Two Hearts... Make that Three

I've been a bit quiet lately here, and, as usual, it is not without cause. I've essentially spent the last several weeks moving between my bed upstairs and my chaise longue downstairs. I do sit here at the computer some, but much less frequently than I have before. That is because, as some of you closest to me know, and as others may have guessed, we have once again been blessed with a tiny little person who, for the time being, has taken up residence in my womb and, in the process, has thrown my life into a complete tailspin. Today we had the pleasure, for the first time, of both hearing and seeing its tiny heart beating - we were able to see the heartbeat on Tuesday as well. We're about 6 1/2 weeks pregnant, and we've decided to share the news a bit more widely than we have until now, both because we believe that even the newest, most fragile life is worth celebrating and because we'd like to know that people are praying for us. We are thrilled to know that all of the diagnostics so far have shown a healthy baby that is growing as expected and whose size and heart-rate are good.

That said, nothing with me is ever uncomplicated, including, apparently, pregnancy. Our first pregnancy ended early this year - the baby had survived until 7 weeks, and we found out at 8 weeks that it was no longer developing due to a highly unusual complication. I had a molar pregnancy (also known as trophoblastic disease), which meant that the placenta was irregular. Ours was a "partial" molar pregnancy, which means there was a baby (as opposed to complete molar pregnancies in which there are only abnormal placental cells), but it had 3 sets of chromosomes rather than 2, apparently resulting from two sperm fertilizing the same egg, though nobody is sure why this happens. Even if the baby had still been developing when we got the diagnosis, it almost certainly could not have survived until birth, but by the time of our first ultrasound, the end had come. I had to have surgery to be certain that the uterus was clear of abnormal tissue. There was also some concern that the irregular placental cells could regenerate, which might require chemotherapy to treat. All in all, it was a sad, scary and difficult time for us. We needed to wait several months before trying to conceive again, and I had to undergo testing to make sure the placental abnormalities did not recur.

By the grace of God, we conceived immediately when we were ready to try again, and this pregnancy is much, much healthier by comparison. We have, however, had news of a different sort of complication this time that does not necessitate quite so grim a prognosis. The ultrasound revealed that I have a small blood clot in my uterus that could pose some threat to the baby. There is nothing that can be done about it except to wait and see what happens. My body my reabsorb the clot, and it may become dislodged and pass. To the best of my understanding, the largest danger lies in more uterine bleeding (like the bleeding that produced the clot), which is something I cannot control beyond limiting my physical activity. The doctor has ordered me to do nothing strenuous and not to worry. I can handle the first part, the second is a challenge.

We would very much appreciate your prayers for the health of mother and child (and Dad, who is picking up the slack in our lives), but mostly for peace. God is much bigger than blood clots and our worries, and I, especially, would do well to remember that. I suppose it goes without saying (but humor me and let me say it anyway) that we consider this pregnancy, clot and all, to be a huge blessing, and we would very much like to be blessed with a healthy baby several months from now. For now, we're thrilled to have 3 hearts beating in our home.