4/10 Update

A hopefully really fast recap for those who missed the first one...Pamela is now 31 weeks 4 days, make that 5 days, pregnant. She was found to have a high range of amniotic fluid about 2 weeks ago and in a followup visit to the midwife this week was found to be even larger proportionally with fluid than 2 weeks ago. We went to the ob-gyn this week who sent us to a neo-natal expert in The Woodlands who had us sent to St. Luke's in the Med. Ctr. and assigned to Dr. Johnson who seems to be at the top of near the top of his specialty. Our unborn daughter was diagnosed with hydrops fetalis Wednesday which is a very bad situation. Amniocentesis was performed Wednesday night by Dr. Johnson where he also drew off 2 liters of excess amniotic fluid which helped Pamela start to be able to breath normally again. Imagine the improvement taking a 2 liter bottle of Coke out of your abdomen would make on your breathing and most other functions.

We thought we realized the seriousness of the situation our daughter was in as we were told many things including a possible immediate delivery via c-section Wednesday night but we were still set back by a consultation with 2 neo-natal specialists from Texas Children's on Thursday morning. Their prognosis left very little hope and when we asked questions about that hope we were met with "it could, but..." and then taken back to the very negative most likely scenarios that went from not surviving birth to continue on through some "if's" that sounded more like wishes than possibilities. They included if she makes it to the warmer, to if she makes it to NICU, to if she made it home after months in the hospital then she will have serious issues that will require special care for as long as she lives.

This discussion made for a very rough morning. Since then we have had a little encouraging news and we walk a fine balance between sounding overly positive because we know the Almighty God can intervene and bring this to a close that baffles the entire Medical Center, and knowing that the most likely scenarios for our daughter are not surviving or surviving with many challenges that we can only begin to imagine.

The high blood flow rate through her brain is still elevated but is in an improving trend that may have begun as early as immediately after it was first measured in The Woodlands Wednesday afternoon. A fetal echo cardiogram this afternoon (Friday afternoon) showed a heart that is functioning well and showing little or no signs of distress even while dealing with way more fluid and blood than it should have to face. It is slightly enlarged but there is no sign of excess fluid in the surrounding area (The name for the sack surrounding the heart escapes right now, my notes are not viewable in the dark, and, praise God, Pamela seems to be sleeping well after a very rough time with restless legs this evening so I am not about to turn on a light to search for them). Many of the tests from the amniotic fluid have come back and they are all negative so far so we know many things that are not causing this situation but we do not know what is causing it.

We will find out some more test results early Monday and then will have to wait another week or more to get the more intricate chromosomal tests back. We did learn today that it is very likely that Pamela will remain in the hospital until our daughter is born and then a little longer for her, Pamela's, recovery. Please pray that we will be wise in planning the logistics of balancing care for Colton and Luke, care for Pamela and our daughter, and my work.

The improvement on the brain blood flow where it is slowing and trending toward more normal levels was what Dr. Johnson called a headscratcher. Please pray for continued positive headscratchers.

Please know that though our emotions have run a wide course these last couple of days we do not expect or want anyone feeling sorry for us. I am probably the most blessed person I know and I have earned or deserved none of those blessings. What an incredible time of the year for this to happen when we cannot help but be reminded that we are only deserving of judgement and death but by the mercy, grace, and perfect love of our Heavenly Father we have been offered a way out, a deliverance from what we deserve. As Pamela and I learned more about the human heart today from a wonderful, patient, brilliant doctor from El Salvador who got into medicine because she wanted to touch people's lives even though her mother said she was wasting her incredible mathematical abilities, we could only be reminded that we truly are fearfully and wonderfully made and that we really are knit together in our mother's wombs. I had no idea that an unborn baby's heart functions in different ways in the womb from immediately after she is born. Two openings that have to be in place for the baby to receive the oxygen from the placenta will close up at birth in two completely different ways. So this evolved over eons of time? If it doesn't work as exactly designed right now it just doesn't work. There is no chance for it to evolve to this point. If any single step is missing it just doesn't work. As we learned an infinitesimally minor amount of what is known about the human heart today we marveled that our Creator God is not given all the glory for His creation and people cannot recognize His work. I pray God will remove similar blind spots that I have.

I know I just lost some of y'all as I detoured from an update to an editorial on creationism. I hope that if we disagree on this issue that we have the opportunity to discuss our diffences at some point and we can talk about why if Genesis didn't happen like God says there really isn't a need for a Saviour and all that Easter means. I will promise you I will be respectful of your opinion and I am willing to reach a compromise like Dad used to suggest to Mom when they disagreed. I will admit I'm right if you will admit you are wrong.:-)

Please pray for continued positive headscratchers! We love and appreciate each of you.

Terry