36 Week Appointment

I am so happy with how our appointment went today. It was so wonderful and I love our doctor. Nothing that special happened but I was reassured that she is great and that we are in good hands. I was also relieved that she didn't make us do all of the typical tests. Usually, at your last 4 appointments they want you to do a stress test and an ultrasound. They are both pretty expensive tests. I told the nurse that we are students and we're paying for this with cash and asked her to skip any tests that we could. I told her that if it was important for the baby we would do them but if the doctor said it was ok to not have them, we would appreciate that. Dr. Xu (pronounced "Shoe", by the way) said that it was totally fine to not do the ultrasound or stress test and that we won't have to do them until/unless I go over my due date. Yay! It saved us hundreds of dollars. So today I just did the group strep B test and she listened to the babies heart beat. The strep B test was quicker than when I had it done in the states but the funny thing was that the nurse just stood right there as I took my pants off. Usually when I had to undress from the waist down they would leave the sheet for me and step out of the room. This time the nurse stood there while I undressed and then when I got dressed again. Funny little differences in culture. The baby's heart beat was good, 140, and the doctor said his head was well engaged. I asked her what she thought about inducing and she said that if I start to go over the due date and if I'm not opposed to induction then she would do it. I think it's mostly because he's not a super small baby. The other bit of good news is that I only gained 1 kilo, or 2.2 lbs, instead of the 5+ lbs that I had thought.

Since Jimmy has time off of school for Christmas (YAY!!!!!!), he and Ali came with me to the appointment. Afterward, we walked down to the hospital to take a little tour and figure out where we'll go for delivery. I'm so glad we did it because there are more than 6 different buildings as part of this hospital. We are delivering on the 14th floor of our building. We figured it will take about 10 minutes to get to the hospital by taxi and then 10 minutes to get up to the 14th floor!! It took forever! They definitely need more elevators in that building! I just hope I don't have to deliver in one of them! So on to the 14th floor- I will deliver in the same room that we will be in for the rest of the stay. The room was ok, not as clean as our room in Houston. I'm not surprised since nothing here has been close to clean, but everyone had told me that the room is really clean. Is it that they've just been here too long and have forgotten what clean really looks like? Not sure. But it will be clean enough for a 2 or 3 days stay. Good features about the room are that there is a couch that pulls out into a bed for Jimmy, Ali can also come stay if she/we want, there is a refrigerator and microwave so that Jimmy and Ali can keep food there. I asked the nurse about breastfeeding/formula and binkies and she said it's not a problem to request that your baby not receive formula and that they don't even have binkies to give to the babies. So interesting! I remember how annoyed I was when one morning, a nurse brought Ali back to us after a check-up and she had a binky in her mouth! We had already been there a day or two and none of the other nurses had done that. Anyway, I find it so interesting that they don't even have them at the hospital. Once I stopped to think about it I realized that I have never seen a baby with a binky here. Overall, the hospital looks fine. Not exactly as clean as I would like, but I feel confident about our doctor and that's the most important thing.

36 Weeks!

We have entered the LAST MONTH!!! Yay! I'm so excited and a little nervous. The things I'm nervous about are these:

Having a baby in a Chinese hospital with a Chinese doctor. Although, everyone that I have talked to has said it was a great experience.

Putting two little ones to bed at night. This one might be my biggest. Ali is still so young and while she loves going to sleep, she also loves to be held for 15-30 minutes before I put her in her crib. I am nervous that I'm not doing a good job coming up with, and teaching a sleepy-time routine that is going to work well with two babies.

Sleep deprivation. I have gotten so used to sleeping 8 hours or more, depending on how early I go to bed. My friends who have recently had babies are posting ditties about how tired they are and I'm kind of remembering how exhausting it is to have a new baby. But I'm sure I don't remember the full extent of the exhaustion.

But the things I'm excited about are these:

Seeing two little sweeties running around together and giggling. Ali is getting SO funny and tonight I just pictured her running around with her little brother at this time next year; getting all giddy for Santa to come and eating cookies before dinner.

That new baby in my arms, so sleepy and cuddly. I love how they are so sleepy when they are first born and will just sink into you with their heavy little head.

A whole new round of "firsts". I can't wait to see his first smile, hear his first laugh, watch him roll over for the first time.

His baby blessing. I have always loved baby blessings. I don't know what it is exactly. Of course it is a special thing. I have always felt so happy for the family blessing their new baby. It's such a sweet moment. They are beginning their journey back to their Heavenly Father.

The list could go on and on but the point is that we are so happy that our little sweetie is coming so soon.

I am going to the doctor tomorrow and we'll see what she has to say. I'm sure I have gained a billion pounds. My sciatic nerve has been in permanent pinch mode for several weeks and it has me housebound. Add that to the fact that we got an oven and I've been baking and I would guess I've gained more weight since my last appointment than I have since I moved to China. Oh well. There are worse things than gaining 5 pounds. Luckily there's no chocolate here, or we could have probably doubled that!