The beginning of a Journey

First of all, if you're here and reading this, it means you care about us and our little boy. You're praying for us! For this we thank you so much. God is so good to surround us with so many loved ones during a difficult time.

Psalm 37:3-7 has just been such a source of strength and encouragement already.

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him:"

Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. 

Certainly not any words you want to hear a Doctor utter in reference to the child you are carrying in your womb, but God is always good. We are simply trusting Him to carry us through, and accomplish what He wills in this journey. 

What is it? 

From Children's Hospital of Wisconsin website: 

" Congenital diaphragmatic (dye-ah-fra-mat-ick) hernia is an opening in the diaphragm, which is the muscle separating the chest from the abdomen (see illustration at right). This hole allows the contents that would normally be in the abdomen to push up into the chest cavity. The lungs may be underdeveloped (hypoplastic ) because they lack the space to grow. CDH can have an effect on both lungs even though the defect is only on one side. 

If the amount of abdominal contents pushed into the chest is significant enough, the heart will be pushed out of its normal position in the middle of the chest. This shift may also reduce the amount of space for the lung on the opposite side, leading to abnormal growth and development of that lung. " 

When we initially received the possible diagnosis, we did some research that was really pretty scary. There are some bad statistics out there. All we could do is trust when we could not see. 
This past week we finally met with the Perinatologists, Surgeons, and Neonatologist that will be working with our son after birth. They had such encouraging news in the midst of what could possibly be a bad situation.
As far as CDH cases go, Myles case is NOT a severe one, which gives us every reason to believe he could do quite well with correct treatment. His diaphragm hole is not large. He has stomach, spleen, and intestines in his chest. Praise God, his liver and kidneys are where they should be, and are functioning fine. Also, his heart, while space is being a bit compromised, is looking healthy. Lastly, his lung growth was estimated at being 70% of a normal baby his size. We are praising God for these results, and know that He has His everlasting love and care is on this precious child. We have seen answered prayer already. 

So, what are we anticipating after his birth in 5-6 weeks?

• I will be delivering at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin to make sure Myles has the best possible care from the very start. Praise God that we are nearby, and were so quickly referred to such amazing professionals. 
• Right after birth, Myles will be intubated to help him breathe, and prevent further damage that could be caused by much crying. 
• He will be taken to the Children's NICU where they will put more stabilizing procedures in him. He will need to be in pretty good shape before they proceed with the repair surgery.  Repair surgery could take place anywhere from a couple days after birth to even a couple weeks after. All depends on how Myles does stabilizing after birth. 
• After repair surgery is done, it will be a step by step, day by day recovery. First hoping to remove the breathing tube, then feeding, growing, and all those necessary little items that we just take so for granted in a normal healthy child. This could take as little as a couple weeks, to months. This also depends on our little soldier Myles.                         
  

It seems so straight forward, but there is still a lot of potential for things to go wrong, or for Myles to not respond well to treatments. With this in mind, we have several very specific prayer requests in regard to what the professionals have talked with us about. 

I will share those in the next post!  

Thank you for all your love and prayers! We do not take them for granted, and are so grateful for each petition that has gone before the Father on our behalf. 

Stay tuned! I plan to keep this blog updated through out this adventure that God has given us.