I was in the midst of writing about my Amniocentesis experiences and had wanted to complete that first before sharing this update. But we received our 2nd Amnio report last week and went for a follow-up scan with my gynae just 2 days back so I thought I’ll update soon because just these 2 days, we had so many people checking in on us about the pregnancy. I thought it will be easier to put everything in one place so we can update everyone all at once!

Since the last update, we have been receiving so much love, support, prayers, encouragement, sharing and advice, we are truly truly thankful beyond words. Every few days we receive a comment/ message/ email to let us know that someone is praying for us or thinking about us.

Thank you so much also to all of you who have shared your personal stories with me about less than easy pregnancies that you have experienced and encouraging me along the way 🙂 I am also thankful to those who reached out to me about issues that you are going through with your current pregnancies and allowing me to walk with you on this journey and keep one another in prayers.

If you guys could recall from our last update, we mentioned that I had to go through a 2nd round of amnio, testing specifically for genetics abnormalities relating to the range of skeletal/ muscular syndromes. Depending on the severity of the syndrome that may be determined from the test, we might have to decide if we want to continue with the pregnancy or use that info to think about how we want to care for the child in future.

We spoke to our pastor the weekend after the test and he really helped us to see the situation in a whole different perspective. He shared personally from his own experience, which greatly encouraged us. But to cut the story short, he reminded us that God doesn’t make mistakes. If a child is born different, he or she is not abnormal, just special 🙂 Which gives true meaning to His words from Psalm 139.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. – Psalm 139: 13-14

So if this little one is born special by God’s will, I guess we’ll just have to pray for “super powers” from God (which we believe He will provide if we ask) to be super parents to a child who is super special! <inserts superman and wonder woman emoticons>

So back to the updates.

The good news is that the report came back clear (i.e. no gene mutation detected for the group of genes we tested for skeletal/ muscular syndromes). While this means (at least to the doctors) that we are still not sure what we are dealing with, we are very thankful for this result.

More than anything, we are thankful that we won’t be the ones who have to make a decision on whether to continue with the pregnancy and can truly leave it all to God. It really helped to lift up a great burden from us. And we feel like this is a reminder by God that every child is His creation. If it is not His will to bring the child to heaven, who are we to decide what to do with the precious life of the one He has created.

We went back to Dr Chang for a follow-up scan a couple of days back and to be honest, things are still not completely optimistic.

Based on the measurements, baby is still growing steadily and catching up in proportion in terms of the femur and humerus (long bones) measurements. That said, based on statistics, there still seems to be some underlying issues with the baby which may be causing difficulties in swallowing of amniotic fluids. That explains why my tummy is growing at an alarming rate these couple of months (I’m not kidding, I already feel like my tummy size is almost at full term!). Based on the scan, Dr Chang diagnosed that I have a case of polyhydramnios (excessive amniotic fluid). While I’m at the high end of a mild case of polyhydramnios, which can sometimes resolve by itself, he warned of a high chance of preterm labour.

With the need of NICU in mind if I do go into preterm labour, he suggested that I also look at delivery in NUH or KKH since they have a more comprehensive range of equipments to care for preterm babies. If any of you have recommendation of high-risk gynae who delivers at either of these hospitals, or if you have experience with polyhydramnios,  do drop me a note!

As of now, that’s all the info we have on this pregnancy. Physically, I’m still feeling pretty good except for some back aches from the tummy size. Emotionally, we almost can’t believe we have been on this roller coaster for a whopping 6 months! We’re thankful for every additional day we get to spend with this little one growing in me (this baby has been moving a lot and we take it as a sign of assurance from the little one!), even though we are not sure what awaits us at the end of the journey.

Many of you have told me that I’m so brave to be sharing this journey. But honestly, we’ve been receiving so much encouragement and positivity by having all of you walk alongside us on this journey, it has done so much good for our souls that I’m not sure how it would have been if I decided to keep all these thoughts and information to myself.

So thank you, once again, for all the love, support and prayers we have been receiving!