We're pregnant!!!...and we need your prayers.

For those of you who we haven't talked to lately...or who haven't heard...we're pregnant! We found out the great news in mid-April, and we've been letting the news out as a slow trickle...not really keeping it a secret, but not really announcing it to the whole world either.

Our due date is December 20, 2010 (talk about a fun Christmas, huh?), and Juan and I are both ecstatic about the news. Olivia is excited, too. In honor of the occasion, she learned how to say the word "baby" (or her own version thereof). Now I won't go so far as to say that she gets the concept of a baby being in Mommy's tummy, but when she sees a baby, whether in person, in a photo, or one of her baby dolls, she says, "Ba-bay" or "Ba-bo" (depending on the day).

So why do we need your prayers? Last Wednesday, I had a routine appointment with my ob/gyn. Everything seemed to be going fine, and the doctor pulled out the doppler machine to listen for the baby's heartbeat. We didn't hear it right away, and she said, "You know, it's like searching for a needle in a haystack. Why don't we do a quick ultrasound?" So we made our way into the ultrasound room, and as soon as the picture of the baby went up on the monitor, I saw the heartbeat. Whew. Dr. Lawson then said, "This is a very cute stage." And she was right...you could clearly see the shape of the baby's body and head, and little arms that wiggled around. She was quiet for a while, taking measurements and such, which was no surprise to me, but then she turned off the machine and very calmly said to me, "Shelly, I see something that is of concern to me and I'd like to refer you to a specialist for him to give us his opinion. I noticed some swelling around the body of the baby, and I think it could be what is called a cystic hygroma."

The next day we went to see the specialist and he confirmed that the baby does indeed have a cycstic hygroma, which is a fluid-filled cyst located behind the neck. A person can develop a cystic hygroma at any point in her life, but when it is diagnosed prenatally, it is a serious threat to the baby's well-being. While it is possible that the hygroma could resolve itself on its own and we could deliver a completely healthy baby, it's also possible that there could be a chromosomal abnormality or that the baby might not survive.

As you can imagine, this has been a very tough few days for us. We've felt a broad range of emotions, but we've also felt very loved and supported by our family as well our friends, many in our community at Mount Hermon.

In just this short time, we've come to believe that no matter what the outcome is, God has allowed these things to happen in our lives for a reason. We also believe that God will give us whatever it is we need in any situation...be it support, healing, wisdom, comfort, etc...

We'd certainly appreciate your prayers. We're simultaneously praying for the baby's healing AND to learn and grow from this experience, no matter what the ending.

I'll close with a passage from the Psalms that I remembered tonight. I read it to Juan, and we were both very touched by it. It represents what we believe about our baby, no matter how this story ends.

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139: 13-16