Dear Friends and Family,
Zach is definitely ready for the new baby to arrive. He knows that we have to wait for the baby to come before we can return to Burundi, and he thinks it is taking all together too long, so last night he decided to take matters into his own hands, literally. He crawled up next to me on the bed, put one hand on each of my sides, stared at my belly button intently, and announced, "OK, Mommy. I'm just going to squeeze the baby out right now." When told that that wouldn't work, he was undaunted and headed straight for his toy Bug Vacuum so he could suck the baby out instead!!
I have reached 31 weeks now, which means that the baby probably wouldn't have to be on a ventilator if it came now, though it still wouldn't be able to nurse properly and would probably need a feeding tube. As I get farther along and chances for the baby get better, however, the risks of having a severe bleed as a result of the placenta previa get worse. Sometimes as the uterus grows at the end of a pregnancy it can cause a low lying placenta to tear, which would cause bleeding, and if I start to dilate at all there will be bleeding for sure. According to the research I have done online, there is a less than 40% chance of my placenta moving enough to allow for a normal delivery, and around a 70% chance of having a bleeding episode before I reach 36 weeks. If I start to bleed, I will need to get to the hospital in minutes, not hours.
After learning and praying about all this, we decided we should move to a place closer to the hospital. The Ryders house is about 20-25 minutes away from the hospital in the middle of the night with no traffic and over an hour in the midday rush. On top of all that, the opposition leader has called for three days of rallies starting on Wednesday after compromise negotiations failed, and any resulting riots would be likely to happen between the Ryders house and the hospital and prevent us from getting there at all.
We have now relocated to the Mennonite Guest House on the same side of town as Aga Khan Hospital. We are sad to have to spend the extra money, but are thankful there are places like this available. The main downfall of living here is that we will have to wait for a taxi to arrive to take us to the hospital in case of emergency, but we have a list of 24 hour numbers, and we are only 20 minutes from the hospital in bad traffic and 5 minutes with none. Zach is enjoying the big yard and playground, and for the moment there are lots of other kids around, which he loves. Jesse is enjoying the library of theology books and is making progress on his course work.
As for me, we will know for sure whether or not I will need a c-section after my next ultrasound at 34 weeks. Until then we continue in limbo hoping and praying that we really don't need to be here :).
Thanks again for the emails and prayers. I especially enjoyed the Christmas newsletters some of you sent.
Joy
