Going Home

Last week we asked you all to pray for me while I was in the hospital. I just want to first thank you for those prayers. God did some amazing things in the hospital, and we know that He was using the prayers of all of you.
I kept a journal of my experience and really want to pass it along, as I felt that the whole ordeal was really difficult. I feel like if I can in some way help someone who is in the same situation, then I really want to. I am just about finished writing everything out, and I hope to be able to give you all a link next week to go to if you want to read the entire story (but it is long).
For those of you who feel a little out of the loop and don't know what I am talking about I will give you the shortened story. I found out two weeks ago that I was pregnant. However, in the same breath I found out that there could possibly be some serious problems with the pregnancy. I was closely monitored and we all had almost become completely certain that I had miscarried or was miscarrying the baby. Then just a few days later we discovered that I had not miscarried but was still pregnant. This would have been good news, but there were still many problems present (bleeding, abdominal pain, and low hormone levels). At discovering that I was still pregnant, the doctors were very concerned that I might have a tubal pregnancy.

A tubal pregnancy is when the baby begins to develop inside the fallopian tube rather than in the womb. I have only been able to find one case worldwide in which a child survived in the tube, and we can be sure that was only by the hand of God. Not only was my baby's life in jeopardy, but my life was also in danger. If a baby grows inside the tube, it is a very real possibility that the tube will rupture and thus cause the mother to go into shock and quite possibly die--unless treated very quickly.

So, at the direction of some very good doctors I left this city and went to Hong Kong. There I saw another doctor. Long story short...I did in fact have a tubal pregnancy. It came down to the fact that a decision had to be made, and surgery was scheduled. In surgery, the doctor was unable to save the tube because over half of it was involved. So, my left fallopian tube was removed. The results from this surgery are not very life-changing, but losing my unborn baby has been a long and difficult challenge that is life-changing.

We hear of these sorts of things too often, and it is difficult to understand many times. However, for a mother the moment she hears of a life inside her body, that is her child. Even though there were problems involved, the longer I carried my baby the more precious he became. I have a peace about saying goodbye and seeing him again real soon, but grief is still very real. And the hard part is that many times, we as mothers feel like we go through that all alone because not too many people seem to understand or want to talk about it. Please continue to pray for me that I will be able to talk about my experience without other people feeling awkward (I am one of those people who needs to talk about things to cope), and pray that I will be able to encourage others in similar situations.

On a much lighter note.... :)
We spent a total of 7+ days in Hong Kong and after all the surgery was over, we were able to get a lot of rest. And on our last day in Hong Kong we went to go see a life size replica of Noah's ark. It was fun to get out, but it was a lot of walking.
Then today when we came back to our home, we got out all of the decorations and got our house all decked out for Christmas. Isaac was especially excited and was bouncing all around the house. Autumn was more occupied with all of her "dress-up" clothes that she hasn't seen in a week. I kept thinking that she must be in some sort of trouble because she was so quiet. However, she was just very much into her toys. I am sure that they are both very happy to be home and happy to go back to school tomorrow.Things should start going back to normal for them, and I am sure that is the best thing. This will be one of our busiest months as many of our friends will want to know what Christmas is like in America. So we hope to have lots of friends to our home this month--and try not to eat too much.

We miss you all and are looking forward to next year's holidays in the states.

We love you. Thanks again for all of your emails, kind words, and prayers in our difficult week of saying goodbye to our baby who went home.