Our Beautiful Baby Girl's 3D/4D

Caught with her hand to her mouth--so cute!

Kara's foot pressing against Mommy.
Her hands are so perfect!

Here is Kara's face. No cleft lip! Fingers curled around her cord.

She looks concerned here. She likes to keep her hands over her face.

We were so excited to get a 3D/4D ultrasound of Kara Faith on Monday! She looked so beautiful! We were all surprised at how wonderful all of her features appear. The doctors kept saying her eyes were small, but on ultrasound they look proportionate even though she kept them closed (which is normal). Kara has no cleft lip and a cute little chin! We did confirm that she has one nostril--I'm just happy for that! The opening appears to be large enough for an airway, but we won't know until she is born. She is doing a great job of "practice breathing" which we saw on this ultrasound, too! Pray for no airway difficulties at the time of her birth. We are so very thankful to God that Kara looks so good! (I am thinking she looks like her big brother, Dan, but we'll see in January!)

The tech was a little nervous because we brought Celeste, Dan, & Max with us to the appointment. She asked if they were prepared. She had only seen pictures in journals of HPE babies. You could tell she was quite surprised and happy to see Kara looking so wonderful!

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:13-16

Things New

Here Kara is showing off her profile. Her hand up there cast a shadow across the bottom of her little face.

Yes, we are sure she's a GIRL!

We met with our new OB, Dr. Duff, this past Tuesday. God has blessed us with a very kind man for a doctor. We went over our diagnosis and what we were want to do for Kara. Dr. Duff is going to take very good care of me and Kara Faith. I am sure. He will be seeing me every 2-3 weeks and then we'll go to every week near the end of December. We have a C Section tentatively scheduled for January 25th. It's a Monday... I am hoping maybe we can move it up a few days because it's easier to get someone to help with our 7 other children over a weekend. I'm trying not to borrow "trouble" from the future, but we are going to need a lot of help. I am praying that God will provide all the answers. I am thankful He has arranged everything perfectly so far!

I major concern I am having is my blood sugars. Dr. Duff added regular insulin to my regimen, but I am having a little trouble with that. I "crashed" yesterday morning, so we are going to have to play with the doses and times, most likely. Also, my fastings have not come down significantly. Please pray for this to all stabilize. I am taking the dose I took at the END of my last pregnancy.

Please pray for Kara Faith's health. She is looking good on ultrasound and her growth is right on for how far along I am. We got the best profile picture yet! I am at a point of peace in my pregnancy and enjoying it.

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Jeremiah 29:11 KJV

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

HPE

Here she is on ultrasound at this appointment. This is her humerus (upper arm).

Our baby girl was diagnosed with Holoprosencephaly (HPE). We saw Dr. Richards at Shands at UF. We weren't given too much information at the time of our appointment. Dr. R drew a picture and wrote the name of it down on a piece of paper. He told us our baby would not live very long once she is born. At almost 16 weeks, her other systems looked normal on the scan, which was good. He didn't detect a cleft lip/palate on the ultrasound. He said that my pregnancy should go to term. A possible problem could be overabundance of amniotic fluid due to the baby having trouble swallowing (polyhydramnios). We ask for specific prayer that this would not happen. We will go back to Shands for another ultrasound with Dr. Richards at 22 weeks. There is so much to tell, but the past few days have been trying. We are praying for a miracle from Jesus for our daughter. If that is not His will, then we are praying that He would transform us through this situation and use our baby girl as a testimony and instrument of His grace.

I have an appointment with my favorite OB this morning. I look forward to it and will try to offer more information. Meanwhile, I'm trusting in God and am thankful for ALL the prayers we are receiving. We really feel them.

What is HPE?

First Ultrasound

This ultrasound is from my 1st visit. Here we see our little baby for the first time.