Update on Molly

Here is the latest with Molly that we just shared via email with family and friends:

Dear family and friends,

Thank you for your support and encouragement over the last week and really over the past few months that we have been on this journey with our daughter Molly and trying to help her broken heart. Today we got the news that we have been dreading, but always knew was the most likely outcome, there was significantly more fluid in Molly’s abdomen and thus there is really nothing more that we can do, at least medically speaking, to help our baby girl.

I will stop the medications I have been taking and we will wait for her to pass. There are more details related to all of this and our appointments this morning, but I really don’t have it in me to get into them right now. If and when I do feel up to it, I will share them here and/or on Molly’s CarePage (http://www.carepages.com/ CarePage Name: BabyBenson2008). We will be meeting tomorrow morning with our regular OB, as there were some concerns today that I was swollen, retaining some fluid myself and my blood pressure was a bit elevated. These are signs of preclampsia and so they will do some tests to try to rule that out or diagnose it. Our understanding if I am not preclampsic is that we will wait for Molly to die in utero before they will deliver her via c-section stillborn. If I were to be preclampsic, they might decide to deliver her sooner, at which point there would still be nothing they could do to save her, but we would then likely be with her when she passed. I will post an update at some point tomorrow after our OB appointment. At the appointment we will likely get a better sense of what to expect going forward and how we will be monitored in preparation for Molly’s passing and delivery.

I plan to contact our hospital’s perinatal support coordinator soon to discuss our options with Molly (as it relates to what they call a “compassionate care delivery” and then what happens after that) and also to get some recommendations for how to approach all of this with Sean. As we have shared before, Sean knows that his baby sister Molly is sick and that her heart doesn’t work the way it should, but we have yet to explain that she might, or now as it seems, that she will die. This is a very difficult and sad time for Bob and me. In some ways it is also a relief, if that makes any sense, after all we have been through both physically and emotionally to have a better sense of what will happen with Molly after weeks and months of not knowing what her fate would be.

Though we never gave up hope that our daughter might survive, we have tried all along to prepare ourselves the best we could for this possible outcome. I can say that as of now Molly is still active and giving me kicks, punches and/or love taps throughout the day. We did get to have another 4D ultrasound this morning and got some more pictures that I will post on CarePages at some point that show our sweet baby girl’s features a bit more. We don’t know for sure how and when this next part of Molly’s life will go. However, when we know more we will definitely update here, on her CarePage and/or send another email(s).

We can’t thank you all enough for the love and compassion you have shown our family over the past few months. It has made this journey a lot more bearable for us. We know that Molly and her journey has touched each of us (and each of you) in our (and your) own way. We hope that we (and you) are able to find some comfort, peace and inspiration in that going forward. Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers, especially now, as we cherish our last days or weeks with our baby girl and prepare for her to go to Heaven. Take care and May God continue to bless you and your loved ones.

Love,
Kathy