Thursday, June 30, 2011

Very Encouraged

Hello again,
We had our last big ultrasound yesterday with our perinatal doc and it went well. We will now be with a high risk OB/Gyn from here on out. Ryan is still building up fluid in her brain due to the spinal defect but the encouraging thing is that she is still kicking, punching, and moving all over the place! She is so strong! It was so neat because when we viewed her with the 3D ultrasound she smiled. We see it as a piece of hope sent from God. With everything this baby is going through, to see her smile was priceless. We already love her so much and can barely wait to see her for the first time. Please continue to pray for us. Pray that we will continue to be hopeful and to always have faith in what God can do. We don't want to ever lose hope for this precious little girl. Thanks again to you all. We love you, Jared

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The Latest News

Thanks to eveyone who has commented on this blog. Your encouraging words mean more to us than you know. We are coming up on week 34 of this pregnancy tomorrow! Man has it flown by. We had our first appointment with our new OB/GYN (high risk) on Monday. Though he is a little bit of an ass, he seems to be really good at what he does. We had another ultrasound that revealed no new info. Ryan is still about 2 weeks behind when it comes to growth but her vitals are stable and she contines to kick Michelle on a regular basis. We also had a chance to look at her heart again yesterday. This also revealed nothing new. We know what were dealing with but as of late and as we get closer to delivering, my faith is not as strong. Please pray for me. I have 2 girls to worry about here. Pray for Michelle. She has had to undergo so much testing and she is becoming exhausted. She has had to receive 2 steroid shots over the last couple days which made her feel nauseated and flushed as she continues to work in this brutal arizona heat. It was 115 yesterday. Thanks again for all the prayers. Without your support this road we have been traveling would have been all the more difficult. Love you all, Jared

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Appt for Ryan

Hello everyone. Just wanted to give you an update on an appointment we had today at St Josephs hospital in which we discussed Ryan's birth plan. The two nurses that we met with couldn't have been more caring and compassionate towards our situation. They were able to answer all of our questions and meet all of our needs. I just want you all to know that Ryan is in great hands! We will have a top notch team of physicians working with her. Thanks again for all the prayers. We love you all, Jared

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Thanks!

I just want to kick this blog off by saying thanks to all of you who are praying for Michelle, Ryan, and I. We can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives more than ever.
For those that do not officially know the status of our little baby girl, Ryan, here is a synopsis.
Around week 18/20 we found out that Ryan has Spina Bifida as well as a heart defect (tetralogy of fallot - basically a hole in her heart) at our first big ultrasound.  We thought we were going to find out the sex of our baby and instead found out some pretty scary news. Of course we were initially broken hearted and shocked and needed some time for this all to settle in. We then went onto a whirlwind of testing and appointments. The doctors asked to do an amnio to look at Ryan's chromosomes and ultimately found that Ryan has rare chromosome abnormality. She has a duplication on her chromosome 2. What this means is somewhat unknown. There have been 25 documented cases of babies with this disorder and their symptoms varied from one extreme to another. Basically, if you can name it, it can go wrong. But the good news is that no two babies were alike and none of them have exactly what Ryan has. Heart abnormalities and Spina Bifida are more common symptoms, but past that it is like drawing a symptom out of a hat. There is no documented mortality rate, however mortality is always something to be concerned about when dealing with a baby with a chromosome abnormality.
Though the doctors have informed us of the worst case scenarios of what we are facing, we have chosen to have a faith and hope. The kind of faith and hope that does not doubt the power we have in Jesus Christ. We are praying for a miracle and we are asking for you all to do the same. We are finding rest and peace in God and trusting that he has His hand on this circumstance and will be with us every step of the way and at the end of the road something beautiful will arise.
On another note, we had an appointment yesterday to check Ryan's rate of growth. She is growing at a slower rate than normal but growing none the less. Her heart rate was great and she was moving and kicking all over the place. I think she's gonna be a soccer player.
Michelle is also doing really well. She is so positive and courageous. I'm so lucky to have her. I will leave you all with a a few verses from Matthew that Michelle and I are trying to memorize. We were looking for a passage to rally around to help us through this tough time and this is the one we chose.

"In the morning as He was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree on the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once? And Jesus answered them, Truly, I say to you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer you will receive, if you have faith." - Matt 21:18-22

Moving a mountain was a common metaphor in Jewish culture for doing the seemingly impossible. Though we have prepared ourselves for the worst, we have decided to not limit Christ in any way. Our faith and hope rests solely in Him. God bless, Jared