Rainy days are good for the soul

Living here in Southern California, almost everyday the sun shines and the kids go out to play. They love to run and push their bikes around the courtyard and enjoy regular visits to the playground across the road. But today it rained. Rain really should not come as a surprise to me - I mean, it is winter after all, and I was brought up in Melbourne where it even rains in summer.

'Where are we going today mum?" Judah asked expectantly, as he does just about everyday. I replied, "I'm not sure. It's raining today." "Let's go to the park!" He suggests. "No, the equipment will be all wet." "But I like that. Because then you can go faster down the slide." He can be such an optimist. After explaining to him that we didn't play outside when it is raining because we might catch a cold, I determined that today would not dissolve into a day of watching DVDs and the kids running around our tiny apartment going crazy. So we read stories. I have to prepare the next curriculum guide for our Playschool by tomorrow, and the topic that I chose is on transport. So we read about Cargo ships, transportation in the third world and astronauts in space shuttles. Judah decided that he would very much like to travel to space when he grows up. We played hide and seek and Judah practised writing a few words on a straight line. We made a picture of a steam train arranging and gluing different shapes of construction paper together. We even made bread and sticky cinnamon rolls together! Such wholesome fun. I thought to myself, about how he had learnt so much and how we had enjoyed so much quality time together without even stepping out the door.



I think that rainy days are not only good for the garden, but good for the soul and the taste buds!

News from the womb

Today I went for my routine once a month check up with my obstetrician. Dr Fong checked on the baby's heart rate (as usual), only this time, she picked up (as did I) an irregular beat. I could probably best describe what we heard as being a strong beat, that stopped or stalled momentarily after a number of regular beats. She decided that she would look further into it and pulled out the ultrasound device and had a look. After looking for a short while, she concluded that everything looked fine, but wanted to monitor the heart rate. So they hooked me up to a fetal monitor which documented the baby's heart rate over a longer period of time. Again everything looked fine. But my obstetrician wasn't comfortable with ignoring her initial observations and made an immediate appointment for me to have blood tests done and to visit a pediatric cardiologist for a fetal echocardiogram to better define the heart rhythm. [From what I gather, an echocardiogram is essentially a more clearer look (using the latest ultrasound equipment) at the baby's heart - it's structure and function.] Apart from taking some wonderful 3D footage of our beautiful baby, the specialist was able to reassure me that the all of the baby's organs as well as the heart, were perfectly formed and there seemed to be no cause for concern.

So what was all the fuss about? Was our baby just trying to get my attention, (he or she has not had much yet) begging for a photo shoot, or was or is there something wrong? Well they say that most fetuses with with an irregular heartbeat have a good prognosis if the heart is structurally normal - which it is (Praise God). The blood tests may shed further light on the subject, but essentially, we have no cause for concern or worry, as the baby's heart was not consistently irregular and in most cases, fetal heartbeat irregularities sort themselves out if not before birth, at least by 1 month old and no medications are required. So perhaps our little one was just crying out for some attention. We managed to get some great photo print outs and a DVD record of the whole ultrasound. We'll be back for a follow up appointment in 6 weeks time too.

We found out a little more about our baby from the specialist who noted that our baby's skeletal measurements recorded as being 27 weeks and 5 days old rather than the 25 weeks and 6 days which is based on the first day of my last period. - i.e. big for his or her age. This did not come as any great surprise to me as both Judah an Nathan came slightly early and neither were underweight. This babe (also like big bro Jude) has a large head - yippee for me! (If anyone knows how to copy footage off a DVD, then I could post footage of the ultrasound on our blog.)

So praise the Lord that our baby's heart looks great. I thank the Lord for giving me complete peace through all of the tests today and the strength to drive another 20 minutes away to a specialist after having blood work done. And I'm grateful for my awesome doctor - who as it happens attends the Mosaic church. Appreciate your prayers that the blood tests all come back clear too.