An Update

:: The past 5 days have contained so much, I hardly know where to begin. To say that my heart has ached and that it has also soared seem like the biggest understatements of my life. In it all, though, the Lord is a Rock for us. And the prayer, love, and service of so many saints truly does carry us.

:: For the official record, Aubrey Colette was born at 7pm on Thursday, September 13th, by emergency C-section. She weighed a very healthy 7lbs 13oz and measured 19" long.

That morning, I had voiced a concern to Daniel that the I hadn't felt much fetal movement in the last day and that I hadn't felt any since waking, even when I laid down. We prayed together. I breathed a sigh of relief that I had my regular prenatal appointment scheduled for that afternoon and that I could make sure everything was OK then.

I met the on-call doctor at my appointment and told her that I hadn't felt much movement. She immediately told me that I should drive to the hospital for a non-stress test, even though we heard a heartbeat and some faint movements there in the office.

One drive and two attempted non-stress tests later, a biophysical profile was being done because the regular fetal monitors were struggling to track a heart rate that sounded much too fast to the nurse and I. One glance at the ultrasound screen was all I needed to know that my baby was not healthy; I don't even know that I can pump my fist as fast as her little heart was beating.

Things happened very quickly from there. Because of what looked like fluid around her heart and liver, there was talk of an immediate C-section. Then specialists in Syracuse were requesting that I be transferred to Crouse Hospital for the operation since Aubrey would need to be in their NICU for care. Then the radiologist in Potsdam further talked with the specialists in Syracuse about the ultrasound results and a decision was made that the baby wasn't healthy enough for me to make the trip down before the birth, so a team of neonatal specialists would be flown to us.

And so Aubrey was brought into the world. Her first cry may be a sound I will never forget.

:: This evening Aubrey will be five days old. Her heart rate, which initially was in the 260-280bpm range, was brought down through defibrillation and has been around 110-125bpm for almost four days now, maintained by a pretty low dosage of medicine. She has a significant hole in her heart and her aorta is connected to both ventricles (sides), so that her body is unable to spread oxygen throughout her body on its own-- which is what first caused the tachycardia (fast heart rate). These two problems will have to be corrected by surgery at some point in the next several months.

The defect that took a bit longer to understand is what makes Aubrey's condition "extremely rare," to quote one of the cardiologists here: the top two chambers of her heart are reversed, as are the associations of her main arteries (the aorta and pulmonary). This double reversal is the reason her heart is working today; the doctor told us that two wrongs are working to make a right in her case. The doctors are currently gathering a lot of information about Aubrey's body as they try to determine whether this is something that will need to be corrected or if she might be able to live a healthy life with a "backwards" heart.

These are the facts as I understand them. Tests are still being done to learn more.

In the end, I know my baby is fearfully and wonderfully made. I also know that what the enemy has meant for the destruction of her life and the crushing of my faith is being continually redeemed by the Lord.

:: Aubrey Colette means "noble leader; people of victory." On Thursday afternoon as we anticipated her birth in that hospital room, her name was right. Who knew that a baby so small could be used by God to lead me... and Daniel... and so very many of us... in victory?