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