Well, we made the trip to the American OB/GYN last Friday. I wish I could say that I walked away with 100% confidence and zero confusion but, sadly, that is not the case. Here's the recap:
Basically, the doctor feels that I'm having a "threatened miscarriage". So, in other words my body is threatening to terminate this baby. The doctor said bed rest hasn't been proven to help in this situation. He did an ultrasound and our little one was, once again, kicking, squirming, and doing well. The baby measured well, measuring almost a week head by the size of his or head and right on schedule by the length of his or her femur. He did note 2 spots that he said could possibly be blood clots but he couldn't tell for sure. Since he feels that bed rest won't help, he released me from that and said I could do whatever I wanted, except run 5 to 10 miles a day. I assured him, that would NOT be a problem!! :~) He also said he didn't see a problem with me flying. I had stopped spotting over the weekend but that has resumed today.
So, where are we now? Well, this morning I spoke with the nurse that works for our board that lives in Dakar. She is going to consult with her partner (also a nurse) and a midwife that works for our board in Virginia. Hopefully, we'll hear back from them on Wednesday.
So, how are we doing? Honestly, we are utterly confused. We are getting two completely different opinions and just don't know which one to follow. We are worried that if I over do it the problem will get worse or that we will indeed have another miscarriage. We are trying to decide what would be best to do for our family, to stay and finish out the remainder of our term (about 10 weeks) or to go ahead and leave now. One thing that is heavy on my mind is an experience some friends of ours just had. Long story short: They decided it was in the best interest of their family to end their term about 8 weeks early. She was pregnant when they left. Well, at 28 weeks into her pregnancy she started having complications. Since she was home the doctors were able to hold her off delivering until 34.5 weeks. She is now the proud mama of a beautiful little girl. If they had not decided to leave early she would have still been in Mali when the problems started at 28 weeks. In the back of my mind I'm thinking, "God, is that what you are doing? Are we having these small problems now so we'll go home early and You know about a different problem that is coming?" We just don't know what to do. If God wants us to stay, then that's what we want to do but honestly we just don't know. Mentally, I am done. I know that 4 weeks of bed rest hasn't helped that situation. Nor has worrying about all the what if's. We are earnestly seeking the Lord's direction in all of this. Our greatest desire is to be obedient to Him, no matter what that means. We're praying that He will give us peace as to the direction we are supposed to take. Please join us in praying.
One side note is that we had a great time with our friends. We even got to spend some time with a couple that we met while we were home last year. They are currently learning French in a neighboring country but will be moving to Mali the end of the month. It was great to spend time away from our home and be with friends. It was a great distraction from all that we have going on. Praise God for this!!
Until next time...
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