Anointed and Blessed

When my parents arrived with Harlie last night I received several precious things. 1. Hugs and kisses from my precious girl. (It doesn't get any better than that!) 2. Hugs and kisses from my Mommy & Daddy. (Yes, I still need them so much!) 3. Encouragement from my HPC family in the form of a precious prayer cloth.
Right now our family is fighting one of the most difficult battles we have ever faced and the battle is just beginning. We are standing firm in our faith that God is in control. Tonight when I opened the bag with the prayer cloth Vince and I both felt the Spirit and anointing that was there.
We are so blessed to receive a gift like this from our church family. This morning when I woke and couldn't sleep, I began to read the promises in Romans 8. What a powerful chapter start to finish!  When I finished with that chapter I was led to Psalm 139. This is the scripture embroidered on Mac's prayer cloth. Talk about reassuring to a mom who is totally out of control with the situation I am in and leaning on the Lord every step of the way...that is some powerful stuff! I have been praying for this sweet boy for years. Now my prayers are more specific. 
This morning as I sit here in silence praying and believing I want to say thank you to each of you who has already lifted him up in your prayers. Thank you for your words of encouragement. Thank you for standing beside us in believing that ALL things are possible with God. Our son is fearfully and wonderfully made. We rejoice in the blessing that he already is to us and those around us. We can't wait to share the testimony of his healing and rejoice with our healthy baby boy back in the upstate.

Prayers for Lydia

Here at the house we have made several new friends. One of our friends is a young lady who is 7 months younger than Harlie. She has recently had a bone marrow transplant here at MUSC. She has been staying at the house and going for her doctor's visits several times a week. Yesterday she was not feeling well, but today when they took her to the doctor they had to admit her. Please pray for strength and healing for this precious little girl. She has been such a blessing to us already. Her strength and beautiful spirit just light up a room. Her name is Lydia Hand. I asked her mom's permission before posting this just to be sure she didn't mind. Please add Lydia to your prayer list. 

We love you all! 

Doctor's Visit

We just got in from the doctor's appointment with Prenatal Wellness. We saw a doctor and were able to get all of our questions answered. Our doctor was very understanding and was able to give us a little more peace about how everything will happen on Tuesday morning.

After my check up he said that I have not progressed any, so we should be on schedule for the induction on Tuesday. He did give me numbers to call if I do go into labor over the weekend, but he seems to think that we are safe to plan on Tuesday morning at this point. 

We found out a little more about delivery and the process that Mac will go through for stabilization. He said that I should get to hold him briefly while they clean him up and cut the cord. Then he will be whisked into the room next door where we can watch through the window as they get him stabilized. After he is stabilized, mom, dad, and Harlie will get their first look at him as he is taken to PCICU. The plan is PCICU unless he has any other unexpected complications. Vince will get to travel with him wherever he goes in the beginning. I am sure he will be keeping us updated and taking lots of pictures. 

I am so glad that we were able to come on down and meet with a doctor down here one more time before our induction. I am feeling much more prepared and at peace about the entire situation. 

Our focus now is to just rest and wait for Tuesday morning. Please pray for our family as we try to wait patiently for the next 4 days to pass. Please pray for a healthy baby and mom at that time. Please pray for the rest of our family as we are all under tremendous stress in this situation. Please pray for all of the doctors, nurses, residents, and interns that we encounter along the way. There are many important decisions to be made and we are praying that all of those involved we be making decisions under the Lord's anointing. We trust that God is in control and that his plan is perfect. We appreciate your continued prayers and support. We love you all! 

Waiting on Mac!

This afternoon I am appreciating the time that we have had to get better acquainted with our new surroundings. Vince and I have never spent any time in this area, so we are having to learn our way around. We have spent the last two days resting and doing a little exploration. Wednesday our mission was to find our way back to the hospital and locate a grocery store that would be close by if we needed anything. Our trip to the hospital was quite interesting. We made several additional loops around one way streets and eventually made it. We noted our errors in preparation for another practice run today. We also found out that we are one block from Target and Piggly Wiggly. I am so glad that we have somewhere so close to the house.

Today's mission was to navigate our way directly to the hospital without any additional turns or loops. We did it! We were able to drive directly from the CrossBridge house to the hospital and never made a wrong turn! This may sound like a small victory, but we felt very proud when all was said and done. We also found a better route to get home. 

Tomorrow morning we have our first Maternal Fetal Medicine appointment here in Charleston. We will be meeting with a doctor to have a final NST/BPP and discuss final plans for Tuesday. I will update after the appointment to let everyone know if anything changes. Our current plan is still to wait and see if Mac decides to make his entrance before induction on Tuesday morning. 

I am most anxious to get Harlie down here tomorrow! I miss her kisses, hugs, and constant chatter. She is very excited about meeting the girls who are staying in the house with us. Please pray for both of the families that are staying here at the house. It has been a blessing to be able to talk with them about their experiences, but it also breaks my heart to see other families dealing with sick children. Please lift them up along with our sweet baby boy. 

We Are Here!

Last night I did the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. Getting into my car and smiling as I waved goodbye to Harlie broke my heart. We no sooner made it out of the driveway, and the sobbing began. Poor Vince. I know he is just as broken as I am, but he is the glue that God uses to hold me together at times like this. I know that we are doing what is best for her. I know that she is far better off in the upstate and that Grannie, Papa, my Wren Family, friends, and neighbors will take excellent care of her. I know that she will be loved. I know that she will be happy. I still fight the part of me that selfishly wants her here with us.

One thing I am glad of is that we made the decision to give Harlie her own special phone for calling us whenever she wanted to talk. She and I spoke about 10 or 15 times during our drive down. Yes, we had to discuss very important issues like packing lunch and going to sleep with her hair wet. I listened to her work on her homework and it did make things a little easier. Being able to answer questions and hear her doing her thing helped me realize that she is nowhere near as broken by this as I am. She is confident and amazingly understands, by the grace of God, that we do not want to be doing this. 

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful support system in place. I cannot imagine what it would be like if we did not have the family and friends we do praying and offering support from every area of our lives. 

When we arrived here we were greeted with smiles and hugs by our new "Charleston Family." Dossie and several of the house guests were here and ready to lend a hand getting our things unloaded and into our room. The house we are staying in is very nice. We are here with two other families who have children receiving treatment at MUSC. I don't want to share much about their situations because I respect their privacy. I will say though that it is amazing to be able to walk into a situation like this and be surrounded by people who know the emotions that you are feeling. We bonded immediately. I feel like I have known our new friends for years and we have only spoken for a few minutes. 

An added bonus was the giant Clemson Tiger paw and GO TIGERS! painted on the wall of our room. It brought smiles and laughs when Dossie uncovered it. Evidently some of the practical jokers from her church who did the painting in our room are Clemson fans and enjoyed a little extra fun in adding this piece of art to our room, which is otherwise "Charleston" themed. They had no idea that we are Tiger fans and that even my classroom decor is Clemson. Some may see this as silly, but I see it as a small way that God is reminding me that He is in control of even the most minor details of this whole situation. Can you imagine if we had walked in to a giant Gamecock on the wall? Boy, wouldn't that have been a let down... ;) I am just kidding Gamecock fans. You know I love you! I am just glad to find some lighthearted fun in the midst of such a difficult time in our life.

I am so grateful to the volunteers at CrossBridge for their support. Having a place to go and people to pray and support us down here is amazing!

This morning, as I have for the past few weeks, I cannot sleep. I am sure Mac is preparing me for his early morning times that we are going to share together. I can't wait! I look forward to those precious moments when the two of us get to snuggle up together and rock. I can't wait to hold him in my arms and touch his sweet little face. The anticipation of his arrival has been somewhat clouded with the prospect of surgery, but I know that God is in control, so I wait with anticipation for my prayers and the prayers of many of you to be answered. I wait to be able to share his story of how God healed this precious baby boy. I wait to be able to take him home and be a family of four! 

Please continue to pray for our family's spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical health as we continue to walk in faith. Please pray specifically for Mac's healing and that we will be able to take our healthy baby boy home from Charleston soon so that he can meet all of you! We appreciate all of the prayers more than you know. We feel the peace of the Holy Spirit as we are lifted up by each of you. Your words of encouragement also mean so much. We love you all and are praying for you too. 

Change of Plans

As with everything in life, we are keeping things interesting at the Wilson house. Today I went for my final NST at Highlands expecting to be sent home as usual and return on Thursday for our final BPP. When Mac did a fantastic job during the NST with his movements and heart rate the doctor and nurse were impressed. When the doctor came in the room to listen one more time to his heart rate she had a change of heart. She said that his heart rate had slowed considerably and she wanted to have me head over to the hospital for about an hour of monitoring. His heart rate looked great and he was responding well, but because I have begun the process of labor the doctors said that it is time for us to head to Charleston. 

We are not wanting to go early, but respect what the doctors are telling us and want to be sure that we are doing everything possible to ensure that Mac is safe on delivery. I will be seeing my MFM specialist one more time tomorrow morning after taking Harlie to school. We will then determine if we need to leave immediately for Charleston or head down after dinner. We have already spoken with Crossbridge and have a place to stay when we arrive. We are so grateful for their flexibility. They are such a blessing. 

With all of that said, we ask for your prayers for our entire family. My parents are being thrown into action almost a week sooner than planned, and Harlie is not very excited about the fact that she is being left behind. Our plan had included her being down there with us our first few nights. We have assured her that we will find a way for her to make it down this Friday. Vince and I are struggling with leaving her behind while feeling like we are making the right decision to go ahead and get down there. We also ask that you pray most of all for Mac's healing. We believe that God has a plan for this precious baby boy and we can't wait to see what he has in store. 

I will be updating our blog as often as possible from this point forward. I will have Vince post pics as soon as we have them. Please feel free to share our link with anyone who will be praying for Mac. We need all the prayers we can get. 

We love you all and will update you soon!

The Verdict Is In!

Today we had our final appointment with our maternal fetal medicine and pediatric cardiologist. We have been anxiously awaiting this visit because there has been some confusion based on our OB visits. Being in a rotation with so many different OBs, who are not planning to deliver our baby, has become very complicated. I am now going twice a week for a biophysical profile and non stress test. At each visit I see a different doctor, and varied opinions about what our family should do. Several doctors felt that we should be down at MUSC a week or two early, while others said we would be fine to stay in the upstate and go down on August 30th. Being more emotional than usual and hearing such a varied pool of advice has really increased anxiety over the past couple of weeks.
Vince and I have been trying to make sense of this situation and figure out what to do with all of this advice. We decided to wait until today and talk with Dr. Greig and Dr. Horne. We decided that whatever they suggested would be the plan we would follow.
During the ultrasound we found out that Mac has FINALLY turned. He was breech as of last week when we had our BPP. I was concerned because if he is breech, then we will automatically have to have a c-section. This is something we are hoping to avoid. We also got a chance to see how he is measuring up. Overall, he is in the 80th percentile for size and has continued to grow consistently. He is already a whopping 7 pounds 3 ounces. Our doctors hope that his size will equate to strength as he recovers from surgery.
Dr. Horne was pleased with the growth of the left side of the heart. He said that he is not seeing any turbulence from the mitral valve which is a good sign that the valve is growing and is big enough. He also said that he is seeing good strong pumping and flow. He said it sounds good too. He told us that he is 75% sure that we are looking at the one time surgery for DORV-TGA. We were not happy to hear that the arteries did look transposed again today. He said that they are side by side which usually means transposition. We are praying that they will be able to patch directly from the aorta to the left ventricle. If they can, then we will not have to do the arterial switch procedure!
After the ultrasound, we proceeded to barrage the doctors with all of our questions. They both told us that our plan to stay in Greenville until the 30th was the best plan for our family. Dr. Horne told us that Mac's defect is not one that would require immediate action at MUSC so we would be fine to stabilize him here in Greenville, and when we BOTH are ready we could be transported TOGETHER to MUSC!!! This relieved so much stress about the possibility of delivering in Greenville.
So the plan is now official. Our bags are packed and we are planning to enjoy the next 2 1/2 weeks here at home with our family, friends, and my fantastic first graders! We will then enjoy one more weekend as a family of 3 in Charleston before Baby Mac makes his appearance on September 3rd.