January 13th!

James Hamilton Newton III was born on Friday, January 13, 2012 at 12:05 pm in Shanghai, China. He was 8 pounds 7 ounces and 20 inches long. He has lots of black hair and the sweetest face we have ever seen! He is a very content baby and only cries when we're changing his diaper. He came into the world quickly, only 3 hours after the doctor broke my water. He has stolen our hearts just as quickly and we are so happy he's ours!

Friday the 13th!

I had my appointment today and things went GREAT! I am dilated to a 2 and the doctor said everything looks really good! She did and ultrasound.... actually she had the ultrasound specialist come in and do the ultrasound because his head is so far down and she wanted a really accurate measurement. His head is medium/average size and his tummy is "FAT". I wish I could get a video of her saying this word- she exaggerates the "f" and kind of scrunches up her nose... plus there's the accent and I love her mannerisms. I loved watching her says this and came up with ways to make her say it a couple more times because it was so funny.

The plan is to induce on Friday if he hasn't come yet. She says there is a good chance he will come before. I'm not exactly counting on it but it would be fun! If I do go in for the induction on Friday it will probably be relatively quick. She is going to break my water and then watch for an hour, at which point she will decide whether or not to give me pitocin.

We have things pretty much set for a babysitter. What a relief! One of the student's wives will watch her on Friday and then a branch member will take her on Saturday. We figure that Sunday will be easy to get people in the playgroup to watch her since everyone is home on Sundays so we're not too worried about it.

So that's that. Our little boy will be here on or before Friday the 13th (great day!)! We can't wait to meet him and hold him and smother him with kisses! YAY!

39 Weeks!

I'm so excited to see our little boy!

We're 6 days away from his due date!

I have an appointment on Tuesday morning and I can't wait to see what the doctor says.

We're still trying to figure out exactly where Ali is going to be during the main event but that will come together in the next couple days. How does everyone do it? Obviously if you have family around they can help, but not everyone lives by family and they still make it work. It will all work out and very soon we are going to have a new, sweet baby boy.

38 Weeks!

I am in my 38th week and quickly approaching my 39th. We are in the single digits- 9 more days! This is unbelievable! It is unbelievable that we will have a newborn at the end of next week (give or take some days). We will have two children! How cute! I remember a time when I wasn't sure I would even have 1 child and now Ali gets a brother.

I feel tired.

Is this how you always feel before a new child comes? I'm not sure if I actually am tired or not, but I feel tired because I'm thinking about how tired I'm going to be.

Besides the moments during the day when I feel tired, I feel amazing! I feel like I'm 2 months pregnant.

I had an appointment last Tuesday...the Tuesday after Christmas.... I gained a lot of weight. The nurse even gave me a hand motion to slow down. I gained 3 kilos. You're supposed to gain .5. I enjoyed every one of those Christmas dinners that we went to. On top of the 4 Christmas dinners that we attended my legs and feet had also swollen to 4 times their normal size. So at this last appointment I had lost 1 kilo and my feet have pretty much gone back down to normal so the doctor said everything was ok with my weight/weight gain.

She also check my cervix and said it was very good and she can easy get in there and feel the head. My next appointment is Tuesday morning and we will probably talk about the possibilities of inducing. In an ideal world we would induce after Jimmy's final on the 20th but I'm not sure any of us want to wait that long. I for sure wouldn't mind having him in there longer but I don't want him to get so gargantuan that I can't push him out. We'll have to see what she says.

Ali has become clingy. And when I say clingy I mean she becomes hysterical if I leave her side. I wish I knew what all she understood about what's about to happen. I'm thinking she gets that something big is about to happen because of how she has been acting. I feel bad for her. I wish I could help her know that everything is going to be ok. I know she'll be fine but it's hard watching her feel scared and confused. She is so sweet and I'm excited for her to learn that she's getting a new brother and best friend.

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!

33 Weeks

I got home from my appointment with Dr. Xu a couple hours ago. We relaxed a little bit over dinner, put Ali to bed and now here I am. The appointment went really well. Dr. Xu is so normal! She did an ultra sound to make sure the baby was head down, which he is, and also measured his size. He is measuring exactly on target- 33 weeks 0 days. We chatted about the chances of me needing a c-section based on his size and she said there is no reason I would need a c-section. I told her what the other doctor had said and she just laughed and couldn't believe she had said that. She hoped that I had just misunderstood her. There's little chance of that since she just kept repeating the instructions to stop eating and to exercise more. Dr. Xu said that since I had a baby that was over 8 pounds without any complications and no vacuum or forceps, that I could even have up to a 9 pound baby without any problem. Not that I'm planning on that, but it was just so nice to hear that the doctor had a little confidence in me and in herself as a doctor. I feel so comfortable with her as my doctor. I'm now actually looking forward to giving birth again and am excited for my next appointment with Dr. Xu.

I'm still feeling great but there are some times that my back kills from all the stroller/child lifting. Luckily after I'm home and relax for a bit I feel totally fine.

I can't wait to meet this little boy and to introduce him to his big sister! I'm also so happy that Jimmy and I will be together for his birth.

32 Weeks and a few Miracles

It's been a rough two weeks. Very rough. We have been on such a roller coaster about this whole delivery thing. Ever since the appointment with Dr. Jia we have gone back and forth on whether or not I should go back to the states. Everything would be so easy at home but we would be away from Jimmy, which is no small thing. Even though I really wanted to go home I just couldn't bring myself to click the "purchase" button for the airline ticket. I attributed it to my being a procrastinator and just figured that I would put it off until the last minute and end up being so stressed.

On Sunday I got set apart for my calling. I've had the calling for almost two months but for some reason the setting apart didn't work out until this last Sunday.... and I can see exactly why now. The blessing (can I call it that?) was so amazing. The first bit was about my calling and then he went into what we were going through in our life and family at this point in time. As soon as he began to talk about my pregnancy and our lives here I felt an amazing warmth all over my whole body. It just washed over me and was the best feeling. I didn't want it to end. It was so comforting and peaceful. I never doubted that the Lord was aware of what we are going through, but I didn't expect to have such an amazing experience during this time. I am so grateful for it and have thought about it so many times since Sunday. I am so grateful for the priesthood and that Heavenly Father poured out so much love to me in this time of need. I felt then that everything was going to be ok. I still didn't know what that was an still struggled with the decision of whether to go home or not.

I was supposed to make phone calls to a different hospital on Monday but after visiting teaching and a little Ali break down in the afternoon, I didn't end up having time to do it. I'm sure I could have made it happen, but I just didn't feel motivated and again, just chalked it up to being a procrastinator.

Today, I ended up skying with a few family members and while I was skyping with my parents, telling them that chances were good we would be back in the states next week, my phone rang 5 different times. We finished our skype-call and I saw that it was a sister in our ward who had been calling me. She is actually the wife of the counselor who gave me the blessing on Sunday. Anyway, I called her back and received miracle #2. She knew about all the issues I was having finding a doctor and she has had Dr. Xu for her last two babies so she knows how good it would be if we could have her as our doctor. Well, she told me that she was driving past the hospital today and the thought came to her that she needed to call them to see what she could do about helping me find a doctor. She got in contact with Dr. Xu and explained that we wanted to come see her but the front desk told us we couldn't. Dr. Xu said that she never told them that she didn't have room in her schedule and made an appointment for us to come in this Friday at 4:30! What?! I didn't even know what to say. What a blessing and a miracle.

So as much as I would like to be in an environment that I am comfortable with (America), there are so many big things happening to keep us here. It's not necessarily what I would choose, but I'm happy to do what the Lord has planned for us and excited to see what the future holds as we try to follow that plan.

We will go to the appointment on Friday and if everything goes well, we get to have Dr. Xu and we will be having a Chinese baby. Hope he doesn't want to run for President some day.

30 Weeks!

With only 10 weeks till the baby comes I figured it would be a good idea to meet the doctor. I posted last time that Dr. Xu was seeing too many patients in January and so we needed to find a new doctor. There are about 4 or 5 other doctors at this office so I just read through their profiles and picked a woman named Dr. Jia. I called and made an appointment last week for today at 11 am. On Saturday I received a text message from the doctor's office that said I had an appointment on Monday at 10:30 with Dr. Xu! I was beyond excited! I didn't know how this was possible but felt so happy that we were able to get in with her. A few hours later, I got another text message from the office saying that I had an appointment at 10:30 with Dr. Jia. Oh Geez. So I called and asked to confirm my appointment. The girl took my info then told me I had an appointment at 11 am with Dr. Jia. I told her I had received a text earlier and told her what it said. She just replied by telling me to come at 11 and see Dr. Jia. So I asked her who sent me the text messages. "My colleague," she said. So I said, "Why did they send me those text messages? I just got one that said I have an appointment at 10:30." She told me the same thing again, to come at 11 am. Luckily, I had told Jimmy about the text messages and he reminded me that we were in China and not to get my hopes up because something weird was probably going to happen, so I had kind of mentally prepared myself. It was still a tad disappointing though.
So Monday rolls around and I go to my appointment... at 11.... with Dr. Jia. I was happy to finally meet my doctor and was trying to keep optimistic all morning.

The first thing the doctor asked me when we got in the room was how big Ali weighed at birth. When I told her she weighed 8 lbs 3 oz she informed me that if I wanted to have a natural birth this baby couldn't be more than 8 pounds. I'm not sure exactly how she meant for it to sound but it felt like a threat. I'm sure my eyes got big and I think the blood drained out of my face. She then explained to me that I needed to not eat and to exercise more. I really didn't know what to say.... all I could think of was to tell her that I walk everywhere and never take taxis. She told me I need to exercise more. Then I got up on the table so she could measure him. She measured his belly then put this stat on a chart. She showed me where he was measuring now and that in 10 weeks he would be 4 kilos. "At 4 kilos, you cannot have a natural birth," she said. She went on to state that he needed to be 3.5 kilos. Does this lady realize that, and correct me if I'm wrong, if I were to have a baby that was only 3.5 kilos (7.7 lbs) it would be the lightest baby that any of the women in my family have delivered so far?
The appointment only lasted about 2 more minutes and it involved her guiding me down the hall while repeating the same advice she had already given me.

The thing is, I have not gained any weight since my last appointment. I am the exact same weight that I was 10 weeks ago in Texas. I am trying to keep the weight down but she's telling me that unless I produce a miracle baby at 7 lbs, I will not have a natural birth. So the little one is coming in 10 weeks and I find myself questioning who will be there when it's time to deliver. Is it going to be this lady? I allowed myself to cry on my walk home, not even caring who saw me.
Once I got home, I told Jimmy about what had happened and we talked about whether we just stay with this doctor and plan on not letting her jump to a c-section just because the baby weighs more than 8 lbs, or whether we should go to another hospital. I plan on spending this week looking for another doctor.... and not eating and exercising more. Just kidding.

It's amazing to see the huge difference in my last doctor and this one. Dr. Hulme never made any comments like this to me. I remember how funny it was when he would refer to her as hefty (I think that's the word he used) and that her head size was generous but he never threatened to not let me have her natural. And maybe he knew that if she got much bigger I really couldn't have a natural birth but he still never stressed me out by telling me to stop eating. I realize even more how blessed we were to have had him as our doctor. Maybe he would like to come on a little China vacation around January 14th. Hehehe.
Something will work out. We'll just have to see what that something is in the coming weeks and try not to break out in hives in the meantime.

24, 25 and 26 weeks!!

How has time gone by so fast again?!
If I would have written last week I would have said that I found a Doctor. Her name is Dr. Xu and she has delivered almost every baby in our branch. The only babies she has not delivered are those who were not born at the one hospital. Needless to say I was feeling pretty relieved. Her office is about a 15 minute walk from our apartment and then the hospital is about two blocks from there. Ali and I walked to the office last week and spoke with the lady at the desk about becoming a new patient of Dr. Xu's. She said that would be no problem. She then got a nurse for us to talk to about which appointments and tests we would still need. This nurse also said it would be fine to see Dr. Xu.
Since the women here only have 1 baby it's a really big deal! The offices sell different packages and they get VERY pricey! Most of the packages include 4-D ultrasounds, pictures, DVDs, etc. The check-ups end up being more than the actual delivery but the people seem to love it! In a way it's nice that they are enjoying the process as much as they can since they know it won't happen again. For me, I can enjoy the process just fine on my couch or walking to the subway. Luckily, they allow you to pick and choose what you want. If you don't want the tests or ultrasounds, you don't have to get them. You do have to be pretty firm about it since they are trying to sell you on large packages. For example, the nurse said that I was too far along to purchase a package but she tried to sell me a 60,000 RMB prepaid card that would go towards the rest of my appointments and then could roll over to help pay for the delivery. That's about $10,000 just for the last 15 weeks of checkups! Not going to happen! Especially since our student insurance doesn't cover maternity and we are paying out of pocket. Anyway, I told the nurse that I would talk to my husband and call back to make an appointment.
Half a week passed and we found out that Jimmy was going to have some free time on Wednesday so I could go do my glucose test while he stayed with Ali. So I called on Monday to make the appointment and the lady at the office told me that I wouldn't be able to see Dr. Xu because she had too many patients in December and January but that I could se Dr. So-And-So. No, I don't want to see Dr. So-And-So. I don't know that doctor and I don't know how Chinese they are when delivering babies.
So, the update this week is that I don't have a doctor yet. I'm trying not to freak out. This hospital would have been perfect for us. The price is a lot cheaper than other hospitals and they had that good doctor that a lot of Americans trust. However, trials come and we just roll with it. We'll see what happens. I need to find a doctor by next week so I can get the glucose test done.
As far as how things are going health-wise, things are GREAT. I feel fabulous and the belly is BIG! It's amazing how much bigger you get with the second baby. I know I wasn't this size at 26 weeks with Ali. I don't remember feeling really big until I was in the 30's. It will be fun to see how much bigger I get. People are already staring and some people even look disgusted that I would have two children. I really wonder what is going through their heads since they only have 1 and here I am walking around with 1 and pregnant with another. They must think I'm a reckless, crazy person. That's probably true!
I'm getting nervous to leave Ali for the birth of Baby Boy. I'm going to miss her so much. We've never been away from each other and it's going to be hard!