Update on Catherine

I know that many of you are already aware of this, but we had a little scare this week when I went in for my 30 week appointment. Catherine's heart sounded like it was skipping beats. I heard it several times, and could see a little bit of concern in the doctor's face, which immediately turned into a lot of concern for me. He said that he wanted me to see a perinatalogist for a fetal echocardiogram.

This was Tuesday morning.

The rest of Tuesday we spent praying and researching (Anthony) and crying (Lisa) and feeling a peace that I've only experienced a handful of times when others were praying for me. It was amazing, and by that night, neither Anthony nor I were worried. We knew that not only was our little girl in the Lord's hands, and always had been, but she was covered in prayer.

We went to the specialist yesterday (Thursday), and much to our relief (but not to our surprise) everything is fine. She has a condition called Fetal Premature Atrial Contractions, which in everyday people terms was described to us like this:

The reason for the “skipped beats” is Premature Arterial Contraction (PAC). The way the doctor described it was that babies in the womb receive less oxygen than we do. And this smaller amount of oxygen sometimes sends weird signals to the pacemaker and causes the chambers to pump at irregular times. This is what causes the “skips”. The doctor said they were not uncommon and extremely benign. It usually takes care of itself once the baby is born when they take their first breaths and get the full amount of oxygen.

So, as you can see, God answered our prayers in a mighty way! Not only did we get to see Miss Catherine's heart beating away, and all four chambers looking super healthy, but we also were fortunate enough to have another ultrasound. This little girl is quite bendy, since at one point she had one foot and one hand above her head while the other hand and foot were under her bottom. She then moved both feet and legs under her bottom in a very modest fashion when we were trying to confirm her "girl parts", but, she did move just enough for the confirmation to be determined! The doctor thought that she looked great, from head to toe!

Both Anthony and I felt relieved and extremely blessed. Thank you all for "Running to the Trumpet" with us. The Lord has truly blessed us with amazing and wonderful friends and family. We love you all so much.