Being Pregnant in Nairobi
This entry is challenging for me to write. How much should I share? I won't go into all the gory details - no one wants to read about that. But a few things I think will help you in the days to come when you might find yourselves in similar situations. Who knows where in the world you will live this out in your life. I know that everyone's experience is unique. Still, I hope this will help. Everything I went through taught me to trust in God and in his love and care for me. Although I was living in a third world country, I believe God provided great doctors for me at every turn... Most of this comes from letters I wrote to your grandparents...
November 8, 1990 -
We still have no phone....October was an interesting month. I went in for a check up because I'd been feeling weird. They did an ECG. Then my doctor sent me to a cardiologist because it seems my heart has premature beats quite often. Well, I had a sonogram done of my heart and had to wear a halter monitor to record my heart for 18 hours. It was uncomfortable and itchy, but everything is fine. My heart is structurally sound and the doctor said I just have an interesting heart beat. I have no restrictions and he said there will be no complications during delivery. I'm glad we got it checked out. It was a little scary. I was afraid both for the baby and about having to stay in bed for 5 more months. Thankfully, all is great!
The fun part is that they looked at the baby, too! The technician and Tom both think it's a boy. At first he was looking up, but then he turned and looked right at us. And we watched him open his mouth and move his arm. The technician took a picture of the screen so we have our first picture of the baby! Honestly, though, he looks like a little alien. How strange but wonderful to be able to see my baby growing inside of me! It's a little blurry, but you can see his eyes and mouth. His name is Nicholas Alexander. When I talk to him now I call him by his name. I'm going to start reading to him next month.
November 19, 1990 -
The baby is 21 weeks old now and I've decided to catch you up on his progress. At the sixth and seventh week the doctor put me on bed rest because of a small concern. After that things got better, except I could not even think of eating roasted meat and I was very tired. The next several weeks flew by with no problems. Then we got back from Germany (a story yet to come) and I didn't feel well. That's when they found out about my heart. All was fine and then on November 2 I developed cramps that would double me over. Silly me didn't go to the doctor until the following Tuesday. From the location of the pain and an elevated white blood count, the doctor suspected appendicitis and put me back on bed rest. No danger to the baby, but the doctor did talk about doing surgery, which frightened me a bit. Today I went to another doctor. He's very good and Tom trusts his judgment completely. He ruled out appendicitis. Perhaps I just had a small infection...I sure hope this is the end of the drama...
That's all for now... I love being pregnant! So far I've only gained 8 pounds. I'm hoping not to go over 20 at the most. I am so hungry at times! Other times I don't care about food. Lately I've had a craving for Triscuits and for your toffee with the chocolate on top that you make at Christmas. Strange combination, huh?! And for Doritos. Oh well, if I could have all that stuff at will I'd probably already have gained 20 pounds!
November 8, 1990 -
We still have no phone....October was an interesting month. I went in for a check up because I'd been feeling weird. They did an ECG. Then my doctor sent me to a cardiologist because it seems my heart has premature beats quite often. Well, I had a sonogram done of my heart and had to wear a halter monitor to record my heart for 18 hours. It was uncomfortable and itchy, but everything is fine. My heart is structurally sound and the doctor said I just have an interesting heart beat. I have no restrictions and he said there will be no complications during delivery. I'm glad we got it checked out. It was a little scary. I was afraid both for the baby and about having to stay in bed for 5 more months. Thankfully, all is great!
The fun part is that they looked at the baby, too! The technician and Tom both think it's a boy. At first he was looking up, but then he turned and looked right at us. And we watched him open his mouth and move his arm. The technician took a picture of the screen so we have our first picture of the baby! Honestly, though, he looks like a little alien. How strange but wonderful to be able to see my baby growing inside of me! It's a little blurry, but you can see his eyes and mouth. His name is Nicholas Alexander. When I talk to him now I call him by his name. I'm going to start reading to him next month.
November 19, 1990 -
The baby is 21 weeks old now and I've decided to catch you up on his progress. At the sixth and seventh week the doctor put me on bed rest because of a small concern. After that things got better, except I could not even think of eating roasted meat and I was very tired. The next several weeks flew by with no problems. Then we got back from Germany (a story yet to come) and I didn't feel well. That's when they found out about my heart. All was fine and then on November 2 I developed cramps that would double me over. Silly me didn't go to the doctor until the following Tuesday. From the location of the pain and an elevated white blood count, the doctor suspected appendicitis and put me back on bed rest. No danger to the baby, but the doctor did talk about doing surgery, which frightened me a bit. Today I went to another doctor. He's very good and Tom trusts his judgment completely. He ruled out appendicitis. Perhaps I just had a small infection...I sure hope this is the end of the drama...
That's all for now... I love being pregnant! So far I've only gained 8 pounds. I'm hoping not to go over 20 at the most. I am so hungry at times! Other times I don't care about food. Lately I've had a craving for Triscuits and for your toffee with the chocolate on top that you make at Christmas. Strange combination, huh?! And for Doritos. Oh well, if I could have all that stuff at will I'd probably already have gained 20 pounds!