Heartbreak

I am copying and pasting this email that Josh sent to many of our friends and relatives yesterday.

"The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." - Job 1:21

It is with a heavy heart that I share with you the news that the baby we expected to be born in February has died. At a routine check-up this afternoon, our midwife was unable to hear a heartbeat. Two ultrasounds confirmed that there was no heartbeat and no movement. At this point there is no indication as to what caused the death and Melanie is not experiencing any physical problems.

Melanie was half way through the pregnancy and so we are in a somewhat uncertain position - the death will probably be classified as a stillborn, but there is a possibility that they may call it a miscarriage. We also do not know the sex of the baby, both of those questions will have to wait until the baby is delivered. Again, because of the baby's age, Melanie will have to deliver the baby sometime in the next few days - we haven't decided when yet.

We shared the news with our kids this evening and their response was understandably proportional to their age. E cried quite a bit and F simply hugged Melanie and then asked her to read a book. Several of them asked the obvious question, "What happens to babies when they die before they are born?" We had the opportunity to share with them that although the Bible doesn't tell us what happens to babies that haven't been baptized, we trust in God's love and wisdom that He will do what He knows is best even though we may not know or understand what this is.

We thank you for the prayers that we know will be offered on our behalf. We place our trust in our God whose ways are beyond our understanding and whose love for us is larger than we can comprehend. We ask that He gives us the attitude of Job, recognizing that the LORD has given us all things, including our children for us to care for and it is the LORD who also decides when to take them away from us again at the time of His choosing. May the name of the LORD be praised.

I talked to Liz this morning. I am scheduled to go in and be induced Friday morning between 8:00-9:00 am. (We will be taking the older kids to school first, then heading to the hospital which is about 15 min from our house.)

After getting off the phone with Liz, I got a call from the dr she works with. The radiology dept called Dr. A with more detailed u/s results from yesterday since Liz has Wednesdays off. Dr. A said that it looks like the placenta is very near or covering the cervix. She said if the placenta is covering the cervix, that will make a difference in how I am delivered. I don't remember if she said it makes a difference if it is only near the cervix or not. I also don't know what difference it would make in my delivery (I didn't think to ask.), but they scheduled me for another u/s this afternoon at 3:00 so that they can look more closely at the placenta's position.

Dr. A is sharing the info with Liz, and Liz will call me tomorrow to let me know the results and more details.