Week 40 Day 268 T+2 Days

This is my wife. Doesn't she look great? 10 months pregnant and still sassin' it up for the camera. Rowr.


This is my wife on her walk today. We walked all the way up to school and back without stopping. Carrying all her extra weight, we even ran into one of her colleagues on the way down and chatted the whole way. She didn't even break a sweat. Double Rowr.


Even with all her extra tummy, she's still able to touch her toes when she stretches. I can't even do this now. Triple Rowr.


This one is just gratuitous. Quadruple Rowr.

Anyways, still no signs but we're enjoying life. Had delicious hotel buffet brunch this morning with omelettes, toast, fruit and everything else. We left the house too late for it yesterday so made up for it today.

Tomorrow, Sam may try and make an appointment with an accupuncturist that our midwife recommended. We'll keep you posted on any developments.

I love my wife. Today more than ever, on the fifth anniversary of our first kiss.

Rowr, Rowr, Rowr, Rowr, Rowr.

Week 40 / T-Minus 0 days

Taken today on Braemer Hill at Week 40 / Day 266 / Projected Due Date

And we have... no blastoff.

Well, here we are at day 266, week 40, the day our little baby daughter is supposed to be born and we have nothing. No Braxton-Hicks practice contractions, no discomfort (aside from the normal stuff due to all the extra weight), no show, nothing. While we understand that only 20% of babies are born on their due dates, it would have been nice to have had a baby today - if not before. We know from speaking to many of you on the phone that you are as excited as we are for the big day so sitting around and waiting hasn't been easy. As SAM said the other day, "I'm wasting all my maternity leave!"

As we wait, though, we've been taking the opportunity to make the very final preparations for the baby to arrive. Last night, we set up the co-sleeper so that Petunia would be sure to have a spot in the house to sleep once she comes home. It was fun laying in the bed pretending there was a baby next to me last night and patting the imaginary baby on her imaginary tummy.


Our new sleeping set up for life with baby. As of now, she's on my side!

SAM might be getting slightly impatient, but she's holding up awfully well and has been in good spirits. It's hard to make solid plans now since anything might happen at any time, so we're taking it easy and trusting that the baby will make the decision to start the process when she's ready. But at times, we're not above whispering to the little one, "It's time..."

Today was our 40th week doctor's appointment. After confirming to the doctor that she was experiencing no signs of labor, Sarah was handed a surprisingly intricate chart to record our baby's movements through the day. Since we want the baby to be born naturally (without induction) if possible, the doctor agreed not to induce labor until two weeks from the due date (as opposed to the suggested one week) as long as we kept careful watch over the baby's movements and recorded how many she had every hour. She suggested that at least 10 movements a day was necessary. We figure that'll be easy as pie since she seems to move 10 times an hour! Also, I've discovered that I can hear the baby's heartbeat by putting my ear up to SAM's tummy so that's a fun way to make sure she's doing ok.

In order to improve our odds that we don't spend another two weeks waiting for Petunia to arrive, as of today we have been pursuing a schedule of labor inducing activities. Before our doctor's visit, we went for a two hour walk up to school and back which left me with tired legs for the rest of the day (go sam!). Then, after the doctor's appointment, SAM had a nice, long foot massage during which the masseuses informed SAM that she was in excellent health as diagnosed from the condition of her feet. After that, we had a dinner of very spicy chicken curry which, we have been told, is good for getting the baby out. And the best part is that the day's not over yet!


At the halfway point of our walk today

Tomorrow, Sarah has already requested a large hotel buffet breakfast which we'll probably satisfy at the Excelsior Hotel in Causeway Bay before (probably) having another walk and perhaps other activities prone to help the baby be born.

During dinner at the Koos last night, George predicted that Sarah would go into labor tomorrow (tuesday) afternoon and that the baby would be born on Wednesday morning. If he's right, he's definitely getting a free drink!

In other baby news, George's brother, Tommy and his wife Valerie gave birth to a baby boy Sunday around 7:15 PM at NYU Medical Center. They were due 2 weeks after us but Valerie started having contractions during the day, checked into the hospital at 6:00 PM and had a baby in their arms by quarter after seven. Congratulations, Tommy and Valerie, and we can only hope that our delivery is as smooth as yours.

The Hong Kong Wetland Park

Well, Sarah got to post the pregnancy related blog entry of the week, but don't you guys think that I'm sidelined that easily! I wanted to write a post about how Sam and I went to the Hong Kong Wetland Park last Sunday.

As polluted as Hong Kong is, they do a good job of preserving land for parks. Something like 40% of Hong Kong is actually protected! Who knew?!? Some of that protected land is wetlands that have been preserved and they've built a great park with a visitors center that's kind of like a museum. I've been wanting to go for awhile and since Sarah wanted to get some more activity in (in order to get the baby out) we got together with Sarah's co-worker, Cathy and her family and we made an outing of it. (you can see Cathy's daughter in the above photo with us)

We had loads of fun and saw lots of animals including these guys.


Here's a little birdy that we were able to snap from inside one of the several blinds that the park service has built around the grounds. I wish I could tell you what this guy was. Maybe he's a Whiteas Birdus withus Yellowus Beakus?


Here's a little crab we were able to get close enough to from the little boardwalk path.

There were tons of other animals too including mudskippers, snakes and lots of fish and lilies and stuff. We had a great time looking around and even saw an example of otter poop! Yay for otter poop! You think I'm kidding, but they have it specially cordoned off and even had a little scope pointing at it so you could make sure to see it. Alas, no photo, so only those who were there could truly appreciate the grandness that is otter poop.

This was probably our last real "outing" to a far away place before Petunia deigns to greet us (and get assigned her real name) so we were glad to take advantage of it. SAM was a real trooper, walking around outside for hours carrying her extra cargo, but luckily, the weather was relatively cool, there were plenty of benches to rest on and transportation to and from the park was convenient. Hooray for Hong Kong!

Week 39 / Day 259 - Sam's on Maternity Leave!

Taken today, October 22 - Week 39 / Day 259 - 7 days left until she's due!

Today's posting represents a cameo appearance by the pregnant lady herself! Finding myself with not enough to do, I have started making John's life more difficult by trying to help with all the things that he is usually in charge of. He has graciously relinquished authorship of this posting and I promise to let him back into the author's seat next time.

We're at 39 weeks as of today and the doctor says Petunia could come "any time." The head is "2/5 engaged", which we understand to mean that 2/5 of the head is outside of my pelvic bone, and 3/5 is in. That's more than half way there! As soon as I heard that I started wondering if I was feeling contractions. In fact, I have felt the baby pushing down with more and more pressure, but still nothing that feels like what I think a contraction is supposed to be. I did wake up with a back ache this morning! But it went away.


Taken last week on October 14 - Week 38 / Day 251

The highlight of today, in addition to the doctor's appointment, was discovering that Hong Kong 7-11 has Slurpies! Who knew? Apparently John did, actually, but he had never let on. We shared a Coke Slurpie with dinner and the baby went bezerk from the caffeine and sugar. It was worth it, though. Yum!


Also taken last week on October 14 - Week 38 / Day 251

I realized early last week that waiting around was going to drive me crazy, so I've decided to try to make "plans." This to me means getting out of the house every day with a purpose, however trivial. Tomorrow's plans include a prenatal pilates class and lunch with a friend. We have dinner plans on Thursday, but so far Wednesday and Friday are still open. Anyone free for coffee? In between "plans" I am getting lots of sleep and trying to find a balance between enjoying quality time with my husband and staying out of his hair so he can work.

Day 248 / Week 37 and Presents!

Well, we're at week 37 - full term and counting and as you can see from this photo of SAM taken yesterday (Wednesday) evening, much of the time, you'd never know that she was pregnant! SAM is both looking and feeling good, it seems. With the exception of the baby continuing to grow ever larger and an acidy stomach, things seem not to have changed much from last time.

We had a doctor's visit this past week on Monday that went quite well. The doctor actually asked us for our birth plan and seemed fine with almost every item on it. The two exceptions were over breast feeding and showering. SAM had wanted to shower during labor and she told us that there wasn't a shower in the delivery room where she would be after being 6 or 7 cm dilated. The good news is that our plan isn't to head to the hospital until being about 6 cm dilated anyways, so we can probably get the showering out of the way at home. And anyways, at 7 cm dilated, the baby's probably coming soon and she wouldn't have time to shower anyways!

The other issue is that SAM had requested that the baby be fed only breast milk. However, the hospital said that they reserved the right to bottlefeed formula if the mother wasn't producing enough milk. Fair enough, I thought, but the definition of 'enough' is such a judgement call that we'll have to monitor that one closely.

Those were the only exceptions, really. The rest of the list was fine, from immediate skin to skin contact to rooming in with the baby to being able to move around during labor to everything. Very nice.

Also very nice is that today we received a wonderfully large package from Maine! Woohoo! As we opened it this evening, we by turns discovered not only our mail, and a wonderful card but other great items as well.



Here you see SAM flashing an enthusiastic thumbs up at this great looking diaper bag. Very nice! And something I would be happy to tote along.



As if one diaper bag wasn't enough, we found another quilted one right underneath it. Here you see SAM exploring all of its features including its built in changing pad.



Then, there was even more. What's this wrapped so nicely in paper with baby egrets on it? Something from Caroline, you say?



Perfect little baby shoes! Here you see SAM modeling the shoes and holding them approximately where we think the baby's feet currently are in her body.



And of course, the requisite belly shot! Getting bigger!



Little Petunia is staying active and taking up more space. There is most definitely a baby in there! She responds well and quickly now to changes in orientation and pressure and it is even easier to see little parts moving and sticking out of SAM. There's something incredibly grin inducing to put a hand on a stick-outy bit and feel it push back or move. Very fun.

SAM is on maternity leave officially starting tomorrow and so we're looking to at least make it through tomorrow before going into labor. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Party at Our House! Day 234 / Week 35

Woohoo! So we had some great friends over last evening (Wednesday) for a Mid-Autumn Moon Festival shindig. It wasn't quite traditional in that we had Taiwanese style beef noodle soup, and it was after the actual festival, but we did eat delicious lotus paste mooncakes that Olivia brought, so that made it a Moon-Festival dinner.

After dinner, we played the traditional Chinese Moon Festival game of Taboo. Bill, Olivia and I got trounced by Molly, Sylvia and SAM something like 53 - 26. I need to take the bulk of the responsibility as I had the the bulk of the point deductions on our side. But it was still a great time.

Anyways, we're into week 35 of our pregnancy and, really, the baby could come pretty much at any time. Think that Brad, Sylvia and I were all born by this point. Of course, Sylvia and I were 3rd and 4th children respectively and Brad was one of a twin, but still, we're getting prepared.

The baby HAS changed in the past couple of days, though. In our recent visit to the midwife on Monday, she said that the baby is starting to engage (about a -3). We don't know if this has anything to do with things, but Sarah thinks that the baby is much harder and feels bigger now than it did even a few days ago. I for one, am starting to be able to feel parts and sticky-out bits of the baby more than ever before. Sometimes, sticking out of interesting places! For instance, the night before last, Petunia was sticking a fist or a foot practically out Sarah's back! Amazing.

The rest of the midwife's exam was fairly normal. She said that the baby had a healthy heart rate of about 140 bpm which is fairly consistent with what we've seen.

Birth preparations continue as we practice with our Hypnobirthing relaxation tapes and begin preparing our Birth Plan. Eddie, the marketing exec in our class suggests we use the softer language of "Birth Wish List" in order to have a better chance of getting what we want. We all agree heartily. Anyone from the Hypnobirthing Institute listening?


The AMAZING TC Bilingual Ed MA Girls! (L to R) Olivia, Sarah and Sylvia

And of course, the requisite weekly belly shot.

Day 228 / Week 34 and a 1/2

Taken today on day 228 - week 34 and a half. Almost there.


SAM and our brand new Baby Bjorn Baby Carrier. Doesn't it look good on her?


I had to get in on the action to. Can't you just see Petunia in it?


It's actually pretty complicated - SAM's the one who figured it out.


Load of baby crap

Hi Team! So here we are, getting closer and closer to the day it's all supposed to happen (which, for those of you not keeping up, is October 29th). In the last few days we've picked up a new used highchair (visible in the top photo) from one of Sarah's colleagues, Marian. Thanks, Marian! We've also gotten a little bath seat, a seat for her to sit and rock in and a play mat / gym from Janice and Sunil. Thanks, guys!

It's funny, at every stage, I think we're totally ready and have everything we need. Then I learn that there's yet something else we don't have. I'm not sure what's next... but it seems to me we're pretty ready... until we get home from the hospital, I guess. Actually, I do have on my list a baby nail clipper and thermometer... but I think I have a little bit of time to get those.

We are thankful for each passing day she stays in because we're glad not only for the extra time for us, but because it will help her be more prepared for life on the "outside." We spend every day wondering what she will be like, who she will look like more, will she be a good person, all those things all the time savoring the very wondering itself!

Anyways, this one will be short since we had date night tonight and had dinner and watched Hairspray. Very funny movie, actually. Highly recommended. But all this crazy partying has left us pooped and we're going to turn in for the night. Love you guys!

SURPRISE!

So this weekend, (Saturday) we had a surprise baby shower for Sam. My sisters came up with the idea and put it together with the theme of "Tell Me a Story." Guests were asked to bring a favorite childhood book as a shower gift. Gayle, Joan, my mom and the kids flew in and Joy and her family decorated the house and got treats and snacks ready. My role was to keep the secret and bring the unsuspecting guest of honor.

So on Saturday afternoon, the family spent the morning decorating and preparing the house and the guests were asked to arrive by 2:30. My role was to get SAM there by 3:00. Under the excuse that everyone had a lunch appointment, Sarah and I stayed at home instead of rushing to Joy's house to hang out.

By 2:30 PM, the trap was set and I was awaiting nervously, ready to go as Sarah slowly took her time getting ready. We must have done a great job keeping the secret because she had NO IDEA there was a house full of guests awaiting her arrival. As I nervously tapped my feet and waited by the door, Sarah slowly dressed and seemed quite put out at me that I wanted to leave so early, at one point saying, "I thought you said we had to arrive only around 3:00!"

We arrived sometime after 3:10 PM and I rushed upstairs to Joy's door just in time to pull a sign off the door that read, "Happy Baby Shower, Auntie Sarah!" that some child had put there, not realizing it was a surprise party. Sarah came ambling up the stairs just in time to walk in the open door and be surprised by all the guests jumping out from closets, around corners, and some even under the tables!

Finally, she got it!

It was great. We got tons of great books from the wonderfully generous guests who included, besides family, her co-teacher Janice Dwyer and her friends from school (and Samantha's Chinese teacher) Tressy Chang and Molly Williams Pugh.

After the initial surprise, we enjoyed delicious food (spring rolls, fried noodles, fresh straberries, brownies, coffee, tea, etc) and wonderful company. George took Philip, Andrew and Joey out to run errands (pick up the birthday cake and present for my mom who we were having birthday dinner with later in the evening) and left the house to the women + Nicky and me.

There was lots of conversation and fun games (including "name that quote" from a children's book) and presents.

It was great. As I set in the house typing this, I'm looking at our new copies of Pat the Bunny, We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Butter Battle, Harold and the Purple Crayon, The Giving Tree, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, If You Give A Mouse a Cookie, and more! My favorite is, of course, "Because Daddy Loves Me" which is in Chinese.


SURPRISE! The whole group.


Just the ladies (and Nicky)


Look at all the wonderful presents!

After the guests departed at around 5:30, we hung out for awhile before taking my mom to dinner. Mom turns 70 this year so congratulations mom! We had a delicious meal at Cine Cite (film city?). Dinner was sublime. My appetizer of Prosciutto wrapped mozarellas with mushrooms was incredible. Sam's steak was so tender it melted in your mouth. Desert was caramel crunch cake that was without a doubt the best cake I've ever had (with the exception of the ones that Sarah, Joy and Roz make, of course).


At Cine Cite

While Joy arranged the menu and the reservations, it was Gayle who wound up paying for dinner by sneaking her credit card to the waiter before we had even sat down. This meant that she not only paid for the delicious dinner, but that she also is the one that bought mom's present and was gracious enough to say that it was from 'all of us.' Well, the one of us who could afford it! Thanks Gayle! We all know who makes it all possible.

After dinner, we went back to Joy's house to watch the ultrasound DVD before Sarah and I came home. The Taipei contingent had flights at around noon, so we met them at the airport to say our goodbyes before coming home to sort through all the great presents and to get some rest!

It was all in all, an exhausting weekend full of family and fun. We're glad we had it and are sad it's over, but will be happy to have tonight to rest.

Isn't family great? Yeah!

Week 33 / Day 219 - 3D/4D Ultrasound

We had our 3D and 4D Ultrasound today and I think that pictures will speak louder than words for this.










You can click on them to enlarge.

In some photos, you'll notice a hand or some umbilical cord in the way, but for the most part, she (and it was reconfirmed to be a she today) was very patient and accomodating for her first real closeup photos.

We were heartened to learn that everything was very normal and that she is almost exactly average (just a smidge under) on the curve for size, which, by the way, was 2000 grams even, our ultrasound technician told us.

Today represented a real milestone for us, and for me in particular. Getting to see her face and to be reassured that everything was normal (fingers, toes, no hare lip and even HAIR) that could be observed helps to relieve a lot of worry and worst case scenarios that I had. Her heartbeat is strong and her cord blood flow is good and all that's left is to wait for her to be ready to come out and say 'hello' to us all for the first time. Our Pregnancy Journal states, "From this time on, your baby has the maturity to adapt to living outtside the womb if born." That is reassuring, indeed us to have made it so far.

While I'm sure that the baby is of most (and for many of you, the only) interest, we do have a couple of updated belly shots of SAM. Both of these were taken 'yesterday' or rather on day 218 which was Tuesday, Sept 11.




It's hard to tell from the photos, but the belly is getting ever larger. Sam's belly is surprisingly hard with baby parts filling out the space in her belly. It is becoming easier and easier to discern individual parts to outsiders (i.e. not Sam or Baby) and Sam is able to (she thinks) figure out what little Petunia is doing much more clearly and easily than before.

We were both stunned at the capabilities of today's technology and thankful for how it has allowed us to be reassured and kept up to date at each step of this process. Modern science is truly miraculous and I am proud to be associated with Brad whose work will help us to move forward the boundaries of the possible.

Some final tidbits. We've finally cancelled our reservations at Matilda, the private hospital and are now committed to Queen Mary, the public one. Our birthing classes are going well and we've enrolled in a Doula service which means a qualified midwife will come over to help monitor and reassure Sarah when she starts her labor and then accompany her to the hospital when she's ready. In this way, she can stay home as long as possible in a safe and calm way.

Also, in answer to Sylvia's question, no, we don't have a legal name yet. We've got some options, but we're going to wait to meet her to decide.

We DO, however, have an illegal name. Esmeralda Ursula. Anyone who calls her that will be arrested and shot. Particularly in Venezuela.

New Post of added storage

Dear Family,

Over the course of the last couple of weeks, we have done some work to reconfigure our space so that the coming little one can actually have some of her own things fit in our space challenged apartment. We've made a couple of minor changes, but nothing major - the largest item we added was a filing cabinet. Mostly we repositioned, reconfigured and added bins to hold stuff that would work with our existing furniture.


Here you can see that we've added Ikea cloth covered storage boxes to the top of our "Billy" bookcase. The boxes fit perfectly. You can also see that Sarah made a special low area for some story books and for some toys so that they would be more at little Petunia's level. If you look closely to the lower left corner, you can see someone's belly and Petunia's current home!


Here's a lower view of the bookcase so you can see a bit closer up how the books and toys are arranged. There's now even a nifty little basket in the right cubbyhole to hold all of my Wii games and accessories. Yay! Finally, no more messy wires and boxes everywhere!


In the part of our bookshelf with doors, we've now moved my camera equipment and opened up a storage unit for the baby's creams, diapers and other necessaries. It's the one on the lower left.


Here you can see some storage bins above the bookshelf that contain many of Petunia's clothes for as she grows. We've got most of the Newborn and 0-3 month clothes in our drawers, but because so many of our family members have been so generous, we have lots of clothes for as the baby grows. We've put these items and other 'soft goods' for the baby up here.


Here you see one view of how we've moved our bookshelf/divider in our little office/desk space. We've moved he shelf over towards the wall (it was centered between the desks before) in order to make room for the filing cabinet, which you see the side of here (with the printer on it). We've also cleared some space on the shelf for some additional storage we're going to get for baby related things.


Here's the reverse angle where you can see the actual file cabinet that we got. This helps us a lot because we now have actual storage space for our files which were previously taking up space on our bookshelves, desks, and under our desks. The bottom drawer is joint stuff, the middle drawer is mine and the top one is Sam's!

You can also see the small low shelf along the wall between our desks that is waiting for appropriate storage. We built this medium height shelf out of two low Ikea shelves by screwing them together. Thank's SAM and family for the power tools!


Finally, here you can see the changing area that we've set aside. We've got a changing pad all set up for when the baby needs her diapers changed. On top of it is the little muslins for mopping up accidents and spills. There is room on the side reserved for a basket that we'll be getting to hold the diapers, creams, etc that we're going to need for this very important space.

To the left is her 'go bag' which is full of all the things we're bringing to the hospital.


This here is an update I just added to the post. It's a photo of a shelf system we built above our microwave out of two Ikea end tables to store the baby's kitchen essentials - bottle sterilizers, warmers, bottles, etc.

Anyways, that brings you mostly up to date on the updates to our house. Stay tuned until next time when we'll have more updated belly pics and a 4-D Ultrasound!

My Favorite Picture of Lily. Ever.

Swimming at the East Float Beach.

I think she's cold.

At 31 Weeks/Day 207

Taken at 205 days


Comparing and Contrasting at MacMahan


Taken at the beginning


So here I am, 31 weeks (207 days) in, posting my first blog entry on the upcoming baby that we're having.

The house is PREPARED. Extra storage? Check. Diapers? Check. Grab and Go bag for when SAM goes into labor? Check. Baby clothes? Check. (Thanks to all you friends and family). We are even being responsible parents and attending birthing classes (saw my first birthing videos) and have signed up for infant CPR classes. Now THAT is exciting stuff.

The 4-D ultrasound is the week after next, and the doctor says that all systems are go.

For me, I can't wait for little Petunia (our diminutive for her right now) to come screaming into the world, but SAM wants her in awhile longer. For me, I worry because I don't know what's going on in there. It seems like there's still lots of risk to her INSIDE that I can't protect her from - umbilical cords, listeria, indigestion, etc whereas once she's out of her mom and in the house, I can block any dangers at the door. For SAM, she feels the wonder of this growing being inside of her and simply loves it. She glows and laughs at their private communication when the little one gently turns or jabs a limb into her bladder. Even the most undignified of kicks at the most inopportune times are an opportunity for Sarah to smile and laugh at the wonder of it all.

Amazing.