Appointment Tomorrow

Psalm 121 has encouraged me lately. Especially this part, "From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." I'm concentrating on that right now!

We have another appointment with my favorite OB, Dr. Marichal, tomorrow. After meeting with the neonatologist at Shands last week, we are probably moving my care over to Shands. They told us that Shands is better suited to care for Kara's needs and to help us afterwards. It makes me sad in a lot of ways. I'm trusting in God to direct my steps and will be giving updates. Kara is moving a lot inside me lately and soon, hopefully, Stuart will be able to feel those kicks from the outside.

Also, I am needing increasing insulin and we need to adjust my levels. I will be talking about that with Dr. Marichal tomorrow. I have never been on it this early in pregnancy and I even lost 20 pounds before I conceived Kara, so please pray that things would level out and this would not present/create any problems for myself or our sweet baby. Thank you!

Kara's 22 week Ultrasound Report

Top--all curled up in a ball. Bottom--sweet hand and forearm.

This is copied from a note I posted on Facebook because this momma to 7 is tired and battled headaches for the past 4 days, so forgive me...

In response to were we able to see Kara's face...

Yes, her eyes are very small. (I don't know what that means, but she does have them.) She does have a nose, but we couldn't see if there were two nostrils. We saw one for sure. He also said he didn't see a cleft lip, but the actual palate is harder to see. Her head is very flat at the forehead. Her heart looks great and he mentioned he thought one of her kidneys was a little large, but later retracted the statement. So everything else looks good. Amniotic fluid was right on and she was measuring 21 weeks 3 days and I'm 21 weeks 5 days. She is right on. Dr. Richards wants to see me again in 6 weeks because he wants to watch the fluid levels. He says we can see him or Dr. Duff at the Magnolia Park offices and he recommend that we come over to Shands b/c NFL cannot handle what we want to do for her. He called it "more aggressive" treatment. What he considers comfort care is the baby is born and they give her to you and you feed her if she's hungry--otherwise I guess you just let her go. We want a little more intervention than that. He said the babies that he had delivered with this condition didn't live long. I said, "Days?," and he nodded in agreement. Maybe Kara will be the one that will WOW him. Yes, our Father in Heaven has numbered her days and they will be what they will be. I have peace today, but am feeling some sadness... I was also told that even though Shands typically have semi-private rooms, there are some private ones and we would be in a private room. That was reassuring. So I suppose things are falling into place. Dr. Richards was just fine with us today and I was not offended with anything he said. They got us in to see a neonatalogist at the NICU this Friday. The only problem is that Stu has a cold, so I don't know that he can go up there... The appt. is at 1 on Friday.

Also, I am so very thankful that Donnie and Chris Tuttle came and prayed over our baby yesterday. We take great encouragement and I am feeling peace from the prayers that are offered over Kara and for her.

My Little Star

I just had this thought, sweet Kara. You are my little star... One day you will be perfect in the Heavenlies.
I chose lavender as your color because your big sissie, Eden, is a pink girl. And now a little star I keep close to my heart... Click on the Twinkle, Twinkle music at the bottom of the page... I'm going to bed now.

So lift your eyes

To the things as yet unseen,

That will remain now

For all eternity.

Though trouble's hard,

It's only momentary

And it's achieving

Our future glory.

(There is a Day by Phatfish)

Precious Pictures

Kara's heart rate was 157 bpm. Here she is curled up.
Kara's hand giving us the "thumbs up." (It's okay in here, Mom and Dad!)
Kara was upside down, so we didn't get to see her face. Next time!

Kara (and mommy) had a pretty good check-up today with Dr. M. First of all, I'm on insulin now once a day. I was having issues after lunch and dinner and my fasting sugars were slowly creeping upward. I only gained 2 pounds this month, too. On ultrasound Kara looked good and appears to be growing appropriately--Praise the Lord! To me, her head looked the same as before, but God is moving and answered some specific prayers that we have been praying. Dr. M. is setting up a consult with a neonatologist, Dr. Morse, for us. We are hoping to have this coincide with our next ultrasound appointment at Shands on the 23rd. (It's okay if it doesn't.) Then Dr. Morse will make a recommendation on where we should deliver Kara to best serve her--N FL or Shands. Also, we have been told there is a wonderful high risk OB at Shands (Dr. Duff ) that could take over my care if we go there. On my way home I dropped by the grocery and ran into my awesome pediatrician. She uses this doctor and loves him, too. By the way, he's a Christian. God is SO good! Dr. M. was so wonderful and there was a lot of prayer answered today for us. I was not discouraged at all by anything that was said. We are so thankful! I still feel the covering in prayer from everyone regarding Kara.

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24

Faithful Friend

My good friend, Chris Tuttle, has felt moved by God to pray over Kara Faith. She specifically wants to pray before our doctor visits that involve ultrasound. I am so thankful she came over this evening to lay hands on me and pray for Kara's healing, myself, Stuart, and our family. Chris said this, "Thank you.... for allowing me to come over and be a part of this special time. I love you guys very much and the Lord loves you very much and this is one way to express His love to you and little Kara Faith!! Excited to see how God is going to move!! :) He is awesome!!"

Chris shared Acts 3:1-10 with me tonight. Now we are believing for healing for Kara, but ultimately desire God to be glorified in her life just like the man who was lame from birth.

Please visit Chris' blog @ Joyful Mother.

I made this for you today, Kara...

The Doppler Arrived!

Yesterday, my BabyBeat Doppler arrived! This request was fulfilled by my brother, Ed, and his family. We are SO thankful! It took a good 5 minutes and I was getting worried, but I finally found Kara's precious heartbeat. (She was hanging out to the right of my belly button.) I could hear her kicking before I picked up on her heartbeat. We ALL listened for several minutes--Celeste, Dan, Max, Tommy, Eden, & Joshua. (Jamie was away at high school.) We called Daddy (Stu) at work and he could hear, too! I am feeling blessed. I hope to be able to record this and add it to Kara's page, so be looking for that.

"do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Phil. 4:6