Soooooo, that means that she’s got 10 days left to grow as much as possible in the womb, because right now a c-section is scheduled for June 17th! 😳We reach 37 weeks gestation on a Thursday, but I like the MFM's reason of waiting for Monday if we can, so that all the specialists will be in the office all week to watch her.
She is breach right now, and I’m not interested in stressing us all out by trying to turn her to be head down for a regular delivery. If God wants me to go for the vaginal delivery, He and Annelise can work that out to have her turn herself by the 17th.
Kevin and I got a tour of labor and delivery at Nebraska Med, where I’ll go to deliver. It’s less than a 15 minute drive from the Children’s Hospital, but I can already anticipate that it will feel worlds away from our girl when she’s taken to the NICU at Children’s, and I have to stay and recover from surgery. Kevin will be with me during the C-section. As much as I know I’ll need him during that moment, I will need to know that he is with Annelise once she’s here. He has promised to drive safely from one hospital to the next! There is a “resuscitation room” next to the OR, and that’s where she will be stabilized, and the little transportation incubator will be waiting for her. There is a possibility of her being able to spend some time with me if she’s doing amazingly, but all that will need to be determined once she gets here and has to breathe air.
We took an afternoon to recover from the new information and c-section date. This has always been a possible scenario, and happens quite often with babies who have trisomy 18. We’ve been given information and been wary of my wonky placenta throughout the pregnancy. Somehow though, when one of the possible future scenarios turned into the one actual reality... it hit us like a ton of bricks! We took some time to pray, tell our fears and feelings to the Lord, and recognize how much He is part of this story. We don’t get any new insights about what’s going to happen and how it will all work out when we pray, but by spending time remembering how powerful and good God is, how much we know He loves us and Annelise, what He has already brought us through and how He has gone before and prepared us and the people that are walking through this with us for this season... that’s where the peace comes from, that we can trust the Lord to hold us and sustain us through whatever the struggle might look like. We still pray and ask for healing of Annelise that would be considered a miracle, because we love our baby and want the most comfort for her as possible. If the Lord heals her in amazing ways, or if He has other plans for her future, we trust that He is using her life and will continue to be glorified through her story. We are being changed because of her, that’s for sure!
To take care of our mental health after the appointment yesterday, we got a pizza from a little pizza shop that we found and loved the last time we were here, and took it to a nice park with lots of trees. It was quiet and felt like we were out in the woods. I’m so grateful for the time to process and think about what’s coming... while I wanted to go as close to full term as possible, it’s also nice to have this time to prepare. It would have been much more stressful to find out I had to deliver immediately!
The next 10 days: Please Lord use the wonky umbilical cord to deliver enough nutrients to Annelise to help her to grow for at least the next 10 days, especially her little head. Yes, I'm asking for a big headed baby right before I deliver her, it's that important for her little brain to mature and grow.
The delivery: Regardless of how it happens, praying for safety for myself and for Annelise during delivery. There's no way to make the delivery "boring", like our drive... but I'm praying for as typical and healthy a delivery as possible. Praying also for Kevin's peace of mind during the delivery, having to watch the people you love being worked on by surgeons and doctors will be a big deal, I'm sure.
Breathing: Asking Jesus to give Annelise the ability to breath room air on her own
Update on Kevin's GI specialist appointment today: Good news! The GI doctor took a look at his labs and asked some questions about symptoms and past health history. He doesn't think that there's a problem with his pancreas, because even though Kevin's lipase levels have been elevated beyond the "normal" range, the other markers in his bloodwork that would indicate an issue are normal. Hooray! He has scheduled an abdominal ultrasound for next week, just for peace of mind, which I appreciate! And he's also set Kevin up for a test to find out if he is for sure lactose intolerant, which will be good to know too! It will be kinda funny for me to go to Kevin's ultrasound appointment with him next week after all the times that Kevin has been sitting in the chair while I get an ultrasound over the past months.
Well, I wrote the blog about the scheduled delivery... I guess that means it's really real and this is happening! So weird to not be just planning for the future possibilities... but to be able to see the date on the calendar where we'll get actual answers to the question of "how is this all going to happen?"... and then I'm sure as soon as we get those answers, we'll have a whole new list of questions. Thank you family and friends for holding us close in prayer and love, we really have the best people. 💖
No comments:
Post a Comment