i never wanted to have kids overseas. part 2.

Week 37! We're full term now, baby!

Well, since I left you all depressed after my last post, I thought it was only fair to do a little follow-up blog on how things have been since then.  (Sorry, by the way.  Often, in my attempts to be honest and real, I can come across as quite the emotional Debbie Downer.  I assure you that I still can laugh, smile & even have a little fun.  Really, I can.)  

So I thought I'd just answer some popular questions I've gotten as of lately.  But before I do, I just need to say a big THANK YOU to all those who have encouraged me, prayed for me, hugged me, supported me, checked-in with me, and just BLESSED me throughout this pregnancy journey.  I have felt supported by friends and family near and far and for that, I am so thankful.  Your kindness and love have not gone unnoticed.  So, thank you.

Okay, on to the questions.  Enjoy!

So, um... how are you doing... (like emotionally)?    

People who had read my last blog post seemed to ask this question with much trepidation grace and gentleness...  :)

But fear not!  I am doing sooooo much better.  Praise God.  I think the combination of adjusting back to life in Thailand, missing home, facing so many unknowns here and feeling unprepared to have a baby all felt like a little too much to handle.  However.  Since then, Steven and I have taken our birthing classes (there's an American nurse here who offers classes to foreigners... she's a GOD SEND!), attended a breast-feeding class, gone on our hospital tour, *mostly* set up the nursery, created a birth plan, packed our hospital bags and read as many books on labor and parenting as we could get our hands on.  (To which at this point I need to give a shout out to my amazing husband.  The poor guy probably knows more about natural labor, breast-feeding and sleeping philosophies than the majority of expectant mothers out there.  He's been a huge support--never complaining, always patient and constantly serving.  Bless his heart.)  So, to cut to the chase, this type-A-soon-to-be-mommy is feeling much, much better.  Much more prepared.  Much more calm.  And much more confident that this all a part of His good and perfect plan for us.  

How are you feeling (physically)?

I feel HUGE.  Although Stevo reassures me that I'm not and he's convinced that I won't have this baby until early December!  (My due date is supposed to be November 20th!)  Other than feeling big, I am thankful that I am healthy and still able to get around fairly easily.  I don't think William has "dropped" yet, so it's still hard to breathe sometimes.  He just loves to kick and punch my diaphragm, especially in the morning when I'm trying to be a good student and concentrate in Thai class.  :)  Just recently, Steven's been able to put his ear to my belly and feel/hear William's heart beat.  That's my favorite part of the day.  I just love seeing my two boys bond already.

Are you craving anything?

You know, I had this theory throughout my entire pregnancy that cravings were a joke.  I kind of just thought pregnant women used it as an excuse to eat whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.  But now I think I've changed my mind.  Cuz lately...? I've been really loving me some chocolate.  And the weird thing is, I'm not craving GOOD chocolate.  I'm craving tootsie rolls and these "kind-of-nasty-fake-chocolate-ice-shakes" that they make at the markets here (think Nesquik).  Plus, the other night I found myself making an double batch of chocolate chip cookie dough at 9 pm just so I could eat a warm cookie with ice cream on top.  Steven laughed at me.  But I just felt bad for being so judgmental of my fellow craving-moms-to-be.

What are you most looking forward to?

We are just so excited to see William's face and hold him!  With him moving around so much these days, we're getting anxious to have him with us.  The other day Steven randomly turned to me and said, "William is going to be half you, half me. Do you know how crazy that is?"  To a first time parent, it's just really hard to imagine what this new life is going to be like.  What will his personality be? Will he have Steven's nose? (I hope so!)  Will he look completely Asian?  Will he be the perfect baby that I'm imagining in my head? :)  We have lots of exciting, fun questions that we can't wait to have answered.

What are you most scared about?

Speaking of what William will look like...

... this is kind of seriously what I'm most scared about.  Way before I was pregnant and even thinking about having kids, I thought it would be funny to go to one of those websites that allows you to "see what your kid is going to look like".  It seemed to be a good idea.  Upload a pic of Steven.  Upload a pic of me.  Blend em together and what do you get?!?! Well... what we got was the scary picture you see above.  First of all, we can't tell if it's a boy or a girl.  Second of all, "it" looks mexican.  And not to mention, the website was supposed to give you a picture of a BABY.  Not an 11 year old going through its awkward junior high years...

So needless to say, I have had some gen.u.ine fears that our lil William could look like that.  Not that looks are everything, but seriously... yikes.

What's different about having your baby in Thailand vs. the States?

Hmmm.... lots.

1) Because of the Buddhist culture, most women have scheduled C-Sections.  (They want their babies born on certain "lucky" days.)  So having a natural birth (they also just outlawed epidurals last year...) is pretty uncommon.  Thankfully, we have a really great doctor who has lots of experience working with foreign women and has performed thousands of natural deliveries.

2) It's a lot cheaper!  My "labor and delivery package", which includes a 3 day/2 night stay in the hospital, will only cost us around $750!  Not a bad deal, huh?

3) However... baby things are much more expensive here.  They don't use cribs.  Or car seats.  Or strollers, really.  So all of those things cost a lot since they are imported.  To give you an idea, a plain stroller in the States may cost you around $200 bucks, but in Thailand they're around $1,000.  So even though you come out ahead on your hospital bill, I suppose it all evens out once you start having to buy things for your baby.

4) In the States they tell you not to eat raw fish when you're pregnant.  In Thailand they tell you to stay away from chocolate.  How convenient... see craving question above.  Our house helper told me to stop eating so much chocolate or else my baby will come out with black skin.  (They think dark skin is rather ugly... they try to keep their skin as fare as possible.)  Now, I'm not sure if they actually believe this to be true, but there's been a lot of different "should and shouldn'ts" that I've been told since being pregnant.

5) After I give birth, I have been encouraged to stand over a rice cooker filled with herbs to re-shrink my uterus.  Enough said.

And last but not least... ARE YOU READY?

I'm never really sure how to answer that question.  Yes, we're ready.  But no, we're not ready at all!  One thing that I've really been pondering lately is that this is the last month Steven and I will just be "Steven and I".  It's an end of an era.  With only having each other to really lean on since moving to Thailand, I feel it even deeper.  I have truly grown to love and cherish our one-on-one time together.  We have really good conversations about everything and anything--we know each other inside and out.  Our lives are slower here and our quality time is rich.  We do everything together--grocery shop, read, go to school, study, eat, etc... the past 18 months have really just been the two of us. And I've loved it. It's a little sad knowing our special time together is quickly coming to an end, but we're also looking forward to having a little guy around here to entertain us, keep us busy and fill our days.  Either way, time is moving us forward and we're full of joy, hope and great expectations.