I don't look like I'm that far along. The baby is growing right on schedule, and I'm measuring the size I should be. I guess I'm just carrying this one a little more in my ribcage than out in front of me. It's fun to feel her kick and squirm. Before we moved here (pre-34 weeks) her kicks and movements were just ambiguous little nudges, but now it definitely feels like a person trying-- and often failing-- to find a comfortable position. She's gotten hiccups twice so far, which is a far cry from Penny, who got them every day for several months, and then every day for many months after she was born.
I'm getting excited to meet my little girl. We had an ultrasound at my appointment in Beijing a few weeks ago, and she is incredibly cute. Kevin says she looks like an alien with a funny nose, but I saw the moving version, and it was much cuter than the still prints I got. He has a point; they don't do her much justice. I'll wait to post pictures until she comes out. She'll be much cuter then.
Other than the struggle to turn over in bed and the impossibility of getting out of squashy couches, I really feel quite marvelous. I take naps in the afternoon while Penny does, but besides being tired in the afternoons and walking slowly, I have very little I can complain about. And I walk slow anyway, so I'm not sure that's really part of pregnancy.
I've gained weight, but I honestly have no idea how much. In the US, I was measuring pounds, and then I moved here and started getting weighed in kilos. So.... I have no idea what the total weight gain has been.
Have I had any weird cravings? Well, no. That would have been a better question if I had.
When I was pregnant with Penny, certain smells just made me want to hurl. Specifically, it was the smell of poop, which unfortunately is rather unavoidable in the course of one's life. This time around, even with Penny's potty training efforts and the horrible smells I encounter on the streets (stinky tofu, anyone?), I haven't been any more averse to them that a normal person would be. People hock loogies all over the ground, but that's always repulsive-- not just when I'm pregnant.
I'm overwhelmed by the idea of having two children here. It's hard to take Penny places in her stroller, because there are stairs everywhere. That problem will be compounded when I have to take two children in the double stroller. We take taxis around town, and it's already a full-time job to keep Penny from fiddling with the door handle. I don't think I'll be able to manage two of them in the car at the same time. When Penny was born, she grew so big so quickly that I physically couldn't carry her. It hurt my back to put her in the Baby Bjorn, which was what I was hoping would help me carry her around and still have a free hand or two. I'm hoping that this time around the baby will be smaller or my muscles will be more prepared to hold her. I'm sure the second part will be true, as I've had plenty of time to bulk up by holding Penny all the time. But I still don't know how the details will pan out.
They will, I'm sure. And I'm incredibly glad I've had these few weeks to get settled in here before trying to bring a new baby into the mix. I can't imagine how overwhelming it would be if I had stayed in the US, had the baby, waited 6 weeks or so, then tried to move to China with a newborn and toddler in tow. It's hard to settle in being as pregnant as I am, but it would be 10x harder with a newborn.
We hired a housekeeper last week. She comes 3 days a week, helping me out by cleaning, doing laundry, and even cooking and doing grocery shopping. We've had a few funny cultural differences so far, but it's incredibly helpful to have someone around who understands how life works here. We're still working on it. I showed her what we usually eat for lunch around here: hard-boiled eggs, bread, maybe a PBJ, fruit, and applesauce. Honestly, I know how to cook a lot more stuff than that, but it seems that I can only find 90% of the ingredients for any one dish. She commented that it was all really simple food. She's teaching me how to use the ingredients available to make actual dishes. I told her about my frozen chicken fiasco. She thought it was pretty funny, too, and mentioned that next time I should just get boneless, skinless chicken. I didn't see it in the store, but she knows where it is. See, it's the stuff like this that I could probably eventually figure out by trial and error, but she already knows how China works, and she is teaching me a lot.
I'm incredibly grateful that my mom is going to come visit and take care of me for 3 weeks next month. She and Penny will have a great time, and I'm glad she'll get to meet the new baby, too.
5 comments:
Wow, three more weeks! How exciting! Can't wait to see pics of her too! With the stroller and two babies, you will definitely learn and find the best ways to get around and how to maneuver the giant thing around town. I was so happy to find hidden elevators and escalators. Sometimes I would have to go a round about way, but by the end it all worked out so much better. Plus, someone was always kind enough to help me carry the stroller up the stairs! Oh, you know what I loved having a sling for didi. It made things a lot easier at easily putting him in quickly and getting in and out of taxi's, buses, etc. Well, good luck. Hope some of this is useful!
I'm sure you'll figure everything out and I'm sure this new little gal will be just as cute as penny. Do you have midwife/doctor stuff all worked out? I imagine there could be some cultural/language differences involved in that.
Okay, so I know that you didn't really ask anything, but I really want to share something with you. When I had Aiden and we would go out shopping or something, I would put Aiden in my sling (use your baby bjorn) and put Kyle in the stroller. That way, I had one child always taken care of and he could sleep. I also still had two hands to deal with Kyle. Plus, it keeps the baby close so you can easily karate chop all the people who try to touch her (which we know they will) and it will allow you to keep Penny from jumping out the car. I also have gotten to the point where Kyle walks everywhere. So hang on, you are probably pretty close with Penny it happened at about two with Kyle. You should try short trips with her to see what her tolerance is and then you can just have her walk. I also use the reallllllllyyyyy light weight $10 walmart stroller and can lift that with the baby strapped in up and down stairs by myself. I've had to do that a few times while holding Kyle's hand up and down stairs. You'll figure it out. You should ask Julie for suggestions, since she has 7 kids and birthed 3 in China. She's on Facebook. Good luck, you'll do great. This is a novel.
How exciting! The little one will just sleep at first, so by the time she is fiddling with the door handle Penny will understand that she shouldn't be. I can't believe you're potty training her already! You're nuts! Good luck with everything!
Good luck! I'm excited to see the pictures.
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