Today's Appointment

Thank you all so much for your prayers for our appointment today. I usually am a nervous wreck for big Doctor’s appointments, but today my stomach was calm, even during the waiting we had to do. We felt the power of your prayers and felt God’s presence with us today. There is still more praying to be done for Luke’s heart. I’ll do my best to explain what we were told today. Basically, Luke has an extra “nerve” or “pathway” in his heart that is causing it to not work correctly. The irregular heartbeat and the fluid around his heart are symptoms of that. For any of you medical people this is one thing he said a lot, Supraventricular Tachycardia (I have a feeling I am going to know way more medical terms than I ever wanted to)! What I understand is that someone with this condition would be given medicine to regulate the heart rate, but the fact that he is still in utero makes medicine a little tricky, because I will have to have it too. Right now, the plan is that Dr. Liske will monitor us very closely. When I asked how closely, he said come in Monday morning and we will go from there. There is a chance, if the fluid expands, or the heart rate gets even higher, that I will be admitted to the hospital. While I am there, they will monitor us as they figure out what medicine works. I don’t know when and if that will happen, it sounds like this is going to be an appointment by appointment process. I think it is a safe bet that I will have a c-section and that Luke will probably spend some time in the NICU after he is born. There was mention of surgery, but not until he is older. He would most likely be monitored closely and take medication if the problem persists. It’s still so early to have a grasp on all of that.

As far as what to pray for, the Dr. did say that there is a chance this could heal itself, so please be praying for that. There were a lot of scary things we heard as we were talking to him. No pregnant woman ever wants to hear a Dr. tell her to be sure to monitor the babies movements closely and if there is a long period of time where I don’t feel him, to go to my OBGYN…that freaked me out. So, please pray that Luke becomes the most active baby in the world and that I feel him constantly. There is a read danger of me going crazy keeping up with that and questioning myself. The Dr. did not leave any doubt that this is a serious problem right now and that makes us very anxious. We have a long road ahead of us, I’m only 22 weeks.

I’m not the best person at articulating with words, so I’m adding another song lyric. I have a dear friend who writes some of the most beautiful lyrics and I am constantly being blessed by those words the Lord has given her. As I was sitting in the car waiting to meet up with Neal, I put her cd in and this was the first song that came on. I’ll preface the words to the song with the simple verse I saw on a church billboard earlier that day that I kept repeating to my self…God is good, it is He who made us. Then I heard this song…

Arise and be comforted
For the Lord,
He is good to the weary
And even the young heart can tire and fall
But He knows them all
For the Lord, He will renew their strength
And they will soar on wings as eagles
And they will run and never grow weary
They will walk and not grow faint
For the Lord, He is good
Lift your eyes to the heavens
For the creator is living in you
Come surrender as you are
And know that you’ll never stray too far
Let His power within you heal your heart
Lift your eyes to spacious skies
Let Him chart your way to flight
Spread your wings and fly
For the Lord, He is good

That is one thing I know, the Lord is good, He is holding us and our precious boy in His hands, He is the great Physician and I will trust Him. Neal and I have already been overwhelmed by His presence today and the power of the prayers we know you are all praying for us.

I go in again on Monday; maybe we will have more information then. I will continue to keep you all updated.

We love you,

Neal and Lindsay