a little update from lucy's mama

You may be wondering what we've been up to.  For the most part our daily routines have stayed the same. Johnny seems to be handling things well, I think.  I'm glad he's young enough not to fully understand what's going on and I hope he's sheltered from the intense grief of all of this.  However, I'm concerned as a mother, that he can't put his feelings into words and I won't know how to best comfort him.  He recognizes when I'm sad by saying, "Mama sad" and comes and gives me a hug.  If you would pray for our son, as well as our daughter, we would appreciate it.
We met with the SHINE palliative care team with Blank Children's Hospital.  They were really helpful.  We've never done this before so to have advice on the best way to walk this journey has been a blessing.  One of the things I came away with from this meeting was that John and I have a lot of parenting to do and a very short amount of time to do it in. The majority of Lucy's life is now (in utero) so we need to start parenting her now.  We made a short bucket list to do in the upcoming months.  I thought I would share it with you.
1. Weekly belly pictures
2.  Trip to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch
3. Trick or treating.  She's going as a little jack-o-lantern
4.  Eating pumpkin pie on thanksgiving
5.  Maternity pictures (thank you Hayley and Rachel white)
6.  A ride on the polar express
7.  A Christmas stocking just for Lucy
8.  Jolly Holiday Lights
9.  Celebrate feast of St. Lucy
10. Newborn pictures (thanks Laura wills)

A few prayer requests we have:
1.  I feel like I'm coping okay until you add additional stress.  Pray the rest of our stress load stays minimal

2.  Pray Lucy will come on her own (the odds are not in favor of this). If she doesn't, that's okay, I'll just most likely have another c-section but I would like to stay out of the O.R. if possible

3.  Pray Lucy will be born alive.  We really want to meet her while her heart still beats (the odds are in favor of this).

4.  Peace for the uncertainty of the future.  That's where a lot of my fear and anxiety come from.

Thank you all for your love and support.  Thank you doesn't seem adequate but know we appreciate everything our friends, family and even strangers have done.  It reminds of Matthew 25:40, "Whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."  Lucy is kicking me as I type this so I know she agrees :)