January 5, 2012

 

 

So we had our appointment(s) yesterday and were EXTREMELY relieved to find out that the fluid around Kenzie's heart has NOT increased at all but has remained the same for now. YAY!!! THANK YOU for all the prayers for that specific request!!! We have no doubt that God heard those prayers and answered them. We want to be sure to give praise to the Lord and thank Him for all the positives as they come. Personally we know we can tend to skip over the good easily and go straight to the bad, but we certainly want to be sure to express our deepest gratitude for His blessings. THANK YOU LORD! Oh, and it wasn't even raining when we left Riverside...nice! :)

As for everything else, she is still growing and developing normally as far as they can tell. She's in the 50th percentile for weight/size which doesn't surprise us coming from two not-super-tall parents. One thing that did concern Ryan and me was the size of her heart. It of course has always been big but it looked as if it had increased a bit more in ratio to her chest cavity. The doc told us a typical heart to chest cavity ratio at this stage is 1 to 3 and hers is 1 to 2...meaning it's taking up just under 50% of the chest. He said this isn't at a super-critical level for now, but it's certainly a concern and something to monitor. If the heart continues to increase, the lungs won't have space to develop (which they cannot tell until she is born) and she will not be able to survive if she can't breathe on her own, let alone pump oxygenated blood. So we'll just keep praying about that one!

The other conditions (Ebstein's Anomaly/Tricuspid Valve disorder & Pulmonary Atresia) are still present and in the same condition as they were last time. Each of these will require open heart surgeries when she's born if they are not miraculously healed by God before then. Another thing to keep praying about!

A few cute little things: We got to see her swallow, cuddle up with her hands, kick up a storm (she's not a big fan of them poking around in there), and yes, we even got to see her pee. She's a stinker...must be her father's child. ;)

Wanted to share a verse that has encouraged Ryan and I over the last few weeks. Matthew 17:20 says "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." I think John MacArthur puts it best in his Matthew commentary when he says "Small faith can accomplish great things only if, like a mustard seed, it grows into something greater than it was. Only when small faith grows into great faith can it move a mountain."  We pray that throughout all this, regardless of the outcome, our faith would grow into something greater! Love you all!

~Tiff and Ryan