Novalyn made her presence known to her Mom and Dad on November 13, 2023. To say they were overcome with joy would be an understatement. In Just 3 months, Mom and Dad planned to make the cross-country Move to Dallas, Texas.
Hearing Novalyn's heartbeat for the first time created a feeling of love and happiness we never knew existed. As happy as we were to make the next move to Texas, we were saddened to leave most of our family and friends behind.
We threw a gender reveal party with our family on Mom’s birthday in January. As the pink smoke bomb filled the air, it was joined with the cheers of excitement from family. We thanked God every day for our baby. Little did we know just how much we would need Him to carry us through the next 7 months of Novalyn’s life.
After the gender reveal, it was time to pack up the house. Our last month in California went by so quickly. The week we moved, Novalyn was 20 weeks. Two days before leaving to Texas, we went to our anatomy scan. Our first ultrasound of our baby, the moment in pregnancy that’s anticipated the most.
As most parents would be, we were so excited to see her on the big screen as the sonographer measured Novalyn. The room suddenly became oddly quiet as the sonographer paused and went to get the doctor down the hall. Within moments, our excitement turned to fear and worry as we were now sitting in the doctor’s office. “Please God, let our precious baby be okay…”
The doctor let us know our sweet girl has cysts in both of her kidneys. The medical diagnosis is called Multicystic dyplastic kidney or MCDK for short. As the doctor would explain further, her condition would be life-threatening, and the option was given to terminate or carry full term. We already loved her so much, the word “terminate” made our heads spin just as much as hearing her condition.
"There is nothing you did wrong, this just happens to be a random occurrence that happens in 1/4,300 live births.” Without functioning kidneys, babies are unable to produce their own amniotic fluid, which is essential to major organ growth, such as the lungs.
The drive home was quiet. We both felt numb and brokenhearted. "Your baby is expected to live approximately a couple hours to a couple days", the words still ringing in our heads. In the midst of our pain, our faithfulness stood strong. We pulled over to pray to God for strength and encouragement. As we pulled back into our driveway, we also pulled back into our reality that we were moving to Texas in less than 48 hours. "Lord, I need you!"
We successfully made it to Texas on February 22 and were eager to get a second opinion. The doctor only confirmed what we already knew. This now began her journey of being seen every two weeks, then weekly up until her beautiful appearance in this world on July 1, 2024.
Although we planned for an induced birth on July 6th, God had other plans for Novalyn. The moment she was born was also a moment when it felt time had stood still and everything was perfect. Born at 3:35 pm, a sweet hour went by in her momma’s arms until her last breath at 4:31 pm. Life made brand new in Heaven. 🌟
Despite the heartbreaking outcome, we decided we were going to make the best of the time we had been given with our precious Novalyn Jean.
As the music lovers her parents are, Novalyn attended 3 concerts from the womb. Along with the great music taste from her parents, Sunday worship always made her move along with the beat. Novalyn also attended two Texas Ranger games and many of her uncle Mason’s baseball games from the sidelines.
Novalyn Jean's life is such a blessing and joy to all that love her. Although her life was short-lived on earth, she lives forever in our hearts and an eternity in Heaven with our Lord and Savior. For that, we are eternally grateful and looking forward to being reunited in eternal life.
Written by Alana Wedel, mother of Novalyn Jean, born on 7/1/2024 at 38 weeks, 2 days.
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