Caroline's heart update

Hello dear friends!

My mom and I headed to Birmingham today for a follow-up appointment with the pediatric cardiologist armed with a list of questions.  When we were there in February, he officially diagnosed Caroline's heart with an AV Canal defect - basically she has a gap between the upper two chambers & another between the lower two chambers and one main vessel running through the middle when there should be two.  That's the very non-med school version.  Anyway, he reconfirmed that diagnosis today and decided that Caroline's case is pretty textbook.  Thankfully, that means that everything else looks pretty good and there shouldn't be any other issues to deal with that might complicate the surgery further.  On the bummer side, having a textbook AV Canal Defect continues to paint the picture that she does indeed have Down's Syndrome.  It still looks like I'll deliver Caroline in Cullman and we'll visit the cardiologist within the first week.  After that, he expects that she'll have surgery around the two month mark.  He spent almost an hour answering all of our questions and giving more specifics about the surgery and recovery.  I've been well blessed with fantastic physicians who speak truth into our lives and help to put our minds at ease.  

On a somewhat side note, if you have children, give them an extra squeeze tonight.  Walking through this whole process - first the miscarriages and now all of the complications with Caroline's development, have given me a new appreciation for what miracles all of my children are.  Just sitting in that waiting room today with children who were obviously handicapped in varying degrees gives me that extra bit of appreciation for my girls - all 4 of them.  If you have children - especially healthy ones - count yourself enormously blessed and try very hard not to take that for granted (as I've certainly had a tendency to do).  

If you're praying for us, first of all - thank you.  We appreciate all of them.  At this point, I'm praying that Caroline will continue to grow strong and that her body continues to develop in the perfect way that it was designed.  In some way, I'm kind of honored that the Lord would choose to bless our family with Caroline and all of her potential issues.  I have a lot of fears about the unknowns of what raising this sweet girl will look like, but have a greater faith that the Lord will supply the wisdom, patience and the ability for me to parent all 4 of these precious girls.  The idea scares me silly - I'm not going to lie.  However, I serve a big God that I trust to provide both with the big picture stuff (like their health) and all the crazy minute to minute stuff (like temper tantrums and screaming children) that at times threaten to overwhelm me.  I ask for your prayers with this.   It's the parenting aspect of all of this that scares me the most.  The Lord will take care of her health concerns.   I want to be a mama that is filled with the fruits of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control.  Would you pray that with me??