Back in February, I found out I was pregnant with my fourth child. At 12 weeks we learned that we would be having a little boy (Andrew James Chase) and that he would most likely be Down Syndrome. At 22 weeks we learned that he has an AV canal heart defect that will need to be corrected through surgery around 4 to 6 months.
At 23 weeks the doctors discovered fluid in both his right and left lung cavity and they diagnosed him as having fetal hydrops. We had surgery on June 29 to place a shunt in his lung cavity to try and reduce fluid. We were told if there were no improvements the doctor may need to deliver Andrew at 26 weeks. The chance of survival didn’t look good, but I know our God is bigger than any chance a doctor can give us.
Monday, July 3, following the surgery, brought a positive doctor’s report. The fluid had decreased drastically from the right lung and had completely gone away from the left lung. On Friday, July 7, I noticed a pretty significant decrease in fetal movement so I monitored it from home, performing kick counts (10 kicks in one hour). By Saturday night things had not improved so we went to the hospital for observation. Lesson learned is to ALWAYS trust your motherly instinct and don’t worry about being wrong.
This brings us to where we are today…
The doctor has been monitoring Andrew with a fetal heart monitor the past two days, as well as through BPP tests, which monitors the health of the baby. He scored 6 of 10 Saturday night, 8 of 10 the following morning, and then back to 6 of 10 Sunday night. The issues were no fetal breathing and no muscle tone movement. Things are up and down with moments of decline and moments of improvement. They are giving me “rescue” steroids and IV fluid to try and help the situation. If the BPP and heart rate does not improve they will deliver Andrew at 27 weeks because they feel life outside the womb will give him a better chance of survival.
As of right now, it sounds to me like a miracle from God is the only way we are going to not have a baby in the next week, which I know is absolutely possible. Andrew will have a very long road ahead and will need a tremendous amount of prayers. We are praying that it’s in Gods plan to bring him through this and that he will give us His peace that surpasses all understanding to endure and preserve through this journey.