I told
Juliana, "We have something exciting to tell you!" She looked
appropriately excited and asked, "Is it a present?!" It will be like a present, arriving
awfully close to her birthday and all, but we'll have to wait and see how
excited she actually is. Come September (Juliana's third birthday give or take a few days) Juliana is going to become a
big sister.
We had our
first appointment in Thailand where we got to see the baby for the first
time. When we went into the hospital
Kevin told Juliana, "We are going to find out about your baby brother or
sister." Juliana said, "We're
going to find a baby brother or sister!"
Then spotting a young girl she cried out, "There's a
sister!" We have reason to believe
she doesn't really understand how this works.
 |
| Ultrasound from my 13 week appointment |
We are
excited, particularly in the moments when I've not been violently ill. Pregnancy has not been super kind to me thus
far. I was sick with Juliana, but I have
been much sicker this time. I have
figured out why they call it morning sickness - one morning you wake up feeling
really sick...and then it never goes away.
This week I have seen a little improvement though. I've started to make it through some days
without thowing up - a wonderful feeling.
I've even been able to do some things like take a shower and do some
laundry without feeling sick! I have
also been managing to go to class every day, though I can't say a lot for the
study outside of class. It's funny, but
studying Chinese doesn't seem to help the nausea.
I am also hesitantly venturing beyond my 4 safe foods: eggs, bread, cheese, and
milk. Today I actually made and ate
spaghetti! Unfortunately this pregnancy,
I can't handle Chinese food at all. Even
the smell is completely sickening. This
is really a problem when you live in China.
Kevin is having a hard time with food too, mainly because I haven't been
cooking anything. Fortunately there is a
lot of take-out available. Unfortunately
it is all Chinese. I hide in the bedroom
while he eats and then burns candles and fans out the room. I don't know if you've noticed, but Chinese
food SMELLS.
I'm really
looking forward to feeling like a mostly normal person again because these past
couple of months have been pretty miserable.
I think I'm starting to turn a corner though. After losing 6+ pounds, this is the first
week I have actually gained back weight!
It's not often in life you get to be really happy about that.
We have
planned to stay in America this fall, deliver the baby in Georgia, spend some
time with our families on both sides of the country, and return to China after
the winter holiday next year. This means
the baby will be almost 5 months old before his first international travel! Pretty strange if you think about it. It will be nice to not rush home from the
hospital to apply for a passport, and it will also be nice for our family to
have more time around the new baby - and for us to have lots of help. :)
And in case
you were wondering, yes, we will buy Juliana a real birthday present as well.
