Next Tuesday

Hi friends,

After a lot of prayer, we have decided to go ahead and induce labor next Tuesday. I will be 38.5 weeks, which is about the time I went into labor naturally in my previous pregnancies. We decided it would be best to have a small bit of control in this uncontrollable situation in regards to our doctor requesting particular staff, the comfort care team being ready, and our family having the ability to plan ahead and be at the hospital.

I will admit, I'm scared. We have lived with our little girl's diagnosis of Trisomy 18 for 4 months now, but she has held on and been such an active little baby. It is difficult to accept that the time is finally here for her to arrive and actually deal with the realities of her defect. I am still praying for complete healing of her little body, but if that isn't God's will, I'm asking Him for at least a little bit of time with her.

So this week has been difficult, knowing we are close to the end of the pregnancy and that the really hard stuff is about to begin. But at the same time, we have continued to be blessed by so many around us. Our family, our friends, our bible study, my MOPS group, our worship team...the list goes on. My precious Thrive group has been constantly blessing us since our diagnosis with surprises at our door each week, which this last week included our yard flooded with pink plastic flamingos! The culprit knew I needed a really good laugh...it was awesome!

So thank you for all of the calls, cards, texts, emails, gifts, food...you have been so generous. We have definitely felt so much love and support in this time. I'll say it again: Even in the midst of heartache, we are blessed.

Much love,
Jessica