We've officially decided to move forward with plans to travel back to central Brazil at the end of pregnancy for our baby to be born there. The healthcare situation in Boa Vista is far from the best on many levels...especially when it comes to birth. In fact, there's a well known joke around Boa Vista that the best doctors in town are "Dr. Tam" and "Dr. Gol"....Tam and Gol are the names of the airlines have flights leaving of Boa Vista to get to you a main city. Although its very inconvenient to travel at 36 weeks, we feel like it's the best plan for our family. I was just reading a Brazilian article about how people making trips like this for birth is getting to be more and more common in Brazil. We have a wonderful doctor who will take care of us once we get to Goias. (He is the same from Elijah's birth). It was so kind of him to take me as a patient even though we will only have 1-2 prenatal appointments with him. And we have a great support system for the logistics with the mission headquarters and Jeyson's family in the area. And flying there will certainly be a lot easier than Mary who had to travel and give birth at the end of her pregnancy :)
So, the main things to figure out next are buying tickets and figuring out who will keep an eye on our home in Boa Vista while we are gone. We also are praying for continued good health...no complications that will make the late pregnancy plane ride impossible.
Once we are in Goias, we will spend some time with Jeyson's family, touch base with the doctor, and then have time to spend at the mission's headquarter base. Jeyson has things we wants to meet about at the hangar and we're willing to help out in whatever ways are needed. Once our girlie arrives, we will probably be back at Jeyson's family's house until we are able to travel (about a week after the birth). We can also take a trip to the American embassy in Brasilia to get her American papers sorted out, something we'd have to travel away from Boa Vista to do anyway. So, it looks like the trip will be just perfect for so many reasons. The 6 weeks or so there will be pretty full. Not to mention there are lots of friends and coworkers we look forward to spending time with. We're excited about the decision and very blessed that this door has opened so far! Just 16 weeks until my due date, 12 weeks until we fly to Goias!
