For Collection

I have started collecting the messages, texts, and emails that I've been receiving on behalf of Little Mister. It would be so awesome if you could email directly to This new address 

I promise to save and cherish all emails. I plan on making an album of all of them so that I can show our little one how loved and prayed for he was even before he was born!

(Incase this computer challenged mamma to be messed up the above link, it is prayersforthecoles@gmail.com) 

Thanks!

Confirmation

We've been living with the news of our baby's heart condition for several weeks now. After meeting with our cardiologist for the second time, he confirmed that there were no changes in the heart and Little Mister  most definitely does not have the muscle that should separate the left and right ventricle.


The outpouring of love that we have received as we slowly inform our friends and family of the news has been overwhelming. I have received the most beautiful words from so many of my sweet friends. A few ladies in particular have been praying and interceding on Little Mister's behalf and I have truly felt their prayers and encouragement more than I can say. 
-After a particularly emotional week, a friend sent me a link to a song that spoke directly to my heart. I've made sure to listen to it every day as part of my quiet time with the Lord. 
-A most precious lady that has known me since ninth grade has typed out her prayers for our family and sent them to me. Who knew you could truly feel the presents of God while reading a Facebook message? -After hearing a familiar voice at MFS I discovered that I knew one of the nurses there from my parent's church in North Carolina. She has the sweetest spirit and remembers me singing at church when I was ten years old. She is now unofficially "my" nurse and has been assigned to me at every appointment since. 
-Our small group has been such a blessing in this time as well. When we shared the news with them, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Its such a blessing to have those four couples lifting us up in prayer on a consistent basis. 
-David has been part of a volunteer parking team at church for the past several months and the men in the group pray for us specifically every time they meet.


All of these encounters, prayers, songs, and love are a product of our amazing Father who has consistently poured out His love through the Holy Spirit. David and I have discussed almost feeling knocked over by the love that we have felt over the past several weeks. We have truly been living 1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!


And Romans 5:5: And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.


David will be helping with my next post that will explain in more detail the medical side of things. 


Until then, I'll leave you with the amazing song that was sent to me.

April 5th, 2012 "This heart is definitely not normal"

April 5th, 2012

Last week at our 19 week ultrasound appointment, the doctor discovered some abnormalities in his (baby cole's) heart. We were immediately rushed upstairs to another office to see a pediatric cardiac specialist. After a long time with the cardiac specialist, a lot of tears and questions, this is what we know so far:

Our baby has Complex congenital heart disease in the form of single ventricle complex, transposed great vessels and pulmonary stenosis/atrisia. How I understand it: He is missing the muscle that should separate the left and right ventricle (the bottom two sections of the heart), along small arteries/vessels that should pump blood in and out of his heart. The doctor will be able to see the heart in more detail at our appointment in 3 1/2 more weeks (because he will have grown) and be able to pinpoint exactly how small, and how displaced those arteries are. 

Baby Cole will be able to go full term (praise Jesus) and be born at Gwinnett Medical as planned. Approximately two days after he's born, he will be transported to Egleston Children's Hospital at Emory for open heart surgery. Its estimated that he will have to stay there for 30 days after surgery. At 4-6 months old, he will have his second open heart surgery, and if these two go well, he will be able to have his third surgery between age 2-6 years of age. Of course, there are percentages of positive and negative outcomes of all of these surgeries related to his heart problem, but we are choosing to be as positive and proactive as possible. 

What you can do: Pray Pray Pray. I have thought about this a lot. My prayer for our baby is that he will be healed completely, either before birth or after. This leaves room for us to ask for a miracle, as well as praying for the doctors that he will be in contact with before and after birth. Please pray for all of our doctors (now four of them) that the Lord would give them wisdom, surgical brilliance, and steady hands as they work together for our baby. 

David and I would also appreciate your prayers for peace, wisdom, and the ability to regain our joy in celebrating this MIRACLE that God has given us: Our sweet baby boy. 

January 30th, 2012

all whit and formality aside, i feel terrible all the time. i had a bit of an episode at work yesterday. I ate a cliff bar at 9am, and by 11am i felt light headed and shaky. my hands couldn't stop shaking and then my body proceeded to follow. i went to the back and found some hummus and bagel chips and made myself eat. i was guessing that my blood sugar was low but it was a little scary. the last thing i want to do is pass out at work. luckily, i have one person at work that knows i'm pregnant so she gave me a coconut water (lots of electrolights) and after about 45 minutes i started to feel normal again. i have my 12 week check up coming up where they'll do a full work up with blood tests, ect. the most frustrating thing right now is that i'm just totally exhausted all the time. david is super supportive and sweet at home, but its stressful not being able to talk about it and share the news. we were at a birthday dinner for a dear friend this weekend, surrounded by people that we love and all i kept thinking about was how fun it would it would be to tell everyone.
it will have to wait though. i AM excited that stumbled upon the maternity section at www.asos.com. they have the cutest little dresses and brightly colored maternity jeans that i will be ordering later on for sure! i also found a helpful website full of lists for everything you need from your baby registry to what clothing basics you need to stock up on for the impending bump. www.thecradle.com is great and part of www.giggle.com, where we're thinking of registering.