An Item for Prayer

I have a brief story to tell tonight, simply because I would like to ask for your prayers but I don't have the energy to go into the long story. Here it is, in a nutshell:

Shortly after returning from Hong Kong, John and I were very surprised to discover that we were expecting another baby! I took four tests over four days because I just couldn't believe it, even though they were all positive! We thought we were done having kids, but very quickly got excited about the idea of a new baby again, plus the due date fell beautifully right during our time in America next spring.

But last Friday, I began to have some spotting which has continued intermittently over the weekend and today. I went to get checked out here in our city, and an ultrasound showed that the baby was much smaller than it should be by my figuring, so small, in fact, that there was no heartbeat yet, though by my calculations the heart should have been beating for about 2 weeks already. So based on dates, I was fairly certain that I had lost the baby. But just to make sure, I had a blood test to look at my hormone levels, and instead of low levels which would indicate a miscarriage, the results were "zheng hao" or Asianese for "just right" considering the age of the baby.

So, really the only thing to do is wait. We won't know until another ultrasound is done after some time has passed to determine whether the baby is still alive or not. This week, then, becomes a waiting time. Will you pray with us for our wee one? We are praying for LIFE until the Lord shows us clearly otherwise. I will go to the capital city on Wednesday for a checkup there and hopefully get a clearer answer. Thankfully my heart is at peace, but I really would appreciate your prayers for the babe, my health, and our family.

I'll be happy to blog more details (how we told our girls and families, pictures, etc) once this waiting game is over. In the meantime, please pray. Thanks so much.