Pray

So, it's really been a while this time. A lot has happened since I last wrote in August, so hold on.
Since my last post we packed up our kids and headed off on a ridiculously long 38 hour journey back to the US for a few months. The last time I had been back to the US was two years ago, and it was Isaaq's first time in the country! We of course, go through all the normal feelings that accompanies such a transition: stress, jet lag, joy of getting to see family and friends, eating foods we've missed, feelings of strangeness and not quite fitting in, and lots of doctors visits, which seem to be in abundance for those who live in locations with less than desireable medical care.

We found out some time ago that God would be blessing our family with Baby Clarkson #3. We are delighted for such a gift. The due date is sometime around February 12. We were also grateful that we would be able to have prenatal visits in the US, as we had with Isaaq, and then deliver #3 in East Africa, as we had with our #2 (aka Isaaq). After arriving in the US, we went in for our initial prenatal visits and got to listen to a sweet steady little heartbeat. When we went in for our routine ultrasound at 20 weeks of pregnancy we were told to go for a level two ultrasound. They weren't able to see the four chambers of the heart clearly (which I had assumed was because the baby was so active!) and they could only see a two vessel umbilical cord (usually there are three). At our second ultrasound we received the awful news that our precious baby number 3 was not developing normally. Three heart abnormalities were noted (mitral valve displacia, ventricular septal defect, and an interrupted aortic arch) and one brain abnormality (agenesis of the corpus callosum).

Because of the type of abnormalities was suspected that these were caused by an irregularity in the chromosomes. We decided to have an amnioscentisis done (I was a real adult about the whole experience and closed my eyes the whole time and held Seth's hand) to learn more about what was ahead for our family.

A few days later, we received the initial results that chromosomes 13, 18, and 21 were appearing normal! I wept with tears of joy. I wasn't expecting any more good news about our baby.We also opted to find out the gender at this time to know how to better pray for and bond with our little one. It is a little girl, living and growing and kicking inside of me. What joy.

About a week and a half later we heard back that the full results from the amnio indicated that her chromosomes are normal (which has helped us to rule out a lot of syndromes and complications), but due to the complicated construction of chromosomes, even a small irregular segment can cause major problems. They suggested doing a FISH test (can't remember what that stands for) to specifically test chromosome 22, segment b, as this was the chromosome and segment linked with DiGeorge Syndrome. From what I read, about 50% of the time babies have an interrupted aortic arch it is caused by DiGeorge Syndrome. We decided to go ahead with this specific test as well.

About a week later we got a call from our genetic counselor with the results from the FISH test. Our sweet daughter does not have DiGeorge Syndrome. I couldn't believe it.

This takes us up to the end of October. We went in for another level two ultrasound where they again noted the same abnormalities and also noted that there was fluid on her brain. Unfortunately, the doctor was called out on an emergency delivery and we were unable to meet with him to interpret the results. We were scheduled to return again in 2 weeks.

On Friday, November 9, we met with a pediatric cardiologist. During the ultrasound the doctor uttered words I never believed I would hear... the mitral valve dysplacia is gone...the VSD (ventricular septal defect) seems to be at worst- minimal. I had learned from previous experience that sobbing is not so helpful if someone is trying to perform an ultrasound on you, so I tried to contain my tears of joy so that the poor doctor could finish the exam. And, after trying for about 45 minutes, the doctor could not get a view of the aortic arch. No matter what position I laid in. There was a shadow over her aortic arch. In my not-so-expert opinion it's Jesus healing our daughter. There's no doubt in my mind that the VSD and the mitral valve dysplacia were not a mere misdiagnosis. The Father has healed our sweet one in profound ways, beyond what I'd ever imagined.

Sometimes people ask me why I'm surprised that the Lord has healed her as He has. Though He has power to heal all, it doesn't mean that He will. His plans are greater and bigger than my own. I learned from  (numerous) past experiences His ways are higher than mine. He always works through prayer- but it may not always be as we had hoped.

So, would you all join us in doing just that- praying for our sweet daughter. We are asking that He would continue to heal her heart and brain accompanied with the prayer that He would be most glorified in whatever comes.

So, yeah, I guess you could say it's been a busy past two months- more on everything else later.