Wars Within and Without

It has been so long that I hardly know how to even get started blogging again!  This past year has contained so much that would to fill many blog posts, yet the ability to write seems to have completely left me.  So many blessings and so many struggles!  In our entire time here, I cannot remember a time when we have seen God work so much in the lives of the people here but I also cannot remember a time when we have been under such attack.  One of those blessings of course was our dear, baby girl ~Abigail Grace.  It truly was God's grace in giving her to us for she can bring a smile to your face no matter what you are going through.  We have had answers to prayers like co-workers and those who we've been praying for get saved.  Through all of this, there have also been struggles.  I was brought to my knees...to my face many times this past year.

It felt as if we were attacked on all sides.  On the physical side, my baby boy was brought to the emergency room before his second birthday twice.  The first time was not even 24 hours after Abigail was born.  Daniel grabbed a can out of the trash and cut his finger.  Eric brought him in and he had to have stitches.  That's no big deal - except I knew where he had brought him.  I had seen how rough the nurses were with Anna when she broke her collar bone and this time it was a different doctor who would not allow Eric to go in with him.  It made my heart faint!  To know my baby was in there with a bunch of strangers who were most likely not being very kind to him.  Eric paid them extra for the cosmetic stitches and for anesthetics.  The bandages accidentally came off one time and we noticed that they had not used cosmetic stitches but instead the cheaper stitches.  I felt sick.  Not so much at that thought, but at the possibility that they had just pocketed the couple dollars instead of giving him anesthetics to help with the pain...figuring he would cry anyways.  How I wished that Eric would have at least stayed to make sure they administered that!  I vowed NEVER to allow them to do anything else to my babies without me or Eric being there with them.  The second time was New Year's Day.  New Year's Eve Daniel had a big bruised looking bump on his leg and a high fever.  We were nervous about bringing him in especially since all of the doctor's we would trust were on holiday break, but we felt like it was serious.  When Eric got there they told him it was an infection and he needed to be brought in and have it opened and drained right away...but Eric could not go with him.  Eric said he would just fly him out to America or somewhere else then.  They said he had that right, but they did not think there was time for that.  He could tell they were getting irritated with him for not just doing what they said right away.  What a hard decision!  Just remembering makes me want to cry all over again!  After consulting with a few other people both Stateside and here in Ukraine, we agreed to do it.  How hard it is just to hand your baby over to someone else when they could not even assure you that you would ever see him again!  Originally they told Eric he could stay the night at the hospital, just not with Daniel; but when Daniel came out of surgery, they told him he had to leave.  They told him Daniel was being moved into the intensive care unit and to come in the morning with all of the other parents to find out how he was doing, they did not even take his phone number...again warning him that there was still a possibility he could die and it could be 3 days before we could see him.  I don't know if I've ever cried so hard.  All I wanted was to hold my baby - yet he was SO far from me and I did not know if I'd ever get to hold him again.  Laying there curled up, rocking - not knowing if I was going to wake up and find out my son did not make it through the night- I was brought to my breaking point.  Eric sensed it too and knew there was a good possibility that we may be heading back to the States.  It was more than a strong consideration for me, what exactly my thought process was I cannot remember.  I do know that the Lord is gracious and merciful to my frailties.  I surrendered myself and my son again to Him.  How grateful I am that God did not chose to take my baby!  And that He did not make me wait 3 days to see him!  When Eric talked to the doctor the next day they said Daniel was awake and screaming.  They were going to move him to a regular room and Eric could stay with him!  (Probably because Daniel was too much work to try to hold down in bed.  I guess he was kicking and screaming quite a bit, probably from all of the strangers and being in a strange place hooked up to IVs.)  To be honest, it is only by the mercy and grace of God that I am still here.  I am humbled that He would continue to use such a weak vessel as I.

Besides our physical trials, there have been the spiritual battles within the church.  One of the biggest of those was with Slavic and Olea, who have since left the church.

Then there are the wars without, which I am sure all of you know about.  At the moment, we have perfect peace about staying here and we are seeing God confirm that decision by blessing and answering some prayers that are closest and dearest to our hearts.  I will share those blessings and answered prayers in my next post (hopefully very soon), since this post has ended up being much longer that I intended...and MUCH more open and candid than I planned.  I think that is the biggest reason I have avoided blogging - I was afraid of sharing too much of my heart.  It's a little scary to do that, but I pray that God will use it.  I look forward to sharing with you next time how little all of this is in comparison to God's blessings.  Pray for Ukraine.  Pray for their salvation, and pray for us.

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;"

II Corinthians 4:8

28 Week Checkup

(These were taken on the way to church, Wednesday night.  Believe me, the belly is MUCH bigger than it looks.)

28 weeks and overdue for a doctor's visit.  Though I knew I had to go, I was completely dreading it and could barely sleep the night before.  You see, I am not a very submissive patient for them so they are never very happy with me.  Every visit I have had so far, they have found something wrong with me, assigned me with a new list of tests and prescribed different things.  This past visit it was an infection they found during the ultrasound.  They then gave me a new list of tests to do.  Eric was immediately skeptical and called our previous doctor for a consultation.  She, of course, said everything was fine and not to bother with any more tests as pregnant women do not need the added stress of running around everywhere doing extra tests. (I just love her and boy do I wish she could be my doctor this time!)  Not only did I not do the tests, but I put off the visit for a couple of weeks.  Lina was away anyways, so this gave me a good excuse to take a break.

The dreaded day came and I woke up Tuesday morning with the decision to take at least one of the girls with me.  Even if they didn't distract the doctors (and how could they not at least some?), I knew it would help keep me distracted.  Lydia wanted to go so off we rushed to meet the train and Lina.  After waiting for our turn, we opened the door and walked into the office.  Their faces said they wanted to chew me out, but they quickly put on big, fake smiles.  Lina and I were shocked at how composed they were.  Besides them mumbling "awful" when I stepped on the scale (ugh...that makes every pregnant woman happy) and telling me it was hard to live with me, everything went pretty well.  They talked a little about what to do about me, but I just let them talk to each other and explained different things to Lydia.  She thought they were nice, hehe...but maybe that's because they let her step on the scale. ;)

After I was done there, they sent me over to meet with the therapist.  She asked if anything was wrong (health wise), listened to my heart and marked ok.  She then asked what we were doing here.  When I explained that my husband was a pastor and gave her a tract, she immediately wanted to argue with me.  I tried witnessing to her, but she didn't give me much of a chance to talk.  Once she said what she wanted, she said goodbye. 

Later that night, I lay awake in bed thinking of ways I could have worded things better, etc.  Sometimes it is just so frustrating and I feel so helpless.  I so desire to be a witness and a testimony and the words are clear in my head, but don't come out the way I want.  Besides the fact that the doctor is very intimidating.  I feel like it would help if I could do everything the way they want me to, but I just can't physically keep up with all of their demands.  Now that I have stopped trying to do everything, I am able to enjoy this pregnancy.  I pray that God will still help me to have a testimony, give me opportunities to witness and freedom in the language even though I am not able to do things 100% their way.

Lydia completely enjoyed her day out with mama and Lina.  After we ate, we went out for dessert.  When we set it down in front of her she started singing "Happy Birthday to Dede!"  We know what she's ready for. ;)

Ukrainian Hospital Visit - The Story

First I've been wanting to share a testimony that I came across called Every Missionary's Nightmare if you read that, make sure that you read The Story doesn't end there for the whole story.  I was crying during the first and by the end of the second, was so convicted by the testimony of this young missionary wife.  The testimony is not about the author, but of her friend.  I have just "met" this missionary blogger and am greatly enjoying her blog.  If you have time, you'd also get a blessing from another post she wrote called Baking Blunders.  In that post she compares baking to life...not only can we all relate (well, at least us women) and will be able to laugh along with her, but it also causes you to think.

Okay...so now on to my posting, except I've lost all direction in thought.  Oh, yeah!  You still don't know about baby #4!  Will he even out our ratio between girls and boys?  Or will she give the girls an edge?  Well, since I originally planned on sharing more about my actual visit during my last post instead of my struggle let me start at the beginning.

Around 9 I climbed the train to meet Lina.  When we reached the Chagooiv train station, we had to take a marshootka to the center.  We then had to walk to the hospital, though it was more like running for me since Lina is much taller than I am.  I was beat red and dripping wet by the time we got there.  Oh well.  I was able to cool down a little before we met with the doctor.  As I had mentioned before, I was not looking forward to this visit at all, but I felt like the Lord gave me a sweet spirit that their harshness was not able to break.  Even if the doctor is a little rough, I felt like it was easier to handle this time.  I don't know if it was just that it was easier, or if it was just the peace that the Lord had given me...maybe both.  But this year I didn't go away feeling like crying.  We then ran over to the testing hospital for some blood tests.  This nurse remembered us and started talking to us about our faith.  I guess it was more like testing than talking.  She called us a cult and seemed to be trying to rile us.  All I could do was smile and talk to her about the Bible.  When she looked over and saw me smiling, it shocked her and she told Lina "She's smiling!"  The rest of our {short} visit went pretty well, though I wish we had had more time.  By the time she was willing to listen, it was time to go.  We planted a seed though!  After that we went for an ultrasound.  The doctor and nurse seemed pretty stressed at the beginning of our visit, but relaxed and friendly by the end.  As he was going through looking and giving measurements to the nurse, he added in there somewhere that it was a...did I hear him correctly?  He was speaking so low and continuing to mumble things to the nurse.  He then looked at me again and said,

"It's a boy."

Of course he did not yell it like that and it wasn't in English.  I did that for you benefit. :)  Yes.  We are expecting a playmate (or a terror companion) for Sammy!  Why do I say terror companion?  Because just by himself he can terrorize his sisters pretty good - all with a huge, adorable, mischievous grin.  The girls better watch out!  

On the way home from the hospital we had a chance to witness to an Armenian marshootka driver, but between the loud noise of the van, the language barrier (even if I can speak and hear it, it can still be a barrier), and how flustered I was from the heat and being announced to the whole bus as an American, I feel like I was unable to present the Gospel as clear as I would have liked.  I do ask that you pray for me as I know God could greatly use this time to be a testimony to those I am coming in contact with.  During pregnancy I am given more opportunities to witness than at any other time.  Sometimes I am surprised by the answers God gives me, but at others I get so flustered that I come back feeling like I failed to present as clear of a presentation of the Gospel as I desire.  Pray also for freedom of speech in the Russian language.

 All in all, the visit went well and I praise the Lord for the grace He gives.  Reminds me of 2 Timothy 2:1 "...be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."  I am so thankful for that grace that He gives!  When I arrived home my husband said he was surprised by how chipper I was.  I don't think I've ever come home from a hospital visit chipper!

A Visit to A Ukrainian Hospital

I thought I'd give you a sneak peak of the hospital that I visited today.  I borrowed my husband's camera/phone so not to be obvious, but it was still too noisy.  Because of that I only took two pictures...not very good pictures at that, but a picture.  I didn't actually get a picture at the delivery hospital because there were too many people.  The hospital that I go to is the nicest one I have seen in Ukraine since coming in the Kharkov region.  I don't know if it's just because I am use to it (or a LOT worse), but I thought "Wow!  This isn't too bad.  Everyone will wonder why I'm anxious at all with this hospital."  The first picture was taken on the bus ride over.

 

The hospital/clinic where I had my blood tests done.  First one is a little crooked - but clear.  The second is blurry but straight, so thought I'd show you both.

I went planning on looking my best so that I wouldn't get any comments like "You need to stop having kids.  Look at what it's doing to you!", but it was so hot that water was pouring off of me and my face was as red as a tomato.  Oh well.  I'm still trying to figure out how the Ukrainian women can continue to look so perfect in this heat, but they haven't shared that secret with me yet.

 

Surrendering to have my baby here this time has been a huge battle and struggle that VERY few know about...two people and my husband.  To say I didn't want to have my baby here would not even come close to exposing the battle that has gone on in my heart.  I know, you are all thinking "Why?  You've already had 3 there!".  But it's different this time, maybe because of how rough the last pregnancy was.  I think the hardest part is not the lower standards of medical care here, but rather the lack of choice and freedom.  In this socialized medicine country, I do not have the freedom to choose my doctor or even where I want to give birth.  Well, I guess I have a little choice in doctors, but they have to be in the hospital in our region...and since all of the rest are male doctors, well, that kinda limits my choice.  Ever since my last pregnancy I prayed "Lord, please don't let me get pregnant again until I can go back to the states and have my baby.  I don't care if I have all of the rest here, but just this next one I'd like to be able to relax, enjoy my pregnancy and do what I want."  When I found out I was pregnant I had a small hope that we might be able to go back to the states...I even contacted a midwife.  I begged, cried and pleaded with the Lord.  There was nothing in me willing to stay here.  To say that I fought is not the whole truth.  I stomped my feet while everything in me screamed, "NO!"  I was so exhausted from my fighting that I could barely do anything.  I wept like I have not wept in a long time.  I felt so alone and did not feel like I could talk to my husband lest I let my emotions persuade him into doing something against the will of God.  I did not understand why God was expecting this of me.  I mean, OTHER missionary wives had the choice of where they wanted to have their babies and I had already surrendered so many times.  Why couldn't He let me have a break once?  You can read how God worked on my heart in the post I Feel Like Talking, but the battle was still pretty secret.  Thankfully, I have not struggled since then.  To say that it is easy would not be true, but I am not fighting which makes it a lot easier.  Reminds me of labor - painful, yes, but so much easier to go through if you relax through the contractions.  I have hesitated to post this because I know I will get some criticism, but I do not claim to be a super missionary.  I am no one special.  I am just surrendered.

Sammy's Papers - Update

We received all of Sammy's papers from the hospital AND they were marked with the correct date! Eric said this was the easiest and quickest that he has ever received any of the kids paperwork. We are now in the second part of paperwork...applying for his Ukrainian birth certificate. We have two weeks left to receive his "Ukrainian birth certificate" or we will have to go back to the hospital for more paperwork. After that, we will go to Kiev and apply for his birth abroad, SS, passport and visa. Even though he has the Ukrainian birth certificate he will not be considered an Ukrainian citizen because they do not allow dual citizenships. In order to get his American one, though, we need the Ukrainian birth certificate. Thanks for your prayers!

A Visit from the President - Sammy's Papers

I was standing in the living room surrounded by boxes, holding my little man, wearing a comfy skirt, t-shirt and no makeup when I saw him pull up in his pumpkin orange car. Eric was in the kitchen helping Costa install my new "kitchen" (CAN'T wait to show you pictures...so far been too busy playing with my sink to take pictures). Accompanying him was the village doctor. As they came marching up toward the house I let out a frenzied cry of "Eric, their coming about the baby." As he headed out the door to meet them, I headed for the bathroom to make myself look more presentable. "Why haven't you registered your baby yet?" he said gruffly with the attitude of 'don't know how you do things in America, but this is a civilized country and we don't have babies at home'. Eric calmly told him that we had contacted the doctor and were just waiting to see what they wanted us to do. "Take your wife and the baby to the hospital right now", he said then left shortly. When Eric came in, Costa asked if we were okay, thinking we must be in trouble since 'the president' stopped by. That was yesterday. (That evening we received other calls asking if we were in trouble since 'the president' came to our house. In actuality, he is just the head of the city council of our village...everyone just calls him that.) That's what started the last two posts. Today, Eric again went to the hospital in Choogooiv (looks SO funny to see it written with English letters) to meet with the head doctor there. (While he was gone, I was again visited by the village doctor. She was quite irritated that we had not obeyed. Eric was able to get things smoothed over with her later though.) The head doctor agreed to let me and the baby leave that day as long as I had an x-ray to check for TB and an ultra-sound. SO, Eric came back and got the girls, Sammy and I. Our first stop was at the hospital where I needed to get the x-ray. We walked in, gave them my papers. The lady there directed me where to go and what to do. Much to my surprise, there was an older couple standing in the little room when I came in. So, I figured maybe I was supposed to go back out and wait for them to leave so came back out. Again the lady told me what to do. I looked at Lina and said, "Am I supposed to change THERE?" "Um, you're supposed to go straight and then to the right", she replied. By that time the older couple had left. I still went straight, then to the right. The nurse there told me to go back to the first room I had entered. When I got back to that room, there was already another lady standing there with her shirt off, just covering herself with her arm. She looked at me like 'stupid Americans', then told me I was supposed to take my shirt off. My facial expression made her smile even bigger as I asked in disbelief "HERE?" Just then, the nurse came in and asked why I hadn't come in yet. The other lady replied smugly/laughingly that I still had my shirt on. I don't think I will ever get used to the lack of modesty here.
After my x-ray, we went to the maternity hospital. The doctor had me not only do the ultrasound, but a blood test for some sexual disease and Sammy had two tests too...poor guy. He did not like being pricked and having blood drawn. Over all, they were pretty friendly. Only one doctor was kinda short with us. She kept saying things like "Don't do that again." and "Look at how nice this room is. Just have your baby here next time." Honestly, they have the nicest hospital that I have ever seen in Ukraine...except for the American clinic in Kiev. They said that they will have the paperwork ready for us on Tuesday. The head doctor had told us that it would have the correct date on it but that one doctor told us that it would say that Sammy was born today. We have decided not to fight it either way. We're just hoping we can get everything settled on Tuesday. After that we have to take those papers to, what they call, the baby palace where we need to get another paper from them. Lastly, we will need to take a trip to Kiev to the American Embassy to apply for his birth certificate, passport, SS, etc. Once we get the paperwork from the baby palace, everything else is easy.
Well, I'm heading to bed...maybe. Thanks for your prayers!

Sammy's Papers

Eric just got back from the hospital in Chagooiv. No. The kids and I didn't end up going with him. Just before we headed out the door, Eric decided to call the doctor again and ask what they were wanting to do. He found out that they were planning on me and the baby staying there for two days and having some test done. He told them we weren't willing to do that and there was no reason to do tests when we were perfectly healthy. My doctor there actually said that we had the right to have a baby at home and to refuse tests, "Just don't tell anyone that I said that." So, Eric decided to go by himself first to see the second-in-command doctor (the head doctor is on vacation). When he got to the hospital, the doctor had already left telling the nurse to just have us stay 24 hours and give us our own room and bathroom. Eric is planning on going to meet with him tomorrow to try to work something out. I told Eric that maybe we should just stay 24 hours...WITH the girls. hehe. Think they'll go for that?

Baby's Paperwork

We have been asked to come into the hospital today to try to work on paperwork. A little nervous, but God had His hand so mightily upon the birth that I know He will work all things out for His honor and glory. Pray that God will give us wisdom as we talk with them.

Prayer Request - Baby Sammy's Papers

Eric spoke with the doctor today and at first she said that Sammy and I would have to come to the hospital and stay for two days. She wanted us to call an ambulance to take us to the hospital, then have all the paperwork written out like Samuel had been born today instead of last week. Eric told her that, first of all, there was no reason for us to go to the hospital and second, we weren't going to lie. So, she called her head doctor to see what to do and now he is calling his head doctor. They are supposed to call us back tomorrow. Sometimes it's so frustrating having to abide by the rules and regulations of the country. Legally, we have the right to have a home birth, just not many people know that. When we were trying to get Anna's paperwork we had a little bit of trouble too and called the American embassy. They told us that there was nothing they could do for us. Please be praying as we'd rather not have a long, drawn out battle. We have proof that I was pregnant, witnesses to the birth and saved the placenta and his umbilical cord when it fell off. We would also like to keep our ties with the hospital good for future pregnancies, as it was hard to find a hospital that would accept me. One thing I am thankful for is that they can't see me before Tuesday and at the moment, I have a very bad cold that I caught from the girls and they would probably try to separate me and the baby.



Thank you for your prayers.

Vodka or Water?

That's what I get for going to the doctor's by myself, without a translator. I can usually get around pretty good without a translator but I've never tried going to the doctor's without a translator and I was REALLY nervous, so some mistakes are to be expected. It makes it even worse that I speak too quietly when I'm nervous.

In English, those two words sound nothing alike. In Russian they are kinda close...closer than I realized. (Vodka-stress on the first part...Voda (water)- stress on the last.) So when the nurse asked me if I had had anything to eat or drink that morning and I said voda in my quiet manner and stress in the wrong place, I got a REALLY strange look. She then asked me "Vodka or Voda?" I quickly clarified. Overall, I didn't do too bad...I think. We'll see once Lina looks at the paperwork to see what else I said. (They were asking me questions about any diseases I had formerly and sometimes I just answered no, not fully knowing what they were asking. Figured that was the safest way to go since I've never had any diseases or illnesses.)

That was yesterday. Today I brought Anna to the doctor (with a translator...though I think I could have made it fine ;)) and she had her brace taken off. She was SO excited that she barely stopped talking and singing all day! The doctor made me feel like I was an awful parent and told me that we need to be even more careful this time that she doesn't break her collar bone again. I was going to explain to him that I really tried last time and how impossible it is to keep Anna from falling, but decided just to leave it alone. Prayer is the only thing that is going to keep her from breaking it again.

China Doll Update

Just wanted to give you a quick update on our little china doll. The doctor said that Anna broke her collar bone in the same place as last time. Thankfully though this time the bone did not have to be reset.

This morning after we finished devotions and chores, the girls were sitting in some of my empty baskets. Anna's tipped and she landed on the left side...her hurt side. The doctor has said no toys, no baskets, no chairs....I still think it would be easier to bubble wrap her. I'm open to suggestions though. :)

Like last time, she will be in a brace for about 3 weeks but will need to be careful for about 3 months. At least this is happening before the baby comes.

Fine China

Well, it is only 9:31 here in the morning and already our little china doll, Anna, has broken her collar bone again. As soon as we can get a taxi, we'll be headed to the doctor's office again. Would appreciate your prayers.

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

Well, I finally have my registration from a hospital. For those of you who have been wondering, every pregnant woman is required to be registered at the women's hospital in their region. This registration gives you the needed paperwork to receive the baby's birth certificate. In order to keep your registration you are required to follow the rules they set for you. So, with all of that in mind I should have been very excited about being registered, but instead I found myself on the edge of crying...or sobbing hysterically and saying that I just couldn't deal with this. What brought this on? Just pregnancy hormones? Culture shock? or maybe the fact that the doctor seemed SO strict and told me up front "Listen, and everything will be okay. Don't listen and there will be problems" following with a HUGE list of tests that I had to have done by Monday? Whatever my reasons, it put me in a state of dread over what the next 4 months would bring. My thoughts were "If I was in America..." (not that I want to be), "The Kiev hospital does this..."..........It was during one of these sessions that I "happened" to be standing next to the piano and, like Lydia, just had to touch it. I just had one hand on the piano tinkering while thinking, then I noticed I was playing a song and tried to figure out what I was playing. The song I was playing was "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms". The first two reactions to come out were: 1) stomp my feet and say that it just isn't fair and 2) laugh out loud at the humor of it because I was doing everything but leaning at that particular moment. After I got past that, I decided to open up the hymnal and read the song. Here are two of the verses:

What a fellowship, what a joy divine, Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, Leaning on the everlasting arms.

What have I to dread, what have I to fear, Leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Leaning, leaning, Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, Leaning on the everlasting arms.

I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, Leaning on the everlasting arms. WOW! Instead having peace from leaning on Christ, I had a headache from thinking about something that I can do nothing about! Please be praying for me these next few months as I know satan will try to get me stressed about this situation again. Pray that I can lean first on God and secondly on my husband, knowing that between the two of them I'm pretty well taken care of. And with my eyes off of me and my situation, maybe God can work through me to reach this doctor with the Gospel.

Anna had her second visit with the doctor on Thursday and it was a totally different experience than the first visit. As soon as we walked into the room, Anna started crying, but the nurses were SO sweet and gentle with her that she didn't cry for long. They let her sit on my lap while they worked on her bandage and talked with her. They loved it whenever she talked to them in Russian and seemed like they would have kept us all day...or Anna at least. She had another x-ray done and the doctor said that the bone was setting well. She is still wearing the eight brace thing, but should be able to have it off around the 12th of February. I must admit I was a little nervous about how the bone was setting because she had fallen at least 6 times between those two visits, and probably about that many just since our visit on Thursday! She now not only has a big, bumpy brace on, but a big black and blue bump on her forehead! (Pictured above, don't know how well you can see it though.) I don't think I ever remember her getting hurt this much BEFORE she broke her collar bone.

The following day as Eric was coming back from teaching a Bible study to a man named Boris (he taught the lesson himself WITHOUT a translator :)), he was attacked by a big, German shepherd. The dog latched onto his leg for a little while and left a nasty scar. Though his leg is still pretty sore, we are praising the Lord that the dog's teeth did not go very deep.

Tying Down a Toddler

Okay, so maybe we won't actually do that but we sure feel like it! (Or maybe just wrapping her in many layers of bubble wrap.) It started on Thursday night and will go on for at least 3 more weeks. Here's the story from the beginning:

Thursday night as we were sitting down for supper, Anna fell sideways out of her chair and landed pretty hard on her left side. Eric and I took turns holding her for about 2 hours, then I laid down with her in her bed hoping she'd fall asleep. She kept pointing to the lower, left side of her neck saying that it hurt. One of my first thoughts was that she had either a broken shoulder or collar bone. Eric was thinking it might just be bruised or sprained because she could still move her hand pretty good. So, we turned to the medical books we have and the internet for answers. By the end, we were both pretty convinced that it was a broken collar bone. Since it was late and we couldn't call our doctor, we decided to wait until morning and not do anything until we could reach him. He suggested a hospital for us to bring her to for x-rays. We were still pretty nervous because sometimes the medical care here is not quite up to date, but we decided to go and at least see what they had to say. The doctor we met was excellent. Eric told him what happened and what we suspected. The doctor felt her collar bone for a second and agreed with us. After having an x-ray, we went back to meet with the doctor again. The nurse tried to make one of us stay out, but the doctor made sure we could both be there. Once in the room again, he told us that Anna would need to have an eight brace (can't remember the exact name, and it's probably different than ones in America, but works the same). Anna was brought over to a stool where two nurses were going to put the brace on her. Even though the doctor was very gentle and kind, the nurses were typical Ukrainian nurses (if you have ever watched a movie portraying Russian nurses, than you might have an idea). Anna started crying (screaming was more like it, I'm sure everyone in the hallway was scared to death to see that doctor after hearing her) and trying to move away, which made them jerk her around and raise their voices telling her things like "stay still". Again, they tried to make us leave but the doctor let us stay. I sat as close as I could to Anna, talking to her trying to calm her down. Eventually she settled down and talked with me. The nurses seemed better by the time we left and even told me "Good job Mama". When I talked to Lina about it afterwards, she told me that they don't really care, they just want to get the job done. She said when her son Max had to have stitches on a big cut on his head, they wouldn't even let her in! Eric and I were amazed at how bad the "bedside manners" were.

Now we get to the "tying down" or "bubble wrapped" toddler. The "brace" they put on Anna has made her feel much better, so much so that she wants to run all through the house! She is supposed to wear a sling (scarf) and not move that arm much, but every time I turn around she's has her arm halfway out picking up things. She has even fallen once since yesterday! I didn't want to put her on the couch while I was in the kitchen, so she decided to lean against it then ended up sliding to the floor. If we make it through the next few weeks without her making it worse or breaking it again it will truly be a miracle! We go see the doctor (and hopefully kinder nurses) again on Thursday to have them cut off the first "brace" and wrap on another one, just a little tighter than the first one. We praise the Lord that He led us to a good doctor and that Anna's injury is not a severe one (or one that we would have to worry about whether or not they were doing things correctly).