Our Special Baby

So I haven't really written anything about our new baby or my pregnancy on here in over a month. I guess that's because I don't really know what to say. We had some very unexpected news at our 20 week appointment on Feb 7, when we were supposed to find out the gender. At first they told us it was a boy, but when they looked closer, the doctors/technicians realized that something wasn't right in the baby's midsection. After several hours of looking at the baby with the ultrasound, they finally told us what they thought it was. Cloacal exstrophy. You're welcome to google it, but I wouldn't recommend it. Essentially what it boils down to it that the baby's bladder and part of it's intestines are split open and outside of the body. It's very rare, (occurs in about 1 in 400,000 births) and the doctors at the Maternal Fetal Medicine clinic at my hospital (Mckay-Dee in Ogden) had never seen it before. They couldn't tell the gender, and were only able to tell us a little bit about what to expect, and referred us to some specialists at Primary Children's Hospital. A couple weeks later we met with the head of Pediatric Urology at Primary Children's, who will be one of the many doctors operating on our baby after it is born and has experience with this condition. This past Wednesday we had another ultrasound at the same clinic as the first, but with a different doctor, and she was able to give us more information. Here is what we know now: instead of delivering at Mckay-Dee with my ob-gyn, who I love, I will be delivering at the University of Utah hospital right next to Primay Children's, with one of the perinatalogists we have been meeting with (who are also great). We will most likely not know the gender of our baby until after it is born, and even then they may have to do a blood test to test the chromosomes to know for sure. Immediately after birth (within the first 48 hrs) our baby will have its first surgery to repair the intestines that are out. After 3 or 4 months, they will perform another surgery to put everything back inside the baby. We will not be able to bring our baby home until that happens, so lots of trips to Salt Lake are in store for us. After that, there will be lots of reconstructive surgeries over the next years. Because cloacal exstrophy splits the baby's sex organs down the middle, the doctor told us it is very likely our child will not be able to reproduce.

Obviously, all of this was devastating for Lance and I to hear. Since then, we have been praying non-stop for a miracle. The day we found out about the baby, Lance gave me a powerful blessing of healing in which he promised our baby would be healed according to my faith and the will of the Lord. We don't know what the future holds for us, but there are some very frightening possibilities. Life is going to be challenging, to say the least. This time around will be so different than it was with Reagan. It's hard to picture because I love this little baby inside of me so much, and everything feels normal to me. It kicks me all the time. Everything about the situation is just so surreal. We are so so grateful for all of the support and prayers we have received from our friends and family who know about the situation. I have gotten sweet notes, calls, and texts, flowers, cookies, and other things, and it means so much to me. Lance and I have grown so much closer to each other and so much closer to our Savior in the past month. Reagan is a bright happy beam of sunshine every day, and she always cheers me up. It's hard to want something so badly but accept that that may not be what God has in store for you. Please pray for us, especially for our new little baby. We need all the help we can get.