"Now, What exactly are you saying?"

We had our final ultrasound today in Madison. A long day. We stayed up late with our kids and some friends watching the Super last night. And then we had to get up early to make a 9am appointment at the perinatal center (1.5 hrs away). On the way to the hospital I wouldn't say we were discouraged, but I would say that we were definitely prepared for the worst. I said to Abi, "These follow-up ultrasounds are no fun. Nothing good can come out of them for us. All they will tell us is that the cleft palate is still there and the bowel obstruction and enlarged kidney are noted as well." Or worse yet, they well tell us that they have findings that were not present on the previous ultrasound scan (which is what happened today).

We arrived for our scan and had the kids with us. Butch and Marian (Abi's parents) were kind enough to meet us and handle the kids during our appointments. We had our clinic visit with the doctor and then went in for the ultrasound.

We saw Titus's cleft again. It still appears to be quite severe, but his cheeks are chubby and he is weighing in at 7 pounds, 4 ounces. The sonographer continued to scan for growth markers and other developmental items. She alerted us to when she came to the kidneys and bowel. She methodically measured the bowel, noting it's size and then moved along to the kidney.

The view of the kidney was like nothing we had seen before. The right kidney appeared to be massive as compared to the left. 3-4 times bigger from what we could tell. "The kidney?" we were thinking. "We never really asked about potential complications with a kidney that big". Of course numerous thoughts were going through our minds about this. The most disheartening thing for me was when the ultrasonographer asked if our pediatric nephrologist (kidney doctor) had requested specific ultrasound photos yet. We told her that we had only been referred to the facial surgeon and the general surgeon. She printed us some pictures and left the room to consult with the doctor who was to read the ultrasound. "Great, another specialist we will be getting to know all too well."

We have come to learn that if everything found on the ultrasound is as expected, the time it takes for the doctor to come in and see us is very short. However, if there is something out of the ordinary, it takes a while. The wait for the doctor was a long one. We knew something was going on.

After what seemed like hours, the doctor came into the room. He started talking and it seemed quite surreal. He was talking about the kidneys and the colon and movement he was seeing. Sometimes using words I understood, sometimes not. After his second explanation I said something along the lines of "Now, What exactly are you saying?" He proceeded to tell us that (in so many words) he did not believe the ultrasound results he was seeing and that he wanted to scan Titus himself to confirm what the ultrasonographer had done. He scanned for about 15 minutes with the following conclusion:

The abnormalities in the colon that were present on the last scan, (The ones that would cause Titus to have 3 major surgeries before the age of 1 and potentially leaving him with lifelong bowel management issues. The ones that all but guaranteed Titus was going to be diagnosed with some type of genetic syndrome that correlated the bowel and cleft with unknown mental and physical repercussions down the road) were no longer apparent! Abi and I were doing everything we could to contain ourselves. Praise God! is all we could think of. The doctor seemed a bit shocked as to how such an obvious bowel obstruction could just disappear. I am sure there is a perfectly good medical answer that completely misses the point of what our God is capable of. Thanks to all of you who were praying for us.

Now, the doctor was quick to say that because of what he saw earlier, the risk of there still being something present is still there, so please don't stop praying. Abi is currently 38 weeks pregnant. Jonathan and Noah would have already been born by now, but everyone agrees that the longer Titus stays in, the better. Cleft babies still have a difficult time gaining weight early on, and so we want him to be as plump as possible when he comes out. Of course that is easy for me to say knowing that I am not the one birthing this baby (sorry Abi).

So why (if there is truly no more bowel issue) did this all happen? Why did we go through all this. Well, I just have to trust that God knows what he is doing. I know that it has caused me to draw closer to him. It has increased our understanding of the power of prayer in so many different ways. And I hope that it has encouraged you as well. Would God be any less awesome if Titus had numerous bowel problems? Nope. He just must want to get glory this way at this time, and either way, Abi and I are happy to be in His grip.

Oh yeah, and as for that huge kidney. They said it would likely be something very low on the priority list. Perhaps a urinary tract infection. It only seemed so huge because of the magnification. They actually stated that normally with results in the kidneys and bowel like they saw today, they would not even tell the parents because the stress it raises would likely cause more problems than anything clinically.

Again, thanks so much for your prayer, and please keep it up for another few weeks!

God Bless.