Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
As much as we wanted to continue with our "non invasive" strategy, truly believing that God would heal our baby and that giving our baby time was what he needed, a time had come where we could no longer sit back and do nothing. The doctors strongly encouraged us to take action and under their guidance and lots and lots of prayer, we decided to try and help our little man with some amazing help from some amazing doctors. And it wasn't just our prayer, but prayer from a church body who supported us every step of the way and a family that we could not have done this without. God promises to provide all we need just when we need it (Philippians 4:19 "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus") and He did just that over and over again. Through our obedience in prayer and seeking God... looking straight to Him, He blessed and blessed and blessed some more. I know that sounds crazy since we all know what happened in the end. Our little man would go to be with Jesus on the very day of his birth, but my focus can't just be on the end, it must be on the process as well. God had something to teach me THROUGH the process not just at the end. He had to teach me how to depend on Him in a way I never had to before. He had to teach me how to pray (more on that later). He had to teach me how to reach out to others. He had to teach me how to look outside of myself and love others because this wasn't just MY journey. He had to teach me how to focus and refocus. He had to teach me how sometimes the plans have to change. He had to teach and teach and teach, and He so graciously continues to do that even now.
Here is an excerpt from update 6. Gestation age was 28 weeks.
Our last appointment was Friday morning. Our doctor told us that the fluid in the baby's pleural cavity looked like it had grown, and the preliminary measurements that they took indicated that the amount of fluid had doubled in the past two weeks. In addition to that, the amniotic fluid had increased as well, which is an indication that the increased fluid and pressure in his chest had blocked his esophagus (a normal fetus continually swallows and urinates out the amniotic fluid, and increased fluid shows that he is urinating out the fluid but not swallowing it).
Based on this information, and also the poor prognosis with continued non-intervention, we were recommended to proceed with the thoracentesis. Our doctor called UNC Women's Hospital and arranged for Carrie to be admitted that same day. We went directly to the hospital and stayed there overnight.
The thoracentesis was performed on Saturday morning by our regular doctor and one of her partners - there was a great deal of experience and knowledge in the operating room (4 physicians, 2 anesthesiologists, and 3 nurses). I was able to be there for the procedure - everything went very smoothly and they were able to remove about 75% of the fluid. The baby responded very well, and has been very active since the procedure ended. Carrie is taking it easy right now with slight cramping from the procedure (completely normal and expected); we will return to take another look at the baby on Tuesday to see whether any of the fluid has reaccumulated.
Our prayer is that the fluid will not accumulate at all, or at least not quickly, so that we do not have to intervene any more in the pregnancy. Please continue to pray for our baby through this. Thanks for all your support.
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