16 Weeks!

Today I am officially 16 weeks pregnant. Every single day I stay pregnant without leaking or having contractions feels like a victory, but there's something that feels especially victorious when I reach a new week of pregnancy. The closer we get to full term, the more relief I feel. But also, I am so thankful for every single day I get to spend with my baby.

After I ruptured, we were presented with the potential challenges we now faced: Infection, preterm delivery, placental abruption, etc. After we were given this laundry list of terrifying possibilities, we were given the option to remove the cerclage. Obviously we did not choose to go this route. I told Scott that I would rather fight for this child with the possibility that we would only have days or weeks with him/her than to throw in the towel and give up.

Of course I want to go full-term and have a healthy baby I can whisk home from the hospital to our new life together--I plead with God daily that this would be the outcome of this pregnancy. And if this baby were to die, I would grieve with my whole being. (Having already experienced the death of a child I know it would be devastating.) But while I'm waiting to discover the place this journey will take me, I can experience the grace of today.

Thank you God that this baby is still in my belly. Thank you that he or she has plenty of fluid to breath and move in. Thank you that I am healthy with no sign of infection. Thank you for the apparent healing of my amniotic sac. Thank you for the good doctors and nurses who are caring for us and who were willing to take a risk to try to save my child. Thank you for all the friends and family who are praying and who have stepped forward to help in very meaningful ways. Thank you for the gift of each day. Thank you for 16 weeks. Amen.