I am now 31 weeks pregnant and still in disbelief. At least once a day I have a surreal moment where I see myself in the mirror or I see “31 weeks 1 day” at the top of the ultrasound picture or I realize that it’s JUNE and I’m still pregnant and I catch my breath in amazement. How can this be? Wasn’t I told over and over again that I could NOT have another live baby unless she was lucky enough to get my blood type instead of Josh’s? I mourned my bitter losses- no more pregnancies, no more biological children. I thought I was barren, but now…

I am 31 weeks pregnant and my baby girl is flourishing in my womb. The things God promised me are coming true. I have to pause right here and give Him the glory for this miracle. HE has done this and I praise Him for this miraculous gift.

Isaiah 41:17-20
When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.

God has allowed our Nora to flourish and grow in the desert of my womb. Let’s “consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.” Thank you, Lord.

Today I had my 31 week check up and pre-op appointment. The original plan was to do Nora’s fourth blood transfusion next week but Dr. Moise will be out of town, so we will be doing it tomorrow instead. At 31 weeks Nora is weighing in at four pounds five ounces. She’s measuring about three weeks ahead, as is my belly. She looked great on the ultrasound today.

Last week we had a scare when Nora failed her nightly kick count. She had been moving a lot less since her last transfusion and instead of the average 13 minutes it took her about an hour to get ten kicks in. The nurse told me to go get Nora checked in labor and delivery just to be safe. I did have a moment of sheer panic as I was getting ready to go in. What if there was no heart beat?! Isn’t this how many of the tragic stories about stillborn babies begin? I don’t have the luxury of thinking it could never happen to me. I know how often these precious babies go to heaven before birth, even in low risk pregnancies. Thankfully, Nora was fine and she had the most beautiful heart beat ever. They kept me on the monitors for a few hours just to be safe.

Look at her gorgeous heart rate at the top and on the bottom you can see my contractions. The doctors were concerned with the frequency and intensity of my contractions which I have been having for weeks now. I told them it was normal for me, but they would not let me leave without making sure that I wasn’t in preterm labor. They checked to see if I was dilated (I wasn’t at all) and they measured the length of my cervix (it was fine) and did another fetal fibronectin test. Everything showed that I was not in labor, even though the contractions continued every 2-5 minutes. They said I had an irritable uterus, probably from all the needles they have put in there during the blood transfusions. They finally sent me home and I felt extremely relieved to be going home with my baby still kicking inside me.

Since this next transfusion is being done a week early that means that Nora will be born a week earlier than anticipated. The longest she can go after a blood transfusion is three weeks, so if she goes three weeks after this one, then three more weeks after her fifth (and last) transfusion she will be born at 37 weeks. That’s right in the middle of July. The plan is to induce me, unless she is breech, and watch her closely to make sure she isn’t in distress. If she does start showing signs of distress they will deliver her by c-section but they seem fairly confident that I will be able to deliver vaginally. I am so happy about this! They also told me that Josh and I would probably get to spend some time with Nora right after birth before they take her away to the NICU. We will try to have some skin to skin bonding time and they even said I could probably breastfeed her once before they take her away. This would be a dream come true for me! I can’t wait to meet her. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. We are so close to the end, only six more weeks (or less) until we meet our miracle baby. Please pray that the IUT goes well tomorrow. It is scheduled for 8:30 in the morning. I’ll try to update the blog tomorrow night.