Tuesday, January 15, 2008

An incredible story of faith and courage


And it's true. 

My friend Michael sent me a link to this father's blog. This photo is the first family picture with Nate,  his wife, Tricia, and their (as yet) unborn baby girl, Gwyneth.
 
Here's his story as of December: 
On September 1 during our Sunday evening communion gathering at church, I shared for the first time with our church family (which is basically many of our closest friends) that Tricia was going to be placed on the active transplant list...PT was to begin the very next day. Tricia was not there that night because she was not feeling well. When I got home, she had some very scary and exciting news to tell me...we were (and still are) pregnant. She had literally found out as I was sharing the transplant news at church. While we had been trying to become pregnant for several months last year and early this year, we were no longer trying.

At that point, she was about 5 weeks along. She is now almost 4 months along. She is incredibly high risk...about as high risk as any woman can possibly be. Although we immediately told our doctors and family and closest friends, we have waited this long to tell anyone else because the chances of losing the baby in the first few months are especially high, and the added stress of trying to answer a bunch of questions that we couldn't answer was not something we desired for our lives at that time. 

(after we told them that aborting the pregnancy was not an option) Our doctors told us that the best thing for Tricia and the baby would be to begin the PT as planned, which, of course, made it very easy to not have people ask questions. Of course, Tricia was immediately disqualified from transplant candidacy. (our prayer is that she will be healthy enough after the pregnancy to be re-evaluated and placed on the list) 

Tricia has been monitored especially closely by her CF and OB docs for the past three months. Of course, this complicates everything to the nth degree. Tricia now has diabetes. Her meds have been changed. She has only gained about 2-3 lbs. She is on oxygen almost 24/7. I could go on and on, but that's not what we're focusing on... 

So far, the baby is healthy. Everything has come out normal (and we've had a lot more tests than normal). We learned several weeks ago (see picture above) that we're having a girl. Just this past week, we saw and felt her move for the first time. We are excited beyond words, especially as we consider that it is a miracle that we even conceived, much less that we have made it this far. 

The due date, according to the size, etc. of the baby is April 24. A fetus can survive outside of the womb at 24 weeks...anything we get to beyond 24 weeks we'll count as an added blessing. 
* * * *
Update: (Angie here again):  The baby, Gwyneth, has been born and is doing well, though she is TINY and in an incubator.  Tricia is in the hospital and needs our prayers.  Please follow Nate's blog and pray for him and his family.  

 ALSO--you may recognize the name of "Accidental Poet," aka Susan, who posts her occasionally.  Her unborn nephew has developed problems in the womb, and his mother is keeping a blog of his progress and their prayers.  Will you join me in praying for them, too?  Thank you! 
~~Angie

7 comments:

Andrea said...

As the mother of a CF adult, this story just touched me so incredibly! Thank you for sharing this and I will be praying for them as well as Susan's nephew....

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Angie.

Doni Brinkman said...

This one is close to my heart. My almost (as of Thursday), four year old Ty was born at 25 weeks. Extreme prematurity is not something you can ever be prepared for and the consequences can be staggering but there is every reason to hope. My little guy has done miraculously well and lights up the lives of everyone he touches. Praying.

Mocha with Linda said...

Reading their stories touched my heart and brought me to tears. Thanks for sharing these and giving us the opportunity to pray.

ElizabethMThompson said...

I read through Nate's blog and wept! Now I'm going to be watching and praying and trusting our miraculous God to continue to pour out miracles.

Thanks for sharing their story.

Anonymous said...

A friend with CF told me about Nate's blog a few weeks ago, and I've been praying ever since.

I love that God can use the internet in such a powerful way. Sooooo many people know their story and are on their knees for the three of them.

Amazing.

CFHusband said...

Thank you!