Blessed Be the Name of the Lord

On Thursday morning, we woke early to a beautiful snow. Layne and I quietly dressed and then spent a few minutes in God's Word and in prayer before braving the roads and the fetal MRI. My Bible opened that morning to Psalm 127, where we were encouraged especially by verse 3: "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward." (NASB) We love our little one so much, and we believe that she is a blessing regardless of her physical condition.

So what were the MRI results? Once again we received test results that both answered some questions and created more. We were given both good and bad news. The MRI revealed that our little girl's brain appears to be significantly underdeveloped. The radiologist who specializes in fetal MRIs, Dr. Diane Twickler, gave us a list of 6 issues in our baby's brain that she detected from the images. I won't detail the issues because the medical terminology wouldn't mean much to most of you. It appears that while the rest of our little one's body developed normally (that's the good news), her brain did not (that's the bad news). Dr. Twickler indicated that the most likely diagnosis of our baby's condition is Walker-Warburg syndrome, a rare form of congenital muscular dystrophy associated with brain and eye abnormalities.

So what does that mean? Well, mostly that we won't have any answers as to our little girl's ability to function outside the womb until she's actually outside the womb. That mostly depends on the development of the part of her brain that governs autonomic functions like breathing, eating, and other reflexes.

So where do we give birth? That's a great question that we will be answering in consultation with our midwives and maternal fetal medicine specialist this next week. I'm 34 weeks pregnant so we'll be making that decision soon. We would appreciate your continued prayers for wisdom on this issue.

So how are we doing? We know we'd rather walk this road with Him than without Him (Psalm 84). We are facing facts without wavering through unbelief (Romans 4:19-21). We believe in "the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." (Romans 4:17b, NIV) We believe that He could still develop her brain. We also know that He may not. Regardless, we know her life has meaning and purpose, and we pray that God might receive the glory for the gift of her life. "Blessed be the name of the Lord!" (Job 1:21c)

In the Lord's time

Last time I wrote I thought I would be posting again within a few days that we had scheduled the fetal MRI. The Lord had a different timing in mind. During the month of January, our little family battled illness and several other stressors that kept us focused on simple daily survival tasks. I'll not go into detail here because when I listed all the stressful events in January I filled four pages in my journal. Needless to say our plate was full! Repeatedly, the Lord set before us opportunities to grumble or give thanks. It didn't take us long to choose thankfulness over grumpiness. I think it really does take more energy to be grumpy, and we learned to take true delight in simple things like food, shelter, and good friends. Today we are thankful that the fetal MRI is finally scheduled for TOMORROW, Thursday, February 11 at 8 a.m.! Please pray that the weather wouldn't prevent us from attending the appointment though we continue to trust the Lord's timing for this test. Please pray also that the MRI will give us wisdom to know the best place to deliver our precious little girl and the kind of care she will need after she's born. Our deepest gratitude for your prayers and concern for our family!