What will the future hold?

I am now 33 Weeks and 5 Days Pregnant.  At 26 Weeks they finally got a glimpse of part of my son's face.  I will copy and past our initial reactions in an email first as to catch up so that they are in this blog. 

This was sent by a very close friend after a phone call. 
Hi Everyone. I just got off the phone with Jessica and she asked me to share some news with all of you about Samuel. I'm going to do my best from the notes I took. :)

They had another ultrasound today at 2pm and a Cleft Lip has been confirmed. Because of the position of Samuel, they can't confirm or deny a Bilateral Cleft Lip and Cleft Palette, but it is still a possibility. They requested to perform an amniotic test on Samuel to check for chromosome abnormalities, which John and Jessica both denied for 2 reasons: 1) if they perform the test and confirm Samuel has a certain chromosome abnormality, the doctors would want John and Jessica to terminate the pregnancy and 2) if they discover Samuel doesn't have the chromosome abnormality, the testing could cause preterm labor and problems after childbirth and throughout his life. This is the only way to detect chromosome abnormality. If Samuel does have it, based on previous deliveries and research, the doctors informed John and Jess that Samuel would not survive childbirth. If Samuel doesn't have chromosome abnormality, he will have 1 surgery at 3 months old to fix the cleft lip, or many surgeries if it is Bilateral Cleft Lip and Cleft Palette. The doctors told them that Samuel has a very strong heartbeat and they can't see any other abnormalities that would suggest he has chromosome abnormality, but without the test, there's no guarantee. I think we can all say Samuel is already a strong little man!

We serve an awesome and marvelous God, capable of performing miracles for those that ask. We are obviously asking God for another miracle. Not only for the chromosome abnormality, but also for any form of Cleft Lip little Samuel has. Please continue to pray for John and Jessica as well.

I wanted others to know but could not talk about it yet.  The next I will post is from John to some people.   We did not share with all at this time

Hi all,
What a few days!!! God has been gracious and faithful as we are relying and trusting in him. Thank you for all your prayers, please continue to do so. We saw the OB yesterday. The doctor is soft spoken and explains to us in a very complete and rational ways. He is just the right doctor for Jessica to keep her pressure down and our sanity. We thank God for him. As we move towards the third trimester, the doctor explained what Jess would be feeling and going through. We talked about the day of the birth. He mentioned that the cleft lip/pallet is most likely a singular incident outside of any other abnormality. The ultrasound doctor checked many areas of Samuel and could not see anything else that can cause any other problems. He did think that his weight was a little low. We chose not to take any amniotic test because it can cause a preterm birth which can cause more issues. We asked Jessica’s OB that the ultrasound doctor had us very concerned!!! The OB doctor said, “Yeah, he does that to mostly all my patients. “ The Ob said that he was a very good doctor and just wants us to be prepared with anything that comes our way. So, please continue to pray for the final 3 months of Jessica pregnancy, Samuel’s weight, and the birth of Samuel to go smoothly. Also, that the Lord may touch the cleft lip/pallet to make it whole, so Samuel can be spared from the future surgery’s and Jessica can breastfeed. So that we will meet Samuel face to face and hold him in our arms to love and cherish and change his many diapers. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts of love as we continue this journey.

OK back to me now.  So the biggest part of the Specialist being worried of the abnormality was because of his low weight.  He was only 1 pound and 11 ounces.  He should have been more.  Outside of that the ultrasound showed his heart very strong, he was practicing breathing and practicing eating.  So they wanted me to go back in four weeks.  After all he put me through and Samuel not really wanting to show his face I decided and John agreed that if this next ultrasound he could not know anything then after we would not go back to him at all and just wait until Samuel is born to see what God has in store for us and our future. 

So We went back and still my lovely child does not want to show his face.  But good news he gained a pound and the doctor did not bring up the abnormality at all.  He was happy with the weight gain even though Samuel is still small (in the 20th percentile) but the weight gain is good.  So we agreed to go back to the specialist on Sept 2 to see how much more he gains now.