The devil is a sneaky one!
The devil kept coming at us in all kinds of ways. Every week, we headed to St. Petersburg for our regular ultrasound, armed with positive thoughts and some kind of motivational trinket; my rosary beads clutched tight, my 'Jesus, I trust in You' medallion, a crystal tucked in my bra, miraculous medals around my neck.
Every week, we left the appointment feeling a little deflated but clutching to our faith. By that evening, I usually had a breakdown and Will would calm me down.
I would tell people, "Our little girl must be really special because the devil is scared of her and he's trying really hard to scare us!" He was trying to scare our faith right out of us
If you look up the meaning of Ella's name, Ella means light and Anne means miraculous and gracious. She is God's Miraculous and Gracious Light and she is here on this earth for a very special reason. She is our little miracle angel. At our gender reveal, Will called his grandmother in Kentucky to let her know that we were having a little girl and that we had chosen Ella as her name. She told him that that was her grandmother's name. We had had no idea but now it was quite clear that she had a very special guardian angel looking over her! (We did not know yet of her CDH)
Isaiah 26:3 "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
Hebrews 12:2 "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..."
Ephesians 6:11 "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil"
After our very first appointment in St. Petersburg, which ended up being about 5 hours or information overload, w were mentally and physically exhausted. Our original OB doctor called to check in later that day and I told him what they had to say. At the end of the conversation, he asked me if I had considered termination. Talk about the devil kicking you when you were down! Our OB had no idea that Dr. Kays and his CDH team even existed. He didn't realize that there was real hope for our little girl.
That's how Jesus works. He put us in the perfect place. When people ask how we found Dr. Kays, I say, "By the grace of God!"
If I haven't mentioned it before, I don't believe in coincidences. I do believe in fate!