our miracle

Please say hello to Joshua Clinton Crowder. He made his very dramatic entrance into this world on Saturday at 10:10 am, weighing 1 lb. 13.5 oz. He is now doing remarkably well in the neonatal ICU. In fact, well enough that he pulled out his breathing tube on his own on Saturday and is now breathing room air without any additional oxygen. He certainly has a long way to go still, but we are greatly encouraged. Since we've asked you before to join us in praying for us and for him, let us now ask you to join us in praising God for this little life that he has spared.

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him.

- 1 Samuel 1:27

baby Joshua

We wanted to update you and ask for your prayers once again. I went in for a routine check-up yesterday afternoon and ended up being admitted to the hospital. They found a few problems with the blood flow to the baby and I also have developed pre-eclampsia. They have been trying to wait as long as possible to deliver him but they now think the risks of waiting any longer are starting to outweigh the benefits. So at 8:30am tomorrow morning we will get to meet Joshua Clinton Crowder.

We are truly humbled by the outpouring of love we have received from all of you. We will never be able to thank you enough. Our prayer request tonight is that God would fill us with an overwhelming sense of peace. Thank you, we'll try to keep you updated.

our baby

I apologize for failing to update this blog recently. Things have been a little crazy for us and the blog has suffered as a result. As an update, at the end of June we moved to Columbus, OH where Clinton has begun his second (and last!) fellowship - this one in gastrointestinal and liver pathology. For those of you who have not heard, I am also pregnant but we recently learned that our son will not be joining our family in the way we had hoped he would. On July 16th, we went for a routine ultrasound and received the devastating news that quite a few of the measurements were abnormal. The obstetrician believes the baby has a type of skeletal dysplasia (of which there are more than 200 types) but cannot tell us exactly which type at this point. He is, however, fairly certain that it is lethal, meaning our son will likely not live long after birth. Although he is perfectly fine now, his chest is too small, restricting his lungs from developing properly. Since he doesn't need his lungs in the womb, he probably won't have trouble until the umbilical cord is cut and he needs to breathe for himself. This has undoubtedly been the darkest time of our lives. We ask for you to join us in praying that this life, however short, will bring much glory to God. As of now, I will go to the doctor twice weekly so that the they can continue to monitor both me and the baby. I am currently at 30 weeks. Because these babies usually go to term, I will probably have a scheduled C-section sometime in mid-November. Until then, we are truly treasuring the time we have with our precious baby. Here's a recent photo of the boy behind our prayers...

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10