22 weeks and First transfusion scheduled

Hey yall.  Here we are at 22 weeks and today's appointment revealed that she will need a transfusion.  But let me start with the positive!  Her heart rate is fabulous, she is still moving and grooving and growing like a champ! :) And in all our prayers God is giving us a great peace about it. 

I was very confident going into this appointment.  Last week I was extremely nervous but it was "the week" we lost Christian so that was just my own fears coming through.  But since then I've felt very confident and trusting in God's plan and in the knowledge and skill he's given the doctors. 

What they saw today were elevated reads on her blood flow, and a little fluid around her bowels.  In the ultrasound he could see the details of how her bowels loop around which normally isn't visible at this age.  So that tells him there is a little fluid in there. 

They took some blood from me to cross and match for tomorrow and took measurements of the baby so they would know how much she weighs.  She's 1 pound 4 oz! So tomorrow the procedure will be only about an hour.  They will give me medicine to make me comfortable and numb the area of my tummy they will be going in to access the umbilical cord.   They will take a blood sample from the baby and test her reb blood cell count to see how anemic she is and make the decision on how much blood to give her.  And in testing her blood directly they'll also be able to test and see if she's positive for the kell antibody or not!  I feel like she probably is.  We already know she's O positive.  It's just an outpatient procedure if everything goes well.  I'll stay for a couple hours after for observation and return the next morning to see again how she's doing. 

What are the risks? Pretty much everything you could think of.  Preterm labor, amniotic fluid leakage, rupture of membranes, bleeding, Placental abrubtion, fetal death... ugh I hate even typing that.   While these are the risks, the doctors are very confident in doing it.  And I have confidence in them and that God will guide their hands. 

Because we are getting the transfusion now we will no longer need the IVIG treatments each week.  They were just to help us postpone the need for one as long as possible.  And while it may seem they didn't work that well because we only technically made it a week past when we needed one for Christian, I truly believe they have worked extremely well and that we probably wouldn't have been able to make it this far without it.  Subsquent pregnancies tend to be harder and loss much earlier.  But I am most certainly glad I don't have to sit trapped on the couch with an IV two days a week any longer!

Now we still don't know if this peace and confidence we feel is because the outcome will be great, or because if it's not ok God will be there for us.  I think we've learned from Christian that we won't understand if it doesn't work out but we will continue to trust and have faith.  I will walk around with positive thoughts and hopes and faith in God while still knowing and understanding the possibility of another loss. 

Thanks for keeping up with our updates and continuing to pray for our baby girl!  I'll do another update after everything is done!