not to us

Good morning!  I hope each of you has a fun Saturday planned.  Ruby started our morning by waking up early, and the boys (Poppa, Uncle Kyle, and Daddy) took her out for breakfast.  Burke and I are chilling at home together.  He's been very active, and you can clearly see him moving around.  I promise I'm going to get it on video one of these days.  :)

Last night, before we fell asleep, Mike and I spent some time watching Burke roll around in his watery home.  He's big enough now that even his smaller movements cause a ripple on the outside of my stomach.  I watched my husband lay a tender hand on his son's home, and I watched his eyes water up.  We already love this little boy more than we know how to handle.  The thought of losing him is terrifying.  To Mike, it's unbearable.  We continue to beg for your prayers on Burke's behalf.  We are not in the safe zone yet, and we still have a long road ahead of us with multiple odds stacked against us.

I thought I'd take a little time to write up the current situation and statistics.  It's truly amazing, and I can't thank God enough for all He's done so far.

We are currently six and a half weeks past the day when my water broke.  Of all pregnancies each year, less than 1% have their water break before the third trimester.  (Only 3% have their water break before 37 weeks.)  Of that 1% whose water breaks in the second trimester, .39% make it to seven weeks past rupture without delivering.  That means that we have already beaten the odds.  There was a 99.61% chance that we would have delivered by now, and we haven't.  Way to go, God!

Anyway, I know that the situation can seem less severe now that we're farther down the road, but I just wanted to ask again for your prayers.  Each week past rupture, another 50% of the remaining women deliver their baby.  That means that, each day, there is a 50/50 chance that I will deliver Burke.  I could go into labor any day, and it's still far too early.  Even if Burke was one of the fortunate 50% to live past delivery at this stage, he would face MAJOR developmental problems which could include blindness or chronic lung disease.   It is extremely important to get him to the point where he can receive steroids (around 26 weeks), and 28 weeks would be an AMAZING milestone. At that point, the road to recovery will be much less treacherous.  We'll have a long NICU stay ahead of us, including quite a bit of emotional roller-coaster riding, but the odds would be stacked IN Burke's favor, instead of against him.

I just wanted to ask you to keep praying and asking God to continue to perform miracles in Burke's life.  We need them.   We are so thankful for your prayers in getting to this point.  I am convinced that God is the only thing keeping Burke safe in my stomach.  Your prayers are a part of that, so I thank you.  I truly, truly thank you.