Good News!

Thank you all so much for your prayers. The Lord is definitely answering them. Today was my first visit to St. Vincent's hospital and it was a very good experience. I am so glad we decided to transfer care to this facility. Not only were they helpful, but also very hopeful.

The ultrasound went very well. Our new Dr. (David Able - good name) was very supportive. He said that from what he saw he could not see fluid in the baby's lungs, but said that it could also return later on. It's interesting because they kept on mentioning that the baby was still too small to diagnose exactly how she's doing and whether or not any fluid is affecting her (whereas at OHSU they made it seem so certain from their findings). She is growing at a normal rate for a DS baby (a little shortie, but that's normal for my kids) and is very, very active. As we watched the monitor she moved all over the place (it's good she's still small). There could possibly be no heart defect at all, or at least a minor one. But we will not know for sure until August 6th (my next ultrasound with the pediatric cardiologist="baby heart doctor"). By then the baby would be at a stage where the Dr. could see definite heart defects and whether or not the baby needed surgery once delivered. If no heart defects are found I could actually return to my original doctor in town and possibly deliver at the birthing center that is closer to home. To top it all off the risk of miscarriage is lowering the farther along I carry the baby :D

What a difference between the 2 hospitals! The environment, the doctors, the outlook on the baby's life and condition - it was like night and day. God is so GOOD!

A special thank you to my good friend Erin Timm who drove me to the hospital and kept me company while John stayed back to oversee VBS for our church.