John the Baptist and Ping the Duck

We're reading through a book called The Story About Ping for homeschool this week. I remember reading it when I was young, although I didn't remember much of the story line. I particularly remember little Ping snatching up the rice cake out of the little boy's hand in the river.

A big thematic element is obedience and honoring/submitting to authority. Little Ping fails to return to his master when he realizes he'll be the last duck on the boat. He didn't want to get a spank from his master for being late. Instead, he hid. While he escaped that spank, the next morning he couldn't find his boat and [SPOILER ALERT] almost became dinner for another family who picked him up.

Anyways, we spent some time talking about obedience to authority and I explained who my authority figures are. I asked him who his are. I was looking for answers like God, Mommy, and, Daddy. Instead he said "God and Jesus" 

Me: "Anyone else?"

Aden: "John the Bestest?

I guess I need to work on my pronunciation.

Afterwards, he and his naked brother worked on a paw patrol puzzle. 

Miscarriage in Africa (Part 2)

So after we arrived back home from the hospital, John ran into Freetown with the intent of finding a place to have the D&C done and also a place for the tissue to be looked out to rule out cancer and determine if it was, in fact, a molar pregnancy.  He spent all afternoon going from place to place and came home very frustrated with the lack of customer service that we're so accustomed to in the states.  A new place, Aspen Medical was one of the only places that was helpful.  They put John in touch with the only pathologist in the country at Connaught Hospital in Freetown.  About 15 minutes before we found that information out, I had already called our travel agent to see about getting a flight out to the states on Thursday or Friday.  We were just unsure of whether we could get it done in country or not and the procedure was recommended to be completed within the week.  

We decided to try and go back to St. John's hospital the next day for the D&C since we trusted the doctor and he had already seen my personal case.  However, there were several unknowns: 

1. Would they be able to do the procedure that day 

2. Did they have the solution needed to preserve the tissue so we could transport it to the pathologist.  

Luckily, Emily was already heading to the hospital for her CHASL meeting and was able to find out for us.  By 9 am we got the go ahead and were on our way! 

By 10:30 we were at the hospital, checking in.  We had to pay for the procedure prior and it was 250,000 Leones which is about $45.  Then we had to pay another $13 for the equipment needed for my IV, prophylactic antibiotics, saline, and drugs for my conscious sedation.  John was running back and forth from the pharmacy buying what was needed, as needed.  Around 11:30 my nurse Isata got my IV line ready and I got dressed in my surgery gown.  

Hanging out with my IV line waiting for surgery.

A little after 12, they ushered me back to the operating room called the Theater.  John really wanted to come back with me and it sounded like they wouldn't let him.  The anesthesiologist started shooting me up with some drugs and taking the necessary vitals.  I remember asking him "don't you need to know my weight?" He then proceeded to look me up and down and actually made a guess that was right on so I shut my mouth.  

At that point, I was washing the gynecologist getting scrubbed in and them getting out the sterilized instruments and I started getting really nervous.  "Oh my gosh! What was I thinking getting surgery done in Africa? I don't want to see this.  I don't want to be seeing this.  Can't they knock me out already?"  And then I saw a breath of fresh air (my husband) come in.  They let him put on scrubs and a hair net and join us in the operating room.  I was simultaneously so glad to see him but also felt bad for him that he would have to see me go through this.

And then the next thing I knew was that I was waking up and they said the beautiful words "All Done".  I remember feeling so happy and thankful and possibly still a little loopy.  The Italian doctor gave me a big smile and put both hands to his lips and made a "muah" sound like you picture all Italians doing.  I remember seeing John's face and him telling me that the doctor recanted and believed it was NOT molar based on his findings.  Yay!! I also remember telling the guy rolling me out on the gurney what a great job he was doing.  I recovered there for about 30 minutes and we made the journey home. 

Post surgery thumbs up and probably still a little loopy 

On the way home, I finally got to eat for the day so stuffed my face with some peanut butter crackers and took some hydrocodone that I had never taken from a wisdom tooth extraction a year ago.  John and I enjoyed a nice ride home.  I feel like throughout this trial, God has been near me and so it has made it easy to trust in him and for the most part my emotions have been quite steady and content, even finding joy throughout much of my day.  Now that a few days have passed since the miscarriage and surgery, I have noticed my emotions fluctuating and having times where I feel the loss more strongly, but I think that is what can be expected.  May I continue to look to my Lord and find comfort in His presence. 

Things I was thankful for:
1. That I was able to get my D&C done in Africa and didn't have to rush my family to the states.
2. That I had a very experienced surgeon and one of the best hospitals in Sierra Leone
3.  John was able to be there with me in surgery
4. Most likely the pregnancy was not molar
5. Robin and Emily again for watching my kids, and Emily just happening to be at the hospital for a meeting that has been planned for months so she could ask the necessary questions.
6. Sooo many friends and family that have reached out to me with emails and messages of love, comfort, and encouragement.  

Miscarriage in Africa (part 1)

Today I was planning on sharing with the world (ahem: facebook) that we were going be expecting a new addition to our family come May.  I had a cute little Halloween shirt that Alice (the newest member of our team who arrived Thursday) was going to bring in.  It was black and then had the white bones of the Mom and then you could see the baby's bones too and it was waving.  

However, God's plans for me were different.  I had a different feeling about this pregnancy than the others.  The whole time I had felt more on edge.  When I was around 7 weeks, we got an ultrasound at one of our friend's house (Dr. Asher).  Her machine wasn't super high powered, but even so, we saw the flicker of the heartbeat and a small little baby in there.  That quelled my doubts for a few weeks until a friend of mine went through a miscarriage around 12.5 weeks.  I had purchased a doppler to use here because I thought it might be nice to monitor things at home since medical care is a little less accessible here. After the news of my friend, I got out the doppler and gave it a go.  At the time I was about 10 weeks and I couldn't find the heartbeat.  However, its very difficult to find the heartbeat with a doppler so early so I chalked it up to my inexperience.  However it prompted me to see if John would take me to the hospital for an ultrasound this past Tuesday when I would have been a little over 11 weeks.

Monday night I was getting my boys ready for bed and noticed some wetness on my shorts.  I decided to go check it out.  I remember at the time thinking "I wonder if I'm miscarrying?" And I was.  I kept thinking to myself "no, no, this is not supposed to happen!" I immediately called Emily and Robin who both comforted and advised me.  I layed down the rest of the evening and drank some water.  Emily told me "many people have some bleeding in the first trimester".  I didn't sleep well and was cramping.  

The next morning was quite traumatic.  I'll be vague on the details but it's been many years since I have cried that hard over a loss.  At that point, I was quite certain what was happening.  The night before I felt like my heart had made peace with what was happening, but the actual act of miscarrying was WAY MORE emotionally painful than the fact that we wouldn't get to add another Campbell to our clan mid May. John took the day off to be with me.  The boys stayed near and we let them watch movies.  

I am part of a "mom group" on facebook and they encouraged me to go get a scan to confirm.  Many of them had similar symptoms with a SCH (subchorionic hematoma- basically a huge bruise that can bleed and release clots) and were hoping that was all mine was.  This gave me a little bit of hope! Maybe I wasn't miscarrying after all! I did try and keep my heart guarded but I would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for a different outcome.

We drove about 1.5 hours to Lunsar.  They have a hospital called Saint John of God there.  We signed in and walked straight to maternity.  When we got to maternity... they sent us back to the very front gate.  I guess they thought we were visitors because we were white, but they have a different protocol for patients.  I went throught the Ebola screening and was led to pay for our services and get a chart made up for us.  

Once we were all signed in, we waited in a hall with several other people.  We started a conversation with our neighbors who asked us what we were doing in the country.  We told him we worked under Willamette International and do a lot of water projects.  Turns out the guy, Eugene, knew Emily and would be seeing her the next day for a CHASLE (Christian Health Association of Sierra Leone) hosted by that hospital. 

Not too long after, we were ushered in to meet the doctor.  There was a nurse and a gynecologist both from Italy serving stints at the hospital.  They had the cutest accents but their English was not great.  They had me get up on the exam table.  I assumed they were going to do an abdominal ultrasound so when she asked me to pull down my skirt, I pulled it down about 2 inches.  Then she said, "No. All the way." Well, I assumed something was lost in translation so I just pulled it down 2 more inches.  Well this game kept on going for a while until I figured out there was no mistranslation and all my propriety was forced out the window.  Anyways, we all got friendly real quick.  They seemed real confused at what they were looking at on the ultrasound. They seemed incredulous that I had an ultrasound that showed a baby and a heartbeat. 

After the ultrasound was over, the doctor in his Italian accent said, "no baby, no pregnancy." He explained he thought my pregnancy was a molar pregnancy in which the fetus was not really a fetus and never had a heartbeat but more like a benign growth.  Molar pregnancies need at least a D&C to remove it, but sometimes require drugs if the growth has invaded the organ and can sometimes even become cancerous although he assured me that was very rare.  He did insist on needing the tissue examined by a pathologist to see if it had invaded the uterus and to make sure its benign. But unfortunately they didn't have a pathologist at the hospital so we would have to get the D&C done elsewhere at a place that was able to examine the histology.  Oh, and nobody there knew of a place in the country that was able to do that. 

A flower arrangement sweet Anabelle brought for me...

Well this post is already super long, so I'll leave it here at this cliffhanger and try to write more tomorrow... 

Here it's what I was thankful for this day:

1. John was so wonderful. He was so comforting yet he also pointed to me to God in my pain.

2. John was able to stay home with me on Tuesday and take me to the hospital on Wednesday. He has been SO busy with work and definitely missed important meetings and things he's been planning for months that were coming to fruition just this week.

3. A very well trained and I'm assuming very experienced gynecologist was at the hospital to help us. He had only been there one week prior to me showing up and is only in the country for two months.

4. I had Emily and Robin for comfort and friendship and they have been there for me.  They watched my kids and feed my family for entire days even amidst preparing for two short term and one long term missionaries that arrived on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

Puppies

Chloe had eight puppies a little over a month ago. They are so adorable now!

Archer is a big fan.  He wants to hold as many puppies as possible and chases them around trying to pick them all up.

Marie, Owen, and Robin

What I'm loving hearing my kids say right now...

Aden:

-I would be more pleased with daddy if he built me a wood cutting machine.

-his prayer last night at dinner: thank you God for this food, thank you for letting me go back to Marie's house to play after dinner, and thank you for giving me this lovely brother that I can play with. (I think that middle "thank you" was more of a supplication!)

-I'm afraid it's your turn Mommy.

Archer:

His new favorite word is "mope" (nope) which he is exclusively using instead of "no". It's adorable!

-"Wha happened?" Much like Fred Willard in A Mighty Wind (an awesome mock-umentary). This happened after he smashed some banana in his hands and rubbed it all over his abdomen while "helping" me make dinner.

Dangerous Boys

If people wonder what I do all day... A lot of it is going back and forth between my boys to make sure they aren't about to seriously hurt themselves.

Exhibit A. Archer "The Climber" Campbell

He climbs the back of our couch and then up to the window. I'm pretty sure he would start scaling the window panes if I didn't interfere.

Exhibit B Aden "The Well-Balanced" Campbell

About five seconds after exhibit A occurred Aden called to me from outside. He said that he was cleaning himself off because he got mud on his shoes. I walked outside and found him washing himself in a collecting bucket of water precariously placed on the ledge of a four foot high wall's 

But like any mom of boys, we say a thank you Lord that we caught them in the nick of time and snap a quick picture that we will be showing their future wives so they know what kind of tom foolery will be passed down through the genes.

Landscaping

Aden has been doing a little landscaping of our front porch...

I was thinking things were looking a bit sparse...