The Prayer of a Child

For about as long as I can remember now, Jake has been praying for Abigail. His prayer goes something like this…”and help the baby grow big and strong.” I just always thought that it was a sweet little prayer, nothing more. However, that prayer resonates with me in such a bigger way than ever now. I had my last 2 week check-up this past Tuesday and got some startling news. As my doctor was measuring me she said that I was 30cm. She looked at me which caused me to probe. “Is that normal?” Apparently, when you are where I am at 36 weeks you should be measuring 36cm. The same as your weeks. Red flag! She completed her part of the exam and said that she wanted to get the sonogram tech to do another sonogram. Another red flag. (I was told months earlier that I would not have any more sonograms unless there was a concern.) So, I went with the tech to have many pics taken of Abby. I questioned to make sure that everything looked ok and she did. Organs were properly functioning, she moved a lot during the exam and body parts were all good. When she went to do her calculations she found the baby to be around 4.9lbs, which meant that she was weighing what a baby at around 33-34 weeks would weigh. The tech went through her findings with me which I was very appreciative of since I was clueless and beginning to sense that something was wrong. She told me that Abby was small for her “age” and, of course, I am small for what I should be. Funny, my friends had always told me that I looked small but I just thought everyone was being nice. Now I know that there was some truth there. So, back to my doctor for more. She looked over the sonogram pics with me one by one and showed me what the tech had found. She did find that my placenta was old. Huh? It had begun to calcify. That didn’t sound good at all but she said that everything else looked fine. There was plenty of amniotic fluid in there and at this point she didn’t feel a need to take Abby at this time. That took my breath away. She said had she been at the 5th percentile she would want to take her but she is at the 20th so while it was not good it was not bad either. She tried to reassure me as best she could and even sent me with a copy of the results so that I could discuss them with Jon. She even told me to tell Jon that if he had any questions to feel free to call her. Good doctor! She just basically told me to continue to eat and monitor Abby’s movements. (By the way, Jon was there, he was just in the van with Jake watching a movie since sometimes we could be there for up to an hour waiting. I was texting him back and forth trying to give as much info as to why this one was long yet trying not to alarm him.) So, with all that said and a pretty rough couple of days to follow wrestling with what was going on I am clinging to Jake’s sweet prayer, and echoing it, to help the baby grow big and strong. I am also clinging to what God told me earlier that I am supposed to have a girl and name her Abigail. If you are reading this we would definitely covet your prayers as well! Our verse that we have chosen for her is Zephaniah 3:17 one that Jon has always loved (because of the way that Dennis Jernigan interprets it-pretty powerful-you can find it on Jon’s blog http://jagif.wordpress.com) and one that I am beginning to love as well. We’ll keep you posted!