Baby Clara Update and Prayer Request

Here's the email I sent out to friends and family last week:

Dear Friends and Family,

At our 20 week appointment on Tuesday, the doctor came to talk to us and told us that baby Clara has an abnormality/birth defect. She has what they called an obstructive ureterocele, or obstructive nephropathy. It is not fatal, thank God. Bottom line is that her left kidney is significantly larger than it should be. The ureter that's supposed to drain urine from the kidney to the bladder is not connected correctly and there's no way for urine to drain out of the kidney. It is making a bulge in the bladder, obstructing the flow of urine. All the urine is backing up in her left kidney. Thankfully, the right kidney looks normal AND I have the correct amount of amniotic fluid, which means the bladder must be working as well as the right kidney. Praise God for that! Also, as of now, everything else looks good!

There are several things that could happen, but the worst case would be that kidney keeps expanding in the abdominal cavity, which could put pressure on the other organs, it could burst, etc. In those cases, they might have to deliver a bit early (32 weeks at the earliest - because the doc said in obstructions like these, it rarely causes bigger problems before then). Best case, she can wait until she is full-term before the problem is corrected. Either way, she'll more than likely need to have surgery. She might lose some left kidney function, all function, or no function at all. They just don't know yet. She is only 20 weeks old and they'll have to wait to see what happens as she (and her kidney) grows. 

Overwhelming, I know. We go back for another ultrasound the week before Christmas and they'll increase the frequency of ultrasounds if necessary - but after 32 weeks, we'll probably go for a weekly ultrasound. We also may not be able to deliver at the hospital we chose...but, our doc said, its possible we might. That might be up to the pediatric urologist that we have to see.

This is not fatal...and most babies with this have great outcomes and baby Clara can live a perfectly normal life, maybe with a few extra visits to a urologist. She can even be totally fine with one kidney for life. It's just getting from this point to the healthy baby point that we are worried about - because we don't know what's going to happen. But, we are trusting God in this. He always has and always will take care of us! We are trying not to worry about what we can't change, or control, because that won't help anything or anyone. God is in control.

Also, the doc was fabulous and answered all our preliminary questions and spent lots of time with us! We feel very well taken care of!!

Please pray for baby Clara. We will know more at our next ultrasound. And, we'll definitely keep you posted.

Love, Katherine