much over the data.  I’m thinking that that 1 in 3000 chance was just a perfect opportunity for God to show how big, how powerful He really is.  I can’t wait to see what He shows us of Himself in the weeks to come.   Can you?

Waiting

I thought the next several weeks would be torturesome.  I expected panic.  My expectations were based on what I have known in the past.  I’ve ALWAYS wanted to be in control.  I’m ashamed to admit that the weaknesses in my faith have become glaringly evident in every trial I’ve faced.  Times when I should have been turning to God, when I should have been on my knees, I’ve turned to a million other things – to knowledge, strategy, reason, analysis, friends, and distraction.  That’s not to say I haven’t prayed.  And it’s not to say that I didn’t put my faith in a risen and living Lord many years ago.  I’m just realizing now how weak that faith must have been.  How do I know?  I know because in this particular trial, I have had no choice but to relinquish control to The One To Whom It Belonged In The First Place.  There’s nothing for me to do but wait, and pray, and seek out the truths that I know exist in God’s Word.  Those truths, ones that I’ve read and heard so many times, are so much more true to me in the last month than they ever have been.  And this peace that has descended on me is a deeper, more abiding peace than I have known, even in the quietest stretches of life.  For a long time, and in response to a series of difficulties, my life verses have been Phillipians 4:6 and 7.  “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  This peace I’m finding definitely transcends my understanding.  It’s out of character, and so not something for which I can take any credit.  It’s not based in knowing what lies ahead or having a plan.  I don’t know what will happen with our precious baby girl in the months to come.  What I do know, with hope and assurance much deeper and stronger than what I’ve known before, is that we will someday meet her face to face, whether here or in heaven.  And though I’m crying even now, I have peace in knowing that if she’s not with her daddy, her sister, and me, she will be with a Daddy who loves her far more than either of us ever can. 

Genetics Counseling: Information Overload

The genetics counselor was a rare, and much-appreciated combination of knowledgeable, articulate, compassionate, and patient.  Here’s the skinny (as much as I can make it) of what we learned:

There are a large number of genetic conditions that could cause a cystic hygroma and hydrops, most of them involving problems with the heart.  Probably the most likely is Noonan’s Syndrome, which is a close cousin to Turner’s Syndrome.  DeGeorge Syndrome is another, though less likely possible culprit.  Hundreds of these possible conditions are detectable with a Chromosomal Microarray Analysis (CMA) using our CVS sample.  Noonan’s is not one of them.  Noonan’s requires a separate test that is only performed at two labs in the U.S, neither of which is in Texas. 

Our options were:

A.    Do nothing, and if the baby survives to birth, treat individual symptoms of the overall problem and start testing for genetic problems then. 

B.    Have the CMA done at Baylor College of Medicine

C.    Have part of our CVS sample cultured and sent to Northwestern in Chicago to test for Noonan’s.

D.    Both B and C. 

The genetic counselor’s answer to one question made our decision pretty easy.  I asked, “Would knowing now what condition is responsible for her problems, give our baby even the slightest advantage when she is born?”  The answer was yes, so we ordered the whole menu. 

I tried to pry some likelihoods about our baby’s survival out of the counselor, but she really couldn’t give any numbers.  What she did do, which helped on so many levels, was outline what would have to happen, stage by stage, for the baby to have a “good” outcome.  This gave us some much needed structure in the midst of a lot of chaos, and specifics things for which we (and you, if you are willing) can pray week by week.

Week 12-15: The hydrops (the biggest threat) needs to resolve.  The fluid needs to somehow get reabsorbed from around our baby’s organs and under her skin. 

Week 12-20 – The cystic hygroma needs to shrink.  A lot.  The measurement is currently 6.7 mm. 

Week 18-20 – We need to have a fetal echocardiogram that does not detect any cardiac problems

Every week – There need to not be any NEW problems. 

The tests were ordered. The results for the CMA should be back in 3-4 weeks and the Noonan’s test in 5-6 weeks.  I’m beginning to understand one of the themes of this journey: “Hurry Up and Wait!”

Surprise Results!

On Wednesday the 11^th, I actually went to work.  My friend and colleague, Anna, thought this was a little crazy, but what else was I going to do?  I only work two days per week and was getting pretty far behind.  I’m a counselor, so I don’t talk about work.  I can’t.  I will say that it actually did me a world of good to spend the day entirely focused on others. 

Late in the day, the nurse called with the initial CVS results.  These results, called FISH, are generally 99% accurate and are followed several weeks later, by final, cultured cell findings.  I had to ask her to repeat what she was saying, because her words sounded like,  “The FISH results were normal.”  NORMAL!  No chromosomal abnormalities!  Before I started dancing, she brought me down to earth, telling me that this did not mean our baby was healthy.  It just meant the Dr’s original hypothesis about the cause of the problems was likely wrong.  She said the Dr. was advising we see a genetics counselor in the next 24-48 hours to help us decide whether to send our still usable CVS sample for genetic testing.  Within an hour, we had an appointment for Thursday afternoon.  What a whirlwind! 

CVS

Our dear sitter graciously took Avery early the next morning so that Mario could take me to the hospital for the CVS.  We waited several hours for the procedure.  The waiting was not nearly as difficult as I would have expected it to be, with the exception of having to have a full bladder the whole time.  The actual needle insertion was unpleasant, but I have total faith in my high risk OB, so I knew the baby would be safe.  He is arguably one of the most talented, bright, experienced maternal-fetal medicine docs in the country.  After the procedure, he showed us the computer-generated, estimated odds of the baby having various chromosomal abnormalities based on the NT scan results.  They were disheartening.  The best one was 1 in 32.  I think that one was for Trisomy 16.  Trisomy 13 and 18 were in the single digits.  45,X was 1 in 2. Knowing my propensity to obsess over data, I left the sheet of paper there.   Mario took me home again and then headed to work.  I spent the next few hours Googling too much and composing an email to friends and family who knew we were pregnant.  After I’d absorbed all the information I could emotionally and intellectually tolerate, I picked up Avery from the sitter and we went across the street to play.  I’m so, so blessed to have one of my dearest friends so close by.  This sweet sister didn’t try to offer any trite reassurances.  Instead, she cried with me while our babies played and giggled in the background.  Those shared tears and those happy babies were such healing balms to my soul. 

Day 1

On May 9^th, we had our Nuchal Translucency Scan and were surprised to learn that our baby girl was struggling. The high risk OB saw a large (6-7 mm) cystic hygroma on her neck, and hydropy (excess fluid under the skin). He prepared us that these symptoms are typical of a genetic abnormality called 45,X. He explained that babies born with this abnormality have Turner's Syndrome, but most often (2999 out of 3000 times), with this cluster of symptoms, the baby does not survive to full term. We were offered to terminate the pregnancy and declined. We chose to proceed with chorionic villus sampling the following morning so that we could determine the exact chromosomal issue and better prepare for what might lie ahead.  We went home to try to absorb this information, and to pray.  My sweet, attentive OB called when we were on our way home to say how sorry she was and answer any questions we might still have.  She agreed that going ahead with CVS was the best choice if we planned on continuing the pregnancy. 

We're Pregnant!

We’re pregnant again!  Hooray!  We are so excited to be 15 ½ weeks pregnant with a baby girl whom we love so much already.  I’m starting this blog to fulfill a few purposes:

1.      I want to share with the world the amazing testimony unfolding as God works in our lives through this pregnancy. 

2.    I want a place to keep everyone up to speed and share prayer requests for our baby.

3.     I want to be a source of hope and comfort to other families who are facing trials similar to ours. 

4.     Secretly (not so secret anymore), I’ve always wanted to write, and this seems like a perfect, and very therapeutic opportunity to practice.

I don’t plan to spare anyone any of this journey’s heartaches or celebrations.  I also don’t plan on editing out parts of our lives that aren’t specifically about this new baby.  I am going to do my best not to speak for my husband Mario or embarrass him too much.  I’m also intentionally omitting any information about our 14 year old niece, Katie.  She lives with us, but needs her sensitive adolescent ego protected here.  Our daughter, Avery (15 months), however, will likely take up a lot of text and photo space.  Her daily adventures supply us with plenty of smiles, and I wouldn't want to deprive you of those. 

I'm honored that you are here to share and be shared with and hope you are blessed in some way.  With all of the qualifications, preparations, and general groundbreaking out of the way, let's get started.