Baby update...

We are expecting our 10th child.  We just received results today confirming that our baby has Trisomy 18, which is most often fatal for the baby within weeks, sometimes hours of birth, with a very high stillbirth rate. 

We know that God is the maker and giver of life, and that He alone determines the number of days for each and every one of us. 

Please keep us all in your prayers through this - for wisdom in medical decisions, for the Lord's peace to reign.  We absolutely will not consider abortion under any circumstance - our child's life is precious and is a gift from the Lord, and we cherish every day that God sees fit to give us with this baby, just as with our other children.  Please be in prayer for our OB, he is a high risk specialist and knows our family well.  He is an excellent doctor who specializes in neonatal care and high risk pregnancy, and he is a Christian.  He delivered our 2 youngest children, as well as having helped us through our 7th miscarriage almost 2 years ago.

From the beginning, I knew something was different with this pregnancy...  I even told my doctor and nurse that I felt that something wasn't quite right - after learning about a test that is available to "mature" moms, which we had done last week (using my blood, not baby's amniotic fluid), I went home and read up some on the different trisomy disorders the test covers.  That night I had a dream that we had given birth and held our baby, and the next thing I knew I was writing an obituary for our new baby - I woke up with tears on my face and have wondered since if that was the Lord preparing my heart for news to come, or if it was simply the bad timing of reading something like that before bed with pregnant hormones all over the place.  It seems the Lord was preparing my heart.

We have an ultrasound tomorrow, and our OB plans to monitor us closely throughout this pregnancy.  We do not know if this child will live to be born or not.  We do know that the Lord loves this baby even more than we do, and that He is in control - hard as this is to digest and accept. Your prayers through out the remainder of this pregnancy and for however many days the Lord sees fit to give our newest little one are much appreciated.  Thank you for your love and prayerful support.

Resting in His hands...