Sometimes things don't go as planned

For the past few weeks the most common comment I get on my pregnancy is how small I still am. 

Truthfully, I didn't give it much thought. I was small with Rhett, but when I started to look at pictures of my pregnancy with him compared to where I am now, I realized I was much smaller now than I was then. Again, I didn't give much thought.

On Tuesday at my appointment, my doctor expressed concern that my belly was still measuring like I was 32 weeks (I'm 36) and suggested we do another ultra sound to see if the baby was growing. 

The ultrasound confirmed what my doctor thought, the baby hasn't grown much at all in the past month. The first concern was that something was wrong with the placenta or umbilical cord so we went to a specialist yesterday to see what was going on. The good news from the appointment was that the placenta and umbilical cord look normal, but we're still not sure why the baby has stopped growing. 

The news we didn't expect from this appointment was that the baby's leg bones are aren't fully developed, they're shorter than they should be, and that there are two apparent issues with his heart. 

We're waiting to get an appointment with a cardiologist and the next 2 weeks will determine a lot about if we'll deliver the baby early to make sure we can get him to gain weight and grow and how we'll deliver him (natural or c-section) based on the strength of his heart.

Both Jake and I are amazed at the ability we have to create life and feel that this process is nothing short of miracle and we know that sometimes things don't go as planned. We feel peaceful that though this little guy might have a rough start, but that ultimately everything will be OK.  

If you could keep us and our little guy in your thoughts and prayers we would be so extremely grateful.