I bought my first piece of maternity clothing!

Today we (Adam came with) went to the doctor.  It’s only been 2 weeks since my last appointment but the doctor wanted to check on that little pool of blood.  The ultrasound showed that the little pool got a bit smaller but since the baby is continuing to grow at the right pace the doctor isn’t as worried.  He said as the baby gets bigger the blood is less of a concern.  The heartbeat was perfect and the baby was over twice as big as it was 2 weeks ago and it actually looked human…it is so amazing to see the difference two weeks make.  I still have to cut out exercise for the rest of the first trimester (I am no longer cutting out all “extra” activities…I can’t handle 4 more weeks in the apartment). 

look at that heartbeat

he/she actually looks like a baby

After the appointment we went to a maternity store that was having a sale, but none of the clothing was made with natural fibers and I don’t like wearing things that don’t breathe or things that scratch me.  Thankfully the H&M in Hong Kong has a maternity section and we found a pair of jeans that are cute and will hopefully grow with my belly.  All my pants still fit (this is the plus side to having a large rear end…most of my pants have extra room in the hips) but I figure one day I will wake up and my pant’s won’t fit and the only thing I can wear is yoga pants until I get back to Hong Kong.  My fitted shirts are not attractive anymore because I am beginning to lose my waist and I get bloated as the day goes on and not being able to exercise has not been kind on my abs.  I went online and found pictures of flowing sweaters and babydoll style shirts that I will take to the Tailor next week.  I looked at some maternity websites and it’s hard to find things that are really “Lindsay” so I will stick to the non-maternity bulky items that I can wear after the baby. 

9 Weeks

I get to go to the doctor tomorrow who will hopefully not see that little pool of blood.  I have been so worried to do anything that could make it worse (the coughing fits I had were equal to a couple sets of crunches).  I am really excited about the appointment because daddy will get to come hear his baby’s heartbeat!

I have still been on a diet of food with no flavor, no smells, and no colors that seem to make me nauseous (colors like orange and yellow).  I pretty much stick to raw fruits and veggies, toast, cereal, peanut butter and noodles.  I snack on pretzels, raisins and crackers…basically the diet I had when I was 5.  I am drinking a whole lot of juice (watered down, because the flavor is too strong) and water, and as a treat Sprite.  My first couple weeks I gained about 2 lb’s from eating so much, now I am back down to my pre-pregnancy weight which has made me really nervous.  I tried forcing some meat yesterday but that ended up being a bad idea.  All my books and all the things I read online say not to stress over lack of nutrition during morning sickness…they say eat what you can and make up for it later.  Thankfully the things I can eat are actually good for me.  I have come to look forward to my cereal breakfast, banana mid morning snack, toast and jam for lunch, apple and peanut butter for the post lunch snack, a smoothie for my 2^nd after lunch snack, watermelon and pretzels for my pre dinner snack, dinner of noodles with a little butter, and my after dinner snack of carrots or another apple.

I really think that not being able to exercise and my fear of doing anything other than grocery shop and chores has added to my “fatigue”.   It seems like right after I was told not to exercise I got to the sections in all my books (I am in the middle of 4…I couldn’t decide which to read first) that talk about how important exercise is for my health and for the health of my baby. 

As much as my first trimester isn’t everything I dreamed it would be it is truly one of the most exciting times in my life!

****Cool Week 9 Fact: My baby has officially graduated from an embryo to a fetus!  We are so proud!!!!

A Fit Pregnancy

I listen to podcasts, read information on the internet as well as in my pregnancy books and they all say that working out is safe during pregnancy and it may help during delivery and it will help get your body back into shape after the baby is born.  I have spent June and July getting my body into shape, well the last two weeks of June I was exhausted!  I don’t know if it was a bug or my body building a human being…either way I COULDN’T make it through my regular work-outs.  I tried doing yoga since it is a more relaxing work-out, but the movements didn’t feel right (I am incredibly bloated…which made yoga feel uncomfortable, never mind I was scared to squash the baby).  I was really discouraged…especially since my pregnancy work-out DVD’s won’t be here until September.  I had this amazing plan to be a fit mama and have energy during pregnancy (the books said I would), I figured I would be healthier after giving birth so I could give the best care to my newborn…I KNEW I would be able to handle our Japan trip and all the other trips I will plan before I can’t fly anymore.  Finally today I pulled out my Leslie Sansone Walk at Home DVD.  It did the trick!  A workout I know won’t harm my baby (it is so scary knowing this is the riskiest time of its life and it’s up to me not to do anything to harm it)…it’s just walking, it is broken up into miles so I knew I could stop at any time, and it’s a good workout.  Mile 1 is the worm up, Mile 2 you speed it up with a little jogging, Mile 3 has a little more jogging and Mile 4 includes workouts with a resistance band.  I did all 4 miles and still have energy to get my chores done.  I don’t know what changed…maybe my body is getting used to working overtime, maybe the 2 week rest was what I needed…WHO KNOWS?  My goal is to use this video daily and maybe start my membership back up at the hotel gym and pool.   

Say What You Will

I read an article online today.  The title was…”What Do Ex-Pats HATE About China?”…I goggled something totally different but I was curious.  I lied actually I didn’t read the article…I read the comments.  Most of the comments started with something like “I love living in China but…” and then it would go on to mention all the things that I have probably mentioned (spitting, crazy drivers, children using the streets as bathrooms, the fact that it isn’t rude to be rude, the staring, the picture taking).  It made me think of when I was a kid and we would come home from a party or something where there were other kids and adults.  My dad would spend the trip home saying how proud he was of us and how he was glad we didn’t whine when it was time to go or complain about things like some of the other kids.  He would tell us how he was so glad we used our manners and that we were great kids.  Of course there were other times where we got the disappointed speech; I mean we couldn’t make our parents lives too easy…right!

Anyway, it made me think about some of the things I have posted and a couple of them are full of complaints (I live it here but blah blah complain, whine, blah blah blah).  My parents (and now I) value the non-complainer, the fun to be around person, the person who isn’t rude.  To me it is rude to complain about the Chinese culture, I am living here, and yes…they have very different views on manners then I do, but they don’t have a problem with it.  I need to apologize for anything that may have come off as complaining.  Most of the time I don’t intend to complain, I just want to tell a funny story, and honestly most of the time the behaviors don’t bother me…but I do keep a running list in my head of some of the differences in behavior I come across because I am more curious about them then annoyed. 

SO…say what you will about the Chinese people but they value personal relationships above everything else, they don’t complain about their circumstances, they are satisfied with what they have, they will do jobs that most Americans would never do (for almost no money), and they are so excited that foreigners live near them, shop with them and work with them.  Don’t expect them to want to eat foreign food or take on the characteristics that the “western world” thinks is normal…but there is something special about the fact that their culture will never die.  Say what you will, but I haven’t met (well other than our first realtor) a Chinese person that doesn’t make me feel welcome, special, and important…or a Chinese person that didn’t try to help me…or a Chinese person that made me feel unsafe, or a Chinese person that I didn’t like.

Can you call it a golf weekend if you spend more time at the pool then at on the course?

Well…my mom says no!  Sorry mom and dad, I really don’t think we ever intended to call it a golf weekend…I know I just shattered your dreams of us being real golfers, but can you honestly say you thought it would happen with me? 

I don’t think I will ever improve as a golfer, straight and short, but do I honestly care…no.  Don’t get me wrong I LOVE golf (for about 6 holes…as long as no one is rushing me), and I am growing, I can now tolerate 9 holes…the question is can anyone tolerate 9 holes of short and strait (it requires a lot of patience).  I really love the whole idea of golf, the fresh air, the walking, the pretty scenery and I am happy to continue golfing trips.

Adam has improved a lot!  He has a pretty nice drive (1 out of 3) and he hits in the right direction (1 out of 3) and he consistently hit double par (I think that is pretty good).  He does have a problem though, he is playing with my mom’s old clubs, so they are a lot shorter then he needs.  I honestly think he would improve a lot with clubs that fit him…and I have a feeling that I would improve a lot if I had cuter clubs with a matching bag and shoes. 

After talking to my dad and finding out that you can buy 1 decent golf club for about $500 (ouch!) and doing “research” (I love that I can call shopping trips research) at Lou Hu I found out that Adam and I could get a full set of copy Taylor Made or Calloway clubs (fitted) and a bag each for less than 1 “decent” club.  I think I may have found our Christmas Presents this year!

So…back to our trip.  We stayed in a 5 star resort hotel (the one my friend’s husband was the Food and Beverage manager for).

I of course chose the cheapest room, but we got upgraded to the “spa room”.  It had the most amazing shower; it had a massage table in the room and a whirlpool tub on the balcony overlooking the lake.  Jodie’s husband had them send us a bottle of wine a fruit basket.  Had I mentioned it is going to be hard moving back to North Carolina…to a “normal” life.  We ate delicious food, sat by the pool and well played a little golf.  When you go to a place like this you forget you are in China, let alone Huizhou…until you are told that it is too hot to go to the pool.  Chinese people don’t like hot or tans, so they were all at the indoor pool while Adam and I had the outdoor pool all to ourselves.  We still have a couple 9 hole coupons…we may just need to go back!

8 Weeks

Wow…8 seems like such a small number, however it feels like I have been pregnant forever (I can’t imagine what it will feel like at 30+ weeks).  I think the forever comes from the lies I have to tell and how I know I have to keep the secret for another 4 weeks.  Anyway last Friday I started feeling more congested and I had a sore throat and on Saturday I started with a bad cough.  I am guessing these aren’t pregnancy symptoms.  I have been achy all over and basically feel flu-ish without the drowsiness.

Last week the doctor told me to stop taking my pre-natal vitamins and take only folic acid (to help with my all day sickness) and it helped big time!  I feel so much better and I can almost go 2.5 hours without eating something! 

I have also not been sleeping well, I have these very vivid dreams that are very unsettling and make me feel like I haven’t slept.  I sometimes dream of people I know or met once, or of characters in the TV show we watched right before bed, but the dreams always have to do with the pregnancy (usually trying to hide it) and usually end with me so frustrated or upset I wake myself up.

I have been really good about not exercising I have even taken it further by not taking stairs, and not doing anything that would require more work or more exertion then a walk around the grocery store.  It may be a little too much, but I would much rather be safe than sorry, and I would much rather have the blood gone so I can get back to exercising (it’s amazing at how much better it made me feel and sleep). 

I hate that this is all negative.  I really thought I would be one of those glowing, walking on air pregnant women (and maybe I will be starting in the second trimester) but I have been miserable and not myself.  My poor husband had been so wonderful living with this woman that used to be kinda cool and is now behaving like a toddler (needs snack and nap to keep happy, gives him a hard time about eating dinner, wakes him up with her bad dreams).  I really do love knowing that I am pregnant and I could sit and read about how my baby is growing or what it is doing all day long.  I am totally happy…just kinda miserable.

I have noticed Adam and I tend to call the baby a he, I don’t know if it is the natural instinct, but I am worried it may be a girl and it may be hard to switch to she…so I try to catch myself and say he…OR SHE!  Who knows we may just know it’s a boy.  I do have feelings of it being a girl…usually when I see a really cute pink dress or booties with flowers on them, but I also have feelings of a boy…usually when I have dreams of the future when I have the baby.  I can’t wait to find out…I better come up with a baby budget now before my heart has more say then my pocketbook!

*****Cool Week 8 Fact:  My baby can move, and it looks more like a human then a reptile (I just know it’s the cutest little fetus in the world…a mother knows these things)!

Rebelling Against the Chinese Way of Eating One Recipe at A Time!

I choose not to eat Chinese food anymore, there are a couple “western style” restaurants with “Chinese type” cooking that I love, but I just can’t do it anymore!  My poor husband eats sub par lunches in the cafeteria (they have no microwave so I can’t pack him a lunch…plus he thinks it may seem rude) while I eat my expensive grilled cheese sandwiches (we totaled it up and a homemade grilled cheese sandwich is about $2.50 US).  Although I am ok with eating the same thing every day for lunch for the rest of my life…it would be nice to have a choice.

Today I made my own bagels and they were actually edible!  I halved the recipe (next time I will try the whole recipe) and I lost track of time while they were in the oven…they didn’t “puff up” like the internet said they would and they are a little overcooked.  Other than that they are really good!!!  I am in a total fight against Chinese food (and before you disagree…they don’t have General Tso’s chicken here…and if they did it would be 1/8 chicken the rest bone and the sauce would be oily and leave a taste that you can’t brush away).  I am so tired of going through the grocery store and not finding staples that all Americans should have in their home (wheat bread, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, pretzels, milk by the gallon, real eggs, baking mixes, all purpose flour, boneless skinless chicken breast, and beef).  After taking a couple day trips to Hong Kong and realizing how easy it is I plan on smuggling groceries on a regular basis.  The only problem is food is more expensive in Hong Kong then it is in America (a bottle of vanilla cost me $15.00 US…but totally worth it).  So to keep my grocery budget at a reasonable level and have foods I like I will be making more things myself.  On Tuesday I went to Hong Kong with a friend for a day (and since we have to carry groceries ourselves through Honk Kong and onto the train we are limited to what we can get).  I bought yeast, unbleached all purpose flour (I couldn’t carry bread flour as well), a bag of pretzels, tortilla chips, salsa, and tortillas.  I made chicken tortilla soup for dinner and bagels for lunch!  I am so glad to finally have salty snacks and carbs (that aren’t from steamed rice) back in my life.

Mental Breakdown OR Hormonal Explosion

Just a few hours later…I had a total hormonal breakdown.  And just when I thought the extra hormones were doing nothing but good in me.  I had been calm and understand in every situation since I became pregnant.  Tonight it was the fact that I couldn’t log into the blog that threw me over the edge…I think the main reason for the breakdown is the bloody uterus.  I just heard a heart beating inside me…I can’t even imagine life without this baby, It doesn’t have fingers or toes yet, but it’s my baby! I think that I just didn’t want to think about the fact that there could be a problem…so I focused on my expired e-mail address.  I called Adam in tears, he left his boss, his coworkers and his bosses boss from Raleigh to listen.  I don’t for sure know what the breakdown was about because deep down I know my baby is going to be just fine…I mean if it wasn’t the doctor wouldn’t let me out of the office to make the trip back to China.

We Have A Beating Heart!

Before we left (Adam for work, me for Hong Kong) I had to pack enough snacks, plus a few emergency snacks since I now get severe car sickness.  Anyway I am as difficult to get ready for a day trip as a toddler these days (10+ snacks that I can carry around all day, drinks for the car and something I can eat for lunch in case I don’t have time to eat before the appointment).

On to the exciting part of the day…I heard my baby’s beating heart!!!!!!  According to the size it is 7 weeks and 1 day old, which means our due date is our second anniversary (April 4^th).  I am so excited…watching my baby on the big screen tv (yes I said big screen tv) in the ultrasound room was the first time in 2 weeks (although it seems like a lifetime) that I haven’t wanted to curl up in the fetal position because of nausea.  It was the magic of the baby because I had rushed through a bad decision lunch (Thai food is not for nausea) and skipped a snack. 

It wasn’t all hearts and rainbows because the doctor said that there was blood around the uterus (somewhere it shouldn’t be).  He said it happens a lot, and it usually absorbs into the uterin wall but just to be safe he scheduled an appointment for 2 weeks from now (rather than the typical 4) and until then no exercise or strenuous activity…I can’t do any lifting or stretching or too much walking.  I was very careful on my way from the doctors office to the China border…I made sure to not walk too hard, to not pick up my feet too high when walking up the stairs (I mean there are escalators all over Hong Kong except when you need them) and I didn’t rush to be in the front of the immigration lines. 

7 Weeks

Tomorrow I have my first “real” doctor’s appointment.  I am really excited to hear the baby’s heartbeat.  This has been the longest 2 weeks of my life!  I have gone through all the pregnancy neurosis where I am scared there is something wrong, worried that I am not taking good care of myself or the baby, scared that people are going to think I am a bad mother because I do things differently than the Chinese (eat watermelon, pineapple, and bananas, exercise, rub my belly…more on that later).  On days where I don’t want to vomit I wonder if there is something wrong.  I wonder about that sushi I ate before I knew I was pregnant.  Hopefully seeing that the baby is OK will help me with some of these fears (I am guessing not…but it will be wonderful either way).
I have felt soooooo sick since Friday (I am beginning to think my weeks start on a Friday because that is when I get new symptoms…the Friday before I started feeling sick….two Fridays before that is when the bloating and fatigue hit full force.  This Friday I started feeling more sick and more tired.  Friday I met Adam for lunch…I could barely make the 20 min. trip without wanting to puke my brains out, and I made him eat at McDonalds because it was the closest restaurant that had an English menu.  Friday night I went to bed at 9:30 and slept until 8:30 the next morning.  Saturday I figured out that I should take a nap after lunch and eat something small every 2 hours in order to function.  Sunday the plan worked!  Today it stopped working and I now need to eat every hour.
*****COOL WEEK 7 FACT: He or she is now 10,000 times bigger than at conception.

I'm sorry I didn't do laundry today...I am busy making placneta

I am lovin’ the excuses that come along with pregnancy!  I don’t use them to get out of doing stuff…because hey, my maternal instinct has set in and I want to take care of my husband no matter how tired I am…I just use them to freak Adam out a little bit.  I am sure I will eventually use them as excuses but to be honest, I just read all about the placenta in Dr. Oz’s book and making a placenta is a very important job and even if it’s all I do one day…I’ll be satisfied…it’s very important work.  BTW anyone who plans on getting pregnant, is pregnant or had a baby needs to read Dr. Oz’s book…I love how it tells us WHY things happen in a way that I can understand and in a way that makes me understand why I need to eat certain things or not eat others, it helps me understand why I feel the way I feel and it makes me appreciate my body in a whole new way.

6 Weeks

I still have my energy back...Thank God, because I would not survive the way I felt before!  No morning sickness for me…nope as usual I break the rules and have evening sickness.  I feel nauseous a lot of the day but I can’t even eat dinner unless it’s bland and small.  The other day JJ came over to play wii with Adam and I made Chicken Parmesan (one of my favorites) I felt like crap while cooking it but I figured it was the raw meat and the hot kitchen…I couldn’t even think about eating it and when I put a small piece in my mouth I gagged and stuck to buttered noodles (JJ commented that I didn’t eat any of my dinner).  I made cookies and mango juice for dessert but everything tasted bad…only to me. 
My nauseous feeling has cut my meals in half…I usually force myself to eat half but then can’t do it anymore, however my belly would say otherwise.  It is huge (due to bloating I guess) and I know it is way too early to show but it is defiantly getting hard to hide.  Two people yesterday asked me if I was pregnant.  Nevermind the belly but a girl that usually enjoys a glass or two of wine with dinner has to now explain why she is not drinking…it’s amazing how many people have tried to force me to drink just one (we can’t drink it all by ourselves, we have a whole bottle, the wine/beer is really good).  I am out of excuses…I have used I don’t like to drink, I need something more refreshing, It makes me sleepy…meanwhile I do like to drink, I think a nice cold beer is very refreshing and although it does make me sleepy that hasn’t stopped me before.  I am not a huge drinker by any means…but somehow not drinking has made me feel like an alcoholic.

I had no idea I would have to use the bathroom so much in early pregnancy…it is so strange I guess the small amount of room my baby takes up has thrown my bladder for a loop!  Keep in mind that I taught kindergarten and first grade…my bladder was trained to go a whole school day if necessary without using the bathroom and I never had to go in the middle of the night…now I wake up at least twice!  I can’t even imagine what it will be like later on…on the bright side…I found that most malls in Huizhou have a handicap bathroom (a western toilet) for pregnant women…I guess I wasn’t the only one who didn’t like the idea of being 7 months pregnant and having to squat over a hole in the floor.  I will continue to stop off at the local 5 star hotel to use their bathroom when I am out and about. 

***COOL WEEK 6 FACT: The eyes, inner ear and voice box are beginning to form!

Caught in the rain...

This weekend we went to Hong Kong to hang out with one of Adam’s coworkers from Raleigh who was here on business.  We had a great time just hanging out.  We met another of Adam’s coworkers who lives in Hong Kong and he took us to the pier for dinner.

It was kind of a boardwalk setting with lots of outdoor seafood restaurants looking out into the ocean full of yachts and fishing boats.  You can pick out your own dinner from the variety of live fish and other sea critters out of aquariums. YC picked our dinner and it was delicious.  I have never been a big seafood fan, but I broadened my horizons since living in China and I enjoy seafood every once and a while.  We ate some amazing squid…which according to Adam I will never taste squid that good ever again.   After dinner we went down to the promenade where you can have amazing views of the city skyline at night while enjoying a drink outside.  When we reached the promenade we took a couple pictures before the sky opened up and it rained like I have never seen before.  We were soaking wet with nowhere to go.  We figured we were already wet and decided to walk until we could find somewhere to wait out the rain.  We found an Irish Pub and sat for about an hour before heading back to the hotel. 

Lets back up to Saturday morning when we packed our bag for our overnight trip.  I just packed a clean shirt, underwear and toiletries.  Adam wanted to pack a clean pair of shorts as well as a clean shirt and underwear.  I gave him a hard time about packing so much for just overnight.  FF to Sunday morning…my jeans were soaking wet were Adam had a whole dry outfit.  I sent him out to the mall to find me some pants; I figured yoga pants would be easy for him to pick out.  We happened to be in the only area of Hong Kong that didn’t have an H&M so Adam had to pick out a pair of real pants.  They fit me pretty well (GO ADAM).  Anyway poor Adam had to go shopping for pants for me (I don’t even like doing that) and I was stuck in the hotel room until 11:30 without breakfast.

Hanoi Traffic Video

Watching people try to cross the street.

5 Weeks

my bloated before look

It’s official I had a doctor’s appointment in Hong Kong this morning where they took a blood test and determined (according to my HCG levels) that I am 5 weeks along!  The first thing the doctor said was “What happened?...I thought you were going to start trying in a few months!” then he laughed when I said I thought you had to go off the pill a few months before trying to get your body back on schedule (I love a doctor that doesn’t mind teasing you a little…it makes me more relaxed). It was too early for the first ultrasound so Dr. Doo (pronounced Dew) said he would save me some money and do the full examination at my next appointment.  Not only is my doctor totally cool, highly recommended by Hong Kong ex-pats, but he likes saving me money…I think he is a keeper.  I wasn’t surprised but I was relieved that my blood levels are good (whatever they are and whatever they mean).  My next appointment is August 17^th (maybe I will hear the heart beat).  The only bad thing about my doctor being in Hong Kong is Adam can’t come to all the appointments with me (it takes 3-4 hours to travel one way).  GLASS HALF FULL: baby number 2 will be special for daddy because he will be able to go to more doctors appointments when we live in Raleigh and he doesn’t have to take the full day off (not that we are planning baby number 2 yet).  Adam is saving the days off for my big doctor’s appointments.

Between the blood test and hearing the results I wondered a couple baby stores planning on picking something up…a “I bought you this when I found out I was pregnant with you” gift.  Unfortunately I am totally caught up in the little girl stuff vs. little boy stuff...the neutral stuff is really cute but not as cute as the little blue booties with a train or the little pink hat with a flower.  I guess I will have to wait until we find out to start buying things…but for now looking at everything is enough to keep me happy.

I treated myself to Dr. Oz’s pregnancy book, and it looks interesting…it talks about why everything happens where What To Expect just kind of tells you what happened.  After I get my amazon shipment (another pregnancy book…it is really fun to learn about all the cool things my body is doing and how my baby is growing…and a couple pregnancy workout DVD) I will be an expert of my own body and the best possible home for our little baby. 

***COOL WEEK 5 FACT: The baby's heart started beating!