The Princess and the Pea

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For the past month Brielle hasn’t been super responsive. She’s still been active, but wasn’t responding like she used to. Since Sunday she’s been more like herself. She’s been craving certain foods again (like grapes, which mommy isn’t super crazy about) and responding to music and books again.

Today I felt well enough to go grocery shopping, which I haven’t been able to do in a while (I did it without pain and without swelling!). I bought Brielle a new book of fairy tales and when we got home I read her “The Princess and the Pea.” She liked that story! Silly girl did lots of wiggles when I read about the “fake” princesses, I guess she thought they were funny!

 

God is Healing Brielle!

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God is healing Brielle and doing great things! I woke up Monday morning and was able to get in and out of bed by myself, as well as do basic everyday things I had not been able to do previously, due to my high fluid levels. Each day I was able to do more and more and my stomach size became smaller and smaller.

Today we had an ultrasound appointment and talked to Dr. B. My fluid levels had dropped from 47 cm to 34 cm! I dropped that much fluid in four days! That is not done. When Dr. B called us back to his office to review the scans, he watched me walk into the office and just looked at me with an extremely puzzled expression. David has been laughing about it all day, because Dr. B looked completely baffled. He asked, “Have you been exercising?” I laughed, “NO.” We talked about my fluid levels and he was very happy to see them down and have talks of amnio reduction off the table. But he was thoroughly confused. The impression that I got was that polyhydramnios does not, suddenly, or rapidly decrease. And the only explanation for this rapid decrease is that Brielle’s swallowing reflex has been healed. Which means God is healing Brielle’s brain and head!

We looked over Brielle’s scans and measurements. Our last measurements she was very underweight and it looked like she would be a very small baby. She’s 5 and a half pounds today. At 36 weeks a baby should be about 6 pounds. Her legs are a week and a half ahead, meaning she has really long legs! Not too much of a surprise considering her parents are tall. Her abdomen, which had been small, had considerable growth, still behind, but not by much.

And now here is the really cool part. Tooth buds develop in a fetus in the first trimester. Brielle has not had tooth buds (meaning she would not have teeth). As we were going over her scans today, David asked what a white line was across her face, near her mouth. Dr. B in a bit of a surprised tone says, “Those are…tooth buds, she has tooth buds.” It is rare for an anencephalic baby to have teeth. Brielle has developed teeth sometime in the past week! At first I just thought that was cool, but then I started thinking how long it takes for a fetus to make tooth buds (weeks) and then how awesome God is to have given her tooth buds. Later it hit me, he wouldn’t have given her tooth buds if she wasn’t going to need them. Brielle is going to need to chew!

David and I are overwhelmed with joy and excitement! Brielle is not completely healed, yet, but she is well on her way. God is doing great and amazing things with her! Things that are not done. I have prayed that God would do this in a way that would bring him the most glory and praise, this week was not the week for full healing, because it wasn’t the right moment. We eagerly await the right moment and in the meantime are incredibly thankful and awe struck of God and his work. He has heard our cries and has stepped in and begun healing her. We have an awesome God!! And we believe God will heal Brielle!

David and I will not stop praying for healing until she is completely healed. We are also giving prayers of thanks and praise. Please join us in thanking God for the miracles he is performing with our baby and asking him to continue healing her. I am humbled and deeply, greatly, thankful that I serve such an amazing and merciful God!

(We will need to request the picture with her teeth because we did not receive that one. The images we did receive were blurry because she is getting so big and because she was wiggling all over the place! Once we have it, we will post it.)

Praying for Hope

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For the past week, David and I have chosen to not limit God with our faith. So we have decided to pray for complete healing of Brielle, that she will have a long, beautiful, healthy life. And that her life and healing will bring glory to God. God has been good to us and answered every one of our prayers, so why should we doubt Him now? We understand that what we ask for may not be in the plan, and if He chooses not to heal her, we have decided to give Him thanks and praise anyways.

We believe that there is strength in numbers, if you are willing to commit Brielle to prayer, we would ask that you join us in our prayers for her. We would ask that you pray in Jesus name that Brielle is completely healed, that her brain and skull are strong and perfectly formed. That Brielle is protected from anyone and anything that wishes her harm. That Brielle is given a long, healthy life. And that Brielle’s life will bring honor and glory to God. And that David and I do not fall prey to fear or doubt and remain firm in our belief. We ask that you pray for us by name and that you ask this all “In Jesus Name.”

Two days ago, God proved His faithfulness and saved another baby from a fatal defect. After learning their baby had a fatal defect, the family and a group of friends prayed that their baby would be completely healed. Two weeks later, the parents went back in for a scan and found a perfectly healthy baby.

David and I feel that we must do everything in our physical and spiritual power to help Brielle. I know that this is an uncomfortable subject for a lot of people (even us at times), but we ask that you put your discomfort aside and join us in our prayer for Brielle. Help us in asking God to heal our baby girl.

No matter the outcome, we will give all glory and praise to God.

The Murdock’s Story

This is beautiful and made me cry. They asked for a day with their sweet baby boy with anencephaly and were given seven days. I’ll never stop asking for more time with Brielle. God is good and kind.

<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/137300811″>The Murdock's Story – Branch Lionheart</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/floodsandiego”>FloodSanDiego</a&gt; on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>