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
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