The Diagnosis

After much anticipation we just got back home from our first visit with Charlotte's pediatric cardiologist.

Amazingly, we started off our visit by praying with our doctor. What a breath of fresh air that was. He's a believer and is part of the church our church planted from. Crazy, huh? God works in such incredibly detailed ways. We had an immediate connection with him and could not be more blessed with such an amazing man of God and an incredible doctor to walk with in this journey.

After a lengthy echocardiogram he diagnosed our little girl with 'simple' d-Transposition of the Great Arteries. "Simple," meaning there are no other heart defects like holes or shunts that were found.

So, what this means is that she will have open heart surgery approximately 3 to 7 days after birth to switch the arteries. If all goes well, we would be able to take her home between a week and a month after surgery. The prognosis for a healthy and normal life is very high, around 95%. She will have to be monitored the rest of her life, but we are obviously very relieved by the high success rate. We are so blessed with the technology and care we are offered here. For those that are wondering, we are due in the middle of March.

We are still going through many emotions, but the most profound one is a feeling of peace. Even our doctor said that he felt an incredible amount of peace in meeting with us. He also said that this was the best appointment he has ever had in delivering this kind of news to parents. God is sustaining us, and His Spirit is comforting us in ways we don't even understand. We know and feel His nearness to us and our little miracle. He is good, all the time.

Even after her diagnosis our doctor prayed for us before we left. He prayed that our little girl would be healed. We still hope and pray in that thin space where Heaven meets earth that brings miracles and healing here and now. Please keep praying for our little girl and throughout the rest of this journey with us. We couldn't do this without all of you, even those we haven't even met yet.

Thank you.

We will give more updates as they come.

Much Love,

Jon and Lydia

The Night Before

It’s the night before we meet with our Pediatric Cardiologist. The last few weeks have felt like years have gone by. Tomorrow the Dr. will diagnose her heart condition as well as give us the run down on what surgeries she will need. I sit here and think about all the “what ifs” and I am reminded of the promise the Lord gave me. He gave me a vision of my sweet baby Charlotte dressed in white, like a bride and the Lord walking her down the isle. This vision I’ve been getting over the past 7 days is a reminder of the Lord’s extravagant, never ending love for our baby. He mourns with Jon and myself in our darkest hours, as we weep in one another’s arms. He celebrates victories of negative chromosomes tests with us. He gives us a peace that surpasses all understanding. He makes us feel complete when all we want to do is fall apart.

As I listen to the song “How He Loves Us” the line “heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss” makes my heart happy knowing that when Charlotte enters this world it will be just like that, with "a sloppy wet kiss.” Charlotte has already touched many lives and she hasn’t even entered this world yet. I’ve received so many stories of people I don’t even know pouring out praises over our baby girl. I got a call one morning from a teacher telling me her whole kindergarten class had been praying over Charlotte. She said parents had been coming in asking who Charlotte was because their 5 year old had been praying for her out loud before bed every night. We are blessed with a God who hears our cry’s, who answers our prayers, who meets us on our knees when we can’t stand and who stops the world to hear the prayers of children.

Charlotte, you are loved more than any words can express. You will be our miracle, our little bit of heaven on earth. What a privilege it is to carry you in my belly every day, to feel your little kicks. You make me feel complete. You are simply perfect.

Love,
Lydia

Our little girl

Here are some ultrasound pictures of Charlotte.

Isn't she cute?!

The Call

Well, we had one of the longest weekends of our lives waiting for the first test results. There are so many emotions that we have experienced that it's hard to put it into words. There were times of great sadness, amazing hope, and others where we actually found ourselves laughing together (yes, we haven't lost or forgotten the incredible reality that we are having a baby!)

This weekend has had one common theme; community. Whether it was people calling us, praying with us, bringing us meals, coming over just to say hello, or simply embracing us just where we were, our community of family and friends has been there in ways that leave my wife and I speechless. We are forever grateful to you!

So today, as we decided not to leave each others side until we received the phone call from our Genetics Counselor, we prayed and waited. Then the phone rang and we put it on speaker phone. "Hello, Jon and Lydia, this is Jessica and I'm calling with good news." Immediate rejoicing filled our hearts and I began dancing around the room. She said that the initial results were all negative for a chromosome issue, but that we would receive more results in the coming weeks, so keep that in prayer! We praise God for this news and thank you for celebrating this milestone with us! We have an appointment with our cardiologist in two weeks to find out the diagnosis of her heart defect. Please, keep the prayers coming and join us in claiming complete healing for our little girl.

Celebrating this victory with anticipation for the next,

Jon and Lydia