Little Yoda or Little Adam

I had my doctor’s appointment which is always the highlight of my week, but I always get nervous a couple days before (especially since I felt REALLY good yesterday…I figured something had to be wrong).  This was the first appointment where I had to wait more than 2 min. to see the doctor, which actually was a good thing since there is no eating on the MTR (Hong Kong subway), in the stations and honestly eating in the middle of immigration isn’t the best idea (although I have done it before)…so I got a chance to nibble on some cheerios and goldfish. 

Basically the baby is growing very quickly (and by quickly I mean my due date keeps getting closer and closer).  I have had every appointment on a Tuesday and the first appointment showed that I was 7 weeks and 1 day, the next appointment showed 9 weeks and 3 days, this appointment showed 13 weeks and 5 days (based on the size of baby)!  This makes me wonder if I will have a little baby like me (6 lb’s)…a little Yoda (which apparently is what my parents called me when I was born because I was so small and wrinkled…nice huh), or a bigger baby like Adam (he thinks he was 9+lb’s), who I am sure didn’t get made fun of by his parents.  The baby has a bladder (so the kidneys are working) and a stomach (so he/she should be swallowing).  I saw both arms, both hands, both legs and both feet.  The whole time we had the ultrasound on the baby had its hand in front of its face…so cute…almost like he/she was saying MOOOOOM, no more pictures (but as a mother it is my right to take as many pictures of my child as I want)!

Now for the food issue: The doctor didn’t seem concerned at my weight loss (because the baby was growing).  We did discuss the problem though and since I kept hydrated and wasn’t vomiting everything up, he thought I would be fine.  He asked me if I had tried EVERYTHING…including eating McDonalds.  I told him that french fries are my go to food and he was ok with that.  I told the doctor that the main issue for me is that I CAN’T eat most foods and he totally understood (basically I gag as soon as “bad” food is put in front of me or I tough it out and decide to put the “bad” food in my mouth…so I am gagging when I try to swallow and unless I have an emergency apple nearby I am miserable and gagging for the next 10 min.).  I am so glad he understands and I know people mean well but telling me to just eat it anyway doesn’t help, and my doctor didn’t do that.  He told me about his own wife who was sick and couldn’t eat much for the whole 9 months of both her pregnancies and he said both of the babies were full term and full sized (then he said I don’t know if knowing that will make you feel better or worse…but just know the baby looks great).  It seems like every time I see Dr. Doo I like him more and more!

13 Weeks

Well, the morning (“all day”) sickness is back full force.  It was nice to have a few good days.  I now have a new outlook on feeling sick…if you can’t beat it, join it (so to say).  I picked up some girlie TV series on DVD and I make sure to have a ton of granny smith apples in the house and a full bottle of water in the bathroom just in case.  I also keep food by the bed and have taken it easy on “different” foods (food that hasn’t been tested yet…by my belly).  I am limiting my outings to 2 full days a week and 1 hour at a time anything beyond that is risky.  I have decided not to fight it, my body is obviously telling me to take it easy and I am blessed to have the choice to take it easy (besides yoga pants fit so much better than real pants).  I have also decided to stop weighing myself, I was really disappointed that I only gained back 1.5 lb’s last week and started to lose again this week.  I have also been discouraged by not being able to eat much and people telling me I need to eat…I honestly eat all day long, just not actual food.  I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow and he will tell me if I need to worry.

I have a new and odd symptom…for the past week or so I have had this horrible taste in my mouth and no amount of teeth brushing worked.  I thought I was dehydrated so I have doubled my water consumption.  Turns out you can Google any strange feeling along with pregnancy and find a whole slew of ladies suffering from the same thing.  Well apparently that bad taste is something that some women get while pregnant and the only thing that can completely cure it is giving birth…however there are tons of home remedies that seem to work (always carry gum or mints, gargle with baking soda and water, eat a lemon after eating anything else) I have tried the baking soda and the gum and so far things taste much better.  I wish I could describe the taste but honestly it’s one of those things you have to experience to really understand.  I can honestly say Google has been a blessing and a curse…I can spend all day looking up information but when I find something it sure is helpful!

******Cool Week 13 Fact: Our baby is developing vocal cords this week...I know it sounds crazy but I can’t wait to hear his or her little cry!

Just Out of Curiosity…OLD WIVES TALES TO PREDICT GENDER

I read somewhere that with good equipment a doctor can predict the gender of the baby by ultrasound as early as 12 weeks at 80% accuracy.  Now they can tell with more certainty they can tell between 16 and 20 weeks.  So chances are I won’t find out anything until my October appointment (I will be 17 weeks) but just in case I decided to look to old wives tales to see what they say.

1)     I am carrying low – BOY (looking at my small bump and with my occasional lower back pain…I could be wrong about how I’ll carry when I am bigger but for now – LOW)

2)     My cravings are more sour then sweet – BOY (now when I say craving keep in mind nothing tastes good to me)

3)     My face is thin and pale – BOY (again…I have lost weight and am nauseous)

4)     My face is totally broken out – GIRL

5)     According to the Chinese Birth Charts – BOY or GIRL (I checked 2 and one said boy the other said girl)

6)     According to the ancient Mayans – GIRL (apparently if your age and the year of conception are both even or odd it’s a girl…if one is odd and the other is even it’s a boy)

7)     The ring test says – GIRL

8)     Morning Sickness? Check – GIRL

9)     Apparently if you look at what your mother had (girl then boy) and you are the first born you start with number 2 then move back to 1 – BOY

10)  Mothers Gut - ???? My feelings are totally based on what names I like better – GIRL, the clothes I find cuter – BOY or GIRL, I keep calling it a he (but it’s easier to say) – BOY

It looks like I have a 50% chance of having a boy and a 50% chance of having a girl…hmmmmm

I've Made It

This one is for all you ladies who love shoes, who look at designer shoes like a child looks at Santa, but can’t afford or can’t imagine spending $800 on a pair of shoes.  This is for all the girls who use a hot pair of heals to make a simple t-shirt and jeans look like a million bucks…
Well my job here as an ex-pat wife has been the most challenging task of my life.  I have to keep my American girl independence and my American girl expectations of a marriage with Chinese materials without insulting the Chinese culture.  The biggest challenges lead to the biggest rewards!  My biggest reward is becoming so much closer to my wonderful husband…but beyond that I have embraced the simple life.  I love that my refrigerator can only hold things we will actually use (as opposed to my pantry and fridge at home which had plenty of room for any sauce, condiment or fun sounding treat I saw at the store).  I love that when thinking about baby stuff I have decided to be a minimalist mom (looking online at babies-r-us makes me wonder how any little baby can actually “need” all that stuff).  Another benefit is the cheap things we can get here (fruits and veggies, DVD’s, airplane tickets).  One thing I have heard about but hadn’t seen is the copy designer shoes.  I have seen the bad copy’s and honestly they are fine (but are cheaply made and don’t give your feet proper support).
Yesterday at LoHu everything changed!  I just went to keep a friend company and to pick up something from the tailor.  I have come to find that I get the best deals when I don’t actually need anything.  Jodie and I stopped at a shoe store and I was asking to see if they made tennis shoes in Adam’s size.  The girl said they didn’t have anything here but she could take me to her other shop right next door.  Jodie was working on a deal so I went with the girl…we went to a bedding store, I was very confused…especially when she lead me to the closet.  Well this closet wasn’t a closet at all but a secret store with the high quality copy bags and shoes!!!!  No were in sight were there men’s tennis shoes but I didn’t care I was in shoe heaven!  I saw Jimmy Choo, Tods, Chanel, and the list goes on…  I tried on a pair of amazing Jimmy Choo’s and a pair of strappy Burberrys’.  The girl went to get Jodie who insisted that I obviously wasn’t in the bedding store and refused to come in (these are little 9x9 shops and she could see I wasn’t there) so I went to get her and she was as amazed as I was.  The girl quoted me a price of 1700 RMB ($250) for both pairs…since I don’t actually need shoes and I didn’t intend to come home with anything I aimed low in the bargaining and got both pairs of shoes for what I would pay for decent off season shoes on sale at Belk.  Not only that, but I now have the business card to get me to the girl with the shoes! 

Nothing Says HAPPY BIRTHDAY Like Disney!

Since Adam and I don’t “need” anything, and we really don’t want more stuff…more stuff means more furniture to put the stuff, which means we need more space and a never ending battle of STUFF!  So we go on trips for our birthdays, anniversary, etc…  Who knows with the little one coming soon this may be our last birthday trip just the two of us (but don’t feel too sorry…we still have 3 more big trips planned through the end of the year).  We may end up turning to the “something we need but don’t buy because we would rather spend money on the baby” gift giving couple (which is totally fine), but for now it’s all about Disney!

Everyone told me not to go in with high expectations (not possible…I but on a calm face but I was totally giddy on the inside); they said it is nothing like Disney Land (or World) in the states.  But Disney is a magical place no matter how lame it may seem.  I figured my friends 4 year old can celebrate his birthday there and have a good time, the for sure I can. 
First of all Disney Hong Kong has its own train on the MTR which truly gets you into the Disney spirit (windows and rings shaped like Mickey, statues of the characters etc…).

We stayed at the Disney Hollywood Hotel (a 1950’s Hollywood themed hotel) and spent all day Saturday at the Park.  There were only 3 rides that “expectant mothers” weren’t allowed on.  I actually went on one that wasn’t a ride but a haunted hotel.  We did everything from see the top shows to riding it’s a small world, to waiting in line to have our picture taken with Mickey, to sitting front and center for the parade and fireworks. 

A really cool part of the trip was this was the first weekend of the Halloween theme so all the characters were dressed for Halloween, the Disney villains were the stars of the parade, and they had special Halloween events.  We left totally satisfied with what we were able to do, and with me just beginning to feel the “pregnancy soreness” after a day in the sun and on my feet.  I can see why people aren’t impressed with HK Disney; honestly we could have done it in a half a day if I wasn’t pregnant (spending time searching for the perfect baby gift, taking snack breaks every couple hours etc…).  But I had an amazing time!

12 Weeks

I feel sooooooo much better!  I have gained back 1.5lb’s and I actually feel hungry, but not only that I have actually eaten food fit for an adult (rather than the baggies of goldfish crackers and cheerios that were my lifesaver when I left the house).  I am almost in the 2^nd Trimester (which means I may get clearance to exercise again).  My energy level is up (I am guessing because I am actually giving my body the proper fuel.  Now I need to focus on gaining the 6 lb’s I am down, plus the 3-5 lb’s recommended weight gain for the first trimester, in a healthy way.  I still need to have snacks every couple hours or else…well use your imagination…however my snacks need to be more substantial and have more variety, an apple can no longer satisfy my hunger.  Now it’s an apple, some pretzels and some candy.

I am really starting to feel pregnant!  I am showing, and I have some hip pain (which is apparently something that happens more frequently if you live in Norway or are of Norwegian descent...I looked it up on the internet and started to be concerned at the fact that I was experiencing hip pain so early and found out about the Norwegian thing…weird).  It was also nice for people to offer their seat on the MTR in Hong Kong and to let people pass me in the immigration lines.

Now…I think…everyone knows about the pregnancy, which is such a relief.  I was honestly worried that people would think I was a bad mother (before the baby was even born) because of the decision we made to have the baby overseas.  Adam and I are 100% confident with our decision, we know it’s not going to be easy…but is it really easy anyway…and it will be tough not having family or old friends around, but we will not be alone at all (in fact another friend here is pregnant as well and is due 4 weeks before I am), I have already gotten tons of meals (for Adam since I couldn’t bring myself to cook), tons of hand me downs, some amazing advice and support from my “Huizhou Ex-Pat Family”.  Even though we have known each other only a short time, there is something about being the only few people, in a city of 4 million, that can speak English that brings a group together.  I really hope someday Adam and I can take our children on a tour around the world to visit these forever friends wherever they may be. 

The support we get here is wonderful but the support we have gotten from EVERYONE back in our home country is priceless.  I will remember everyone’s reaction when we made our little announcement on SKYPE for the rest of my life, and I am so thankful that everyone kept our secret and let us tell (It’s my right as a 1^st time mother to hear 1^st reactions 1^st hand); I am also saving all the amazing e-mails full of positive thoughts and excitement.  I know people are wondering about our “Pre-Birth” plan but there are a few details I need to iron out.  I will do a special post on that soon!

*****Cool Week 12 Fact: My baby has doubled in size in the past 3 weeks (good to know since my belly has also doubled in size). 

Like Most Things in America…Our Baby Was Made In China

Yeah, that’s right…

WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!

Keeping this secret is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my entire life…especially since we use skype and a webcam, and I had horrible all day sickness!  When people would call I would open my tired eyes and smile through the nausea (and hide any pregnancy books that may be near the computer).  It almost slipped a few times but I got really good at lying.  No we aren’t planning a trip in March, we will be having a baby in April and I don’t think it would be a great idea, No I didn’t just go to Hong Kong for the heck of it…I went for doctors appointments, No I don’t think beer is disgusting and I do love wine, No I didn’t eat it…I played with it and pushed it around the plate because either I didn’t want to hurt the baby or I didn’t want to vomit all over the table,  Nope, I didn’t play golf…the doctor took me off exercise that week and our coupons expired at the end of the month, unfortunately won’t get to ride space mountain on my birthday trip to Disney…they don’t let pregnant women ride, nope, I don’t feel fine (actually I want to puke then take a nap).  Those are just the lies I remember…so please forgive me if you were at the receiving end of one of our lies.

Back to the good news…our baby is fine and is 11 weeks and 1 day old today.  We told our families a couple weeks ago (our plan was to wait until after the first trimester).  We made them keep our secret and then we started asking ourselves…why are we keeping this secret?, we already told some people…why not just tell everyone!  So last Sunday we sent out e-mails and facebook messages (tacky, I know but we couldn’t call everyone and it’s not like we can just tell people as we see them at work or at church).  And as my birthday gift to myself I get to make the official announcement on the blog.

I have written blog entries (but hid them…go me and my mad technology skills) for the pregnancy so far, so if you would like to read about how I felt or what happened at doctor’s appointments go for it…I figured if we were living in NC I would have told everyone as soon as I knew and I would have shared all my pregnancy symptoms, doctors appointments and pictures with family and friends, so this is my way of pretending like we are living right around the corner.  Plus we have some ultrasound pictures!

What a Wonderful Life

Year 21 I graduated from college and got my first REAL job…my dream job.  Year 22 I bought a house.  Year 23 I met the love of my life.  Year 24 we got engaged.  Year 25 we got married.  Year 26 we moved to China.  And that is just the past few years!  I am amazed at how much has happened and at how totally blessed I have been.  I still feel like a teenager, I should be living with my parents, it was all a dream…did I really already attend and graduate from college?  Did I really already get married?  Do I really live in China?  It is all surreal.  I can’t be old enough for any of this!  Is this what life is like for everyone?  My life is too good to be true, and now I get to experience another year where something wonderful and life changing will happen.  I am so excited for what is in store for year 27.  All I know is I have a lot to look forward to…and I am not just talking about my birthday trip to Disney Hong Kong!

11 Weeks

this is beyond my normal pooch...

I felt really good this past week until Thursday then it was all downhill.  I have lost more weight but I have done a lot of research and some women have lost 15 lb’s the first trimester, are sick throughout the whole pregnancy and have perfectly healthy babies.  I try to make up for my lack of appetite by eating more when I am hungry.  I am mostly healthy things and I pretty much am nibbling on dry cereal or an apple all day long.  The funny thing is the change in my nausea has nothing to do with food, but brushing my teeth totally makes me gag and then dry heave (in the morning…since I have nothing to throw up).  It takes me a while to recover from that in the morning. 

On another note, I turn 27 tomorrow…late twenties here I come!  I will also get to go to Disney this weekend.  I am predicting that I will require lots of frozen juice drinks and breaks like at the Expo, but the Hong Kong Disney doesn’t have as many rides as it has shows and special events so I will still have a wonderful time.  I am planning on forcing Adam to ride Space Mountain since I can’t (it will be his first time to a Disney park).  And today is our engagement anniversary.

We celebrated our engagement anniversary and had my birthday dinner this past weekend (our amazing date night with Mexican food and donuts).  What I didn’t share in my date night blog was that we bought our first baby things (other than the Shanghai t-shirt).  We bought a crib mattress and a changing table mat.  I wanted to get these first so we could a) spread out the expenses, and b) see if it would be cost effective to have some furniture made.  I know a lady whose brother makes American style furniture and can make anything from a picture.  I printed out pictures of high end cribs and changing stations and checked prices on Target furniture…if I can get stuff made for the price of what we would pay at Target if we were living in the states I will go for it…if not I can just get a simple something from IKEA that we probably wouldn’t bother bringing back with us.

****Cool Week 11 Fact: My little baby no longer has webbed feet and hands…it has itty bitty fingers and toes!

New golf clubs, hard to find DVD’s, a box of donuts, and leftover Mexican food…

Can you really think of a better way to come home from a date night!  Adam and I ordered Golf Clubs from my favorite “copy” shopping area a few weeks ago and I didn’t want to be the one to decide if they were good or not before I brought them home, so I planned a day for us in Shenzhen.  Our golf clubs were perfect!  Adam was almost giddy when he saw them.  After a quick examination he couldn’t find a difference between them and the golf clubs we looked at in an actual Callaway store.  ***After we returned home we did a quick search on the computer and found the value of one set of our clubs and a bag would cost over $1400…we paid about $180 per set.  Merry early Christmas to us!!!!!  Then we went to IKEA where we ate a meatball lunch and picked up a few things…it was really about the meatballs.
After IKEA we went to a place I found online called Shenzhen Sea World.  I had no idea what it would be like although I knew it wasn’t like any sea world I had been to, I just knew there were tons of restaurants in the area (Italian, Thai, Mexican, American, Seafood).  It was a big square with tons of little craft stands set up selling jewelry, wooden toys, and of course DVD’s.  At the end of the square was a huge ship sitting on the land, it had been converted into a hotel and a few restaurants.  We walked around a bit before going to dinner at the Mexican place.  BTW…there were actual Mexicans running the restaurant, I can honestly say we haven’t seen any Mexicans since we left the States in June…it really is amazing what you miss.  It was early for dinner and we had a big late lunch so we ended up taking a lot home with us.  We couldn’t leave without picking up Sunday breakfast from Dunkin Donuts…yeah that’s right DUNKIN DONUTS!  It only takes about 2 hours to get there so we plan on going back…a lot!

September 11, 2001

It’s hard to believe that it has been 9 years already.  Some people lost family members, some became hero’s, some lost jobs, some lost hope, some lost confidence, some went to bed that night not feeling safe for the first time.  I remember 9.11 a lot differently than most people.  I was a freshman at Elon coming home from my 8:00 class, my only plan was to get back to bed.  My roommate had the news on and told me about the planes crashing as soon as I got in the door.  Both my roommate and I had family members who were pilots (her father, my uncle) and they weren’t giving information about the planes.  I called my mom expecting her to turn on the TV, watch it with me and tell me everything was going to be OK.  See my mom LOVED NY City, she grew up near the city, she worked in the city as a young woman, she is a big time Yankee fan and her ring tone is “Start Spreadin’ the News”.  I figured she may know people who worked in the WTC or be worried about terrorism or even be upset that the city she loved would never be the same.  My mom kind of blew me off on the phone (she hadn’t seen the news) and told me that she had to go because she had a doctor’s appointment and she needed to run errands.  To be honest I don’t know that I ever told her this but I was really annoyed at her reaction.  I later found out that her doctor’s appointment was the appointment where she got her Parkinsons diagnosis.

My mom is a strong lady (the strongest I know) and she stayed strong on 9.11, the day the status of her health changed, the day terrorists invaded our wonderful country, the day people crashed into her city, the day my dad (an airline mechanic) wasn’t sure if he would have a job.  She didn’t tell people (other than my dad) about her diagnosis until later on.  Scott and I were some of the first to find out and she didn’t tell us until November of that year. 

Today, 9 years later my mom is in the hospital recovering from her second knee replacement surgery.  I am guessing she is either driving the doctors and nurses crazy because she won’t listen to what they say and she is trying to do things she shouldn’t on her own, or she is the favorite patient making them all laugh…my bet an equal amount of each.  If anyone wants to hear my mom’s story she is happy to share…giving credit to her success and positive attitude to God, plus she would tell you a joke or two.

Shanghai

We arrived in Shanghi on Friday night and went straight to the hotel.  Adam and I went out with a couple of his co-workers to find some dinner, which was more of a challenge then is sounds.  We ended up eating pastries at Starbucks, as it seems most places around the mall closed at 10 or earlier. 
Saturday we went to the Expo and decided to go to the places where we wouldn’t have to wait in lines.  Personally I think it is ridiculous to wait 9 hours to spend 20 min looking at the exhibit.  We of course had to go to Norway (because my family would be disappointed if we didn’t) and there was no line.  We went to Denmark and Switzerland.  On the plus side most countries would let you skip the line if you had a passport from that country and since Adam and I went around with a Malaysian and a Singaporean we got into those without waiting, and honestly the small countries were my favorites.  Unfortunately the good old US of A wouldn’t let us skip the line.  Most exhibits had tourism videos and were built to mimic traditional architecture.  There were lots of pictures, hand crafted souvenirs and of course each country had food and drink we defiantly took advantage of the drinks since it was super hot all day.  We ate lunch at the French exhibit which allowed us to skip that line and ended the day going to the African exhibit, which was a huge building with a different booth for each country.  We got on the bus at 6:00 went back to the hotel and showered before going out to sight see a little and have dinner.  We (along with a couple of Adam’s co-workers) went to the tallest building in Shanghai (until a month ago it was the tallest in China…and I think I read that it has the highest viewing area in the world).  The floor had windows in it so you felt like you were walking on air…it was really cool! 

Sunday Adam and I chose to sight see rather than go back to the expo.  We had a nice leisurely lunch in a European area at a sidewalk café.  We went to the old town which had a traditional Chinese garden (I figured out that apparently what I have called “west lake park” is a traditional Chinese garden).  We looked for an antique village but where the map said it was, was just a busy road and apartments so we went back to the mall so Adam could go to Best Buy…it’s amazing what you miss.  We took a taxi to the Airport and met our tour group…did I mention this was our first ever tour group…and Chinese none the less!  If you have ever seen a Chinese tour group, they are hilarious (not making fun, just making an observation).  Since our tour group was made up of internationally minded, highly educated Cree managers, ours was pretty low key and most people broke off from the group.  ANYWAY we got back to Huizhou at around 1:00 am and the bed never felt nicer!
Just something I would like to point out…so far on every flight we have been on (and we have been on some really cheap flights), no matter what time of day or how long the flight…there was meal service.  As someone who has grown up on airplanes and remembers the day were you would at least get a snack on flights over 2 hours…meal service is something I really miss!

10 Weeks

According to my due date I am ten weeks today, however according to my last ultrasound I was ten weeks on Saturday.  I know that each ultrasound will vary day to day but I am going to keep going with Mondays.  This past week has been a roller coaster I had a couple days where I felt good (the better side of nauseous) and there were days that I have felt worse than I have felt EVER!  I have to say telling our families made all the sickness go away.  It is so nice to be able to talk about the pregnancy.  We went to Shanghai this weekend for the World Expo…I almost didn’t go but I figured I would kick myself if I felt better and if I felt sick I would be fine hanging out in the hotel all day.  Saturday was great, we went to the Expo and thanks to my “condition” we skipped the lines which were as long as five hours.  There was a lot of walking which 3 months ago I would be able to deal with no problem, but now I needed to take a lot of breaks.  Adam and his coworkers would skip the line with me and I would explore for a few min. then find a place to sit and have a cold drink while the guys finished.  On the plus side this weekend I ate 2 actual meals (half of what a normal person would eat) but actual food.  On the same note I have continued to lose weight, as of this morning I am 1.5 kilos (a little over 3 lb) under my pre-pregnancy weight.  Which makes me think that my little bump that sticks around all the time is more than bloating…I think I will be one of those girls that shows early, which is fine with me.  My pants hang low and are a little roomy, but when I wear my fitted t-shirts I totally have the pregnancy look…as if I was about 4 months along. 
******Cool Week 10 Fact: The elbows on my babies arms are already working.

Change In Plans!!!

We told our families last night and this morning…they were all really excited and Adam and I are relieved that people know.  It’s been a hard secret to keep for 5 weeks and last night we caved, and stayed up to midnight making phone calls.  I think the winner for the most excited is my daddy (a new grandpa).