Tears and Blessings

Yesterday was a day of tears.

The doctor came into the hospital room and told me that according to my protein test, I have entered pre-eclampsia. When a woman has a protein level of 300, she has entered mild pre-eclampsia. When she reaches a protein level of 5000, it considered servere pre-eclampsia and normally labor is induced. My test a few weeks ago came back with my protein level being 180, which relieved us greatly. However, yesterday my protein level was 1600. As you can see, that's quite a jump in a short amount of time.

Where does that leave us?  Today I am doing another 24 hour protein test. The doctor wants to see if my protein level is increasing rapidly or gradually. It the test shows significant increase in proteins, he will re-admit me to the hospital tomorrow. It my protein level has not increased, I will be allowed to come back to Liz's house here in Indy until my doctor's appointment early next week. He will probably do another 24 hour protein test on me at the time and we'll take it from there.

The doctor's goal at this time is to not have to induce labor for another week at least. He is afraid I am quickly advancing toward having to induce labor. I am currently at 31 weeks and his goal is to get me to 32 weeks. Of course, it would be better if we can wait even longer, but if we got to 32 weeks before having to induce, the risks decline significantly. 

I have been in tears as Gerson and I have had to process all this. Having a premature baby isn't what any parent desires. It means long weeks in the neo-natal intensive care and a lot of unknowns as we face the days ahead. I'm pretty much an emotional wreck as I think through it all. Thankfully, Gerson is here by my side and he's been super supportive and we've been able to make decisions together. That has been a huge blessing. In addition, we're getting the best care offered in Indiana for high-risk pregnancy and premature babies. We are thankful for our doctor and his advice and care. We are also thankful that Trent and Liz have once again opened their home to us for however long we need it.

I am reminded, "in all things, give thanks." Although we face uncertain days ahead, we have many blessing for which to be thankful. In addition to what I've mentioned above, we also give thanks to God for each of YOU who are praying for us. We continue to feel God's presence with us and we know He is hearing the prayers of his people. Thank you for helping to carry us through this hard time. We've seen His awesome hand work to get me here, provide a doctor for me and a place for me to live. We have also seen how God brought Gerson here miraculously. We know He's not about to abandon us now.

We're standing on the Rock. Thanks for your continued prayers. We'll keep you posted.