'Absent' Makes the Heart Go...

...Couldn't think of an adjective...

Ryan here...I had a moment so I thought I would give you a brief update on what our day has looked like so far. First of all, thank you so much for all your prayers. Laura and I have been humbled by (and grateful for) the faithfulness of many on our behalf. You've taught us something about praying for people and the goodness of God (namely, that He gives us people to pray for us!). Big ups. Many, many thanks.

Secondly, here are 'the goods' on our time with the doc today (Dr. Papa, if you're reading this, we love ya!). So, Laura went in today and they did another doppler (ultrasound) on her and the girls. Audrey is looking good and Evangeline (the smaller of the two) is looking, well, less-than-good (but still a ton to be grateful for...see below). Evangeline's doppler read the blood going through her cord. Okay medical folks, bear with me on this...But when our hearts are in diastole (read: rest) blood continues to travel through our vessels. This is called 'positive end-diastolic flow'. Sadly, Evangeline's doppler is 'reading' absent end-diastolic flow (Absent EDF). This means that between beats, the blood flow momentarily stops until the heart beats again. (Thanks for indulging my medical sensibilities).

Absent EDF is serious, but when it is viewed in concert with a host of other issues (e.g., weight, fetal activity, amniotic fluid levels, lung function, fetal heart tracings, and general overall coolness...our girls are off the charts on this last one), things become seriously serious. All these other factors look really good right now! Praise God, right!? So, we're grateful for this. In fact, our budding ninja continues to kick Audrey in the 'kisser'.

But, in light of the fact that we don't want things to get worse, we went along with Dr. Papa's counsel to go ahead and admit Laura to the hospital. So, I'm at home eating lunch, and she is dining on the finest fare that Baylor All Saints has to offer. Why is she at the hospital? Well, she is being monitored every day and just taking care of the girls by resting. Just because Laura went to the hospital doesn't mean that she is about to deliver. Rather, after watching her for a while--okay, really Evangeline--there will be a point where being in utero is more of a disadvantage than being ex utero. At that point, they deliver the girls. How long could this be? Great question. There's no way to tell. Could be a few days, but could be longer too. For what it's worth, our Fetal Surgeon--the studly Dr. Ken Moise--mentioned that babies can go several weeks if all other factors are good. So, you can keep praying with that end in mind.

So, we're sad. We're excited. We're scared. We're grateful. We're hopeful. Collectively, I guess we're somewhat of an emotional train wreck. We know our God is good. We know we live in a world where sin is real and brokenness still rears its ugly head. And we believe that God works in ways that we can't even begin to imagine. And for me to utter as to why, well...I'd be silly to try to answer that one. In the end, we know He is for us because of Jesus. And we wait on Him.

Thanks for all your prayers and keep 'em coming. RA