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!