Following God with Courage

"This is my command--be strong and courageous! Do not be

afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." -- Joshua 1:9 (NLT)

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

A Prayer From a Friend

I am not Eastern Orthodox, and My Love is not either. A friend, who is, gave us this prayer when he heard of our situation with our baby. It is his prayer for our child. I thought it was touching and thoughtful and holds many sentiments that I would like to remember.

Until next time...

Eastern Orthodox Prayer For A Woman With Child:
O Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ our God, the Source of life and immortality, I thank Thee, for in my marriage Thou has blessed me to be a recipient of Thy blessing and gift; for Thou, O Master, didst say: be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. I thank Thee and pray: Bless the fruit of my body that was given to me by Thee; favor it and animate it by Thy Holy Spirit, and let it grow a healthy and pure body, with well formed limbs. Sanctify its body, mind, heart, and vitals, and grant this infant that is to be born an intelligent soul; establish him in the fear of Thee.

A faithful angel, a guardian of soul and body, do thou vouchsafe him. Protect, keep, strengthen, and shelter the child in my womb until the hour of his birth. But conceal him not in his mother's womb; Thou gavest him life and health.

O Lord Jesus Christ, into Thine almighty and paternal hands do I entrust my child. Place him upon the right hand of Thy grace, and through Thy Holy Spirit sanctify him and renew him unto life everlasting, that he may be a communicant of Thy Heavenly Kingdom. Amen.

Ultrasounds & Growing Faith

My Love and I had an ultrasound on the 13th of October that told use we are having a boy! It was so exciting while they were doing the ultrasound! I just loved watching him flip and turn and watching his heart beat.

But, then we went to the exam room to be examined by the doctor and see what he had to say about the ultrasound. He didn't say much. In fact, he did not say if it was good or bad. What he did say was that he wanted me to go see a specialist for a special ultrasound. I thought, "But... you are the specialist." I didn't say it though. I just found out what I needed to know to go to the specialist and went. The baby was flipping and twisting every which a way while we were having the ultrasound before talking to the doctor. My Love was convinced that this was why we needed to go to the specialist. He believed, and had me hopping, that they just couldn't get the pictures they wanted with the baby moving the way he was.

So, on October 24th we went for a special ultrasound with a group of perinatal specialists. I want to share what we found out. My Love and I trust God intends this for good, and we are choosing to trust Him with the outcome.

The specialist found what he calls four markers that he wants to watch. They are in the baby's brain, kidney, heart, and umbilical cord. He found two fluid sacks on the baby's brain, an enlarged kidney, blood in the heart flowing up when it should be flowing down, and only one vein going out of the umbilical cord where there should be two. He said each of these would be minor if it was the only thing he found. The thing is, he found four. That changes things. At this point, it could be serious or it could not. We just don't know. They wanted to do more testing to try to further determine what we are facing, but My Love and I wanted to digest the information they gave us before making more decisions. The doctor said that was fine. This specialist group we saw was very good about being concerned with how we were taking the news and what we as the parents needed.

I have an appointment with my regular OB/GYN on November 4 (this Friday), and we go back to the specialist on November 17 for another special ultrasound and to let them know what we have decided about the testing.

We are still praying and trusting God with the outcome. I could see the things the doctor saw on the ultrasound when he pointed them out. I believe they were there. I don't believe that the human body just fixes itself. I do believe that God forms and can fix the human body. I believe that God can choose to let our baby have these problems &/or others for His purposes that I don't have to understand, or He being God can choose to heal our baby. My prayer is that He heal the baby He has formed in my womb and given us, but I choose to accept whatever He decides is best for us as a gift from Him. He is love and gives good gifts.

Until next time...