Growing Strong

No news is good news from the perinatologists and that's basically what we got today.  Yes, she still has a diaphragmatic hernia, but it doesn't appear to have changed much.  The liver is still down, below the hole, and her heart is still shifted, but everything generally appears okay.  Her heart was beating strong at 178 bpm and she's growing well - currently one pound and five ounces which is right on track for where she should be (53rd percentile to be exact).  The increased fluid they found in her kidneys a month ago seems to be back in the "normal" range and everything else about her looks just fine for now.  She's growing strong and that's what we want to hear.

It was a great relief to hear the status quo today.  I am so grateful for the many of you who I know were praying today (I felt it!).  I knew that my anxiety and fear were unnecessary, but I think it'll take me awhile to expect good things from doctor's visits again!  We're grateful for a report that's keeping us on track and continues to provide hope for a bright and healthy future for Clara.

One of the silver linings of a high risk pregnancy is that you get a lot of ultrasounds.  We love love love the sonographer who did our exam today (Kathy) and she has cared for us so well.  Today, she took a bazillion photos of Clara and showed us all around.  She even printed out EIGHTEEN (that's right, 18) ultrasound shots for us, and burned us a CD to boot.  So, we have more picture of her now than you probably want to see, but I can't resist showing a few.  I recognize that without the trained eye of someone showing you what you're looking at that these may be little more than blurs, but hopefully you can pick out a few features in them - especially the 3D ones!

Here's our baby girl, who's growing strong (thank you, Lord.):

Profile shot, on her back with her legs up in the air.

Right hand rubbing her right eye.  Must be sleepy.

Semi-profile with her hands in her mouth... maybe she'll be a thumb sucker like her mommy was.

 And this last one is my favorite, I think.  Even though you can't see her face in it, she's holding both of her hands together with her arms in front of her face and she looks to me like she is praying.  If only she knew how many hundreds of people are praying for her right now....