Welcome, Isaiah

Our third child arrived on Saturday evening, October 7th, here in Bangkok after a lightning fast and super smooth labor. He weighed 3.14 kg (7ish pounds) and was 51 cm (20 in) long.

Here's the story of his birth and his name.

Our first two kids came early (38 weeks) and very quickly (2 hrs and 4 hrs). So, this third time around, we were prepared to rush out the door at a moment's notice starting at about 37 weeks pregnant.

I remember feeling crampy and injured the day before and the day he was born due to my OB stripping my membranes without asking for my permission or telling me what she was going to do. (culture. shock.)

I remember the afternoon before Isaiah was born, receiving texts from my sister, Andrea, saying she thought she was in early labor but not sure yet. My sister and I had overlapping pregnancies with our babies due just one week apart. It was such a joy to be able to share this experience. But, all of our sharing was via texts and phone calls because we live around the globe from each other. In the joy, there was the heartache of not getting to give each other awkward pregnant hugs, feel her baby kick, or sit down in the same room to swap pregnancy stories.

I remember waking up overnight to waddle to the bathroom and checking my phone and seeing texts about Andrea's progress at the hospital. Her baby was on its way...

I remember waking up Saturday morning to pictures of Andrea and Jason's newborn son, Jackson, born Friday afternoon in Colorado. What a gift!

Looking forward to holding this amazing little man in December.

I remember going out to dinner for my mother-in-law's birthday on Saturday. I remember continuing to feel tired and crampy, but I enjoyed the distraction of a beautiful, fun meal. My contractions were still so irregular, there was nothing to time and no reason to head to the hospital.

I remember arriving home from the birthday dinner at about 6:30pm and lying down in bed to rest because I felt awful. I lay there listening to the happy sounds of Michael bathing our daughters and I wondered what life would be like with a newborn in the mix. 

I remember 7pm when I was overcome with one huge contraction that felt like I was already mostly through labor. I remember yelling through the closed door, "Michael! We need to go to the hospital NOW!" and Michael's parents jumping in immediately to take over the girls' bedtime routine.

I remember the contractions slowing down while driving to the hospital and feeling relieved that our son wasn't going to come as fast as I feared.

I remember checking in to the hospital at about 8pm, the doctor doing the first internal check, and guessing it would be about two more hours. I felt greatly relieved because the pain was already so intense.

I remember the pain being so great, I didn't know if I could do it much longer. I looked up at the large digital clock in front of me, saw that it was 9pm and I told myself to just hang in there for 30 more minutes. 

I remember Michael encouraging me and holding my hand and telling me our baby would be here very soon. I discovered that vigorously rubbing my face helped the most with the pain. Weird!

I remember at almost 9:30pm the pushing contractions started. This part is always THE WORST.

I remember the doctor telling me right away that she saw his head. I responded in disbelief, "Really?!" The pushing contractions were so intense, I felt like I must be injuring my son and I asked, "Is the baby ok?" And the doctor responded, "Yes, he's fine." This exact exchange happened with all three kids.

I remember Isaiah coming out at 9:33pm and first noticing how healthy he looked and that he was indeed a boy!

I remember after cleaning him up and stitching me up, Isaiah was placed cheek to cheek with me for our first picture. I remember crying with relief over being done with pregnancy, done with waiting, and done with labor, with a healthy baby boy.

I remember the doctors whisking him away saying "hospital policy" was for newborns to be separate from their moms for 3 hours post-birth. (Culture shock again!) The prospect of being separated for three hours was the hardest part, more difficult than labor. Michael followed the doctors as they wheeled my crying boy to the nursery and advocated hard for Isaiah and me to be reunited. 

I remember about an hour after he was born, they finally brought him back and I got to hold and nurse him. The love was instant.

~

Isaiah means "God is salvation." He is indeed salvation in every way. Isaiah's middle name, Arun (อรุณ), is Thai for "dawn" and is a direct reference to Isaiah 60 where God comes like the dawn bringing an end to the perpetual night that we live in and Isaiah 58 where God promises that when His people pursue justice, their light "will break forth like the dawn."

Things I Learned This Rainy Season

We're about halfway through the six month rainy season. Here's what I've learned this rainy season so far...

Fresh lychee is so flavorful.

I'd previously only had the canned stuff that you can put on your frozen yogurt at Yogurtland in Southern California. The fresh fruit has a wonderful, bright, concentrated flavor.

Feeling the baby kick is still the best thing, even the third time around.

Though recently, the kicking has morphed into more of an uncomfortable scraping sensation. I will be so ready for him to get out of me in a few weeks!

You can get great baked goods in Bangkok. 

My current favorite place: Coffee Beans by Dao. Their lemon meringue pie and cheesecake are exquisite.

Arts and crafts with kids is FUN! 

The idea of arts and crafts with my kids used to terrify me. I envisioned 20 minutes of mommy prep time for every 5 minutes of kids being busy time followed by 15 minutes of mommy clean up time, scraping Elmer's glue off every surface and glitter out of every orifice. 

Several months ago, I noticed my daughters loved coloring with crayons. So, I threw watercolors in the mix and taught them how to set up painting all by themselves. They loved it. So, I gave them scissors. Then, scotch tape. They now spend at least an hour a day cutting, coloring, painting, and taping. And the best part is, I don't have to do much! They set up their projects by themselves and clean up mostly by themselves. I just have to keep the supplies in a handy drawer. And the final products are amazing, entertaining, and adorable. Or sometimes gross. Here's "poop with dragon fruit seeds in it" done with watercolors.

My 4-yr-old and I have the same hair.

How to cloth diaper the Thai way.

We (mostly) used cloth diapers on our daughters when we were living the U.S. We found them easy enough to use and we loved the cost savings and the planet earth savings. With another baby on the way, a washing machine that only does tepid water, and no clothes dryer, I thought we might have to switch to 100% disposable diapering with the new baby. Boo!

Then, at our girls' preschool, I noticed a mom had her baby in cloth diapers. I began asking her all about them and she taught me how to cloth diaper the Thai way using one large, thin, square cloth folded up. I plan to try to use our old, cloth diapers from the U.S., but if they just don't come clean here, it's good to know the tried and true Thai method.

I can buy fried cocoons and fried crickets at my local market and my friends tell me they taste good. 

But, I think I will stick with the grilled fish, tropical fruits, pad thai, fried chicken, etc. Thank you.

The green pastures of Psalm 23 do not refer to lush meadows but to arid hills

And the sheep need the shepherd to lead them from tuft to tuft of grass so that they have enough to eat. This imagery of constant reliance on God fits the realities of my life so much better than the imagery of resting in a green buffet. This video is such a good watch.

Heat + humidity + pregnancy = exhaustion 

I don't remember feeling this worn out either previous pregnancy. As my pregnancy progresses, I set our AC lower and lower to give myself the energy boost I need.

Finding a Thai name for our son is hard.

We've had our son's first name chosen since June, but really we've liked the name since I was pregnant with our first kid five years ago! As for the middle name, we wanted to give our son a Thai middle name to celebrate his 1/4 Thai heritage, his upcoming birth in Thailand, and the fact that he will likely spend a lot or all of his childhood here. But, most names sounded a bit too strange to an English speaker's ear or had strange meanings. 

Last week, we sat down to talk about his middle name and within just 15 minutes, we stumbled upon a name we love. We'll let you know what it is when he arrives!

Third Kid

We're anticipating the arrival of our third kid in about three months. I've noticed some pretty major differences between pregnancy with the first, second, and third baby. For instance...

Ultrasound pictures

Baby #1 - Newest ultrasound pic is always on the fridge

Baby #2 - Forget the ultrasound pics at the OB's office. Have to go back in to get them. Once home, they eventually go on the fridge... I think.

Baby #3 - Ultrasound printout turns into scratch paper for big sisters' butterfly project.

Naming the Baby

Baby #1 - Start talking about names well before you know the gender. It takes months, lists, perhaps even an excel spreadsheet and a couple arguments.

Baby #2 - Realize your baby grows into whatever name you give it, so just choose something you both like. Decision relatively painless.

Baby #3 - Don't even mention names until you know the gender. When you find out the gender (boy!), choose the baby's name in one 20-minute sitting.

Levels of Tiredness

Baby #1 - Tired.

Baby #2 - Tireder.

Baby #3 - I'm gonna die.

Baby Moon

Baby #1 - Baby moon spent at a B&B in a quaint, artsy little town on California's central coast having long conversations over lattes, touring a mansion, and taking lots of pictures.

Baby #2 - Grandparents watch baby #1 and we get away for one night at a local hotel, sleep until 10am (!), eat an enormous breakfast buffet, and take one terrible selfie. Decide two days before going to call it an anniversary getaway and a baby moon.

Baby #3 - Grandparents thousands of miles away. Take the whole family to an inexpensive, family friendly beach "resort." It will feel like vacation because we will not have to do laundry, cook, do dishes, or clean. Amen.

Baby registry

Baby #1 - Baby registry takes many long hours to complete. Advice from the internet and other moms is absolutely bewildering.

Baby #2 & #3 - Feel confident about what your needs and wants. Preparing for the baby is almost stress-free. Yes!

There are some strong similarities between all three pregnancies, too.

Worry

Baby #1, #2, and #3 - Worry but try not to worry about miscarriage the entire first trimester. During the second and third trimester, start to worry whenever you don't feel the baby kick for a couple of hours. Breathe a sigh of relief as you pass important viability milestones... 28 weeks (sigh), 32 weeks (sigh), 37 weeks (full term!).

Anticipation

Baby #1, #2, and #3 - The anticipation for and the love for each child is the same. We marvel at how each kid steals your entire heart, but then when another kid comes, your heart grows and the next kid completely steals it as well! We are so looking forward to October when we get to see our little boy's face and hold him in our arms and be enraptured once again by a tiny human who does nothing but poop, cry, nurse, and sleep.

14 Thoughts at 14 Weeks

1. At our 11 week ultrasound, the doctor took a look at the gender and felt quite certain it was a girl.

2. Three girls?! We laughed when we found out.

3. But, can they really tell that early?

4. My belly has been touched and rubbed at least a dozen times already. And I'm not even that big yet. (I'm sure this is just the first of a long list of pregnancy related culture shock I will go through!)

5. Well, I suppose my bump looks like I'm almost halfway through pregnancy already.

6. When I look at my two hands / two arms / one lap and when I look over at my squirrely (and sometimes downright disobedient) two kids, I wonder how I'm going to do it with a baby in tow.

7. But, then I remember: moms have been doing this forever. And sometimes with more kids and/or even littler kids than I have. It'll be far from perfect, but everyone will survive.

8. Many days, sometimes several times a day, Grace asks me, "Mommy, are you still preg-a-nant?" I answer, "Yes, but the baby won't be here until after Cora turns three."

9. Sometimes, Cora looks down at her large toddler tummy and says, "Mommy, I'm preg-a-nant, too." She then tells me the baby will be born in a couple of hours or tomorrow or next year and that she will name her Grace.

10. I recently learned that pregnant Thai women avoid caffeine like pregnant American women avoid alcohol. I’m going to have to sneak my lattes.

11. High heat/humidity and first trimester nausea don't mix well. But, the nausea is done and gone.

12. I'm really tired all the time.

13. I think I've started feeling the baby's kicks. Strangest, most comforting feeling ever.

14. I've always wanted three kids... we're excited!

Baby Registry for the Mostly Minimalist and Fairly Crunchy Parent

My friend, Caroline, is pregnant with her first baby, a boy due in July. She asked me to help her create a baby registry because she trusted that I'd tell her only what she really needed. I was flattered.

So I sent her a series of emails hitting all the things that I thought were essential. She told me that the advice was "pure gold" and that I needed to turn the emails into a blog post. Flattered again.

Here's the blog post. I hope this ends up being useful for someone now or someday in the future.

Overall Philosophy

Our culture tells us that we need so much stuff. Here's what I told Caroline...

You already have what you need to take care of your son right there on your body -- arms to hold him, legs to walk around with him, breasts to keep him satiated and feeling safe, your voice (which he'll recognize from day one!) to soothe him. So, anything you buy is just extra to make life a little easier.

Start with that mindset of plenty before you delve into thinking about your registry. I divided baby needs into different categories. These are...

• post-birth
• breast/bottle feeding
• solid feeding
• dressing/grooming
• sleeping
• diapering
• bathing

Post-birth (aka TMI)

When you give birth, you have the longest, heaviest period of your life, so get some good pads. You can't use tampons or a diva cup post-birth. And you won't want to.

Breast/bottle feeding (aka TMI again!)

You spend a few hours a day at the beginning breastfeeding your baby, so it's nice to have stuff that makes that time comfortable like...

• 2 or 3 nursing bras. You'll wear them day and night. I bought pricey Bravado bras when Grace came. I loved them. They recently wore out, so I've been trying other less expensive ones, but I really miss my fancy-schmancy Bravado bras.
• Lanolin. For many women including me, breastfeeding is quite painful at the beginning, so you'll want lanolin to soothe your overworked nipples. Something like this.
• Breastpads. I used disposable ones at the beginning just to make life easier during those first few weeks of adjustment. Then, because disposable nursing pads use the same technology as a disposable diaper and are not friendly for the environment, I switched to reusable nursing pads. I own maybe 12 reusable ones.
• Nursing pillows are really nice. You end up nursing a few hours a day at the beginning, so the pillow helps keep your arms from getting so sore from holding the baby. When I registered while pregnant with Grace, I wasn't sure if it was necessary, but if I did it all over again, I'd definitely get one again. I have an extra one if you want it. You'll want a couple of covers too because it will get poop, pee, spit up, and breast milk on it.
• Nursing cover. For nursing in public.
• Pumping/bottles/formula/etc. Unfortunately, my babies never took a bottle, so I'm not going to pretend I know anything about this.
• Burp rags. Prefold cloth diapers are great for this. 10 should be enough. If you have a big spit upper (my girls were), just buy more.

Solid Feeding

I know it feels really far away, but your son will be starting to eat solid food by the time he's six months old, so you might want to just throw a few things on your registry like...

• Bibs. I used these and loved them. They're soft terry cloth on the outside with a plasticized center to keep them from getting wet. You'll definitely want these from day one in case he's a big spit-upper or drooler. It's easier to change a bib than change an outfit.
• Soft tipped spoons are nice to have
• Spill proof sippy cups. Two is enough to begin with.
• High chair. Booster seat high chairs are nice because you can just strap it to one of the chairs you already own instead of having a stand alone high chair that's a whole new piece of furniture.

Dressing/Grooming

• Clothes. Baby clothes typically come in newborn (NB), 3mt, 6mt, 9mt, and 12 mt sizes. The NB size will probably be outgrown within a month, so you can skip it altogether if you want. His clothes will just look really oversized for a couple weeks. Between poop and spit up, babies can easily go through two, three, or four outfit changes in a day, so it's nice to have lots so you don't do laundry every day. So, get yourself a bunch of weather appropriate onesies, PJs, etc. (Also, you don't know how big he will be, so it's hard to buy ahead because you don't know what size he'll be during each season.)
• Baby nail clippers are nice to have because baby nails are so tiny and can be tricky to keep groomed so the baby doesn't scratch his face.
• Stuff for baby's first cold. :( Babies need to be able to breathe through their nose in order to bottle feed and breastfeed, so it's important to keep that nose clear when they get a cold. You'll definitely want a bulb syringe to clear out snot. We also found that running a cool mist humidifier helped a lot with keeping the mucus running. You'll also want a digital thermometer if you don't have one already and some baby Tylenol.

Sleeping

• Portable cribs. We've never owned a "real" crib. Just portable cribs, aka Pack n Plays. Benefits: cribs are wood and kids can get hurt falling in their crib or can get stuck between the slats. Portable cribs have mesh sides, so they never get hurt or stuck. Also, when you travel, you can bring the baby's bed right along with you which can help him sleep better. A portable crib with a bassinet setting (i.e. the mattress can go up high or low) is nice. When the baby is a newborn, it's nice to not have to bend practically to the ground every time you pick him up, put him down, or stand there patting his back trying to get him to sleep. Besides that, no other special features are necessary. 
• Crib sheets. You'll want two because of poop, pee, spit up, snot, etc. You can also buy a thin, waterproof mattress cover if you want.
• Pacifiers. Babies love to suck. All the time. Some women just use their breasts to pacify their baby. Some moms (me included) use pacifiers to give their breasts a break. Pacifiers can help soothe your newborn, getting them from fussy to sleeping. If you want to go the pacifier route, I suggest registering for two different types because different babies like different pacifiers. I see a lot of parents using Soothie pacifiers these days. My girls didn't like them. But, MAM pacifiers worked for us.
• Baby monitors can get so complicated. (video, light up, glow in the dark, etc.) We just got the most basic kind that simply lets you hear your baby when she cries.
• White noise. Babies love white noise. Apparently women are super noisy inside, so it soothes them to hear white noise in those first very disorienting weeks.  If you have a smart phone, you can just get a white noise app. Or you can run the bathroom fan. When our babies are little (under 1 yr), we always run a small fan in their room because the moving air has been correlated with preventing SIDS. That provides white noise too.
• Something to swaddle. Babies love to feel super snug. Swaddling a baby in a blanket is a skill that takes a little bit to master. But, these days, they sell nifty little blankets with velcro that make the swaddling super easy. This sort of thing. For old school swaddling, I registered for Aden and Anais blankets. They're a little pricey, but I thought they were worth the money. You can use them to swaddle, cover up while nursing, as a spot for changing your baby when you're out of the house, to cover a car seat with a sleeping baby from the sun, etc. They get softer with use and are super high quality. Other than that, people LOVE to make and buy baby blankets, so you will soon own waaaaay more blankets than you want!!

Diapering

We've done a mix of cloth diapers and disposable diapers. Here are my thoughts on cloth diapering.

• Changing area. You don't need to buy a changing table. A changing pad with a couple of covers on top of a dresser or on the floor works. Or you can skip the changing pad and just put a blanket down.
• Newborn or size one disposable diapers. I can't overemphasize how exhausting those first couple weeks are. It's nice to just do the disposable diaper thing to begin with. Plus, cloth diapers will probably not fit that teeny brand new baby butt. Keep in mind, newborns go through up to 10 or 12 diapers a day. We also use disposable diapers overnight because they work best for preventing leaking.
• Disposable wipes. For the first few exhausting weeks and for wiping hands and faces while you're out and about.
• Desitin or an off brand for diaper rashes. Make sure it's max strength 40% zinc oxide.
• Cloth diapers. There are several different ways of cloth diapering. We like the bumgenius brand with snaps. 16-20 diapers is enough. Don't get velcro diapers because the velcro wears out about two years into cloth diapering. Diaperjungle.com has a lot of useful info about cloth diapers. They also have a chart of cloth diaper compatible laundry detergents.
• Diaper pail. We just use an open trash can with a diaper pail liner inside. The liner gets washed with the diapers.
• Cloth diaper compatible diaper rash cream. Can't use regular diaper cream on cloth diapers
• Wet bag to keep in your diaper bag for bringing dirty cloth diapers home.
• Baby washcloths as reusable wipes. Just have them sitting in a tupperware of water. You can use them to wipe the baby's butt and then just throw them in with the diapers, wash them, and reuse them.

Bathing

• Baby wash. They have tear free head & body washes.
• A couple baby wash cloths. They're nice and soft compared to regular washcloths.
• Hooded towels are cute, but not really necessary.

Large purse, bag, or diaper bag to hold all this stuff when you're out and about.

Baby carrier. We use a Bjorn because we got one for free. Everyone swears by the Ergo, so I'm sure it's excellent!

Car seat. Infant car seats with a base that you can pop the car seat in and out of are really nice because if your baby falls asleep on the car ride, you can just pop out the car seat and take it with you instead of having to unstrap him and risk waking him up. But, then you have to upgrade to a non-infant car seat around your kid's first birthday. (Or you can skip the infant car seat to get This car seat. It's expensive, but works for kids from 5 lbs to 100 lbs. You don't have to buy anything else! Only problem: it doesn't pop right out.)

Stroller. Registry advice tells you you need about 20 different strollers. We used a jogging stroller (single BOB revolution) with car seat attachment. That's all. The BOB is pricey, but really nice. There are also less expensive jogging strollers on the market.

Kudos to you for making it to the end! Now please go find someone else you trust for a second opinion on all of this!

Cora's Birth

Cora was born on September 8th at 10:42 A.M. She was 19.5 inches long and weighed just 6 lbs 2 oz. Here is the story of her birth.

A little background: Grace came two weeks early and in a little over two hours. Since second babies tend to come even faster, we had people on call to rush over at a moment's notice to babysit Grace so we could get to the hospital. My main goal was to not give birth on our kitchen floor. I also decided to go for a natural childbirth again, though after experiencing the incredible pain of delivering Grace, I was totally open to getting the epidural if I needed it.

The night before Cora was born, almost two weeks before her due date, I felt some contractions, but fell asleep. In the middle of the night, more painful contractions woke me up. They were pretty regular, so we decided to play it safe, had my friend Sarah come over, and we went to the hospital. They began monitoring me, the contractions slowed down, and an internal check told me that I was still just 1 cm dilated as I had been for over a week. We went home, sent Sarah home, and went back to sleep.

At 6:45 I woke up to painful contractions again, so we went to the hospital again around 8:30. My friend Claire met us there to take Grace. I was feeling very discouraged because my contractions were very painful, but I figured I was probably still barely progressing. I was so relieved to find out I was 8cm dilated. I knew I could do it without the epidural again.

I spent the next hour in active labor. Cora was head down, but facing my stomach instead of my spine, so all of the pain was in my back. With every contraction, Michael pressed his full weight and strength into my lower back as I whimpered and moaned. He later told me he was shaking from the exertion!

A little before 10:30, my body started pushing, and my nurse wheeled me into the delivery room. That's when the real battle began. I lay on my left side with Michael holding my right leg. I fought the urge to push with all my might (an impossible task) so that my body could slowly stretch rather than tear. After about fifteen minutes of pushing, Michael excitedly told me he could see her head and that it was full of black hair. My doctor broke my water (how was it intact so long?!) and Cora's head and body slid out with just one push. She lay quiet for a few moments and then started wailing - the most beautiful and relieving sound! Within a few minutes, they placed my prize on my chest for those wonderful first snuggles.

Many mothers talk about being bowled over by maternal love the moment they see their children born. I didn't experience that with either birth. For me, my maternal love took a backseat and instead, I was flooded with relief to be done and wonder, amazement, and awe that that tiny, crying girl was Cora and that she was mine.

Even Death Will Die

The last couple of weeks have been filled with life. I've celebrated new marriages, spent time with family, picked ripe figs, eaten fresh pastries, prepared for the arrival of my little baby, and shared more happy moments with Michael and Grace than I can remember.

But, as I and my little world are almost literally bursting with life, the joy has been dampened by pain, sickness, and death around me. A friend's marriage is falling apart. They have two little kids. I know of a little church that seems to be falling apart too. The friend of a friend recently lost his fight with cancer leaving behind his wife and toddler. My grandmother's sister just passed away, too. And when I hear about the pain, sickness, and death in Iraq, Missouri, Central America, West Africa, and on and on I could go, I seem to carry those unknown faces around with me as well.

In the midst of all the life I have been living and all the death I have been feeling, I've been listening to this song practically on repeat:

Death, be not proud, though the whole world fear you: 
mighty and dreadful you may seem, but death, be not proud—
for your pride has failed you— you will not kill me.

Though you may dwell in plague and poison,
you’re a slave to Fate and desperate men—
so death, if your sleep be the gates to heaven,
why your confidence?

You will be no more — you will be no more — you will be no more.
Even death will die.
Even death will die.

- "Death, Be Not Proud" by Audrey Assad based off of John Donne's Holy Sonnet

Yes, death is not the last word! Ultimately, for those who are in Christ, life will triumph and even death itself will die. As I hold onto this truth, I find permission to revel in new exciting marriages and old healthy marriages, trees on public sidewalks full of ripe figs, my daughter's hilarious attempts to parrot full sentences, and my belly swollen beyond capacity. This life is what ultimately will last.

Even with so much life around me, hard days are coming. They always come. May I hold onto this hope even when the hard days are here.

Halfway

We're already halfway! Halfway to welcoming another little girl into our family. Halfway to becoming parents of two and a family of four.

I feel like I've never quite come out of the first trimester exhaustion. Taking care of #2 involves hauling around almost ten extra pounds (plus another pound every week), feeding a large appetite, lots of getting out of breath (cardiac output increased by 50%, blood volume increased by almost 50%, vericose and spider veins popping up), and lots of running to the bathroom. Taking care of #1 involves hauling around an extra 21 pounds, fixing snacks and meals every two or three hours, putting down for naps, putting down for bed, bathing, putting in carseat, taking out of carseat, etc. It's physically taxing, and I sleep hard every night.

Despite the exhaustion, not a day goes by where I don't let out a sigh of gratitude for having two healthy little girls to care for, to tire me out, and to enjoy! Number two is the size of a small melon and I feel her squirming and kicking around in there throughout the day. Every visit to the obstetrician brings nothing but good news of perfect health both for me and the baby. My body is working really hard for something really really good.

What I Learned in March

Buying plane tickets to Asia takes hours. And hours and hours and hours. But, now we get to go to Bangkok for two weeks in June!

What the internet is. I've been wondering what the internet actually is for months. This TED talk satiated my curiosity by showing the thin cables spanning our oceans and large buildings full of servers and routers. Fascinating.

I need pockets. My phone lives in my pant's right pocket. There's even a Samsung Replenish shaped faded area on my oldest jeans and shorts. I recently bought maternity shorts that don't have pockets, wore them everyday for a week, lost my phone multiple times per day, accidentally grabbed Michael's phone a few times, and even dug around my purse only to find both mind and Michael's phones. I need pockets.

Why it bothers me when people say, "They're poor but at least they're happy." This article put my feelings into words.

It's quite possible to eat only five teaspoons of added sugar everyday. The eat less sugar challenge is going really well for me. I have met my goal every single day, though I plan on breaking it today (our fifth anniversary!) because I had a pastry with lunch and will split a dessert with Michael after dinner. I do find that if I dip much below five teaspoons, my energy drops. So, I've been shooting for four or five teaspoons a day. Not surprisingly, I find that I don't crave sweets very often anymore.

Practically everything in this second pregnancy happens faster and earlier. At 15 weeks with Grace, my belly was only slightly rounded. I was still another week or so from feeling those first thrilling kicks. At 15 weeks with number two, I am visibly pregnant and I've been feeling my baby kicking and squirming around in there - such an incredible feeling!

Baby #2... woohoo!

Our second kid will be here in September! A few thoughts in no particular order:

I am more worried than I was with Grace. I am worried about how my back will hold up during the third trimester under the strain of a huge belly. I now know how fast and furious and excruciatingly painful labor will be. May I make it to the hospital in time. I'm not looking forward to those first months of feeling like a tired zombie.

I am also so, so, so excited! Now that Michael and I have had the experience of slowly unwrapping Grace's personality and quirks over the year, we are looking forward to getting to know another little human. We both can't wait to welcome him or her into our family and to discover all of his or her little quirks, likes, dislikes, and personality over the years.

Grace and baby #2 will be super close in age - 18 months apart to be exact. To put that closeness into perspective: My first trimester & the last three months of nursing Grace overlapped. Also, I was pregnant with both babies in the same calendar year. In January and February 2013, I was pregnant with Grace. In December 2013, I was pregnant with #2. Was this planned? Yup! We've loved being parents and are ready to welcome another kiddo.

I've felt pretty exhausted and nauseated for the past two months. With Grace, I felt very sick, had tons of food aversions, and no cravings. This time around, the nausea has been more manageable and I've craved everything spicy, everything salty, and everything sweet. One day, I ate two spicy Ramen bowls back to back. Total sodium intake? 150% daily value. Oops.

Besides health for mama and baby, my main hope for this pregnancy is fitness. Due to lower back pain from hauling around my huge belly, I was pretty sedentary during the third trimester with Grace. It felt gross. This time around, I've scouted out local pools, purchased a maternity suit, and I hope to swim at least twice per week. I will also be doing as many pregnancy compatible ab workouts as possible to give my core the strength it needs to care for Grace and my awkward pregnant figure.

All in all, this pregnancy is flying by. We will eat, breathe, live for a few months and suddenly be a family of four.

Six Things I Learned in July

In July, I learned...

1. What the "Silicon Valley" and the "Bay Area" are. Having lived in California for almost nine years, I've heard these terms a lot and thought I knew what they meant. It wasn't until I was up north for a college friend's wedding that it really clicked. "Oh my gosh. There's the San Francisco Bay, and the 'area' around it is the 'Bay Area!'" And "Oh my gosh. Look at all the tech companies and delicious sounding South Asian and East Asian restaurants! It's the Silicon Valley!" I get excited about these things. :)

2. That roadtripping with a baby is possible. Google maps told us that our trip to the Bay Area (I know what that means!) would take 5 hours and 50 minutes. Total time on the way there? 6.5 hours. Total time on the way back? 7.5 hours.

3. That the pregnant body used to be seen as unattractive, and women tried to conceal their baby bumps! This changed when Demi Moore posed very pregnant and very nude for Vanity Fair in the early '90s. Now, many women flaunt their bump by wearing clingy clothing, posting baby bump pictures to Facebook, and posing for maternity photo shoots. Two of my most popular blog posts are growing baby bump posts. Now, one photographer is trying to expand our culture's view of maternal beauty to include the post-pregnancy body, stretch marks, saggy skin, and all - a daunting challenge, I would say.

4. Why the word for one who follows Islam is "Muslim." Follow along...

1. In Semitic languages (such as Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew), the root of a word is composed of consonants that carry a meaning. For example, s_l_m means "be at peace."
2. Fill the empty slots with vowels to give the root word further meaning. For example, _a_i_a forms the third person "he" past tense.
3. So fill in the blanks in s_l_m with _a_i_a and you get the word "salima" which means "he was at peace."
4. Take it further. The word "Islam" also uses the root s_l_m, but modifies the root word with "i_ _a" which is the action of causing to be at peace. Similarly, "Muslim" means one who causes being at peace. "Salam" is the action of be at peace. All from the root word "s_l_m" which means "be at peace."

I love languages.

5. That not much happens on Facebook. I've been limiting myself to only going on Facebook twice per week, and I find that when I log on, there isn't all that much to see. Which begs the question, "Why do I feel compelled to check it all the time?"

6. That there may not be a limit to love. Every month, I think that I have reached the pinnacle of my feelings of affection towards my five month old, and I think, "Ah, this is the love of a mom for her child." Then, a few weeks pass and I find that my heart has expanded beyond what I thought was the limit.

Here she is...

She's Here!

After just over two hours of labor, Grace Gabriella entered the world on Tuesday, February 26th at 7:44am. (Two weeks early!) 8lbs 0oz and 20 inches of pure adorableness!

Michael and I decided back in October to go for a natural childbirth, meaning that unless it become medically necessary, we were going to avoid all pain medication (including the epidural), an induction, and a c-section.

Why? At the beginning, I was mostly curious to know what labor felt like without diminishing the pain. I wanted to experience the productive pain of bringing a life into the world. I knew that that was what my body was designed to do, and I figured that since women have given birth that way throughout time, I could do it too. After talking to some friends about natural childbirth, I also found out about other potential benefits: healthier baby, faster delivery, etc. So, we decided to sign up for a Bradley class and go for it! And it was a success!

Here is a rough outline of Grace's birth story. Since it went so fast, we were in frantic mode, definitely not watching the clock!

4:30 AM

I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. Good old pregnancy insomnia.

5:15

My water broke and I woke up Michael. We looked up how long it takes for contractions to start. Our resources said most people go into labor within 12 hours of their water breaking, but some can take 24 hours. We prayed it would come soon and went downstairs to get something to eat.

5:35

Contractions started. They felt like bad menstrual cramps. You're supposed to time them for an hour to get a feel for their spacing and length, so we began timing them right away.

6:05

It was pretty clear that the contractions were about five minutes apart lasting for about a minute and surprisingly painful already. I called my parents and sent a text to my siblings while Michael shot off a few texts/emails to cancel all of his work meetings and responsibilities for that day.

6:25

Looking at our contraction timer app on Michael's phone, we saw that they had moved from five minutes apart to four minutes apart and were getting close to three minutes apart. I was in quite a bit of pain and had to focus a lot to stay relaxed. When Michael saw how quickly I was progressing, he began to rush furiously around the house getting our prepacked bags and a couple other items. I putted around not believing that I was that far along.

All the times, except for the moment of her birth, are fuzzy guesses from now on.

The shortest stage of labor is at end right before you begin to push the baby out. It is called transition and is notorious for being super intense and painful with contractions coming almost one on top of the other. Looking back on that morning, I realize I went into transition sometime on that car ride to the hospital. We live about fifteen minutes from the hospital, but it took us a lot longer to get there because about halfway through the car ride, I started making Michael pull over for every contraction because the bumps and potholes combined with being unable to move around while buckled in were making the pain approach excruciating.

7:00-7:15

Sometime during this window, we arrived at the hospital. We checked in and walked into the little triage room. Our official check in time was 7:20am. We got me into my gown, gave a urine sample, and the nurses hooked me up to the heart rate monitor before leaving the room. At this point the pain had taken over my body.

Michael was comforting me and helping me relax. When I said, "Michael, this hurts so bad, I don't know if I can do this without pain meds" Michael knew that I was getting close. Sure enough, a few minutes later, pushing contractions began. Michael ran into the hallway to get a nurse, they rushed in, did a quick internal exam (mind you, this was the first internal check since I had arrived), pronounced me fully dilated, and rushed me into the delivery room.

Our obstetrician was busy at the moment so I breathed through the pushing trying to hold out and got on my hands and knees much to the dismay of the substitute OB (hands and knees gave me so much more control and less pain!) I breathed through several contractions.

Our doctor arrived in about three minutes and they told me to go for it. We called her "rocket girl" for a few days after she was born because she came out in about five contractions with about three pushes per contraction and, leaving behind a level three tear...

7:44 AM

I didn't even notice all the wet cheesiness
when they put her on my chest!

Grace was born!

She was bright red, crying, wet, cheesy, and beautiful. In the first moments of seeing her, I had two thoughts. First, I was shocked at how big she was. I couldn't believe that she was what was inside of me. Second, I noticed her head full of black hair and just loved it immediately. The doctor popped her right onto my chest and we had our first family bonding moment.

And that's how our daughter entered the world. Natural childbirth was an incredible experience, but way more than that, we are beyond grateful to our girl in our arms in perfect health.

Welcome to the world, my little girl! We love you so much.

Going home from the hospital.