Ultrasound 3 June 11, 2008

Well, well. Today we all went in to have ultrasounds done on our kidneys. A nephrologist recommended it to rule out any genetic link to the baby's condition and also to better deduce a more concrete diagnosis. The kid's, Jess' and my ultrasounds were completely normal.
The baby: The amniotic fluid was measured and it measured the same amount as it did in Little Rock. The sonographer assured us that what she measured was indeed fluid and not the umbilical chord. The baby has doubled in weight and some of it is probably the volume increase in the cysts. The kidneys are both present. The right kidney is much smaller than it should be and is covered with cysts. The left kidney is normal sized and is also covered with cysts. They weren't real sure if one spot was a cyst or the bladder. The head is shaped normally now and the heart is beating very strongly.
Jessica, for now, is experiencing a normal pregnancy other than the acne. The acne's treatment, steroids, will actually speed up lung development and actually speed up the development of all the major organs-so, it could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Jess' face is feeling much better and has absolutely no pain.
I know that not everyone understands our reasons for not inducing early. That is fine, we don't expect everyone to understand. For us, it is not our desire to intervene......she will be induced regardless and a few weeks or months is not going to make that big a difference in our level of attachment-we are attached and love this baby. We believe that she was created by God and well, it is up to Him to heal or not. As for now, we are praying for nothing less than total healing. We believe we are His children and He does hear our prayers and we don't want to be guilty of receiving not because we didn't ask(to quote the Bible and a dear friend).
For the skeptics and those that may think we have lost our minds.....in a way we have and feel more grounded than ever before. "Keeping it Level-headed" -We have made funeral arrangements in the event that the diagnosis proceeds unchanged. We looked at grave markers and have set up everything that we can set up at this point. HOWEVER, from this point on, we are proceeding in total Faith that the Lord is going to hear and answer our prayers. If I have learned one thing in science, it is that there are always exceptions and things unexplained......this is the realm in which our Lord works and we are not going to "not ask and not keep praying and believing" because people might think we are delusional or weird. The way I read it, we are weird/different/aliens, if you will. As for God's will, we want that and we do believe His will will be done. At this point, He hasn't given us any clear cut direction, so we are going to be a parents and pray for this baby as if it were Corban or Judah- or anyone else's baby we care about.
Again, I don't think everyone will completely understand our "rationale" and honestly at times we have "what are we thinking" thoughts as well, it is becoming more and more apparent that the rationale we seek is not our own. As for our Faith, it is definitely not our own.
Thank you to anyone who opened this blog or email. We definitely appreciate your prayers! We have a lot of friends and are blessed to have a wealth of rich relationships that have held us up thus far. We are facing something that anyone in the world can face. We are Christian but we are not different in that we will face hard times and difficult decisions and circumstances that don't make sense. We are removed from the realities of this present world. However, we do have a relationship with a Father that loves us beyond human measure and we are just beginning to taste what we were made for and we feel like we are on the brink of an amazing year- regardless of our circumstances! Love you all and we will keep you updated!