Maggie is 1 month old today! Can you even believe it?!? For those of you who have not heard the full story of Maggie's journey, here is a glimpse into an amazing, real-life miracle:
•19 weeks: "This is not a baby who is likely to survive. Sorry. If you are still pregnant in a week we will do another sono."
•20 weeks: "There is so much fluid that IF this baby ends up surviving the pregnancy, the lungs just wouldn't have room to develop."
•Almost 22 weeks: "You guys seem to be pretty optimistic...you may want to tone that down a bit."
•The next day: "It appears she has a viral infection. The liver is infected, the fluid doesn't seem to currently be hurting anything, and I'm seeing overlapping sutures in the skull, a sign that her brain has shrunk. I have only seen that in babies who have already died. She could possibly survive, but if she does, damage has already been done and there WILL be issues [with the brain]. One of your options is that you have two healthy kids at home and maybe you just don't want to deal with this right now..."
•25 weeks: "Things look about the same and I don't think there will be any issues with the lungs developing and I think there is a good chance she will at least survive the pregnancy! We will do an MRI to see how much damage has been done to the brain so we can get an idea of what to expect."
•Almost 29 weeks: "Wow, the fluid is almost gone! Liver looks about the same and we aren't seeing the issue with the skull but that could just be the angle so it doesn't necessarily mean improvement. We will see what the MRI shows."
•2 days later: "The MRI shows the brain to look VERY NORMAL!"
•31 to almost 34 weeks: "The tiny amount of fluid in the abdomen still remains and is still not a major concern. Her liver looks the same which we expect to see for the rest of the pregnancy because the calcification is a sign that there has been an infection, kind of like a scar. We will have to wait until she is born to find out whether or not any infection remains."
•Almost 35 weeks: "The fluid is gone!!"
•35 until almost 40 weeks: "Since her brain looks normal, the fluid is gone, and we see signs that the infection is going away or gone, we are at best case scenario for the situation as far as we can tell with her still inside. Now we just have to wait until she is born to see if she will have any medical issues. We will have a NICU team at her birth and we will run all necessary tests to asses her health and determine what treatments she will need."
•March 24th, 2014 at 10:52 am, 2 days before her due date: "Congratulations! She is 7 lbs, 7 oz and 20 inches long. She is healthy enough that she can spend some time with you in your room before we take her up to the NICU for observation and testing!
•Over the next several days: "There are no signs of viral infection of the liver or brain. Her diagnosis is prenatal perforated bowel. Bowel contents caused the infection and fluid in her abdomen. This condition has healed without medical intervention. We can't explain what happened with the brain. You have a completely healthy baby girl!"
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, (Ephesians 3:20 NIV)
We are so blessed that God gave us our precious miracle and we are so blessed that so many of you prayed your heart out to our Savior on her behalf. We were also so blessed to have God's peace throughout the whole journey (even when we knew God may choose to take her home) because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. If you have not ever experienced this peace and would like to know how, I would LOVE to talk with you. Please email me!! mandie-lou@hotmail.com
