Sept 17, 2007

Autumn and I have reached the milestone of 24 weeks yesterday. Here's
a little rundown of the last week:

12 Sept - had an ultrasound
The perinatologist found a pocket of fluid in front of Autumn's face
about 2cm. While that is extremely low, it's still fluid. She is
head down. She looks to be showing good breathing, a functioning
bladder and he estimated her weight at 1lb, 3 oz.

14 Sept - A friend of a friend is married to an Obstetrician and asked
his opinion on my situation. He said based on his experience with
PROM*, he expected I would go into labor in the next 1-2 weeks and the
baby would not survive due to lack of lung development.

The perinatologist came back that evening and dicussed the ultrasound
again. He said he was actually surprised to find as much fluid as he
did. She had her arms up near her face which is good cause it allowed
the pocket of fluid to be around her head. The doc said we have
reason to be "cautiously optimistic" that lung development is
occurring.

15 Sept - Approximately 3am, I was awakened to a substantially larger
gush of fluid than has been normal. I would estimate about 1/2 a cup.
I was very disheartened considering I had just had some reasonably
good news. At 6am that morning I woke up and couldn't get back to
sleep so I started reading my Bible and the Lord led me to this verse:

1 Corinthians 2:5
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

I let the nurse know about the increased leakage who in turn let the
perinatologist know and he came back that night to give me another
ultrasound just to see where we're at. Once again, better than
expected! He now found 2 pockets of fluid, one measured 2 cm and one
measured 3.2 cm. She was now lying diagonally with her head higher
than her feet which the doc said could explain the big gush early that
morning, she was changing positions and probably pushed some out. He
said that things are going as well as they could in my situation and
that he doesn't expect me to get past 29 weeks. Something about the
27-29 week timeframe of the growing baby inside a uterus that is
already ready to go into labor just makes women go into labor if they
haven't already. He said that's what happens most of the time but if
my body waits longer, that's even better. Considering the verse God
gave me that day, I immediately took it to mean, don't listen to any
bad news the Drs have cause they know nothing compared with God's
power. Last night and this morning as I was thinking about the verse,
I thought I should be praying for God to seal up my amniotic sac and
allow me to carry Autumn to term. All this time, I'm hoping for the
best possible scenario which seems to be an early preemie with a
decent chance of survival. Well God can do better than that even if
it is considererd "impossible" in my situation. So please pray with
me that God will reseal my sac and that Autumn will be safe and
healthy developing in there until at least Christmas!! (my due date
is 6 Jan).

John 14:13
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the
Father may be glorified in teh Son.

Psalm 27:14
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine
heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

17 Sept - I talked with the perinatologist today about steroid shots
as previously he had stated we would wait until I got to 24 weeks to
talk about steroids. He said since I show no signs of labor, he would
like to wait until 26 weeks to administer the shots as it is more
beneficial at that time or later. He said it would be optimal to give
the shots 3-4 days before delivery but as that cannot be predicted, we
must juggle the approximate "right" time to do it. If I show signs of
labor sooner, then of course I will get the shots soonest and try to
delay delivery as long as possible so the steroids might do their
thing.


Premature Rupture Of Membranes - if you want to learn more about my condition, I found a very informative website about it
www.kanalen.org/prom

April

Keep the prayers going, I know it's only the Lord who got us this far.