Pregnancy Update

Several of you have asked for pics of "my progress" as my stomach continues to grow. So, here they are. Enjoy! In one way, it's against my better judgement to post these online, but that's okay. We are excited to know it's a baby BOY and are looking forward to meeting him in 4 short months. On Wednesday of this week I have appts with both doctors. I am seeing both my OB and a high-risk doc, Dr. Jose Lopez-Zino, who will do the ultrasound and hopefully, give us some additional info on how the heart is developing and an estimation of whether HCM is in the future for Lil' Phillips. We know that the gene is a dominant one and therefore the likelihood of our baby having HCM is 50/50. However, there are cases where even though the gene is present, it never fully expresses itself. This is the case with a few of Chris' cousins. At the same time, the gene could be passed, but the expression of it may not occur until the adolescent years, as was the case with Chris. At any rate, we pray that our child would be healthy and have a strong heart to run and play and enjoy life. We also know that Chris has received some of the best care available, and if Baby Phillips ends up with an enlarged heart, with the help of medical technology and medicine and of course, the Lord's grace and power, he could live a very normal, uninhibited life.
At our first appt with Dr. Lopez he asked if once we knew of what issues may ensue cardio-wise, would we desire to intervene. Absolutely not! In fact, prior to conception, a conversation was had concerning the possibility of sperm or embryo selection, selecting out the sperm (or embryo) that did not have the gene and implanting that into the uterus, so to ensure a healthy heart. As fascinating as it is that medical advancements have been made to do this type of thing, we were really not interested in trying to create a "perfect" baby, where science supercedes faith. This is not of course said to sound ultra-spiritual, but the very idea of entering such a complicated process made us both nervous and uncomfortable. God will give us what we can handle and what He deems best and it will be good because it's part of His plan. I get very emotional thinking about all of the manipulation tools that are available to us at the cost of either a child's life or relinquishing control to God, trusting Him to handle the details. In the meantime, I pray everyday that God would continue to form and shape our child's life as He sees fit and that our little baby would be healthy and would continue to grow and develop as he should. (I also pray that he's enjoying my cup of coffee in the a.m. and that it's not too much!) :) Please be in prayer for us as we hope to learn more on Wednesday, concerning his little heart.