Sarah and I thought that it would be easiest to communicate through a CaringBridge website as many of our friends have varying levels of knowledge about our story. This provides a single source of communication as I've found it difficult to keep all of our friends in the loop concerning the difficulties of the last week. I've not been able to keep track of the different pieces of information that I've communicated to each of our friends so I thought it might be helpful to provide a quick overview of the last few years and then a more detailed account of the last week.   

Five years ago Sarah and I started trying to have children. During the first two years, we experienced the heart-wrenching loss of four miscarriages. Each of our miscarriages was pretty low-impact physically for Sarah as we never carried our child past six weeks due to medical conditions that both Sarah and I have discovered a few years ago. We decided to step out in faith one, last time and try to have a child. That was two and a half years ago. Within these two and a half years, there have been seasons of contentment, sorrow, trust, pain, hope, and despair. Last week I was preparing to leave to Orlando for a week of class at Reformed Theological Seminary. One hour before I left for the airport Sarah and I discovered that we were pregnant! 

My week in Orlando was quite the emotional rollercoaster as Sarah stayed at home in Indiana. We received word from our fertility specialists in Indianapolis that Sarah's HCG levels had doubled during the front end of the week. This was the first time we'd ever received good medical news concerning any of our pregnancies! On Thursday Sarah started to grow concerned about a pain in her stomach but that thankfully subsided in the evening and the next day. 

I had an early morning flight on Saturday morning to return home from Orlando. I woke up at 4:30 am for my flight. Sarah texted me at 5:00 am saying that she felt so nauseous that she couldn't pick me up from the airport. My parents graciously offered to pick me up and take me back to Muncie. As soon as I got in the car with my parents in Indianapolis, Sarah called me saying that she had fainted. She called our fertility clinic and they suggested that she get to the emergency room immediately. Thankfully I was able to get ahold of two of our good friends (Ray and Erin Schaaf) who also work with Cru and live in our neighborhood. They came over to take Sarah to the ER and I would meet them all there. Sarah's lightheadedness worsened and she started having unbearable stomach pain so I asked Ray and Erin to order an ambulance to take Sarah to the ER.

I arrived at the hospital 10 minutes after Sarah and I found her in an examination room. We quickly learned that Sarah was experiencing significant internal bleeding which was causing her to faint. Our worst fears were confirmed quickly. Our pregnancy was ectopic. Our six-week-old baby did not make it to the uterus but was stuck in a fallopian tube. Ectopic pregnancies are not viable but our concern was no longer the baby's health but Sarah's. On the way to the ER, her blood pressure dropped dangerously low and after the fact, we found out that she lost half of her blood. She was rushed into surgery and thankfully all went well. The doctor removed the entirety of Sarah's left fallopian tube and I was able to see Sarah immediately after she was taken to her hospital room.  

Sarah and I spent the last two days in the hospital as the staff worked to increase her blood pressure and hemoglobin levels. Thankfully, they were successful and we returned home this morning. Sarah may still be at risk for infections but we are only now beginning to shift out of grave concerns for Sarah's safety and into processing not only the events of the last two days but the culmination of our prayers, waiting, and efforts in having our own biological children. Initial processing has already been excruciating so we ask for your prayers on our behalf over the days, weeks, and months especially. 

In Christ,
David and Sarah Lowry