Delivery Plans

2/6/2009

Dear Friends and Family,

First off, welcome to our new blog! I owe a huge thank you to my sweet sister Karen and best friend Sarah who are helping me with this. I've felt so much pressure with the best way to keep people posted and I didn't feel like I had time for the upkeep of a blog, so the two of them have stepped in to help me. Please add this link to your favorites and feel free to check in often and leave comments. I'm not sure how often we will update, but at least while we are at the hospital, this will be our means of keeping everyone posted on what is going on without needing to send emails. Feel free to forward this to anyone we may have missed, or if there are other people who would like to join us in praying for Reagan.

Since we last updated you (which has been a while!) we have made the plans for Reagan's delivery. We have a c-section scheduled for Wednesday, 2/25. This is less than 3 weeks away which seems incomprehensible! We can't wait to meet her. I am so proud of my little girl for making it this far and we pray that she continues to hold on and make it to the 25th. I will be 38 weeks at that point, and the doctors feel that this is the best time to take her since her lungs should be fully developed, but I won't have as much risk of going into labor on my own. We want to have our specific team of doctors available and ready for the delivery, so a scheduled c-section is the best approach. A c-section was determined to be the best mode of delivery for Reagan's sake as well. Her omphalacele holds her liver outside of her abdomen, and in situations like that, it is susceptible to rupture and a c-section is the safest method to guard against that.

In recent weeks we have been back and forth to University of Chicago for what seems like countless appointments! We love them, though, because it allows us to see our little girl, know that she's doing well, and form relationships with the doctors who will be helping us. We had another fetal echo 2 weeks ago and it still shows a healthy heart - praise God! We also met with the pediatric surgeons who will be attending to the omphalacele, took a tour of the NICU, and we spoke with a neonatologist who will play a major role in caring for Reagan as soon as she is born. I also go weekly now for non-stress tests and biophysical ultrasounds of Reagan. At these tests they monitor her heartrate, her movement, and how her heart responds to that movement. They also score her on the types of movements she makes, whether or not she is "practice breathing" and the level of amniotic fluid. The highest score she can get is an 8 out of 8 and we're proud to report that she has gotten that every time. What a good girl. By going through these tests every week, the doctors are able to monitor her progress, and if at any time she goes downhill or her scores drop, they might consider taking her early. Taking her early would give us more of a chance to meet her alive, and would give her a chance to fight.

We feel as though our expectations have changed from where we were several weeks ago. We're still prepared for the worst, and we realize that God might not have plans for us to spend a great deal of time with Reagan here on earth. But the doctors have changed our thinking to include the possibility of Reagan living for a while. We don't know if that would be at home or in the NICU, but we are preparing for both. Spending an extended amount of time in the NICU would be a big adjustment and we are concerned for the logistics of that, how that will affect Jackson, and how we will manage those arrangements. But we are thankful for supportive family and friends who we know will help us. We are also thankful because, after seeing the NICU at Comer Children's Hospital (where we will be), we are absolutely floored at the level of care we will receive. They have an award-winning facility and their sole purpose is to care for babies just like Reagan and to give her the best chance at life.

We are so thankful to God and want to continually praise Him for the ways He has provided for us: We have great doctors. We have an amazing network of friends, family, and co-workers to support us. We have the best little boy we could ever ask for who gives us a reason to smile every single day. And we've had 35 weeks with our little girl!

At this point we continue to ask for your prayers and support. Specifically, we ask you to pray that Reagan will make it to our scheduled delivery date of 2/25. We also pray for safe travels as all of our immediate family members are traveling from all over the country to be there. We ask for discernment and good judgment in some big decisions that need to be made regarding Reagan's care. There are decisions that no parent ever wants to consider when it comes to the life of their child, but we are forced to face those and at times I am paralyzed by the impact of those and how we will make them. I like to pray that the right answers will be so clear that it doesn't even feel like we had to make the decision. We also pray that I would respond well to the c-section. My biggest fear is that I will miss out on time with my Reagan, so I pray that I will respond well to the anesthesia and heal quickly so that I can be with her as soon as possible.

We couldn't do this without you and we so appreciate your concern for our family. Please feel free to respond with any comments, questions, ideas, advice...anything! We love talking about Reagan and sharing any of the experience with you. Thank you!