Anna and Mark began making weekly trips to Iowa City for appointments with the high risk doctors at the University of Iowa. Cecilia's condition became a roller coaster of ups and downs and mildly good news and very bad news. The following letter was written after one of these many visits.
Mark, Anna and their families began to prepare themselves for a difficult journey in which the fate of their sweet Cecilia is very unsure.
Dear Friends and Fam,
We want to share the finding of our latest trip to Uof I hospital with Anna and Cecilia.
All of the high risk Drs. had met and reviewed the data from the weeks prior. It is their unanimous conclusion that Cecilia’s prognosis is very poor. They find just too many unchangeable conditions for Cecilia to survive long term.
When she is born she may live a few minutes or a few days because she will enter the world having had the benefit of Anna’s body doing all the work for her. When she needs to do basic human functions like breath and swallow and eliminate for herself her body won’t be able to function at a level that will sustain her life for very long. Her bones are not forming correctly and just holding her may cause them to break.
It is hard for us to take in and process this information but we stay committed to wanting what is best for her. Anna and Mark are very brave in knowing this and still moving forward with the day to day process of pregnancy. It is the Drs. opinion that allowing her birth to happen as naturally as possible is in the best interest of all. We expect that to be mid to late July.
We feel blessed by and thankful for the many notes, hugs, and prayers we have received. It truly helps to know we are supported through this difficult time. While this is painful and we are grieving there have been many beautiful and loving moments that have touched us in a way that we are forever changed. For those moments we are grateful and we honor Cecilia for bringing them to light. We thank God for the grace and strength to see these moments. We thank you for your prayers and ask you to keep us in them for the weeks to come.
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