Praising God Today

As I should do every day.

Many of you were praying, and for that I want to say thank you. We had our ultrasound this morning, and I was overwhelmed by how many of your prayers were answered. Ever since the birth and death of our daughter Therese, ultrasounds have been an incredibly stress-filled experience for me. I still vividly remember the day Therese was diagnosed with anencephaly. June 18th, 2002 changed our lives forever. The dim lights and hum of the ultrasound machine always bring me back to that day, the terrible news, the feelings of desperation, hopelessness, and the unending tears.

But today was different. We arrived at the hospital and were greeted by a wonderful ultrasound tech, the mother of a friend from high school. She knew about Therese, and she knew me. It was a joyful surprise, and I was immediately aware that God was present and taking care of us today. To some this would be a coincidence, but to me, it was clearly an answer to prayer.

As soon as the scan began, we saw a nice beautiful round head (pictured above). I began to cry. The tech immediately said, "see that nice round head, this baby does not have anencephaly." I grabbed Mr. Red's hand and relaxed. My baby looked beautiful. He or she was moving around and otherwise looking very normal for a 14 week baby. The tech carefully pointed out each thing she was looking for, and was full of assurances that our baby looked great. It is obviously still very early, and we will head back for a full anatomy scan at 20 weeks (where they will scan for another neural tube defect called spina bifida). But as of today, all is well.

She then scanned for the cyst that has been causing me so many problems this pregnancy. The cyst shrank considerably, and is now 1/2 the size it was just 1 month ago. This is fabulous news, as I will now avoid having surgery during the pregnancy.

Today was a day of answered prayers. A day when God said yes to the wishes of my heart. And for that I am VERY thankful. I am also keenly aware that it was not just my prayers he was hearing. Thank you all for your prayer for me and for our baby.

--And as a funny aside, I have a history of HUGE babies, and our baby was already measuring almost 1 week ahead in growth! Not bad considering I have eaten much in the past 2 months.