With several new friends in our lives I wanted to give a quick glance into the past of where we have been and give everyone an update on where we are about to go.
A little over four years ago God decided to reveal to us just a glimpse of his sovereignty by saving Ethan's brain from bleeding (and probably his life) through what was the scariest moment in our lives and one of the worst case scenarios during labor; the prolapsed cord. You can read all about our experience here and here.
During Ethan's six day stay in the NICU we discovered that Philip and I have a blood platelet mismatch. This is very similar to an Rh factor mismatch in that I make antibodies against our babies' platelets while I am pregnant. It is dissimilar to Rh factor mismatches in that there is no magic shot to stop the immune response against the baby. Instead of a shot, I must undergo weekly infusions beginning at 19 -20 weeks of IVIg and continuing for the duration of the pregnancy. I wrote a long post about the treatments and the biology behind them when I was pregnant with Asher.
Because nurses typically have a hard time drawing blood from me or starting IVs, after the first couple of treatments of IVIg we chose another, slightly more permanent, option: a PICC line. This catheter stays in my body and gives my home health nurse great access to infuse the IVIg into me every week. No needles!!
I can't believe we are already here, but on Monday we will be 19 weeks pregnant! This go round the insurance has been incredibly swift and easy to deal with (not that there haven't been a few snags) and on Monday my nurse called to say that the IVIg treatments are approved! Tomorrow afternoon I will get my PICC line installed and we begin treatments on Monday. We are so excited to have the same nurse that we had when I was pregnant with Asher, Angie!!
My prayer requests at this point are for treatments to go well (people can have wicked side effects from IVIg) and for my general peace during this time of transition. Ultimately I know that no matter what happens God knows what is best for me and will grow me during this time! My hope and prayer is that I glorify Him in all situations and that I share our testimony with people I meet during this time. We have been so blessed I also pray that I can rest in these blessings instead of fretting about what tomorrow will bring.
Thank you all for all of your support!
