The Beginning- Faith's story

The story of Faith starts back in a cold November of 2006. Thanksgiving had passed along with the big bedlam game. I became very dizzy one day at work. I thought I was going to pass out. I thought maybe its becuase I forgot to eat and one of my co-workers had to drive me to pick up some food. As I sat nibbling that meal( it was Taco Bell if you were wondering) the first seeds of wonder sprouted in my mind that I might be pregnant. It had been awhile since we had tried to prevent having a baby so it really could happen at any time. That night as I drove home from work I stopped and picked up a pregnancy test. I couldnt believe it when the stick showed 2 lines!!! I ran downstairs to tell Cliff and we were so excited! A sibling for Ethan! Another little blessing! I apologized to Cliff for not having a more clever presentation. He suggested I do a broadway song and dance so I left the room, came back in and preformed a song and dance routine. We laughed and hugged and all was right with the world!!We called all of our family to tell them and they laughed with us at the thought of a new child coming into our home..... and the thought of Ethan playing the role of big brother.......From the beginning I hoped it was a girl! I asked God for a little girl to dote on and dress up and to share mommy daughter things with.During the pregnancy I felt good although always tired. Faith was slow to grow- but Ethan had been a little baby too so I wasnt surprised. I didnt suffer much more than occasional nausea. We waited until March for the ultrasound to see our little one. The technician took a long time and couldn't confirm if you were a girl or boy. Although she guessed at a girl. We took your pictures home and were elated to have so many litte snapshots of the baby in utero. It was tiny- about a week behind in growth so I thought maybe we were wrong about our dates.... It seems like Ethan had been a little bit behind as well...........It was the phone call I recieved 2 days later that changed EVERYTHING.I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in Oklahoma City preparing to teach a class and saw that I had missed a call from the Doctor's office. Dr Smithton himself called to tell me he needed to discuss the ultrasound. My heart fell. I called back to learn he was with a patient and waited in the kitchen of the office for the call to come in. When he called he told me that there was a problem detected on the ultrasound. I didnt understand what he was trying to say becuase I was in shock but I wrote down everything I could that he said so I could research it. He said that the baby had gastrochisis or an omphalocele- a condition were part of Faith's organs were outside her body. He said it may not be as serious as it sounds but had us set up to see a Specialist in Oklahoma city at the end of the month. I hung up the phone and began to cry. My baby! My sweetest little one! I texted my boss and asked to go home. That something was wrong with the baby and I needed to take a personal day. The people that worked at the business office asked me if I was okay " whats wrong?" They asked. and I told them something was wrong with the baby. I drove home. I dont remember when I called Cliff or how I told him. I remember getting on the internet and reading every thing I could about the conditions..... I never believed that what we were about to find out in the coming weeks could ever happen to us.........

Faith

We found out on Monday that we are having a little girl. Cliff wants to name her Faith and i think the name will be very suiting.Faith's ultrasounds went great. She is growing on target and all of the scans seems to look very normal. She does have an omphalocele( learn more at www.omphalocele.com , or www.geeps.co.uk ) which contains some, most, or all of her liver. At this time they did not see any other things like bowel or stomach. She will have surgery after birth but not right away. It will take time to fit her liver back in so they will most likely put a special sac on it and move it back in little by little as the stomach cavity expands. ( kind of like squeezing a tube of toothpaste) She will be delivered via c-section at OU Childrens Hospital( hooray for great hosptals!) and will have her surgery on site.We did have an amnio done which will have results back in 2 weeks. We will go back every two weeks to let them monitor Faith and the next time we go they will do an echo cardiogram to check her heart.Thank you all for your encouragement, kind words, prayers and support!
We will keep you posted!

Please Pray for Us!

Hello All.
I wanted to update you all on what is going on with us. I have been debating over how to write this blog for several days now and dont really know how to start or what to say so I am just going to share the news with you all and ask that you keep us in your prayers.We had the ultrasound for the new baby about 10 days ago( Monday the 12th). The Dr. called me on Wednesday the 14th to let me know that the radiologist picked up some abnormalities on the ultrasound images. It would appear that the baby has something called an omphalocele and he had already set up an appt with a specialist at OU Childrens Hospital for Monday the 26th.Cliff and I were shocked and scared when we heard the news. An omphalocele is basically a condition where the babies intestines,stomach etc did not move back into the body during the development and is growing outside the abdomen. ( you can see about this at www.geeps.co.uk - in the UK its called an exomphalos.) This has not been confirmed for us- nor do we know if there are any other abnormalities with the baby, and how severe. We are anxiously awaiting the appt on the 26th where we will get a 4d ultrasound and possibly an amnio.We are leaning very heavily on the Lord at this time and trusting Him to take us day to day.
When I know more for sure I will post to you all to let you know the progress.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.