Prayers for baby Morrison #2

Dearest friends,

As many of you know yesterday (7/27/11) was an exciting day for us. We were scheduled to have an ultrasound with our Ob/Gyn to find out the gender of baby Morrison #2. We did in fact find out the gender of our sweet baby but we have decided to wait to reveal the gender until after our visit with family this weekend. We have planned to have a gender cake reveal! What is a gender cake reveal? Well, we have ordered a cake with an inside colored either blue or pink to indicate the appropriate color for baby Morrison #2 and we will cut this cake with our family on Saturday to reveal the sex of our little one. We are so excited to share this special moment with our family! (There are just a few of you out there that already know the gender of baby Morrison #2 and if you do, please try your hardest to continue to keep the secret until Sunday! Especially on Facebook!)

However, July 27 also changed our lives in another way. After discovering the gender of our baby we also received troubling results about our ultrasound. The doctor calmly told us about two concerns that he had:

1. They thought that they may have detected a ventricular septal defect. This is also commonly known as a “hole in the heart”. Sometimes this condition can heal itself while the child is developing within the womb or after delivery. However, sometimes this condition requires surgery.

2. They thought that they may have detected a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. This is a very rare and serious condition. Basically there is a hole in the diaphragm and some of the organs travel up into the chest cavity (stomach, intestines, etc.). Surgery can easily repair this hole and re-place the organs. But this condition is life threatening because during development the misplaced organs crowd the lung and cause the lung to underdeveloped or not to develop at all. Therefore, the baby has little or no ability to breathe on his/her own after delivery.

We were floored.

Brian and I calmly listened to his concerns and attempted to make sense of it all. They immediately set up for us to meet with a specialist to have a more in-depth ultrasound and meet with a doctor who has much more experience with high risk pregnancies. Thankfully the appointment was scheduled for the next day (today-7/28/11) at 9:30am. We were anxious to know more about our sweet baby’s condition, but we were also thankful that the Lord provided a way for us to get some answers as soon as possible.

We left the appointment with a plethora of emotions and fears. We contacted our families and closest friends and asked for prayer for our baby. We did a lot of crying and praying but as you can imagine we did not sleep very much. But we felt so thankful and blessed to be covered in prayer.

At our appointment today we received some good news. Our baby’s heart seems to be ok. It doesn’t appear that there is a ventricular septal defect.

But we also received some very bad news. It is certain that our sweet child has a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Honestly, we were devastated. We spoke for quite some time with our doctor about this condition and what it will mean for our baby, me and our family. We learned a lot today and there is still quite a bit to learn. If you would like to learn more about congenital diaphragmatic hernias you can read more here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002936.htm

There were two aspects of our conversation that were very serious:

1. Occasionally congenital diaphragmatic hernias are connected with two genetic disorders: Trisomy 13 and 18. These disorders often have very low survival rates.

2. If it is confirmed that our baby does not have either Trisomy 13 or 18, then he/she has a 50/50 chance of survival after birth. And after birth there may be many more hurdles medically that our baby will face. There is not a formula for how things will play out after delivery. Each moment will depend on the condition of our baby’s lungs and how his/her body responds.

We are and still feel very nervous and scared by these statistics. But we are confident that the Lord has a plan for us and for our child.

Because of the concerns about Trisomy 13 and 18, we opted to have amniocentesis this afternoon. We will know the results of the test on Monday afternoon. Will you join us in praying for the results? We are certain that the Lord has a plan for our baby, no matter what the results are.

We may be out of touch for a few days as we settle in to our new normal. It has been difficult for us to live our day to day lives because it somehow seems like the world should have stopped. But please know that we appreciate your emails, calls, messages and texts. They truly encourage us and lift our spirits. We promise to respond as we can. We will try to answer your questions as we can too.

Please pray for us as we celebrate with our family this weekend. We are still very excited about sharing our baby’s gender with all of them.

We are quite frightened and nervous about the days to come but we are thankful for the love and support that surrounds us. We hope to keep all of you updated through a blog we have created here: http://babymorrison2.blogspot.comPlease feel free to share our blog with your friends, family and church. We truly, truly appreciate your prayers.

Brian, Rose and Annabelle (written by Rose)