Change of Plans: Thailand Bound

Our new year is already off to a crazy start!

On Jan 2, I went in for a routine dr.'s appointment with my ob/gyn at the hospital right behind our house. After I mentioned to her that I had been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions, she sent me down for an ultrasound. One moment, we were all three smiling at our sweet baby's little toes & nose, and the next, we learned I was showing at least one sign of possible preterm labor. I was prescribed bed rest and progesterone and instructed not to travel (despite our already scheduled vacation and visa run coming up in less than two weeks!).

{Look who joined me at the doctor's office that day. He had raisins, so he was happy!}

{Being on bed rest with a toddler is not easy! M definitely enjoyed the extra movie time though.}

{He was even kind enough to bring me bananas... and always an extra one for himself of course!}

That week, we decided to head to a larger city for a second opinion... which was an adventure of its own... complete with our flight being redirected in mid air to a different city, where we had to spend the night.

{Can you spy my two guys in the busy airport?}

{After waiting in the airplane for about 2 hours, we finally got off the plane and into a bus to sit and wait in the airport for a while.}

{Poor K had to stand in so many long lines throughout this process... waiting for boarding passes, hotel vouchers, room key, etc. Of course, I use the word "line" as loosely as possible... each "line" was more like a mass of people around a counter, all trying to be the loudest and most aggressive. We finally got a room about 2 a.m. when K said, "Look, my wife is pregnant!"}

{My two loves!}

{Though we didn't enjoy the reason, it was pretty interesting to see a different area of the country we live in. The North has an entirely different feel to it!}

Once we finally arrived and saw a doctor here, we were told that the first issue should be OK, but that there was a new concern: raised resistance in baby's umbilical cord, a problem that can sometimes require very early delivery.

{All these long days at the doctor are hard on little M! I was still so thankful to have had he and K with me though.}

To make a long and stressful story short, we are now heading to Thailand tomorrow - not for vacation like we'd planned originally, but to stay until our new baby is born. We are praying that baby would be full-term and healthy, proving this little detour to be totally unnecessary!

All throughout this hard journey, there have been so many blessings... so many reminders of God's sovereignty and plan. But one blessing that I have never been so grateful for is my amazing husband. Through it all, he has been Super Dad... changing diapers, preparing (or ordering!) meals, and keeping M entertained. He's packed up our belongings all on his own not once but twice... once for us to come for a second opinion and then again when he flew back to our city to pack us up for the next 3+ months. He's reassured and encouraged me. He's handled all our travel, lodging and other arrangements. I am sure I am leaving out a lot that he's done, but the point is that he's been wonderful!

Needless to say, this expectant mommy has still been on a roller coaster of emotions for the past week and a half. We love our city in South Asia... Our home is there, our friends are there, and the language we are learning is actually usable there! I had truly looked forward to having our child there... and had even hoped to walk to the hospital once labor began.

{The hospital where we had originally planned to deliver}

It's less than half a mile from our home, but wouldn't that have been a good story to tell this little one someday?

But we know the One directing our every step, and our trust is in Him! Psalm 139 has been a passage that I have really clung to since all of this began. It's full of so many promises that leave me in awe of the God we serve, but these verses are especially sweet to me right now:

"My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

    the days that were formed for me,

    when as yet there was none of them."

Psalm 139:15-16

Ultrasounds are useful and pretty amazing, but they don't even begin to compare with the view our God has of this baby. He sees this child... He knows this child... He LOVES this child! And He's already written down every moment of every day of his or her life. Truths like that make me feel awfully small, but I don't mind feeling small when I realize how great & almighty HE is!