honesty time

We are giving birth in India, which may seem rather, um, rustic to some of you. :) So I wanted to show just how nice and modern our hospital is, even in a city that can be both modern and far behind.

The road we take on the way to the hospital. (seriously!)


The hospital! It's barely 2 years old.


The lobby. There is a Whole Foods counter and a coffee shop, and in the other lobby, there is a Subway.


James wanted to look very touristy in this pic next to the International Patient Services desk. Funny thing, we've never once used this desk!


The OB-GYN and Pediatrics department. James is paying our bill.


Me with Dr. Kapur! She's such a great doctor, and thought it was so sweet I wanted to take a picture with her. (27 weeks in this picture)


So this brings me to the visit we had with her yesterday. I had another ultrasound last Saturday to measure my amniotic fluid and Hazel's head size to see if my diet had been helping. The good news is that my excess fluid has been downgraded to "mild excess fluid." And Hazel's head growth is slowing down - it's now only a week ahead of gestational age, but get this - her femur grew a ton! Maybe she'll be tall after all!

The bad news is that Dr. Kapur is concerned about my weight gain. This brings me to the title, "honesty time." I have a friend, Alicia, who began a weight loss blog where she bravely posted her weekly weight and her weekly weight loss/gain. Let's face it - as women, this is about the most courageous thing we can do! I did really well with the sweets - I didn't have anything in 2 weeks! (she did allow me ice cream once a week, but I still only had a small serving once) I also stayed away from almost all bad starches - white breads, crackers, potatoes, etc. But I have still gained 24 pounds in my pregnancy. (did I really just admit that?!) So now...Dr. Kapur has extended my diet to restrict cheeses and all fatty foods too for 3 more weeks. So I've got a tough battle ahead of me if I want to control my weight gain, which of course I do. Any of you brave enough to comment how much weight you gained during your pregnancy/ies?

So I've decided to leave myself up for humiliation and post my weekly weight and weight gain so I can have that much more motivation to not gain unhealthy weight. You'll see it on the right side of my blog. We'll see if my very healthy diet makes a difference! The good side to this is I get yet another ultrasound in 2 weeks to measure my fluid again, and seeing Hazel again is reward in itself.

And finally...today marks 3 months until my due date! It's getting closer!

it's a miracle!

We watched the video in class last Saturday. You know, the video. As Kelley warned me, it was very old and very American! Kinda strange, and I have to wonder what the Indians in class thought. I only watched the first of it, then I squeezed my eyes shut so I didn't accidentally glance up. I knew things were moving along smoothly when the midwife would say in her Midwestern accent, "Gouuuuhd. Gouhhhhhd." After awhile, I turned my head and just watched James' face as he reacted to the onscreen violence. He grimaced, he gasped, he made awful faces...and then out of nowhere he exclaimed, "It's a miracle!" My husband is so cute.

I didn't even watch the video (let alone give birth to the oft described "big baby" in the video) and I was still extremely tense afterwards. Luckily, the teachers had us sit in a circle after the movie to learn how to fold nappies! Nappies are British English for diapers. So we learned three different ways to fold cloth diapers, and were told to start potty training at about 5 months.

Yeah I said 5 months. Indian babies are potty wizards.

I came away unscathed, and my husband is thoroughly impressed with the birthing process, so I'd say it was pretty successful.

baby emily

Seems Hazel isn't the only baby around here. Turns out, I'm a big baby too.

We started our antenatal classes last week, and they go on for 5 Saturdays. We had our second one yesterday, and one of the OB-GYNs at the hospital we'll be delivering at talked about the birthing process. Anyone who has ever known me for 5 minutes knows I am terrified of labor and delivery. I've always known it was inevitable because I want children, but to say I'm not looking forward to labor is a vast understatement. By the time the doctor finished discussing episiotomies and pushing, my eyes were filled with tears, my heart was racing, I was tense all over, and I felt sick. Next week is the birthing video - what on earth am I gonna do? Please someone reassure me...NOW!

Okay just some senseless stuff to brighten up this terrifying post. :) The classes are on a floor of the hospital that must've been an afterthought because the ceilings are incredibly low. Everyone looks like a giant when they stand up. Here's James on the way to class:
Here is Andrea and I pretending to do our breathing exercises, which is weird since we haven't had that lesson in class yet:
And lastly, here is a week 25 picture of me. I don't have an outie - yet - the bump poking out is just my drawstring from my pants:

24 week ultrasound

We had the 24 weeks ultrasound last Saturday. It's funny to me because I know in the States you just get a few ultrasounds, right? Like 2 or 3? Well this one was my 5th! And it's not because there are problems or complications, they just let you get a bunch here. I love seeing Hazel. And they do the 4D ultrasound pictures here for no extra charge!

Just in case you're having trouble seeing, the B&W is her facial profile - see the ears and nose? And the 4D...well, I think it's her right eye, nose, and frowny mouth. I just love seeing her little hands.

Notes from the ultrasound: she passed with flying colors! Every thing they checked on (skull, spine, heart, kidneys, limbs, etc) are normal with no anomalies. She also doesn't have a cleft palate, club foot, or cord around the neck. There are lots of other things they tested for that came out well, but I don't know what they mean. :)

The only trouble is her gestational age according to size is about a week and a half ahead of what it should be. Dr. Kapur told me that for the next two weeks, I need to cut all sugars and sweets from my diet. This is going to be rough - y'all know my sweet tooth! My glucose challenge test came back fine and well under what the limit is, but she still wants me to test again in 2 weeks and then meet with her about it. The one thing that will help me stay away from chocolate is picturing giving birth to a baby with a giant head. That ought to stop me in my tracks! Anyway we'll see if that works. And if not, at least I'll have picked up some better eating habits.

Everything else is fine. My haemoglobin score was just shy of the range it should be, but she said not to worry about it. I have been feeling great so everything seems okay. I am still not feeling pregnant when I move, which I think is a good sign. I only feel it when I have to sit nicely for a long time. You know, not putting my feet up or reclining.

So all in all, things are looking great! PTL for a very healthy prognosis!

shopping!

Like I said, I have one more month to go before the third trimester hits, and Andrea isn't far behind me. So we actually for once had a free day today so we went shopping! Who knows how long we'll still feel energized enough to shop like this again? :)

After one wrong stop, we found the little baby shop. Like many South Asian shops, there is a lot of merchandise crammed into a tiny room. So we would point, the man would put the items on the glass case, and we'd decide if we wanted it or not. This is Andrea demonstrating:
Happy shoppers:










And this is what I brought home. I'm getting closer to being ready!

So I wouldn't call myself a tree-hugger or anything like that, but I am environmentally conscious, and the idea of all those diapers bothers me. (Bobbie, why hasn't Huggies found out about our genius biodegradable diapers yet? ;) So James and I decided that we'd try out using cloth diapers at first. I know, this may only last a week (some of you may be thinking, "Honey, that's only gonna last a day!") but I must say I was really excited to see they have disposable diaper liners I can buy here! I bought enough to make a good try of it, and I can already tell that disposable diapers, not cloth, are much easier, and more user friendly. Did any of you try out cloth diapers first?

24 weeks!

I turned 24 weeks pregnant this week! That means I am 6 months, which means I only have 4 more weeks until the 3rd trimester. Where did the time go? (We were on our roof flying a kite for Independence Day)

18 week ultrasound video

Here is small 1.5 minute clip from our 14 minute ultrasound on July 3. She was 18 weeks at that time. It's of her body laying down, with her head on the right side. Hopefully you can see her arms, legs, fingers, face, etc.



As a side note of this ultrasound, her measurements are showing that her estimated due date, according to her size, is November 30. Everything is ahead of her age except her femur, which is right on schedule. Looks like she'll be taking after her mom's short height. :)

weeks 22 and 23

Here are some pics from weeks 22 and 23. The first group is of Andrea and me last week. (she's 21 weeks here) We were trying to take a belly picture, but ending up goofing off and laughing instead. And of course Adam, always serious, had nothing to do with that:
This one made me laugh because we look like celebrities trying to hide from the papparazzi:
I wasn't going to put this picture on because, ew, gross, sweat! But then I thought it would be a good indicator to how hot/humid it is here. Yes, I do wear deodorant/antiperspirant, and yes, I shower. I had just showered maybe 30 minutes before this picture was taken! That's hot:
Frontal view:

And me all happy because I can still fit comfortably into my very first kurta I bought two years ago, which happens to be a size medium!:

why hazel?

*Since the "tone" of the written word can sometimes be misconstrued, I want to start this off by saying it is meant to be light hearted. I am in no way mad, angry, bitter, upset, or annoyed. This is merely an explanation blog.*

We get asked the question a lot, "Why Hazel? Is it a family name?" It isn't, we just both love the name for many reasons, which I'll get into in a bit. Our good friends, Adam and Andrea, had the idea to not share their baby's name until after the birth, because while the baby is still in the womb, lots of things can be said about a name because after all, no one knows the baby yet. But once a baby is christened with a name, no one would dare ridicule the baby, and somehow the name always fits that baby. So in their Jellybean's case, once they have the baby (which I'm still convinced is a boy! :) and Adam runs into the waiting room with cigars and yells, "It's a boy! His name is Jellybean!" everyone will smile and say, "Yes, of course. That baby is nothing but a Jellybean." I think that makes sense.

We ran the risk of ridicule by announcing Hazel's name ahead of time, mainly because James and I can't keep secrets that excite us. And we know that once she's out, she will be a Hazel through and through. Family on both sides have told us that they aren't the fondest of the name Hazel, but it hasn't fazed us, because we love it. And no one has been rude about it, anyway, nor said it to get us to change our minds. We're just an opinionated lot, I think. But I feel like I should go ahead and explain why we love Hazel so much.

Femininity Both of us love feminine names. There are three types of girl names out there, in my own made-up categorizing: spunky, Law Office, and feminine. (most of the following names are taken from the Top 20 girl names in 2006) Spunky are the names like Kaitlyn, Chloe, Kaylee or Hailey or almost anything ending in the "ee" sound. Law Office are the names that sound like, well, a Law Office: Madison, Parker, and Taylor. ("How may I help you?") And then there are the feminine names, which fit my and James' style: Olivia, Sophia, Madeline, Abigail, etc. I think most of the popular names from last year are feminine. Anyway, we love Hazel because it exudes femininity. No boy could ever pull off the name Hazel.

Short and Simple We knew we wanted a simple name. As much as I love the names Alexandra and Madeline (really...they were probably my 2nd and 3rd choices), we already knew the middle name would be Elizabeth, which is a family name on my side. And it would be years and years before poor little Alexandra Elizabeth could say her full name. I still think it's beautiful, but James loves simpler female names. Also, chances are, this girl will be a world traveler and will need a "name without borders." I actually read an article about that, and apparently, if you have a name that has a vowel after every consonant, it is widely pronounceable in many cultures. Once again, I'll use my friend Andrea - the "ndr" of her name is hard for many Indians to pronounce, and one of her friends even calls her Algeria because that is easier for her Hindi background.

Not Too Common As much as we loved the name Isabella, once we realized it was in the top 10 names of 2006, we ruled it out. It's a beautiful name, but she wouldn't be known as Isabella; she'd be known as Isabella R. Same would go for little Emma R, Madison R, or Ava R. (the top 3 names of 2006) That being said, it's also not a name that is too unique, or made up (which in my humble opinion is worse) - people know the name Hazel. There is no mistaking how to pronounce it or how to spell it.

Classic Twenty years ago, very few Americans considered naming their daughters Ava, Emma, or Olivia. But in this decade, Ava's, Emma's, and Olivia's granddaughters started having babies, and the beloved names of their grandmothers were given to these baby girls. So names that seem like "old lady" names are now the trend in naming. Not that either of us wanted to choose a name just because it's trendy, but the response of the name Hazel from my and James' generation has been very positive. It's mainly those from a slightly older generation that don't like the name. Just wait...Donna and Linda will be all the rage in about 20 years! And I won't understand that, just like the Donnas and Lindas now don't understand Hazel. For the record, I heard the name Hazel on a girl maybe about 7 or 8 years ago and fell in love with it instantly.

Indian or Western We loved the idea of giving our daughter a name from the country she'll be born in. But the names I liked, James didn't like, and vice versa. The only name we sorta liked together was Anika. But then I realized that my ex's name, Nik, was in there, and as nice a guy as he is, that would still be kinda weird to me.

Can It Be Made Fun Of? This is a hard one for me. I'm a bit cynical and think kids are creative enough to make fun of even the most common name. One girl told me that Emily (a very common name now) sounded like the name of some country cow. Also -and this one takes a bit of stretching- while I was in elementary school, Warren Moon was the quarterback of the Houston Oilers. So since my last name at the time was Warren, they associated me with him, and would call me Moon sometimes. In the embarrassing, pants-dropping meaning of the word. So see...kids will make fun of a name no matter what. Not that I'd purposefully ignore the connotations of a name like, say, Bertha, but I also don't think it would be weird if Hazel didn't have hazel eyes. Or something like that. You just never know what other kids will come up with.

I just realized how long this blog is already so I'm stopping here and just leaving it at that. So...what do you think? Agree/Disagree?

hazel's thailand

I wanted to get one or two things for Hazel here in Thailand that have a sort of East Asian or Thai flare to them. And then everything else, I can get in India. But on the advice of my friend Kelley, I also bought some onesies to take back with me. Thailand has this big Wal-Mart type store, and so as I was looking at onesies, I got sidetracked and ended up buying 3 little dresses as well. Two of the dresses are for size 1 year old, but I justified it because 1, Thai babies are smaller than American babies, and 2, they were cute.

Here is just one of the dresses. It says, "I [heart] Mom," in Thai. Now before you start thinking I'm a genius who can read Thai, I should mention they also had these in English. Now that you have all the facts, feel free to still think I'm a genius.


We saw these little baby kimonos at the night market and couldn't resist.


After buying Hazel's kimono, James and I realized how cute (dorky?) it would be to dress all the 4 cousins up in little kimonos when we get back next year. So these are for Boston, Olivia, and March Baby W. By then, they should all fit, except for maybe the younger baby's. Since we're on the subject, I should mention that Hazel will only be youngest grandbaby on my family's side for 3 months before Andy and Christi's newest one joins us! Pops and Mimi's grandbabies are about to double in number!


Just in case Boston still thinks these kimonos need a little butching up before he dares to wear his, the inside of all of them has this super manly dragon on them.


Hazel's nursery will be way more functional than fancy, but I do want to put a few pretty touches in there with her, so I bought this pillow cover for her nursery.


And this is us eating at Hazel's favorite restaurant here in Thailand. I tell you, she is lucky to have such cool parents. :)

halfway!

I feel silly posting this after my rant about being called big. Because...well, after seeing these pics, I realize I am big. And now none of the commenters will feel comfortable ever telling me I look big! haha So anyway, here are pics from this weekend. I am almost 21 weeks now...I've past the halfway mark!



This one is for Alison...now you can really tell my size. :)

big fat clash of cultures

Yesterday, James and I went to the northern border of Thailand and stepped foot, however briefly, on the soil of two other countries - Laos and Myanmar. Really cool to think that Hazel has been, in utero, to 6 different countries already. I know that really doesn't count, but she's a pretty well traveled fetus, wouldn't you say?

The trip was fun, but I had a bit of shock and humiliation. I've heard that Indians will tell you very bluntly if they think you're fat. They will say you are looking healthy, but we all know that's code for fat, especially since they puff up their arms and cheeks when they say it. Well so far, I've never had that happen, so I wasn't expecting it from the Thais or Europeans on the tour with us yesterday. I know I'm getting bigger, obviously, but I thought for being just a few days shy of the half-way point of 20 weeks, that I haven't grown some drastic amount. "You're only 19 weeks? I thought you were 32 weeks!" "Are you sure there aren't two babies in there?" "You are so big!" And yet another, "Is it really just one baby?" (and also a "You're too young to have a baby," although that really doesn't fit into the same category) I was practically in tears by the time we finished the tour. I'm not sure why I had to bear remarks that wouldn't be right to tell any perfect stranger, pregnant or not. I felt like justifying that I was wearing loose clothes because of all the van-riding we did. I mean I was wearing gauchos - no one looks amazing in gauchos except models, we all know they are a comfort item. And hey, loose clothes at this stage in the game must be a good thing, right? Oh well. Looks like I need to grow thicker skin.

This past week at our big meeting, one of the big jokes was just how fertile our region is. I was really hoping that we could line up all the pregnant women and take a picture of us. If I had to guess, I'd say there were around 20 of us. (Those of you who were there, do you think that's accurate?) I know of at least one lady who found out she was pregnant during our week of meetings! Here is a picture of just four of the many pregnant ladies on the 4th of the July. At the time of the picture, we are, left to right, 18 weeks, 20 weeks, 16 weeks, and 24 weeks. All of us but the girl on the right will be delivering in the same city, less than a month apart. And all of us but Andrea know that we're having girls - she's going for the big surprise at labor. Thanks, Andrea, for the picture!

the big ultrasound

In India, it is illegal to find out the sex of the baby.  So last week, while we're here in Thailand, we took advantage of their lack of rules and went to find out exactly what Baby Roberts is...a girl or a boy?

This is me, on the way to the doctor.  I'm 18 weeks in this shot, btw.

This is the ob-gyn, Dr. Reallylonglastname.

And this is the sweet ultrasound technician who told us that we're having a girl!  (as if you couldn't already tell from the sickeningly sweet new pink template on the blog) We watched in awe for about 20 minutes as Hazel moved around like a wild woman. She kicked, punched, covered her face, and did all sorts of crazy things.  I drank coffee before the ultrasound so that she wouldn't be sleeping, and now I know what my morning jolt of caffeine does to her every day.

One cool thing about this particular hospital is that they gave us a free DVD of the ultrasound, so we're gonna try to cut it down to a few minutes and upload it on the blog.  We finally got to hear the heartbeat too!  

advice

I received my first piece of unsolicited advice yesterday. I had heard that Indians (and basically everyone) are big on giving advice to pregnant women and mothers, so I was starting to feel a little left out. :)

I wore sandals with a heel on them yesterday. No, let me clarify - I wore wedge heels with at most a small 2 inch heel on them. I mean, just short of qualifying as orthopedic, you know? And of course a lady in the locker room at the gym yesterday pointed to them and told me I shouldn't be wearing heels while pregnant. I smiled and said, "Thank you. I am fine." She looked at me closely and repeated it, "No, no, you shouldn't wear heels while pregnant." I figured evasive comments wouldn't work, so I just nodded and smiled. I'll have to work on a gracious, blanket reply.

16 weeks belly shots

It's officially happened, and so early too. I don't like the way I look anymore. :( This doesn't bode well for the next 24 weeks. Especially for poor James.

This is Andrea and me! She is about a week and a half behind me, but we're hoping our babies are born one day apart because our birthdays are one day apart, and how cool would that be? That of course means hers has to be born early because my baby will not be late. :) I'm convinced we're having a girl and they're having a boy because I am carrying abnormally high and she's carrying so low. Of course that probably has nothing to do with the sex of the babies.

I didn't like the way I looked in the first pic, so I had James take another. And then like 5 more because I didn't like any of them. He's so sweet and patient. Finally I put on this dress that my mom gave me and liked it the best. I am looking forward to having a reason to wear it while in Thailand! How did I get so big in the past 2 weeks?!

FAQ's

These are a few of the questions people ask me about having a baby over here. There's no such thing as a dumb question!*

Will you be having the baby in America?
Nope - we're going for a dual citizenship baby. :) Or at least until the child is 18 anyway. We'll have the baby right here. The hospital we are delivering at is state-of-the-art, and many doctors are trained in the West. And my ob-gyn is cool and wears a sari. :)

But what about your parents?
My mom is flying over (with a first class upgrade, I might add!) for almost 3 weeks in December, and then James' mom will be coming over for about 3 weeks or so in January. Then our dads and the rest of the family will see Baby Roberts when he/she is 6 months old. That is when we boogie back to Texas.

Many Indian women stay indoors during pregnancy - will you do the same?
No way! That would defeat the purpose of me being over here.

Do you have names picked out yet?
Yep - for a boy: Ethan James. For a girl: Hazel Elizabeth.

What do you do for maternity clothes?
I am a blessed woman! My mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law have clothed me well by sending me really cute maternity clothes in the mail. And several friends have given me some hand-me-down larger size kurtas for later in the pregnancy. And at the moment, I can still wear most of my pre-pregnancy kurtas, so I haven't had to resort to the Indian maternity jumper-suits.

*My former supervisors in Paris had a baby girl while there, and she told me they were actually asked, "Will the baby speak English?" So really, there is such a thing as a dumb question, but I'm pretty sure y'all are more intelligent than that. :)

say cheese, baby roberts!

I tried to crop to just two shots instead of this big one, but for some reason it's not working. So, the 4th and the 5th frames are the good shots. In the 5th one, you can see the spine. These are from the 12 week ultrasound.

Dr. Kapur said that everything is fine and the baby is the right size for his gestational age. She did prescribed me some protein biscuits because she's concerned I'm not getting enough protein since I don't eat meat daily. They came in a little tin can and look similar to doggie biscuits, but they are tasty. Way better than non-FDA approved chicken! So now I'm happy and full of protein.

the beginning of baby things!

These are some things my mom and Christi (sis-in-law or bhabhi, to explain which exact one:) brought for Baby Roberts while we were in Paris:

This is from Christi. She is convinced the baby will be a fat baby boy with red hair, so the red and white striped outfit is for a 3 month old! I don't mind the red hair part, but a big baby on the other hand....

And this is from my mom. First of many, many things to come from her, I'm sure!

Friday, Kelley, a friend of ours, had Andrea and me over. She is leaving for America this week, and is having a garage sale/giveaway of all her baby things. So Andrea and I cleaned up! It was great. Check out some of the things Kelley sold/gave me and Baby Roberts:A diaper bag, filled with all sorts of things I never even knew I needed. Bottle liners, wash cloths (Andrea wanted me to have blue and pink so I could cover both bases! :), mosquito netting for the baby bed, pacifiers, breast pads, 9 diapers, and a special after-labor lamp that Indians and Kelley swear by. And the breast pump is coming on Thursday.

And finally - the biggest items: A stroller, a Snugli, and a baby carrier! (this pic is for you, Andrea! :)
Thanks Mom, Christi, and Kelley!

I guess all this blue stuff means the baby better be a boy!

14 week belly shot

I swear I didn't think I'd look this pregnant, otherwise I would have put one up sooner! I guess with the baggy clothes we have to wear, I just don't feel like I'm showing yet.14 weeks