Dr. Kapur had us go once more to get an ultrasound this week to see if my diet was helping to reduce my excess amniotic fluid. As I'm sure you remember from my constant whinings about it, I haven't had sweets in over 5 weeks, and no sort of fatty foods whatsoever in over 3 weeks. But this time, my fluid levels have remained about the same they were 3 weeks ago, which is still lower than they were 5 weeks ago. Okay enough with all these numbers! Suffice it to say, the diet is helping to control the fluid level, and also control my weight gain, which Dr. Kapur is very pleased with now. And more exciting, Hazel is no longer breech! I wonder if it was the exercises I was doing to ease her out of breech, or if it was just taking her a little longer to get upside down. Hey, if I had the option, I'd wait until the last possible moment to suspend upside down, too.

So the funny part of the ultrasound measurements is that her head is still slightly large, but not excessively so. At the scan, I was 29 weeks 6 days. Her weight was 1.78kgs (3.96lbs) which is what they should weigh at about 32 weeks!! Dr. Kapur reassured me that her weight isn't excessive, and agreed and laughed at my remark that Hazel just must be a big American baby. After reading the reports closer, I see that her abdomen circumference, not her head, is the largest part of her now, age-wise! So James and I laughed at the thought of our cute little chunky belly baby.

This is completely unrelated, but Jaya gave Hazel a gift today. She had bought a child's lehenga for her 5 year old niece, but it's too small. So she gave it to me, knowing I've been dying to buy some cute Indian clothes for Hazel. She said that until Hazel can fit into it in about 3-4 years, that I can let my niece Olivia wear it. So Christi, what do you think of Livvie being an Indian maharani for Halloween 2008? ;)

30 weeks!!

Check it out - the first pic was me at 25 weeks, and this next one is at 30 weeks. I've grown, huh? (but since 25 weeks was when I was put on my diet, I now actually weigh 3.5 lbs less!) So maybe I should say Hazel has grown! (which she has...more on my still-giant baby later this week)

Andrea and I are introducing Hazel and her basketball...I mean, Jellybean. :)


She's 28.5 weeks here, and I'm 30 weeks. Can you believe Hazel will technically be full term in 7 short weeks? I have got to get her room ready!

a-movin'

I know I've told probably everyone I know, but I've never blogged about how much of a mover and shaker Hazel is! The first time I felt her move was at 18 weeks. I wasn't exactly sure that was a kick I felt at the time, but she leaves no room for doubt now. I read that you should feel your baby move at least 10 times every 12 hours. In our prenatal classes, they said that we should feel at least 5 kicks after each meal. So when I was 25 weeks, Hazel was moving so much that I decided to count how much I felt her move in a day. At 4 hours, I stopped counting because it became a chore to count so much - she had already kicked more than 200 times! In 4 hours!

I've been trying to get it on video because James and I both laugh at how much she moves my belly. Christi asked me to try to video it awhile back, but every time I get it on video, you can't see it very well. It's harder than you'd think. Finally, I think the camera caught her movements! See if you can see her moving in this 20 second clip. If you're having trouble seeing it, pay attention right at about 15 or 16 seconds onward, that's when she really gets going!

Thanks to Auntie Lata, a very generous lady in the English weekly ladies group I go to, Hazel will be sleeping in a real crib! Auntie Lata called me a few weeks ago and said she hated to see her crib go unused, so she wanted to loan us the crib until we leave next year. Apparently she bought it from a local market, who had bought it from someone at the Embassy. It's so big, we're gonna have to take the door off to get it into Hazel's room. Either that, or she'll just have two rooms!

God is so good to us. We didn't even ask for this, and weren't expecting to have anything nice for Hazel. Obviously she doesn't need luxuries that we can't afford, not to mention only use for 6 months, so we weren't concerned that her room would be half of a spare room and decorated in blue. But God has blessed us with such a nice piece of furniture, and something that we can decorate girly! Thank you Lord! And thank you, Auntie Lata!

third trimester

Whether it started at 27 weeks when I was exactly 3 months to my due date, or it started at 28 weeks, I'm not sure, but I do know I've arrived to the dreaded and exciting third trimester! I'm excited, because I'm in the home stretch. I've been dreading it though because I've heard the horror stories of these last several weeks. Here are the symptoms I've been experiencing:

• Discomfort while sitting
• Fatigue
• Frequent urination
• Hazel loves to kick my bladder and my ribs
• Excessive sweating, which is weird because I'm still not getting overheated
• Irrational mood swings

I guess if this is the worse it gets, then I had nothing to dread about the third trimester. But I have a feeling it's gonna get much, much worse! The mood swings are probably the worst symptom I've been experiencing, just because they annoy me by how illogical they are, and how quickly they come on. But hey, I haven't had a bite of chocolate in 4 weeks now, so can you really blame me?

28 weeks photos:

We just had our last antenatal classes last weekend. Some couples joined late, and some quit coming early, so with all the switching in and out, I think there were about 12 couples total. I had been looking forward to trying to build a relationship with at least one couple, but after several attempts at conversations, I could tell there really wasn't a couple that was interested in seeing us outside the classroom.

Here is a picture of the group on the last day. (I look so weird in this, like I was photo shopped in! :) I do know that the girl third from the left is due the latest, and the girl on the far right is due the soonest. I think with the exception of the girls on each end, my due date is next in line! It would have been a lot of fun to meet up with some of the couples after our babies are born.

Thanks Shefs for taking the photo! That was a great idea.

another mini-shower!

Wow, how blessed are we? First, the Fam sent a Shower-in-a-Box, and just today, we got another package, this one from my mom, with pretty much a downsized version of what they sent. (there are 6 of them versus one of her, you know :) Hazel's wardrobe and supplies keep getting cuter and cuter! I can't wait to hold my snuggly little baby girl.


Thanks Mom!!

Edit: Mom sent 3 sleepers, a pair of socks, a couple headbands, 2 pacifiers with a pacifier holder, a towel with ballet slippers on it, 2 matching wash cloths, and 3 receiving blankets.

exercise and pregnancy

Something I've come to learn about being pregnant in India is that it must be extremely uncommon for an Indian woman to exercise while pregnant. Even though I exercised at the gym regularly for 5 months before becoming pregnant, the nutritionist there urged me several times to stop going immediately. At first, even Dr. Kapur encouraged me to stop my exercise program. (I had to email my doctor in the States to get permission!) And once it became obvious that I am expecting, not a week goes by that at least one woman at the gym will approach me while I'm working out to ask me all sorts of questions. Most of them are very surprised that I'm allowed to work out. The first question they all have asked so far is some variation of, "It's okay for you to be exercising?" This is always asked with a look of surprise. When I say that yes, I feel terrific, then I get a barrage of questions: "Did you exercise before pregnancy?" "Your doctor said it was okay?" "How often do you come?" "How far along are you?" "What is your maximum speed on the treadmill?" "What is your maximum heart rate?" "Are you doing weights?" They all seem very satisfied with my answers, and several younger ladies told me this encourages them for when they become pregnant. I feel like Hazel and I are helping to educate Indian women, one workout at a time. :)

So just in case you were wondering, I go 3-4 times a week. I do a 5 minute warm up of stretches, the stepper, and 15 girl-style push ups. I do 10 minutes on the bike, then 20 minutes on the treadmill. I did have to slow down my speed this week from 5.3 mph to 5 mph. That puts me at walking about 1.5 mile. Then I do a few light weights, followed by stretches. The purpose is that hopefully my labor, deliver, and recovery will be slightly easier, but who knows. I have noticed it helps my mood when I go and so far, I've had very few back pains, and I swell slightly on my fingers/toes only when I get hot. But of course, this could all change in my remaining 2.5 months!

Did any of you exercise while pregnant, and do you think it helped?

shower in a box!

My best friends really are the BEST! They got together over Labor Day weekend, and unbeknownst to me, decided to give me a Shower in a Box! They sent me all kinds of sweet little baby girl things! A couple of dresses, receiving blankets, a towel, some washrags, socks, about 12 onesies, head bows, bibs, the most precious little baby tights, and cute little baby boots! Check it out:

"Daddy is my hero"

My best friends, the Fam, over Labor Day weekend. I love these girls!

happy birthday daddy!

Hazel's daddy just turned 26 this week! This is his last one for awhile to be fully rested and responsibility-free. Of course, next year and the subsequent years will be birthdays full of extra love and laughter and joy in the house.

I made him his favorite breakfast - biscuits and gravy and rationed bacon. As you can see, he was pretty happy about that!


We went out that night to a favorite restaurant here. Over 20 of his friends came to celebrate with him (and eat the great food! :)


And since Andrea was there too, of course we took a belly picture together. I'm 27 weeks here, and Andrea is 2 days short of 26 weeks.

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. :)