progress

Nope, not progress towards having Judah...a much different kind of progress. So we were on the airplane, Stan and I are across the isle from each other, he's sitting with Kirby at the window and I have Bennett in the middle section. Now most people flying on this particular Thai Airlines flight (the flight we usually take) are either Chinese or Thai. The airline attendants are mostly Thai with a few Chinese thrown in there. They all speak English and Thai and then at least a little Chinese. During drink service the Chinese couple sitting in front of Stan asked for juice. The attendant, who was Thai, was trying to ask if they would prefer orange or apple juice and midway through the sentence realized she didn't know the word for apple juice. She looked at her serving partner and asked 'What is the chinese word for apple juice?' Stan and I both automatically responded 'ping guo zhi'. The attendants looked at us both with a shocked smile and a small laugh and the one who had asked thanked us. Now this is nothing for Stan who has two years of language study more than I do, and not a HUGE thing for me, but I must say it felt great to have that come out as an automatic response, and be correct to top it off. I don't know who was more surprised, me or the attendants. It was almost as if they were surprised that these Americans even knew any Chinese.

So this has totally encouraged me to do the actual studying that I have made plans to do while here in Thailand. I've brought books to review and a friend let me borrow her Rosetta Stone discs, which will give me the opportunity to hear it spoken--so important not to loose those listening skills. At this point in my studying two months away could really set me back, especially since my last couple of months in country were limited as far as all activity and I had to cut my tutoring down by half. But just that little automatic response has me totally encouraged!

Now if I could just remember that the Thai people don't understand Chinese...I've been speaking my basics to them only to be given looks of confusion. Ooops!

GREAT!FANTASTIC!SWEET!AWESOME!

So we finally made it to Bangkok. After the last couple of weeks and all the excitement of the break in and fun with the CDC I was pretty confident that we would have an easy time of it. I had such a peace about it. So on Wednesday I went to the foreigner hospital in KM and got a medical certificate needed for the airline. Some people have had a problem because they will do an ultra sound for the certificate and as many of us know by the time you reach 34 weeks or more many times the baby starts to measure big and in China they will actually move up the due date--this can cause a problem. But they didn't even ask to do one. They just checked the fetal heart rate and my blood pressure and temperature. So that was completely easy, it didn't even take 45 minutes. And then the airline looked at it and made a copy. I got WAY less hassle and questioning than I did when I come here at 23 weeks. Our flight was delayed for 2 hours but at that point I didn't really care, I was seriously just so happy to be on our way. They fed us dinner on the plane so when we got checked in to our hotel home for the next two months, we had time to give the boys a quick bath (I'm still amazed how dirty they got through the day) and get them in bed at a decent time. We unpacked and settled in. I actually slept great that night.GREAT!

Yesterday morning we got up bright and early for my first Dr.'s appointment of many in the next few weeks. I of course have also been so worried that she would want to do an early c-section because it seems as though this kid is HUGE. I was actually measuring right on schedule and his heart rate was normal. Again my blood pressure was good and she was pleased with my weight gain (seriously? I love this lady!). She wanted to go ahead and schedule my c-section, to make sure the single room is reserved--there is a limited number. When she found out Stan's birthday is the same week we were shooting for she really wanted to schedule it for that day. I guess she thought it was lucky. But Stan said it's only fitting because Judah's middle name will be his first name (Wallace) and they will both be born in the year of the Ox according to Chinese zodiac--not that we really follow that but it's still neat. Stan said if Judah looks like him he will have his own little Mini Me. So Judah will be born at least by July 21st, Stan's 36th birthday. I will be taking my anti-contraction meds for one more week so I can make it till he's at least full term but after that he could come anytime. I was also a little worried because even though Bennett made it all the way to his scheduled c-section date he still had some lung issues, I want to avoid using the NICU this time around, although it is the highest level and the nurses and doctors are American trained. The doctor totally put me at ease when she told me that with planned c-sections she routinely does a sonogram at 37 weeks to make sure the development (especially lung) is looking ready for delivery.FANTASTIC!

So now it's vacation time! We hung out at the pool this morning--being submerged in water is a preggo woman's dream--and are just hanging out. We will be celebrating Father's Day tomorrow. Last Sunday was so totally chaotic with packing and sending off our group plus what Stan really wanted was dinner at Outback so we just put it off till this week. We will hopefully be heading to the BKK Aquarium this week, looking for more family friendly places to go as well as plenty more pool time. I really need a haircut and pedicure--if I'm going to be hugely pregnant I want good hair and pretty toes. I may even be caught wearing makeup on a regular basis since it won't melt off as I'm putting it on. SWEET!

Oh and only because I've talked about the things I was looking forward to, here are some things I've been enjoying for the past couple of days...
-Air Conditioning
-Starbucks (well one Vanilla Latte at least, many more to come)
-Regular TV...meaning it's in English
-Pizza!
-Doritos
-Non-sweeted bread...so great to have a normal sandwich
AWESOME!

I guess that's it for now.

let me clarify

I realized that my last few posts about life here has seemed like a lot of complaining. Mostly I just like to write about these things so I can remember what was going on in my life at a certain time and also as a way to get things out. I don't usually want to come across as complaining, although the occasional complaint is natural. To be honest I really love my life here. There are parts that are hard at times, mostly due to cultural differences. But I have to say it's a good feeling to know you are living and doing what you are called to do. Right now we know this is where we are supposed to be living and we are doing what we are meant to do. This may change in a matter of months, although we seriously doubt it. Despite break ins, encounters with the CDC and all the other cultural differences we deal with, this is home.

34

One week to go. I can't believe it's just one week until we fly to Bangkok. After the last week that I've had I am ready to be gone. But at times I think about being gone from our home for 8 weeks--that is a long time. I know we will have plenty to keep us busy but it will be weird. With all that has happen we have decided to leave a day earlier that we originally planned--so I can see the half of the visiting group that didn't make it to our city and the closer I am to the airport the more at ease I think I will feel. So next Monday morning we will take a car from here to KM and then spend three nights there before flying out to BKK. I still have some worries about flying but I think I'm as prepared as we can be. Here I am at 34 weeks...



Some new pregnancy things:

-I have a new pain in my groin (that's the right name, right?). On my right side I have a constant pain that hurts whether I'm sitting, standing or laying down. It started hurting yesterday and hasn't let up. I'm hoping Judah is just in a weird position and will move to relieve the pain but since his space is getting ever more limited, I'm not counting on it.
-I measure around my belly at the biggest point...52 inches. The same that I measured the night before I went to have my c-section with Bennett. I'm just wondering what I will measure if I make it 5 more weeks!
-My hands are swelling something crazy. Feet and ankles not so bad since they are up most of the day but unless I sit around with my hands held up over my head I think there's no preventing it.
-Still peeing about twice a night and each time I wake up it takes at least 30 minutes to fall back asleep. I'm praying this has some to do with the heat and once we are in AC falling back to sleep won't take so long.
-My behind is now completely unnoticeable due to my belly. I think this has actually be the case for at least the last the month but I kept forgetting to say it plus today it's worse than ever.

I think that's all for now.

ok....seriously?

Now that I have made it through the last few days I feel like I can finally blog about what's been going on. We had a group arrive last Thursday. Everything was going to 'plan' until Sunday afternoon. We got a call form a friend that was in the capital city to let us know that the flight our friends took from Shanghai to KM had person on if with a now confirmed case of the Swine Flu (preferable referred to has H1N1 Flu). At first our friends were just asked to monitor themselves and see if they had any symptoms. On Monday morning we all got together for muffins, coffee and some time together before everyone headed off for the day. As they were preparing to go Stan got a call from the local CDC office. They needed to come over. Each person in our home (not the boys and our house helper for some reason) needed to have a throat culture done and there were two people here that had been sitting within the 6 row radius of the infected person so those two people needed to be quarantined in my home.

All seemed to go well until last night when they came over to let us know that two preliminary test results came back positive: and lady staying here at my home and myself. WHAT? I wasn't even on the plane! They give us a second throat swab and a nasal swab (oh so pleasant). I called Stan to tell him what was going on only to find that he and the guys he was out with had been visited by that cities CDC and quarantined in their hotel. This was so crazy since we had already been told they were free to travel as long as they had no symptoms. By the time we get everyone contacted and aware of the new situation it was late and I had to go to bed.

This morning started me out on a calling spree. We were contacting anyone we could think of. What would happen if I was positive and needed to be treated? Here we are 8 days till we get to BKK and this is thrown in, just to make things interesting. I contact the doctor who has been helping me through all the other issues from this pregnancy, let her know what was happening and got some advice from her. Then someone suggested we call the US Consulate just to let them know what was going on. As I was trying to call them they actually contacted us. They wanted to get information from us about each person as well as advise us on what to do for each possible scenario. I don't know how they got in touch with us but I was so glad they did. After all the calling it was about lunch time. I ate something quick and then decided what I really needed was to lay down, do some praying and wait till 3:00 when we were to get the final results. Those that were quarantined here also had a prayer time during this time. Not to mention people all over the world lifting this up to the Lord. When 3:00 came we called and found out that all tests came back negative. What a huge praise! Not long after that I got a call to let me know Stan and his guys had been released from their quarantine as well. In a matter of an hour God had worked out something that looked impossible to us.

So now, Stan is getting back in town, getting everyone settled in a hotel and headed home. The rest of the week's plans will have to be completely changed but that's ok. We may not have done everything we planned but we sure did get a great lesson in faith. We will probably now head to KM early--at this point the closer I am to the airport the better I will feel. I will just be glad when Stan walks through that door!

scary night

I was really hesitant to write about this but I figured this is something that happened to me so this is the place to write about it. Before I really start 1) don't freak out (that means you Mom) 2) know this is a common occurrence when living here for both foreigners and nationals and 3) I don't want this to be a general reflection on where I live and the people that live here.

Yesterday afternoon Stan left to go to the capital city to meet up with some people that have come here to visit/work with us. My friend's husband was also out of town so we decided it would be easier to do dinner together so she brought over her daughter, we cooked burritos and the kids played until bedtime. As I previously blogged about, Stan moved a TV into our room so once my friend left and everything downstairs was turned off and locked up (I walked my friend out to lock the gate as securely as it can be) I took the boys upstairs, got them in bed and got myself comfy and in bed with a movie. Everything was fine until I was suddenly awakened by the doorbell at 3:30 am. I got up and went to our window that overlooks the front courtyard and gate and see a man out there with a flashlight. He stepped inside the gate (that I specifically locked) and was using the flashlight to look into each window. I was petrified...I didn't know what to do. He seemed like he was looking to see if anyone was home to decide if he should come in or not. After just a couple of minutes he closed the gate and walked off. So I spent the next 10-15 minutes going from window to window looking all around the front of our house to see if he was out there waiting to reenter and try to come inside the actual house. My mind was racing. It was at this point I realized I have no idea who to call or even what to say to report a break in. I was at a complete loss.

A few minutes later the man returns and I see him messing with the door of the gate. I realize that if he knows someone is inside it would probably scare him off so I muster up every bit of courage I have and step out on the balcony that over looks the courtyard and yell at him in my most angry sounding voice 'Who are you?!?!' (the most Chinese I could remember at that time). He immediately looks up and shines the flash light at his face. I didn't understand all that he was saying but figure out that he was our gate guard. During one if his nightly rounds (so glad to find out they actually do their job) he noticed that our door was open. He told me he rang the doorbell to let us know but wasn't sure anyone was here. He had come back with a padlock to put on the door so it wouldn't stay open. I told him to hold on I was coming down. I got down there and we looked at the lock and he helped me get things secure. I made my way back inside and spent some time looking around to see if whoever had broken the lock had been inside. There was nothing out of place so I went upstairs to try and go back to sleep. My mind was going so fast and I couldn't figure out what whoever did this was after. It finally hit me that I didn't remember seeing our bikes outside when I was down there. I got up and looked outside again and sure enough they were missing. There was the slight chance that Stan had moved them to the back and I just didn't know but I wasn't going to hold my breath and I wasn't about to go back down and check.

After laying there until like 4:30-5:00 I finally prayed myself back to sleep. I woke up right at 7:30 this morning and got right up to go call Stan, waking him up as well. The boys slept past 8 today--something they haven't done in a REALLY long time--so I was able to tell him everything that happened without scaring them as well. Stan could hardly believe it and felt so bad that this happened while he was away. We figure that most likely this was a random thing. They didn't target us personally, especially since the penalty for stealing from a foreigner is pretty harsh. Whoever it was was just looking for an easy target and our simple gate lock and bikes sitting out were that easy target. So between 8:00 pm and 3:30 am our gate lock was broken and our bikes taken. I was also comforted by the fact that while petty theft is common, breaking and entering into homes is not.

So after all this I really feel pretty ok. I'm thankful for so many things:
-The boys didn't wake up at all and didn't have to see me scared and acting crazy.
-The night guards are actually patrolling the neighborhood and while they didn't stop this from happening they were here to help prevent something worse due to an open gate.
-No one entered our home which would be more of a violation than I think I could handle.
-We have friends around to help us, a friend will be coming to stay with me tonight. Even though she isn't so fierce it make me feel better that it won't be just me and the boys here.

I feel bad that the bikes got stolen since they technically don't belong to us. We inherited them from the family that lived here before and they belonged to our company. But I have to say that there is a funny note to this story: a friend that is going back to the States next week to get married left his three wheeled cart in our courtyard. It was unmoved, just gives us more fuel to tease him about what a piece of junk it is. :) Although I was terrified last night I know it was a matter of time for something like this to happen to us. It doesn't make it right but it also isn't a rare thing. It makes me feel a lot better to know it wasn't personal.

Oh, and I will be learning who to call and what to say in case of any emergency. The guard is looking out for us and by tomorrow all should be fixed. We are good to go!

exciting

I have to admit that my excitement for today has nothing to do with the group that is coming from America at the end of this week, traveling to Bangkok or welcoming our third son in just over six weeks. My excitement for this moment in time is the fact that we now have a TV in our bedroom. This is a first for me, with the exception of dorm living. I was never allowed to have a TV in my room as a child or teenager (a rule that I will uphold for my own children) and even since I have been an adult I've only owned one television at the time and that one we have always kept in the living room. So when we moved to our new place and found that the last family to live here left a TV that they could not move. Stan kept it out in his 'man cave' up until yesterday. Since Stan will be traveling for the majority of the next two weeks until we leave he thought it would make life easier for me to be able to get the boys to bed and then hang out upstairs so if they needed me I wouldn't have to be up and down. Now let me explain mostly why this is exciting to me a) my bed is the most comfortable place in the world to me right now and b) all I feel like doing at this point is to lay down and watch movies. So this is absolutely perfect. Also we plan on spending most of the cold months upstairs, where it will be much warmer. So me and my boys will be spending time playing in their room or watching Thomas (or any other favorite) in my room. It's gonna be a fun snuggly winter of getting used to three boys. Anyway, for the next two weeks I will enjoy this as my way of getting rest and having some quiet. I promise to be excited about something a little more important in the next few days but for now it's the little things that make me happy.

32

Since I'm not a bare belly baring kinda girl I decided to get as close as I could to that. This is my maternity camisole (bought at Old Navy and oh so comfortable, I may just make them work after pregnancy as well) which is body hugging for full on belly showing.



We are super busy this week and next as we prepare for a short term group that is coming at the end of next week. We are making sure all plans and details are in place for them (me from the comfort of my chair and laptop, Stan running around like a mad man) as well as tying up loose ends on some things we need to get done before leaving on our Babycation. The group will leave the morning before we drive to KM, spend a day there and then fly to BKK. In the midst of business I'm still trying to rest and drink plenty of water so we can make it these last few weeks with no problems. Here are my 32 weeks thoughts.

-We fly to BKK in THREE WEEKS! My heart will be so happy to be there. We will arrive on a Thursday evening and I have a Dr.s appointment scheduled first thing Friday morning.
-I think my belly button can no longer be considered a innie. It hasn't popped out but it's pretty much flat. I've never had it pop out before but not sure I will make it this time.
-By the end of most days my back hurts. Achey hurts. I sit or lay down most of the day so it's a little puzzling to me but I think I'm just at the point of being uncomfortable no matter what.
-I am steadily gaining weight now. I hadn't gained anything until almost 25 weeks and now Judah has taken over. I'm still about 10 lbs lighter than when I went into the hospital to have Bennett (20 lighter than when I had Kirby) but I'm worried that all the yummy food available to me in TL will push me over. Maybe I will have some self control. Or at least such a small stomach that I can eat those yummy things in proper portions.

Not much else I can think of. Well other than today marks the 20th anniversary of a sad day here. It isn't remembered or talked about where I live but you can read more here.

oh, how things change

I have been realizing more and more that I am completely out of the loop when it comes to pop culture. When I say pop culture I mean movies, TV shows, fashion, music, politics and the list goes on. A year ago when we lived in VA and were about to leave to move to the other side of the world I promised myself this wouldn't happen. And here I am 11 months into living here and I see things on Facebook or friend's blogs (those are sadly my greatest connection to the US) and I quite frankly have no idea what people are talking about sometimes. Now I stopped reading the celebrity gossip sites at least 6 months before I moved because I realized that I knew more about what was happening in Hollywood than Washington and the rest of the world. So that was a decision I made to try and focus on things that had a little more actual impact on my life. But that decision did not prevent me from knowing what new movies and books had just been released or what TV shows were popular--even though I never had time to follow many TV shows.

So now I see people talking about so many things that I am COMPLETELY clueless about. For starters I have heard of Twilight but could tell you no more about it than it has to do with Vampires. And am I right to say there is a movie out now too? And what is New Moon? Does it have anything to do with Twilight? Moons and vampires seem to go together so that makes sense but I am probably wrong. OK, and apparently there are many TV shows that are coming to and end. So is Reality (not so Reality) TV still so popular? What about fashion? And hair styles? Not that my curly mop gets much of a change but you never know. And politics. It's embarrassing that I haven't kept up with anything our new President is up to, except what I saw on BBC news when I was in TL over a month ago. So, I know websites to go to for news, but I need some ideas for fashion, movies, etc. The less gossipy the better. And I want real fashion for real people, no runway crap that real people don't wear.

Also, I'm volunteering Kitty to meet me at the airport in Fall of 2011 to take me right to her salon to give this third world hair some help. We may be headed to the mall (OK, Target and Marshall's) right after just to give me a wardrobe boost--mostly because I'm hoping I will lose all my baby weight and have clothes that hang off of me--so anyone that wants to join in feel free. I will hopefully be relearning my lost ability to accessorize. Judah will be 2 by then and unless other little Pittman children follow I will be ready to be back to my pre baby self. It's hard to imagine that I was one to never leave the house if my purse and shoes didn't match. I know this all sounds so utterly shallow but I'm just being honest.