To our family and friends,
We wanted to express our gratitude to each of you for all the prayers you have offered to our Lord on our behalf. We had our diagnostic ultrasound yesterday for Matthias David and it is with very sad hearts that we write to inform you that the Trisomy 18 concern has been confirmed. He is presenting with quite a few indicators of the condition from brain development issues with cysts, a misshapen head, a small jaw and nose, problems with his palate, clenching of his hands, small stomach, and a high probability for a heart condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) as it appears that the left side of his heart is underdeveloped. This heart condition, if confirmed, is very severe. We suspect that our next ultrasound will definitively determine whether or not this is occurring. At this time, we are moving forward with trying to support his life for as long as we can, and our hearts’ desire and prayer is that if the Lord sees fit we will be able to meet him alive even if our time with him is very short. With this diagnosis it does increase our chances to have a stillbirth and the odds of making it to term are low, but there is a possibility that we could make it to term. So with that in mind, the current plan is that our next ultrasound will be performed in 3 weeks, and as long as we still have a heartbeat, we will most likely start weekly monitoring ultrasounds shortly thereafter. This close monitoring is to continue to watch Matthias’ development so we have the most up-to-date information to make decisions surrounding his delivery and how best to advocate for his life. Please continue to pray that we will entrust our family to our everloving Father, resting in His all sufficient grace even amidst this great trial, and that wisdom will be given in abundance as we make some very hard decisions in the days to come.
Love in Christ,
Beth and Daniel
