Prayer Request - Baby Number 3 is sick

Yesterday (Friday 19th May) Julie went to get her regular scan (she is currently 34 weeks). The scan showed an abnormality in the #3. There is a substantial amount of fluid inside the baby, and the amniotic sack has much less fluid than expected. The fluid is in the baby's tummy, which is extremely bloated as a result. Julie was immediately sent to Queen Mary hospital (the large public hospital here in HK). This hospital is the most well equipped in HK. They repeated the scans, and concluded that the best thing to do is to deliver the baby ASAP and treat it outside the womb. They put Julie on a monitor to determine if this needed to happen immediately or whether it could wait a few days. They determined that the baby was ok for the time being. They gave Julie as steroid (to enhance the baby's preparedness for being born). They will continue this treatment today and tomorrow, and will deliver the baby on Monday. Julie will stay in hospital until after she has recovered from the birth. As yet, they have not been able to identify the cause. The Doctors said that there could be one of 4 different options. 1. A virus. This is kind of bad (for the baby). There is no real treatment for the viruses that may cause this, and, when delivered they will simply try to maintain the baby while it recovers. If this is the case, the baby has an ok chance of survival, but not brilliant as there is risk. 2. Some form of chromosomal abnormality. Not exactly sure how this could cause the problem, but it is a possibility. In early scans Julie was identified as a very very low chance of downs, etc. so we did not do further tests. As a result, there is no way to tell if this is the cause of the issue. 3. Perforated Bowl. This is also a possibility, but looks unlikely as the fluid is very clear. 4. No idea. Apparently in these cases there is a reasonably high chance that we will never know the cause. As the baby is at 34 weeks, and appears (apart from the enlarged tummy - called ascites or something like that) healthy, all doctors are united in thinking its best to deliver it and treat it outside. So, Jules will have a C Section on Monday to deliver the baby. Please pray for us. In particular, please pray for #3's health. We don't know what is wrong, and therefore we have no idea of its survival. Also, please pray for us that we will accept God's will for us, whatever it may be. Harry