At our 20 week anatomy scan it was brought to our attention that our baby girl had a birth defect known as Spina Bifida. Spina Bifida is a neural tube defect that occurs during early pregnancy when the neural tube (which develops into the brain and spinal cord) doesn't close properly. Our little girl has Myelomeningocele, the most severe form, where the spinal cord and its protective coverings protrude through the gap in the spine, forming a sac on the baby's back. This defect leads to walking and mobility problems, orthopedic complications, bowel and bladder symptoms and buildup of fluid in the brain, known as hydrocephalus. Our girls lesion starts at L1 continuing all the way down her spine giving her roughly a 40% of being able to walk on her own. I made a video going into more detail about the diagnosis and have attached to the top of our web page, if you have time I would encourage you to watch as it goes into much more detail about the defect and life after birth. Just in the past decade medical advancements have allowed neurosurgeons to operate on the mothers between 24-26 weeks of gestation to help correct the birth defect and relieve the swelling in her ventricles as well as the Chiari II Malformation. The surgery helps reduce the need for a shunt in the brain immediately after birth. Colleene and Baby Girl will be undergoing the open fetal surgery on April 8th. It takes a team of 20 medical personnel to complete the procedure. Colleene will be on strict bedrest for the duration of the pregnancy. Once our girl arrives, we can expect to be in the NICU for a month as they monitor her brain swelling and potential need for a shunt. We appreciate all the prayers, love and support we have received the past few weeks, and ask you continue to pray for our family as we tackle this next phase in the pregnancy. Many of you have reached out and asked how you can help during this time. Dinner help would be the most beneficial for the foreseeable future. Colleene and I will be spending a lot of time in the hospital coming up, DoorDash gift cards would also go a long way. I will continue to update as we progress through this journey. We feel extremely blessed with all of the love and support we have felt from all of you these past few weeks. It has been a very difficult journey so far, but we have certainly felt the love from everyone.