Tiny Miracles

Part of my prayer team...

And this is where my blog becomes current.  After our last ultrasound the only thing I felt like I could do was send an email to everyone I knew to ask them to pray for us.  The response was absolutely overwhelming.  Never in a million years did I imagine that so many people would get behind us, so many people that we didn't even know!  God gave me a peace that passes understanding in those following weeks and I know it's because of the multitudes of people that were praying for me.  Immediately my close friends organized a group to come over and lay hands on McKinley and me and pray for us.  I could feel God's arms wrap around me and her, and I knew that no matter the outcome, we would be ok.  Of course I never stopped praying 100 times a day that God would decide to heal McKinley.
On Tuesday we went in for our first ultrasound since the "bad news" ultrasound.  It was 2 hours of anxiety waiting for the scan to be over so the Dr could come in and give us her report.  Last time when the Dr came in she gave me a big hug and immediately said, "I'm worried about McKinley, she is not normal".  This time the first words out of her mouth were "I'm encouraged".  I knew it!  God had already begun his work!!!  The Dr went over all of McKinley's problems again since Tony was there to hear it this time.  They still could only find one kidney for sure but thought it might be possible that she has a tiny "bud" of a kidney on her right side that is not functioning.  The kidney she does have seemed "bright" and enlarged on the ultrasound so there is some concern that it might not be functioning as well as we had hoped.  But the praise is that her amniotic fluid is increasing.  Her amniotic fluid level had always been at the very minimum level of 2.  At this ultrasound it had increased for the first time to 3.5!!!  This means that her kidney is working because she is producing her own amniotic fluid and that has to be processed through the kidney.  Yay!!!
She still has a coarctation of the aorta but what was a bit perplexing to the Dr is that the blood flow to her brain seemed very normal (in fact, she has a bigger head than her brother right now!) and her arms and legs were long.  (Thank you Tony for the long arms! :))  Usually with a coarc the babies extremities tend to be a bit shorter because blood does not flow there fast enough.  The Dr's guess is that the coarc is higher up in the aorta which is the best place to have it, if you're going to have it.  So this was another praise!
The spine is still a concern, however Tony and I, and the ultrasound tech sat and watched her move her head up and down and to the side for a few seconds which was something we had never seen before.  Praise Jesus!  The Dr's still concerned that she doesn't have a full range of motion, suspecting a fusion of the spinal cord at the back of the neck, but I figure we're just taking baby steps.  Let's give God time to work his miracles. :)
Probably the best news of the day is that McKinley is continuing to grow at a steady rate.  She is still only in the 15th percentile, but at least she's staying there and not dropping.  They estimated she weighed about 2lbs 4oz and Brooks is 3lbs.
One of the things we were concerned with was whether or not we needed to do an amnio.  At the end of the appointment the Dr said they were less concerned with needing to do the amnio now because McKinley is making progress and still growing.  So that was a major answer to prayer, we didn't have to make that decision on our own, it was made for us!
So all in all, we're taking baby steps.  God is already working tiny miracles on our baby girl and I can't wait to see and share the miracles that he's going to continue to work.  Please continue praying for us and for her, it's working!!!!