Abbers all in pink in April

We are doing well. I'm 36 1/2 weeks pregnant. Contractions started getting stronger and more frequent on Sunday. I'm dilated to at least 3 1/2 cm. No baby yet! The same thing happened the last weeks with Abigail. We are looking at names and have found a website for names we really like: www.nymbler.com. You put in some of your faves and you get customized lists. I'm kind of focused on this little one getting here right now. Not much else to say at this point. Wait for the "big" announcement!

Rain

It is raining some here this morning. We are thankful for the rain. The farmers need it to grow food for their families, as well as try to make a profit on extra food, as well. The temperatures have cooled off some, so that is nice.

There have been storms that have knocked out our internet connection periodically. It can take up to a few weeks to get back on-line again. Hopefully that won't happen today.

We enjoyed a nice 4th of July celebration with other missionary families here. We had great bbq (not something common here in Ghana), as well as a little baseball and time to visit with others.

I'm 35 1/2 weeks along now. We still are not sure on the gender of this new one. We need to find some names. In Ghana, most folks wait at least a week or longer before naming their baby. Often there will be a big ceremony in church to name the baby. Maybe we should follow suit?

Contacting Us

Hi, all. Everything is still status quo over here in this corner of the world. I wanted to mention something I may have shared before. If you ever need to contact us fairly quickly, email is best: 2ghana@gmail.com. Joel only gets on his Facebook page once in awhile. I get on most days when I get on-line. I will not always be coming up here as much at this point myself. When Joel brings the computer here to the school house, emails come in automatically with the wi-fi. Then, we can respond to them at the house. Then the next time someone comes back up here, the new emails are sent out. And if you don't hear from us, send another email, asking us to look for yours. We love you all so!

This is the first time I've been here at the school house in several days. We've had an eventful last few days. I started having early, regular contractions late last week. I was also already dilated a bit. I'm 32 weeks pregnant. Joel put me on moderate bed rest, as he says that is just as effective as complete bed rest. He gave me a series of steroid shots over a couple of days to help with the baby's lungs in case the baby was born early. Those shots really slowed me down over the weekend. (If a pregnant 39 year old woman living in the heat of Africa can be slowed down anymore?) Joel was off, so I did get to rest quite a bit. That was nice. The baby didn't move nearly as much on Saturday, either. At our weekly meeting Thursday night, the missionaries prayed over the baby and me. That was very good.

But the contractions are much less frequent now. So that is good. The baby is moving much more again. I'm ready to finish getting these steroids out of my system, but thankful to have the use of them, if needed. 32 weeks is just too early for a baby to arrive anywhere, especially here where things aren't set up as well for early babies. I had early contractions with Abigail starting at 35 weeks. So, this is just a bit earlier than with her.

Joel will go to Tamale tomorrow with some others to get us food and other supplies. The trip is just a bit much for me at this point. (It's the city that is three hours away on somewhat rough roads where we buy many of our groceries.)

Overall, we are doing well. Colt has a little school to finish in language and math. Then he'll be finished. We will have him read over the summer. I'd like to work on his piano lessons some, as well. He's actually missing that now since he's had a long break from doing the lessons now. Abigail is learning new words all the time and is such fun. Joel has had a busy last two weeks. I think it will be a good break for him to get away from the hospital tomorrow.

Thanks for your prayers.

Fistula Surgery

Some of the women here in West Africa have difficulty in making it to the hospital. Since I have been here, I have had one woman who was in labor for seven days before coming to the hospital. As you can imagine, that could not be good for one's body. Some of the women who have had obstructed labor for days in the village, without receiving medical care, may develop a fistula or passageway between their vagina and bladder which is called a VesicoVaginal Fistula, or VVF. The baby's head is often pressing on the tissue between the bladder and vagina in the lower pelvis for a long time, this can lead to the tissue dying and a fistula forming. Dr. Andy Norman, a former IMB missionary to Nigeria has been kind to come out and teach me how to do VVF repairs. We have twenty or so cases lined up this week so it should be a busy week. Please pray for the women that they will be healed physically as well as have a chance recieve the Good News during their 10 day or so stay in the hospital. Blessings,
Joel.

Hi. We are doing well here. Abigail had malaria last week but is doing much better now. I am now 31 weeks pregnant. Just a little longer and we'll have another member of the family with us! This baby has come along so quickly, it seems. Abigail won't even be two when our new one is born. We still don't know a definite on the gender. We have not started looking at names yet.

We are winding down school, though we will still do a little during the summer. I plan to do piano lessons with Colt. We will also have him read during the summer. Mona will teach art to the kids. Joel will still do some PE with them. We'll see what else the summer holds-besides a new baby!

I've tested positive for anemia, like I did with my other pregnancies. We'll try to boost that up a bit. I will have so much more energy after New Baby is born and learns to sleep some through the night!

Abigail is here at the school house with us tonight. She finds all kinds of interesting things that we have to keep her out of! So, I'll close for now.