We wanted to share some recent news we’ve received regarding our baby/pregnancy with those who are so graciously praying for us. We recently had a sonagram that showed some abnormalities. Specifically, it appears like there is a cyst of some sort on the child’s brain stem. We find out more during an early December appointment. Our doctor encouraged us not to worry but to pray. Our desire is God’s healing while we continue to rejoice in the gift of life He has blessed us with. He is in complete control and we want Him to be glorified in all areas of our lives.
Nathan
I am praying!
Hello,
I’m sorry for this news you have received regarding your precious new baby. I will be praying for you and my children will be praying for you also. They “know” the Maxwells from Sarah’s books as well as the scheduling kit and the chore packs that we use in our family. I know it will be a long wait until December, but God is in control and all things will work together for your good. May His hand of mercy be evident throughout this time. Love, Kathy Hills, Florida
Our family will be praying for you. Our first reversal baby (6th child) was diagnosed at 18weeks in utero with having no brain, only a fluid filled cyst. We lived in Atlanta at the time, where their answer was to have an abortion and try again. We would never consider that, so they told us to come back in 4 weeks for a repeat ultrasound. At that visit, the high risk doctor told us that he’d never seen a cyst completely go away and a brain take it’s place. He had seen them minimize, but never completely go away. We told him what a Mighty God we serve. He still performs miracles. During those 4 weeks we researched many things, and found that cysts on brain stems are common. It may just be that we didn’t have the technology to see them before.
Lean on the Rock. He loves you both so, and has great plans for you.
Love,
The Ruhl Family
p.s. That child is now 3.5 years old, and VERY smart! (and a big brother, praise God)
Just wanted you to know that our family is continuing to uphold you and your precious little one, in prayer!!!! I can only imagine how this news must have hit your hearts that are already knit so tightly to this little blessing, but I am believing for the Lord to hold your hearts every so tenderly in his hands and give you His perfect peace which passes ALL understanding! And, praying for Him to completely take care of this precious child! He is so completely trustworthy!!! Isn’t it so comforting to know that even though this news has taken you by surprise, He is not one bit surprised? None of this has caught Him ‘off guard’! He knew all about this because ALL the days ordained for this little one were written in His book before even ONE of them came to be! Therefore, he can be completely trusted to carry out His perfect will for this child!!!!
You will remain in our thoughts and prayers!
Love in Christ,
Debi in Iowa
Definitely praying for you three! Your baby is a precious gift as I can tell you know already. I have five born children, and words cannot express how I love them (as well as 3 in heaven). God knows and is in control, but it can be very scary when things are not known and could go wrong. Trust, He will be there. However, your fears are so normal, your thoughts might seem wrong to you at times…but you are normal! So glad you have good family support. Praying for healing.
Blessings to you and your lovely family.
Have faith, our God can work miracles! I’ll be keeping you in my prayers.
Praying for the cyst to dissolve. God can and will do miracles.
I will share your request with the children this mornng and we will lift you up in prayer awaiting the Lord’s answer.
When we were pregnant with our fourth (Benjamin), we too were told he had a cyst on his brain (I don’t remember all the details…exactly where it was) and they sent us to Sacramento, CA for a detailed ultrasound. We were told this could indicate the baby has some chromosomal disorder or something. Anyways, when we had the second u/s, there was no cyst there. The doctor in Sac. told us that this was very common in early pregnancy to see these cysts which then dissolve.
I hope that encourages you and we will begin praying for you this morning.
love,
Jaynee
Our family is praying with you. A little research online has yielded that these types of cysts appear very common in early pregnancy, especially these days as u/s technology is developing. Praying that God will dissolve the cyst!
Praying for your little one and for your family’s peace.
Heather
Praying, praying, praying.
Praying with you for healing. May our Lord grant the desires of your heart.
praying!
I will be praying as well. I am sure that this is a scary time for you. When my youngest was still in the womb, an ultrasound showed that he had a “thickening at the base of his neck”. The ultrasound tech said it was probably caused by Down’s Syndrome. We accepted it because we would love the baby no matter what (as I am sure that you would), but when my Gregory was born he was perfect, no Down’s, no other problems. I urge you to take all of your fears to the father. He will understand!
Blessings,
Carie
We are praying for you and your child here and that God would grant you His peace which passes understanding. Our little Molly was born 9 days ago with what they call a sacral dimple near her bottom. THat can sometimes be a form of spina bifida and she will need to get an ultrasound soon, so I am in need of His peace also! Praying, praying!!
Love,
Tina and family
Dear Ones, Our prayers are with you. We understand your fears, yet God is ever faithful. Commit it to Him completely! He will provide. He will not give you more than you can bear.
Our 6th baby was diagnosed with a choroid plexus cyst early in pregnancy which, like a previous poster said, could possibly be an indicator of certain chromosomal disorders. It was shown to be completely dissolved at a later ultrasound and she was born perfectly healthy! I since learned via an internet search that the majority of these “cysts” that can be seen turn out to be inconsequential. Hope this gives you some hope and encouragement! God bless.
Just wanted to let you both know that our family is praying for you as well. I follow this site quite frequently and feel I know each member of your family so personally. The blogs have been quite an encouragement to me as I stay home with 2 of my 4 little ones. Hope everything turns out okay. I know it will seem like an eternity till that next appointment but He is still in control.
Praying in Faith,
Robyn
When I was pregnant with my fifth child they told me that
there was something wrong with his liver. I had an ultrasound
the day before and they did not report it to me the following day.
He was due the following week and I knew this baby would come
either way. They said something showed on the ultrasound and
they had to notify by law. I went in for another ultrasound the following
week and they discovered no cyst. I will be praying for you’re precious
baby. Our “Bryan” is now eleven years old and in great health.
God Bless you and your family!
Just want you to know that we are praying for this little Maxwell. As you already know, our Heavenly Father is totally in control. We will pray for the cyst to dissolve and for Christ to get the glory!!
Still praying for you guys! My daughter had some problems at birth, and in the following months, that led us to believe that she would probably have mental retardation. But guess what? That sweet baby is now two years old, and can talk your ear off, sing “Jesus Loves Me” at the top of her voice, and run to keep up with (and sometimes away from!) her three-year-old big brother! She is completely normal and completely perfect, and we would have loved her no matter the outcome. Stay strong and DO NOT give up hope!
Praying for you all now.
We’ve also seen God do three miracles in three pregnancies. #1 was born with a hole at the base of her spine. An MRI showed everything was fine. She then had RSV at 2 weeks and chronic asthma for 4 years after that. Now, she’s 7 and perfectly healthy. Hardly even gets a cold. A sonogram at 20 weeks with #2 showed the placenta covering the cervix. Another sonogram at 32 weeks revealed it didn’t quite cover it, and we had an easy normal delivery at 40 weeks. #3’s heart rate was very slow at 7 weeks, and with my history of miscarriages the doctor told us there was a high chance the baby would die. At 8 weeks, the heart rate was normal, and we went on to have a perfectly healthy baby. She’s now 21 months and VERY active.
It’s not my favorite way to build faith and trust, but only God knows what we need. Praying for your family now and always.
Blessings.
Georganne
We will be praying steadfastly for this little baby, for Melanie as she carries this treasure from God, and for Nathan as he leads this precious family. All of God’s gifts are good, and this little baby is a special blessing.
With love to all of the Maxwells,
Sarah, for all in our family
My prayers are lifted up for Melanie, Nathan, and of course, the baby. We pray that the cyst will be completely absorbed and all will go well. The Lord is good – an awesome God, and He will bless you all. Love you all. Aunt Ruth
Our family will keep you and your little one in our prayers for complete healing.
I am new to your site and I wanted to encourage you also. When I was pregnanat with my first 8 years ago, I had alot of problems too, but God was faithful as only Him could and my son is a very healthy boy today.
When I got pregnant with my second, I had a lot of complications (pre-eclampsia and toxema) i almost lost my life, the docs had to perform an emergency c-section at 6 months. When she came, she weighed only 2lbs 6oz. They said she was not going to make through the first week – that was 5 years ago! She is a healthy girl today to the glory of God. Let not your heart be troubled. Faithful is He who has called you who also will do it.
God bless you.
Elizabeth
I will pray as well. Remember that God can do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think!
I will prayer for you that God’s will be done…and that we all have the grace sufficient to see his blessings. I have several children with disabilities, and while the work is hard, I know that the chaff in our lives has been burned away and that I am truly blessed by the trust the Lord has shown me with my blessings.
God bless you both, and your family, as you pray. I will pray as well that it is nothing, for through God every trial is a fulfillment.
Exodus 4:11
So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing ,or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?”
Nathan and Melanie, our family will be praying for this sweet baby and healing. Rest in the Lord (Psalm 37:7) and remember He is in control of absolutely everything. Cry out to Him and cling to Him through this season. Sometimes I think in seasons such as this, He is growing us in Him. Believe me, these growing pains are hard, but you will be so blessed for being faithful and clinging to Him. He wants us to praise Him when things go our way and praise Him when they don’t. You two are going to make wonderful parents and I look forward to wathing your family grow!
Love and God bless, Lisa and John, Noah, Elizabeth,Caroline and Mary
Nathan,
We had dear friends given the same report. The tumor continued to grow and they were advised to abort. But they remained faithful to God in prayer and we all watched sonogram videos of the tumor shrinking in the last months of pregnancy and the precious little girl was born without even a mark on her head…perfect in every way! Press on in faith and know that there are those that have gone before you and seen the hand of God move on behalf of their little ones.
We are praying.
The Costner Family
We, too, had the cyst scare in an early ultrasound. They saw several, advising us that we may be looking at severe deformities/defects if the baby lived through the pregnancy at all. At a follow-up, one month later, the cysts were shrinking, and eventually left. Uncomplicated remainder of the pregnancy, uncomplicated natural birth, and a beautiful, brilliant 2-year-old now to show for it all! God is so faithful. We can see so much about the baby’s development now that was just left to the Lord before. Sometimes that causes as much worry as it does reassurance.
Trust and wait.
God bless you and your little one.
We experienced many trials and tribulations in this area. The scripture we held on to was, Psalms 113:9 “He makes the barren woman to keep house, and TO BE a joyful mother OF CHILDREN. Praise ye the Lord.” God is faithful. We found it important to think on those things that are of a good report . We have four healthy children now, Praise the Lord!!The youngest had every imaginable diagnosis possible given to her and none of them were good! We looked at each ‘report’ as an opportunity to trust God and to pray for specific areas for her. It wasn’t until she was born that we were able to ‘see’ God’s faithfulness. She only weighted 1 lb 12 ounces, her length was 13 and 1/4 th inches at birth . She is completely normal physically, mentally and other wise, NONE of the medical predictions happened[even though the sonograms showed them], TO GOD BE THE GLORY! We will be praying for you and your beautiful baby.
May our merciful God touch your precious baby and heal him/her. But more important, may He give you his unending peace, whatever the circumstances. God bless you both.
Praying here too! May the Lord fill you both with His peace.
Nathan,
Our Lord worketh all things out for good to them who fear Him.
Being the 3rd of 9 with which our Lord has blessed my parents I remember several pregnancies. I was the only one who had any complications (born breach), however, when Mom carried our 8th she was extremely weak. Truly God is gracious, blessing all of my family with bodily health. Having never had tests or ultra sounds we were never troubled with bad news like you. Perhaps we thus lost these unknown opportunities to put our trust in God, although isn’t life itself a continuous test of our trust in God, our reliance on Him? While I think knowing not what God has chosen may give greater peace, I know that God provides grace sufficient unto the day regardless of that where unto He has called each of us. May His name be glorified.
With appreciation to Him Whose life it is I see, for that life, Christ’s, shown through your family. Your brother in Jesus our Lord, Nathan
Just wanted to let you know our family is lifting you all up in prayer. We faced a similar situation with our oldest daughter. Only God could help me get through that time. When we went for a second, more intense ultrasound no cyst could be found. Our daughter was born healthy and fine. We are praying that He will hold you all in the palm of His hand.
I’m a young mom (25) and my husband and I have had our share of pregnancy struggles. After our first daughter(now 5yrs) was born two days after our first wedding anniversary we struggled to get pregnant for years. Then after a short pregnancy Jesus took our baby home to him. Next came our first son, (now 2yrs). He was quickly followed by a little sister 13 months later. She is nearly 1, and less than 2 months ago we sent another little one home to heaven after another short pregnancy. We have come to know that God truly openeth and closeth the womb, and glory to His wisdom. We enjoy our babies that we have with us, and look forward as a family to our babies who have already gone to heaven. I know this time is hard, that Satan will press upon you and try to fill you with fear. My prayer for you is that you will have peace, that God’s will be done, and that you feel the presence of His spirit in your lives daily. Enjoy every moment you have with this child in your womb. He is not yours, but only on loan from our Father.
Praise God that you have fully and whole heartily put your trust in the one who can STILL perform miracles. We are praying for you! God blessed us with two miracle children. Our six year old was diagnosed with a severe liver/heart blood-flow problem in my 6th month of pregnancy. She was not expected to survive birth and might have bled to death in between visits to the doctor. She was born, beautiful and healthy and is now our chatty blonde haired blue eyed Anna Grace. Two weeks after Anna was born our 9 year old was diagnosed with leukemia when she was three. She is completely recovered and we praised the Lord as she sang to Him at our Christmas Eve service. Every day with our children is a gift from the Lord. HE has provided in EVERY way and we love to tell everyone how HE was and is our all in all! We have been since blessed with a little boy, now 4 years old and such a joy. We will pray for your family and this little life that God has blessed you with! Our trials have certainly brought us closer to Him and we pray the same for you all!