International Pregnancy RANT!

xoexpat · March 2012

I just have to let it out somewhere and we are trying to give family only good news for now so, here it goes:

DH and I are expats, and we conceived the baby in Cape Town, South Africa (loved it there). We actually found out a couple of days before we moved to our current location, Luanda, Angola. My husband switched companies with this job offer, and there are so many benefits of being here, despite the "hardship" status that comes with an assignment like this one. But we decided to go ahead and start our family, because we felt like this would be a good place to be family-focused (less traveling due to work, large and supportive expat community). We've known/met several people who have been here while pregnant, although most choose to go home to deliver the baby (what we were also planning).

A few weeks after we got here, the company is telling us we should leave because they are going to change their company policy about letting pregnant women into Angola (due to malaria risk). Also, the new rule is that you can't bring LO back into the country until they are old enough for Yellow Fever shots, which I think is around 9-10 months at the earliest. We were well informed of the risks involved and made our decision, and we were not violating any policies or anything, they just decided to change the rules after we got here.

So, they basically bombarded us with this information and then didn't have any immediate solutions or suggestions available...three weeks later and we still don't have a concrete plan. I'm going back to the States on Saturday for a few weeks so I can got to the Dr, etc, but I am really stressed about where we will end up next. It might be London (which would be great), but that might just be a transition to the next assignment, so who knows how many moves I will have made by the time LO is born!!?? Have I mentioned we've been living in a hotel for nearly two months now?? And who knows how long it will be until we are settled into a place, with our own furniture and belongings (which are in storage in Cape Town at the moment)?

I really feel for DH--the new guy at work, he is trying to be patient and diplomatic and he's still trying to learn his way around with the new company, and now we're getting uprooted again. So even though I have expressed my concerns for our situation, I REALLY JUST NEEDED TO GET THIS OFF MY CHEST! Our parents don't know yet, like I mentioned, they just know I'm coming home for Dr. visit. Most days I try to shrug it off and trust in DH and believe that things will work out. Other days, when there are no elevators working at the hotel or the aroma of the funky oil they put in their veggies makes me want to gag, I just want to scream. I am 11 and a half weeks along, by my calculation and hope to get first u/s soon.

Thanks for reading, I really just needed to vent.