Our Joy in the Journey

Dec 18, 2009

Blessings....

About 6 years ago, Melinda and I were told that we would never be able to have children. As difficult the prospect of that was, and as much as we wanted to be able to have kids, we knew the Lord had a plan for our lives, and that He would be glorified no matter what. We looked into the possibilities of adoption, we consulted with many specialists over the years, and have dealt with various diagnosis and prognosis. Well, long story short, God’s timing has always been perfect, as we are not. There have been many difficulties, that in particular, Melinda has dealt with physically. We’ve spent a lot of time in hospitals over the years, multiple blood clots, and many variations on treatment, etc. But, as we write this, our two beautiful children play at our feet. It’s almost impossible to believe that Jacob is three and a half, and Owen is quickly approaching a year. It’s been such a blessing for us to be able to spend time with them, watch them grow, and for both watching them learn, as well, as all that we’ve learned. It seems as though we are a world away from just 6 years ago, and we couldn’t be happier or more blessed in our lives. We have learned to feel complete, as Paul said to the Philippians, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it.”
We had some real concerns during the pregnancy with Owen. Melinda had not been on blood thinners for a couple years, when she got pregnant, we didn’t even have our first Dr. appointment until she was 16 weeks, and Melinda was not anticoagulated at all until then, which wound up being nearly halfway through the pregnancy. Even then, they only prescribed a prophylactic treatment, and at that, the dose was effectively non-existent. Of course, she developed a clot, hard to say when it started, but due to her already high risk, and coupled with the additional risk during pregnancy, we’d presume that it had a healthy amount to time to develop, as, even though we had serious suspicions on October 25th, and went to the hospital multiple times, it went undiagnosed until Dec 11th, (ironic, as that was the date in 2005 that we found out we were going to have Jacob) and spent a week in the hospital and only then began real treatment for it. Because of this, we had to have the vena cava filter placed and removed to prevent the possibility of an embolism. Alas, all has worked out. Owen is a happy healthy boy, and Melinda has been on correct dosage on blood thinners since.
In lieu of all of this, we honestly believed we would never have another child, we were fulfilled, and felt our family was complete. Well……I guess God has a real sense of humor….or at least, we’re reminded, that we are not the authority, we can plan... we can give ourselves the sense and illusion of control, but that’s all it is.
Needless to say here, as we laugh aloud, we are going to have another baby to welcome in 2010!
Now, for some nitty gritty:
We are 15 weeks along ...nearly 4 months. Melinda has been on a proper therapeutic high dose of blood thinners since last year, and appropriately through this term of the pregnancy. We have been to the Doctor 3 times already. We have had 2 ultrasounds. We have been seeing a perinatologist (highly knowledgeable and experienced experts— specializing in obstetric ultrasounds, prenatal screenings and diagnosis and high-risk pregnancies) since about 3 weeks pregnant. We have carefully examined all aspects of this with them, and they assure us that all is well, and told us specifically, "if we thought the pregnancy would put you in danger we would advise other wise". So, in all of this, the point is, we essentially did everything wrong with Owen’s pregnancy, and we are doing everything right this time. We weren’t really prepared, honestly, we were working with doctors initially with Owen that did not have a full understanding or specialization of how to effectively treat it. We wound up having “too many cooks in the kitchen” if you will, and feel that a lot of the issues that we had were due to these issues and inexperience. Well, we have gone straight to the best in this regard immediately. All indications point that mom and baby are 100% healthy, capable, and thriving. It is unlikely that Melinda will need another filter placed due to “proper” treatment from the git go. Of course, we pray for continued success.
We ask that you join with us in this blessing as we welcome the new baby to our family...with the due date of June 17th; however, due to a repeat csection will most likely be the end of May. We will return to the doctor on January 15th...this appointment will also be an ultrasound telling us if we are having a boy or girl!
We will keep you informed!