Last ultrasound in N.C. - prayer, please!

This is the big one, happening tomorrow: the 18 week scan that looks for any sort of abnormality at all on all 5 babies. We've been warned it will take over 2 hours given the number of kiddos in there! The ultra-sonographer will check for a 3-vessel umbilical cord, the chambers of the heart, any cysts in the brain, Down's Syndrome (trisomy 21), other trisomies, and more. 

We don't have happy memories of this scan with Isaac. They thought he had only a 2-vessel cord, they couldn't image the heart well enough to declare it well-formed, and he had a cyst on his brain. A big one. So then they started talking about the trisomies, including 13, 18 and 21, like it was pretty definite he had one of them. That's the weekend he was named Isaac, because we truly felt like we were putting him on the altar, laying him before God, willing to give him back if the Lord required it of us (trisomies 13 and 18 are always fatal, as I understand it), but praying He would give Isaac back to us! The high-powered, better resolution ultrasound 3 days later verified his cord and heart were perfect, and his cyst was a benign type that almost always resolved on its own by 28 weeks. (Aside: The cyst was bigger than ever at 28 weeks, causing the doctor serious concern, but we asked for two weeks more, sent out a prayer request, had literally hundreds of people praying, and it was GONE by 30 weeks. Not smaller. Gone. The doctor said he couldn't explain it; that they don't just disappear after being so big so late in the pregnancy. What a great chance we had to testify to the power of God and the prayers of His people!)

Anyway, we deeply appreciate prayers for this scan. It starts tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1:00 and we will try to post as soon as we get home.

This scan will also check to see if the frequent contractions I've been having are in any way affecting "the front door's" strength, width and integrity. We pray it's still locked and barred as in all previous ultrasounds, praise God. Especially as we look towards a 3 day car trip back to TX. My amazing Gavin has devised an arrangement to enable me to lie down with my feet up, even in the front seat. (I love him.)

A praise we've been late in mentioning is that our ultrasound on Wednesday went great! All five babies squirming, head-butting, or finger-sucking away, with perfect heartbeats, praise God. Every time I see them I fall more deeply in love with them. :) They've moved around as they've grown and now take up my whole stomach - a boy and girl on top (left and right), another boy and girl in the middle, and a boy at the bottom, smack under my belly-button. It's so cute to feel kicks and squirms going on in all quadrants!

Thank you all for your prayers - we cannot thank you enough. To God be all the glory!

In His loving grip,

Carrie, for us all

Baby sucking fingers; after this was taken he moved his little fist up to the left side of his face. It was cute, albeit blurry. That's another baby's head butting into the picture on the left.
The dark cord-like thing is the sac membrane, the ultrasonographer told us.
The babies are about the length of a bell pepper, so babycenter.com tells us. :)