Quick Update--25 Weeks

I am 25 weeks along today.  I can't believe how fast the time is starting to fly by!  We are starting to accumulate baby-stuff that we've either been handed-down by friends here or that we've bought used here from other friends.  We're just waiting for some changes in furniture so that we can get the baby's room set up.

We finished our hypnobirthing class last Saturday after 4 weekends.  It was good--time consuming but I think it was definitely worthwhile and have been practicing my techniques to help prepare myself for a calm birth. 

I actually have an appointment this Tuesday with a new doctor at a different facility than I have been going.  I've been going to a doctor at a large hospital in Seoul, which has been great so far, but I want to switch to this birthing center called Mediflower (check out their webpage: http://www.mediflower.co.kr/eng/index.html --my doula is in the picture on their front page!).  They are supportive of natural birth and will allow me more flexibility during my labor than the hospital would, so I would rather go there.  Plus, I have several friends who have birthed there and they all highly recommend it.  I think one of the big perks is that they have two tubs to labor and/or birth in, which I think I definitely want to use.  I go in for my glucose/gestational diabetes screening this week and will get to meet my new doctor and take a tour of the facility.  I'm looking forward to it!  It's getting closer to meeting our girl and I am getting more excited about it!

Well, in two weeks we will be in the US for Christmas for almost 3 weeks.  This year Christmas can't come soon enough.  If you are my friend on Facebook you might have gathered that this school year has been extremely stressful due to political/governance and financial situations going on at our school.  There has been too much going on for me to try to explain.  It has been stressful, frustrating, and heart-wrenching at times to see what has happened to our wonderful school and the Christian community due to lack of transparency on the part of some and dishonesty on the part of others.  Unfortunately I have been kind of caught in the middle of it all as a representative for the elementary school and so I have had to be much more involved in things that I would normally not get involved in and deal with things that I would rather not.  I finally resigned from that representative position yesterday as I just could not handle the physical and emotional stress from it and what it might be doing to my baby.  Though already feel like a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders because of that,  it seems like things just keep getting worse at work.  I am hurting for my co-workers who have been  mistreated and laid off from their jobs for no apparent reason.  What we are clinging to right now is the hope and trust that the LORD is in control and that He will establish His will in our school and in our lives, despite what the evil one is doing in our midst.  Our God is Almighty and He shall reign!  Let the name of the LORD be praised, no matter the situation.  I am so thankful for that hope.

I also cannot wait to see our families at Christmas!  I am ready for Raindrop to hear the sounds of Christmas carols and family and friends gathered around enjoying each others' company.  There is no place like home.

I'll leave you with a couple of photos from today...here we are at 25 weeks along!

We're having a....

We went for our doctor's appointment this morning to have our extended ultrasound.  I am 22 weeks and 3 days along right now and we were anxious about this appointment since we hadn't seen the baby on an ultrasound since week 13, and we were hoping to find out the gender today.  We did!  I'll give you a few more details first, though. :)  Nothing like a little suspense.

Here we are waiting to see the doctor.  Notice Michael's creepy mustache.

This is a second year tradition here at GSIS.  The men are participating in Movember...where they grow mustaches to raise awareness as well as money for prostate cancer.  If you'd like to support him in this effort, please go to this link to donate:
http://us.movember.com/mospace/1037346

So anyway, we went in to the ultrasound room and the doctor did a loooong ultrasound...it lasted about 35-40 minutes.  She started with the head and worked her way all around the body, checking all the parts of the brain, head, face, ears, nose, etc. (you get the picture)...she showed us every area of the baby and thoroughly inspected it to be sure everything looked good.  When she got to the genital area, she told us...

"here are the genitals...your baby is a girl" and then just kept going, talking about the legs, etc.  I was like, "wait, go back...so it is a girl?  Really?  How sure are you that it is a girl?" because she had just breezed on by the topic! And she said, "about 95% sure."  So...we're about 95% sure that baby Raindrop is a girl!  We're having a little baby girl.  I have to admit that I was completely shocked as I have just been thinking its a boy this whole time, but I am definitely very happy and extremely excited, and so is Michael.  We honestly have not had a preference...just want a healthy baby.  Now it seems so much more real!  Now we can seriously consider names (though we will not share her name until she is finally here--I want to keep something a secret).  And now we can refer to our baby as "she" instead of "it."  So, we're really excited about the next steps.  I guess that includes figuring out what all we will need and registering for baby gifts.  What fun!

So, the visit continued with her checking out the heart, very thoroughly.  She spent a lot of time looking at the 4 parts but told us that she was having a hard time seeing everything because Raindrop was moving around so much!  She kept telling us that she had a lot of good movement and that was a good thing. :)  Michael said that was because she has him for a dad. haha I have to think he is partly true!  The doctor did some 3D images and we got to see her face some, but the actual images that they saved and printed for us look a little creepy to us, so we don't want to scan and post them.  But the doctor at one point said that she thinks she looks more like me than Michael. haha I have no idea how you can tell from those ultrasound images!  It just amazed me all of the parts that she could see on that screen and I had no idea what any of it was.  Guess that's why they get paid the big bucks!  Anyway, she basically told us that every part looked fine, normal, and healthy, and that the baby was growing just fine.  She did mention that I should take iron tablets but I am not sure where I should go to get some.  I'll have to look into that.  We've got another appt scheduled in 4 weeks and then I go in for some glucose testing.  We left the hospital and called our immediate family members to tell them the news first, so that once we got back to work we could tell our co-workers.  Everyone was really excited.  Our 3 1/2 yr old niece,  Phoebe, was so excited to find out it was a girl, because that's what she wanted.  We asked her what we should name it and she first said Phoebe.  Then she decided on Rapunzel.  There you have it, people!

So, anyway, we will be welcoming a little girl into our family somewhere around the end of March.  We are really excited!  Please pray for us as we make preparations and plans, that everything will continue to go smoothly with the pregnancy and labor/birth and that we will be the parents that God desires us to be.

I'll make another post later telling more about our hypnobirthing classes.  We've had two now, so we're halfway done with those!

Oh, and I guess I'll post a couple of photos of me so you can see the progress.  I was up to 63.35 kg today which means I have gained about 7.5 lbs (after losing about 15 during the first trimester).  So, I guess that means baby is growing and doing well! 

About the pink ribbons:  when we got back to work today we called my parents to video Skype with them and Andy and Serena were over there too (my younger brother and his fiancee).  I was wearing a black shirt today so I found some pick ribbon really quickly off of a bouquet of flowers that a student had given me a week or so ago, and so I decided to put the ribbon up to my stomach and then stand up so that they could see the color. :)  I thought it was kind of a cute idea.  They were all excited and screamed, I wish I could have gotten it on video!  I think the best part was my dad saying that we would call it an "alleged" girl.  I'm not sure if he was just really hoping for a grandson, or if he just doesn't trust the Korean doctors...haha.  Oh, Dad.

Here you go!  Until next time...

HypnoBirthing

I think I mentioned in an earlier blog post that we have hired our friend Lisa who is a doula to work with us during the pregnancy and labor/delivery.  She is also a certified HypnoBirthing practictioner.  Sounds interesting, right?  We will actually be taking hypnobirthing classes with her starting next Saturday.  The class will go for 4 Saturdays for 4 hrs each time.  I believe that there will be 3 other couples in the class with us. 

I am really looking forward to taking these classes.  In order to be prepared for the classes, we are supposed to read a book ahead of time, called HypnoBirthing by Marie Mongan. 

We decided to sit down together tonight (after I got pretty sick after dinner--I just felt like resting), and start reading the book together.  We tried reading the first few pages aloud together, haha.  That got too tedious so we just ended up silently reading at the same time.  We figured out that we have to read about 40 pages each day in order to finish the book before next Saturday. :)  Homework!

Anyway, we've only read the first 45 pages or so, but so far it's just a lot of background behind the "methodology" I guess you could say of hypnobirthing.  Basically, the idea is that pregnancy and birth are natural processes for women, and we need to treat our approach to them that way, rather than being scared and fearing the worst that could possibly happen, and dispelling the idea that labor is a medically dangerous event for most women.  There are lots of stories of women in other areas of the world who give birth simply and naturally, on their own, without a lot of pain and without the aid of unnecessary drugs.  It's been interesting to read.  It also goes into how the view of childbirth has changed over time from being something very natural to something almost abhorred, to the introduction of drugging mothers and all of the anesthesia and pain killers that are used today.  I am definitely into learning more about this method of natural birth and "gentle birthing" as they call it.  If we can cast away fears, it is amazing what a difference that can make for many situations, including childbirth.  I am really hoping to be able to learn more about how to be relaxed and calm so that I can ideally bring our baby into the world naturally.  Michael is very supportive of it too and I know that he will be a great birthing partner! 

Anyway, I will update more after we have our classes to share what they are like.  I've heard stories from some friends who have taken them, that they are really good and so helpful (though they may have been skeptical at first).  Husbands especially seem to really find the classes valuable and they feel like they are completely a vital part of the birthing process. 

Another reason that I am looking forward to having Lisa as my doula is that she has been doing it for several years here in Korea so she has a lot of experience and knows about all of the different hospitals, clinics, and birthing centers, so she can recommend a good place for women to give birth depending on what kind of birth they are wanting to have.  Most Korean hospitals tend to have a VERY high rate of c-sections, especially for foreigners (they are afraid that the babies are too big...or the mother has been in labor too long, etc.)...and Lisa has under a 20% c-section rate among her clients.  So, I am really hoping that by having Lisa involved and learning how to be relaxed, that we can hopefully avoid having any kind of surgery.  Of course I know that once the time comes, things go how they go so I'm sure I'll have a plan and it may not happen at all like I plan.  However, I still think it's a good idea to plan anyway!

After we take the classes in November, we will have a better idea of what we are looking for and what we want to do during our birth, so at that time we may switch doctors and go to a different facility.  We will just have to see how it goes.  I am not worried about it though, I know it is in God's hands and will all work out.  I am, however, continuing to pray for the health and good condition of my colon throughout the rest of my pregnancy.  That can make a huge difference in how things turn out.  Thanks for reading, and I'll probably post some photos this weekend as I will be 20 weeks along--halfway--on Sunday!!

A sweet gift

This week I celebrated my 31st birthday! 

I got the sweetest gift from my dear friend, Ji Yun.  It almost made me cry!

 If you can't tell, it's a necklace that says "Raindrop."  What a thoughtful gift that I will treasure for years to come!  Ji Yun is seriously one of the most thoughtful, kindhearted friends that I have ever known.  I am so blessed by her friendship.  She will be a great "eemo" (aunt) to little Raindrop!!  When we first became friends over 3 yrs ago, Michael and I always told her that if we had a baby we would want her to move in with us to be our baby's nanny. :)  Maybe we can still convince her!  We do have a spare bedroom. hehe

Ji Yun being cheeky at dinner.

Lovely Ji Yun!!  Love you, friend!

A photo

Just in case you wanted to see a photo of me pregnant...here is one from last week (Oct. 2) when I was 16 weeks and had just gotten my hair cut. :)

Finding Out

Well, I guess I should go back and tell you the story from the beginning.

We had a GREAT summer vacation to Europe:  spent 3 weeks there on our way home to the US.  We spent a week in Italy, then did a 9 night cruise of the Baltic cities (Rostock, Germany; Tallinn, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Russia (2 days); Helsinki, Finland; and Stockhom, Sweden), and then finally stayed for 3 1/2 more days in Copenhagen, Denmark.

We flew home to Arkansas to stay with Michael's parents on June 25 (Michael's birthday and our anniversary).  That whole week (and really from then on out) I was feeling really tired and just wanted to nap all the time.  I suspected that maybe I was pregnant but it was too soon to know.  The next week I got a yucky cold which made me feel even worse and I was afraid to take any antibiotics in case I actually was pregnant.  I went to the doctor and she prescribed me some but told me not to take them unless I knew for sure that I was not pregnant, but she didn't offer to give me a blood test to check! haha So then of course it was the waiting game for a while longer.  I tried taking a pregnancy test but it came up negative.  I have heard that it can take a few weeks before they will accurately detect them...so anyway, I decided to wait to take one again until I knew it had been long enough.  The following Sunday, July 10, I got up in the morning to get ready for church, and decided to go ahead and take another pregnancy test.  Lo and behold, here is what I saw:

Even though I was hoping for that, it was still quite shocking to actually see it!  I've taken many pregnancy tests in the years since I've been married and always out of fear that I was pregnant and didn't want to be. They always turned out negative, so it was strange to see something different, and to be excited about it!  I woke up Michael and told him the news.  He was so excited too.  I think we were both a little in shock.  Michael joked that we should name our baby Denmark and call it Mark for short. :)

Now,  we debated next about what to do.  Who to tell?  I had always wanted to wait as long as possible to tell people, just to be sure that I made it through the first trimester--the riskiest time.  Especially with my colon issues, I just thought that I might have complications or issues.  So, I've always said, let's not tell anyone!  Michael convinced me that we needed to tell our parents in person, since we were home and with them!  I'm thankful that he did.  I can be stubborn, but I am open to reason. :)  However, we didn't leave Arkansas for three more days, and I didn't want to tell my parents over the phone, but I also didn't want to tell Michael's parents 3 whole days before mine!  So, we decided we would wait until Tuesday evening to tell Rodney and Vicki, and then we would tell my parents on Wednesday evening after we got to San Diego.  I thought Michael was going to go crazy keeping it a secret for the next few days.  I've discovered that he is really bad with keeping secrets/surprises. haha

Several years ago, when Michael and I first got married, we would spend a lot of time in Barnes & Noble.  I discovered these Grandparent memory books that are filled out by the Grandparents (about themselves, their childhood and growing up, as an adult) and given to the grandchildren to keep, so that as they grow up, they can read more about their grandparents and get to know more about who they are as people.  I've always had this idea that I wanted to tell our parents by buying them these books (they are actually published by the AARP! haha) and giving them as a gift, to surprise them.  I feel weird just coming right out and saying "I'm pregnant" and wanted to make it more fun.

We were in Searcy, AR.  There is not a lot of choice in the way of books.  We went to Hastings to find them but couldn't find anything like that, so instead we just bought some kids books, "Grandma and Me" and "Just Grandpa and Me."  We wrapped them and gave them to Rodney and Vicki on Tuesday afternoon.  We said we just wanted to thank them for letting us come to stay for a couple of weeks, and when they opened it, they seemed a little confused at first.  Actually, I think Rodney figured it out quickly, but Vicki said, "Oh, some books to read with Phoebe!" (her granddaughter) and thought it was an odd gift.  Then she read the card that we had included (after she put on her glasses) and realized that it was for a NEW grandchild!  They were both pretty shocked/surprised, but definitely excited.

Then we flew to San Diego the next day. We had dinner with the extended family at my grandmother's house, and afterward we said we needed to go to Barnes & Noble to get this new book that Michael was wanting that just came out that day.  Well, instead I looked for those books, and found them!  At least I found the one from the Grandfather...they didn't have the one from Grandmother but I found a different one, same concept, called Grandmother Remembers.  So, we bought those and then ran to Target and got a little yellow onesie to include in the gift.  We again, told my parents we wanted to give them a gift for letting us come and stay with them, and they opened it and were of course, also shocked/surprised (at least they appeared to  be!).  But they were very excited and my dad's response was, "I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to have a grandchild!"

So, we had told our parents.  I was surprised at how nervous I felt both times when telling them!  I guess I knew they would be happy and excited but I just wasn't sure how they'd react knowing that we were going to be in Korea for it.  We decided we'd tell our siblings too and our few closest friends, and then wait to tell everyone else until we were further along in the pregnancy.  We told my younger brother and his fiancee and then my older brother and sister-in-law when they got to San Diego.  Then we called Michael's sisters and told them over Skype one weekend while his parents were visiting with them all in Texas.  So, it was an exciting time and so fun to be able to share with our families while we were home.  We did make them swear to secrecy and they did a really good job keeping it under wraps for the next 2 months. :)  We also assured them that we would be coming home for Christmas to spend some time with them, so they could be with me big and pregnant in person, and that we would definitely be coming home for the entire summer next year, and pretty much from now on.

We really love our families and are so thankful for them and their support.  I know that it has got to be hard for them, especially our parents, to think about us having our baby here in Korea and being so far away from them during this time, but we really appreciate their encouragement and the fact that they have not tried to make us feel guilty for being here.  God has blessed us with amazing families!

First Kicks?!

Well...yes blog world, I am about 10 months behind on blogging but it's time to catch up now because, yes, I am pregnant!  I need to start chronicling this journey to motherhood.  So, I figured what a better time than now...since I think I am feeling our baby kick me right now! 

I am 16 1/2 weeks along and due at the end of March.  I thought it might be a few more weeks before I felt anything, but this has taken me aback while I've been trying to get motivated to do my grad school homework tonight!  Michael is gone late tonight--the HS volleyball team had a game in Daegu, a few hours away, and they are due home in about an hour and a half.  Hopefully he will get home before I go to bed so I can share the good news with him. :)

We're affectionately referring to our baby as "Rain Drop" right now.  Michael find this very humorous.  When we first found out we were pregnant this summer, I was very adamant about not having any little "pet" names for the baby...like peanut or bean or whatever.  Sometimes they just annoy me, I don't know why.  But then I decided, well, if we're going to have a pet name, I want to choose it myself!  So...I came up with the little Rain Drop.  I think it's fitting, and not many others can use that one. :)

Here is how we announced the baby on Facebook (because that's really the only way to announce things these days, isn't it?)...

I thought it was cute and a little bit clever.  I didn't want to do the typical "post your ultrasound picture as your profile photo so everyone knows you are pregnant" type thing.  haha I sound like such a wet blanket, hey?  I have also vowed not to create an album on Facebook of pregnancy photos, week-by-week.  Of course I am taking the photos, but the only people that I am sending those to are my mom and mother-in-law (and occasionally some friends, but not every week)! 

If you DO like to see growing tummy photos, I will share some with you on this blog over the course of the next 5 months.  Stay tuned...

New Zealand New Year 2011

So, we started the year 2011 in Wellington, New Zealand. 

 We spent a few days there wandering around the city, as well as taking a Lord of the Rings movie tour.  That was actually quite a fun experience.  They took us to several different locations around the city where they had filmed parts of the trilogy and showed us the scenes in the movies and then where we were and how they did it.  Michael especially liked the part where they showed the Alfred Hitchcock effect of zooming in the camera lens while backing the camera up, as they did in a scene in these woods in the first movie.

We also got to sit in the same tree as Frodo and Sam did in one of the scenes.

Then we reenacted the rider on the horse in the same spot where it was filmed...however it was filmed at night so it looks a little different.  I was the horse's head.

 It was a nice day, and they even took us to a few beautiful lookout spots.

We left Wellington and headed for Waitomo to see the Gloworm caves.  One of my favorite parts of this trip was bring able to stop anywhere along the road and look at the lovely scenic spots and take photos.  We saw these signs and decided to pull over and check them out.  We were so glad we did—the scenery was just gorgeous!

 So, we went to the Gloworm Caves in Waitomo.  It's kind of hard to get good photos of gloworms because it is pitch dark in the caves besides the worms (and the occasional headlamp to point things out).  It was such a magnificent sight, though!  So beautiful to experience. Here are a few photos:

Inside another cave where there were lots of stalactites and stalagmites.

This is what a restaurant brought me when I ordered an iced mocha.  Oh My Goodness YUM!!

We left Waitomo and headed to meet up with our friend Nicole!  I will post a separate entry about our visit with our friend whom we met our first year in Korea.

New Zealand Christmas 2010

Well, we've been pretty busy since the last time that I updated.   Of course, I'm only like 8 months behind!  I swear I just can't keep up! I need to post about last Christmas so I can get to this summer's trips.  Bear with me. :)

We wrapped up the end of the busy first school semester in December 2010 and then spent a few days in Korea, just relaxing, spending time with friends, shopping, etc. before we headed to New Zealand for two weeks for Christmas in the summer!  I'd been to NZ before when I was in college, but it was always during their winters, and I've always wanted to take Michael there and go in the summer.  We decided Christmas break would be best since we had 3 weeks vacation and since we are practically in the same time zone, it really made for minimal jet-lag.  We flew on Christmas Day and got an awesome surprise by being bumped up to business class for the first leg of our trip to Kuala Lumpur.

It was great, we had our own in-flight entertainment machines and just plate after plate of delicious food including Malaysian satay!  Mmm!  It was a treat.

We flew into Auckland and had an amazing Christmas feast at the hotel we were staying at that night (after they first tried to tell us that all of the restaurants were completely reserved all night--we ended up getting a table...though the waitress kept calling us by the wrong names so we sort of felt weird, like we were lying about who we were!! haha anyone seen the movie Date Night?? ;).

The next day we flew to Christchurch (just narrowly missing the earthquake that morning while we were in the air) and rented a car to drive around for the rest of our trip, up the south island to the north island.  We went to many places and saw many things in two weeks, so I am going to try to do a quick photo recap with just a few photos.

We got to see the Christchurch Cathedral before it crumbled in the subsequent earthquake.  So sad about that.

 

Then from Christchurch we decided to head to the western coast to Fox and Franz Josef Glacier and do a glacier tour, which we were sooo excited about.  We'd never gotten to see a glacier before...when we were on our Alaskan cruise for our honeymoon, we were supposed to see the Tracey Arm glacier but unfortunately for us there was too much fog and we couldn't see it.  :(  So we were really looking forward to a whole day of hiking up and on the glacier and seeing some amazing views.  We set out for Fox and Franz Josef by way of Arthur's Pass.  In NZ, everything is so mountainous, especially the south island, and there is pretty much just one road in and out of places.  So the most direct route was to go a few hours northwest, through the pass and then south west towards the glaciers.  It rained pretty heavily on our way up to Arthur's Pass and was just a pretty nasty day.  When we got to Arthur's Pass, we discovered that the road was blocked out of there and we couldn't get through.  So we stopped, went inside the information building, and discovered that all the rain had washed 6 meters of the road out, so there was no way through!!  If we wanted to get there we'd have to take a completely different road, back to Christchurch, then a different direction, a LONG way around, and it would take us about 12 more hours.  So, we decided to cancel our wonderful glacier hike and instead head northeast to the beaches of Kaikoura for a few days of relaxation instead.

We did get to see some beautiful sights along the way though.  Here are a few.

 Ubiquitous New Zealand sheep.

I really loved these rock formations on the hill, so I made Michael get out and take photos with me using the tripod and self-timer.  This first one was nice...

but it was so windy I tried to wipe the hair out of my face and ended up poking poor Michael in the eye!  Oops!!

More sheep.  I love the look on the guy's face on the right.

Here is our rental car:

So we ended up spending 2 or 3 nights in Kaikoura (honestly can't remember) and did some lovely hiking along the coast.  I enjoyed taking photos of birds with my new camera.  We saw lots of fur seals sunning themselves.  We also went whale watching which Michael really enjoyed since he'd never done it before!  We saw two "mighty sperm whale."

 Here's the view from the front of our hostel:

Down along the beach.

After leaving Kaikoura, we headed up to the town of Nelson for one night.  We really wished we had headed to Nelson sooner and spent more time there.  We stayed in the most amazing guesthouse I've ever been in...our room was HUGE and it was a lovely old Victorian house up on a hill.  Nelson was just such a lovely, quaint little town on the northern coast and it was laid back and just so cute. Unfortunately, we didn't really take many photos there so none to post here.

We then headed to Picton and took the Interislander Ferry across the straight to Wellington on the N. Island.  It was a nice three hour ferry ride which we enjoyed.  We went over on New Year's Eve, and we had made plans to go to a big NYE bash in Wellington along the water...but then we were just so tired we ended up staying in our motel and watching Drop Dead Gorgeous...Michael's first experience with that horribly funny movie.  It was kind of pathetic, we knew...but we didn't care. :)  We were on vacation!  I'll finish this post now (I'm tired and just want to finish!) and I'll pick up in the next post with our time in the North Island.