Bangkok Underwater

"Heavy monsoon rains have been drenching Southeast Asia since mid-July, causing mudslides and widespread flooding. The deluge has now reached Bangkok, with rising water and associated problems affecting most of the city's 10 million residents. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said that parts of the capital could be inundated by up to 1.5 meters of water and remain flooded for up to a month. Around Bangkok, the second-largest airport has closed, food prices are soaring, clean water is becoming scarce, and the country is declaring a holiday from Thursday until Monday to allow people to evacuate. The Chao Phraya river is predicted to overflow its banks in the city sometime today, and authorities say that if the protective dikes fail to hold the water, all parts of Bangkok will be vulnerable to the floodwater."


-Above article and photos below from The Atlantic

Latest Flood Update...

Today everyone has been nervously running around preparing for the flooding to enter our area, but as we get ready for bed tonight things are remain dry. People are saying for sure by the weekend the flood will arrive to this area. As of tomorrow all government offices are closed down, and most schools and universities.  Rusty went to the convenience store today and all the bottled water and food is sold out.

Thankfully we are on the 18th floor or our building, stocked up on water and food, and only a 1 minute walk (or swim) from the hospital. We've heard that thousands of people are evacuating Bangkok and going up to the North.

In other news, we went in for my 30 week check up tonight and my cervix continues to shorten. Now it is down to 1.8 cm (two weeks ago it was 2.4 cm).  So, I will continue following strict bed rest (no sitting or walking), and only getting up for the toilet. The ultrasound is estimating that he weighs about 3.5 lbs now, so that is encouraging.

Yesterday I had a crabby bedrest day, and I knew I needed to get some new perspective. Today after my appointment my attitude has shifted and I want to do whatever I need to do to keep this little guy in until at least 34 weeks.

A little lesson on the cervix.

I've gotten quite a few questions about what it means that my cervix is shortening, so I thought I would give a quick little explanation.

Cervical shortening is the same as efffacement (maybe a more familiar term) or put more simply, thinning. Before you start dilating, your cervix thins out (shortens, or effaces).

Normally the cervix doesn't start making these changes (effacing or shortening) until you are getting closer to your due date, but for people with cervixes like mine (incompetant cervix) they start preparing for labor before they should putting us at risk for premature delivery.

A normal/average cervical length during pregnancy is about 4cm, which is what mine measured at my 22 week appointment. At my 28 week appointment it was down to 2.4 cm.

So, in other terms a 4 cm cervix is 0% effaced. A 2 cm cervix is about 50% effaced, and 100% effacement means there is no cervix left and you are just waiting for the cervix to dilate or open up.

Hopefully I didn't confuse you more than before you started reading.

29 weeks.

The 29 week mark arrived and passed on Tuesday of this week! We had a really nice time with our Akha friends Joe and Ae from Chiang Rai. I will say that though I miss them, I don't miss eating bamboo worms every night for dinner. I have no problem with fresh bamboo worms just fried up with salt, but when they are put back in a bag in the fridge and reheated each meal something starts to turn in my stomach--though I have become a pro at hiding it on my face.

Moving on...

Next Wednesday night I go in for my 30 week appointment. So far my days with this little one continue to be uneventful, which is what we are hoping for at this point...lots of uneventful days until he gets bigger and stronger.

I have had my moments of feeling like I was going to lose it if I had to stay in this bed another day, but mostly I'm able to put things into perspective. In those moments I remind myself what the trade off would be at this point (tears and worry in a NICU), and then I become more at ease with the waiting.

I've finished up the projects I've been working at for the Akha Youth Develoment Center in Chiang Rai, and have been plugging away at my reading and writing papers for my online classes. I've been reading a few good books, learning how to knit (still horrible), playing scrabble with Rusty, SKYPing and researching everything I ever wanted to know about online.

Watched this video off my friend Constance's blog this morning and loved it. It's short and sweet and will make you smile.



Random? Yes. But what do you expect from me these days?

Apparently the floods are entering Bangkok tonight and everyone is running around stalking up on water and dried noodles and sandbagging. We'll see if things change by morning.

To extend my randomness, here are some other adorable things I have been using my time to look at on pinterest. Rusty is rolling his eyes at me, but I just can't help myself.

baby giraffe

baby hippo

baby hedgehog

28 weeks!

Just got back from my 28 week appointment, and feeling very excited to have made it to this milestone! My cervix last week was 2.5 cm and this week was 2.4 cm, so we are excited for such a small change. The baby is still doing well, and now estimated to be about 2.8 lbs.

Tonight I had my first injection of steroids for the baby's lungs. I need a total of four IM injections every 12 hours, so I will be self-injecting the final three shots in my apartment so that I don't have to go back to the hospital for each appointment.

I don't have another appointment for two more weeks, so the plan is to continue to lay low and keep this little one inside for as long as I can. My friend Blah has been taking care of me this last week and I have been spoiled by her amazing Thai and Akha cooking.

Sweet Blah

We have had a really nice week together and I'm sad to see her go tomorrow. She helped me quite a bit with getting projects done for the child sponsorship program, so that feels like a weight lifted off my shoulders.  Needless to say she hates Bangkok and city living, and is ready to get back to the fresh air of Chiang Rai, and her family. You can see by the pictures below that Chiang Rai and Bangkok are two very different places.

Home at the Akha Youth Development Center in Chiang Rai.

View from my apartment window in Bangkok.

Rusty came back today, and tomorrow two of our other wonderful Akha friends Joe and Ae will be coming to stay with us for the next five days. They are fellow staff at the foundation we work with and they care for the 55 kids that live at the Akha Youth Development Center. The kids are all on school break, so they decided to come down for a visit. 

Feeling so thankful tonight for the wonderful friends and family in my life, and for a good update on the old cervix!

Flooding in Thailand

Photos from The Toronto Sun

According to this article by BBC, the flooding in Thailand is now affecting 58 of the 77 provinces, and there is not much hope for the near future. Heavy rain continues in forecast, and the reservoirs are at full capacity  with rivers overflowing. It will be a huge hit on the rice farmers, whose fields are submerged with water. The flooding has affected more than two million people.

27 Week Appointment

Well, last night's appointment wasn't horrible, but it wasn't what we were hoping for either. My cervix is continuing to shorten, but not drastically. Last week it was 2.8cm and last night measured 2.5cm. My doctor wants to wait one more week to give me my first round of the steroid shots (next week Wednesday). This week the baby was head down, and estimated to weigh about 2.6 lbs (1.2 kg).

People have been asking me if I'm doing okay after the picture I posted. The first four days were the hardest, but I feel like it's getting better. Ironically my back and neck are less sore as time passes.  I have also gotten into a little more of a routine finding ways to still do my work from the foundation in Chiang Rai and work on my online studies. This helps with my sanity level.

Rusty has been making all my meals, cleaning, and doing the laundry. Though he has been wonderful, I think a little break for him to get out of this cooped up little apartment will really help. On Friday one of my close Akha friends from Chiang Rai named Blah will be coming down to be with me for a week, and swap places with Rusty so that he can will head up north to try and get some of his work done for the foundation.

I've had lots of visitors this last week which helps time pass too. Some good Thai friends of mine, Akha friends, and last night three of Olive's nurses from the government hospital came over for a visit.

After my appointment last night I am ready to remain in bed as long as I need to, to give this little guy the best chance that I can. Olive was born at 28.5 weeks. Normally babies born at 28 weeks tend to do fine in NICUs, but with all that went wrong with Olive, 28 weeks is no longer comforting. I'm trying to focus on the positives (at least I still have some cervix, my water hasn't broken, I'm near a great hospital, I'm not in labor...) and remain hopeful.

Some friends have asked if this is bringing up a lot of grief and emotions thinking about Olive. At this point I'm not really letting myself go there, because I think it will be too much for me to handle right now. The night of my 26 week appointment when my doctor told me that my cervix is changing and that I will most likely deliver another premature baby I panicked and couldn't hold back my tears. I went to the bathroom to try and pull myself together and kept reminding Jesus throughout the evening that I couldn't handle to lose another baby, or watch them suffer with all sorts of complications.

This verse in Matthew, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own," feels pretty practical to me right now. I'm not going to prepare for the worst, but keep hoping for another day to pass to keep this little guy safe and sound inside of me. Whatever happens, I will deal with it when it comes...and I for one am thankful that I can't see into the future. 

day #4 of complete bed rest