Blessings

I can't believe Julia Carter is going to be 3 years old tomorrow! Every night at bedtime, I put my hand on each of the girls' hearts and bless them. To Emily, I say, "God bless you and heal your heart." It's the same blessing I have pronounced over her since she was 5 years old, when I started. To Julia, I say, "God bless you. God thank you for the Miracle and Gift of Julia." The story behind both of their blessings involve their brother. Julia's blessing is a daily thanksgiving to God for giving her to us after losing her brother... for our "Rainbow Baby". It is also a daily reminder that He healed her heart Supernaturally upon birth. We will never forget when the Cardiologists could not find the heart problem, even though they (and other!) Cardiologists had diagnosed her with it while she was still in my womb. We were part of a special Fetal Anomalies Clinic at UAB for my pregnancy. My labor and her delivery were traumatic and scary and involved a four-hour ambulance ride to UAB and "normal" birth when it was supposed to be my third c-section. Immediately after birth, she was rushed (per the plan) to the Cardiac NICU. Less than a day later, they did her first Echo-cardiogram, and found nothing but a PERFECT heart! 48 hours after birth, she was discharged to come home! Six weeks later, after another follow-up visit, she was officially discharged from her Cardiologist's care! She had Emily and Ethan's Cardiologist for exactly ONE appointment. My family knows heartache and loss very well. And we also recognize the Miracles of God, and the three Perfect Gifts He has given us. We don't ever want to take them for granted! Happy Birthday to our Julia Carter Lane!

Announcing Julia Carter Lane

Well, this is almost five months late, but...

She's here!!!

She is beautiful beyond words, and our gratefulness to God for her life extends far beyond anything we could ever explain.

Julia Carter Lane was born at 4:14pm on Tuesday, November 29, 2011.  She weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz. and was 18 3/4 inches long, with brown hair and captivating blue eyes.  Her birth was VERY dramatic (another post for another day!), and we praise God for protecting both of us!

And guess what???

HE HEALED HER HEART!!!

We witnessed a supernatural miracle when they did her echo after birth and could not find ANY heart problem, despite her diagnosis while in my womb!

That's MY God!!!

One day soon I will have to share the details!  For now, I just wanted to share that she is here, and leave you with a sweet picture... this is her in her "going home" outfit, which was from her Big Brother, Ethan Carter.  At birth, she was almost the spitting image of her Big Sissy, Emily. But from the start she had facial expressions and mannerisms that reminded us of Ethan, and she quickly started looking like him, too. She is a beautiful combination of them both, with plenty of "just beautiful Julia!", too...

A Miracle For Julia

I can't wait to share more about what God is doing, but we have been in the process of moving to a new church in another state and haven't had Internet access at our new house until a few days ago, so for now, I will just copy and paste a few of the facebook status updates I scribbled from my phone recently...

Saturday, September 10th:

Will be 27 weeks tomorrow... Hard to believe that at this time in my pregnancy with Ethan I had just been put on bed rest a few days ago. In so many ways it feels just like yesterday. Miss him every single moment and can't wait to meet his little sister.


Tuesday, September 13th:

We leave for UAB tonight. Baby Julia Carter's first appointment with the fetal clinic is early tomorrow morning. We covet your prayers so much and are expecting a miracle! She is scheduled for two fetal echoes tomorrow, and we want to be kicked out of the clinic because they can't find any heart problem!!! Our God is able and to Him be the glory, honor, and praise!!!


Saturday, September 17th:

Have been waiting for a chance to post lots of details on Ethan's blog about our appointments at UAB, but Internet is still not working at our new house, so here is a quick update: God is doing a miracle in our Julia!!! She still has the heart problem and will still be followed and delivered at UAB, but the doctors think she will NOT need emergency surgery, and that it is possible she may not ever have to have surgery!!! Praise God, we believe we are witnessing a MIRACLE!!! Thank you for all your prayers, and please keep praying! We want God to completely heal her and take away the heart problem entirely! We don't want surgery now or ever, Amen!!!


Sunday, September 18th:

Couldn't wait to give God the praise He is due this morning (and have been all week)... Looking forward to doing it again tonight! Thank you for all your love and prayers for Baby Julia Carter... We are so grateful for our family and friends! She will be making her debut in just 9-11 short weeks!! :)


WHAT AN INCREDIBLE WEEK! THANK YOU, LORD... WE GIVE YOU GLORY, HONOR, AND PRAISE!

Quick Update On Julia

We saw my OB today, and discussed Julia's diagnosis and the plan of action for the rest of my pregnancy, which will include a team of doctors.

I will post more details later, but I wanted to give a quick update on our sweet girl...

Dr. Nelson did a Biophysical Profile today, and Julia passed with flying colors! Her heart rate was 150 (excellent), she moved so much the tech couldn't even get good pictures for us, there was plenty of amniotic fluid around her, and she was practicing her breathing like a pro! :)

We got to see her precious nose, lips, eyes, hands, feet... all in black and white, but all undeniably adorable!

She did a big yawn for us, and this mama's heart melted into a pool on the floor!

Please keep us in your prayers as we make decisions about her care, but most of all, please keep praying for a miracle with us!

Thank you for the outpouring of love that has been shown to us--- on here, on facebook, and in person... we love you right back! :)

Love,

Julia's Mama