Waiting

In case you are wondering, I am still pregnant.  I am 38 weeks and 5 days along.  As much as we (me) would love to deliver our little boy right now, we hope he waits until my mom gets here in 4 days!  I thought yesterday might be the day since KB and I made the bad decision for the whole family to walk about a kilometer to the pool in the heat of the day.  My goodness!  My somewhat painful 4-6 minute apart Braxton Hicks contractions did not calm down until after I went to sleep last night and even then they still woke me up.  With both of my previous deliveries, my Braxton Hicks just transitioned into labor - there was no clear beginning.  My labor is sneaky.  I once hoped my water would break so I would know for sure when I was in labor, but seeing that I delivered DB less than an hour after the doctor broke my water, I am now leaning towards medically starting my labor to avoid any potential emergencies.  

My doctor keeps telling me to just call an ambulance when I go into labor, but to me it seems a bit dramatic to call an ambulance if you are in non-emergency stage of labor.  She told me she did not want me to have my baby on the street while waiting for a taxi.  That does not exactly help me when I try not to think about that scenario as well.  However I understand her concern for us to get a taxi, and just getting a taxi does not guarantee a speedy trip.  Bangkok traffic can be a beast and sometimes going only a mile (the distance to the hospital) can take 30 minutes.  Also getting a taxi in the first place is no small accomplishment since first we have to walk about 200-300 yards in Bangkok heat...I understand this does not sound like a long distance, but when you are in labor (or 38 weeks pregnant), it really really is.  Then we have to find a taxi that will actually take us to the hospital.  Since the hospital is so close taxis do not make much money of us by taking us there and often reject us.  However is a bit of a hazardous walk and it comforts me that even the locals do not seem to attempt it.  I have thought about this - I am very quiet while in labor.  In fact, most people would never guess I am in labor, but this time I might have to go outside of my comfort zone and make a woman in labor scene so we can scare a taxi driver or any driver for that matter into driving me to the hospital.  I mean, who refuses giving a ride to a woman in labor?  Anyways, I sure hope we can find someone other than an ambulance driver to get me to the hospital.

Also, if I deliver in the next 4 days, what on earth do we do with our 2 older kids?  We are staying in a guesthouse where the other guests are constantly coming and going.  Everyone we meet is super nice, but they are all very new acquaintances and it is quite the thing to say, "hey we could go into labor at any time and we need someone to watch our kids, maybe even in the middle of the night.  Would you be willing to do it?" Plus most people are here for a purpose that occupies them for the majority of the day.  Also, our DB is not potty trained, nor have we even attempted it.  So whoever is willing to watch our kids, must also be willing to change an almost 2 1/2 year old boy's poopie diapers.  Kind of gross.  We have a couple of friends who live across town that we can count on, but it still makes us nervous.  

Whatever, I just hope my mom gets here soon.  The hospital has a kids room in the L&D area, so if it is during the day my mom and the kids can hang out there.  If not we will see them all in the morning.  

On a different note, last week a friend stopped by our little apartment at the guesthouse for turkey sandwiches (yes friends living overseas I said turkey sandwiches and they are just like I dreamed they would be).  Small world.  

My Birthday

KB decided that this year I should be able to celebrate my birthday all week long.  So five days before my birthday he bought me my favorite flowers, and...

made me a cake so I could eat it all week long.  It was later frosted with FunFetti frosting.  It was super yummy and I did eat it all week long.

A few days later he went to Baskin Robins to get some ice cream (because as he learned the week before, although they have pictures of ice cream cakes, they do not actually sell them.  Strange).

He looked up online how to make an ice cream cake.  Step one was to freeze the ice cream the pan you will later bake the cake in.  

He is so proud.

Many steps later, you have a yummy chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  Turns out making an ice cream cake is a 2-3 day process, but it comes with super tasty results.  Thank you KB.  I felt special, and as you can see in the background DB was happy with the cake too.

Thailand

You know how I said back in April that we were going to go to Thailand and that I would post a flurry of pictures from family fun time in the sunny land?  Confession - I ummm...I did not take all that many pictures.  I have a real and legitimate excuse (broken camera), but yeah, basically I do not have much to show for our April trip to Thailand.  Below are the few pictures we did take on our phone.  I also have one awesome video I want to share if I can ever get it to upload.

Mangos.  Yummmmmmmm.  There is just not much you can say about being in Thailand during mango season.  The mango sticky rice is legendary, but my favorite mango treat is the mango smoothie.    We introduced our kids to the mango smoothie as well and they were instant fans.  

Here the kids are about to get themselves into trouble as we take a little breather at a super swank hotel.

At a kids play area in a mall.  DB loved sitting in this until KB put money in and it started to move.  

Have you ever taken a red-eye with a 2 year-old?  Sometimes is works out and sometime it does not.  This is us waiting for our 12am flight.  This peaceful view of my 2 year-old did not last because a couple hours into our 5 or 6 hour flight he woke up and let everyone know.  The sweet, but obviously childless, flight attendant asked me, "why is he crying?"  I said, "he is 2 years old, it is 2am, he is awake and unable to go back to sleep."  My answer did nothing to ease the confused look on her face, but at least she stopped trying to cheer him up which was just serving to tick him off.  He has done well on red-eye flights in the past, who knew he (we) would fail on this one so badly?  I think it is safe to say we will have to take a less direct daytime flight home after delivering the baby.  

3-wheeler

I am not sure what KB's purpose was in posting this picture other than maybe to share with friends who have not been to Asia how most goods are transported around here.  Looks like this guy was a recycler.  These types of "vehicles" are everywhere.  They are really normal.  I also think he might have wanted you to see how they tore apart a motercycle to create this 3-wheeled vehicle (The word for vehicle encompasses all things that move with wheels - cars, bikes, strollers, carts, etc.  It is also easy to get confused as to which vehicle is being talked about in conversations, so I have learned)

Hitting the Skies Again

Here.  Now you (you know who you are) can stop pestering my mom.  That is a big pregnant belly right there, and it is just getting bigger.  I read I should gain 4-5 pounds in the next 4 weeks.  Good grief.  I am already having trouble breathing!  I have been told I am carrying him high - whatever that means.  There will be an explanation for the super yummy Baskin Robins ice cream in a different post.

On a related note.  On Tuesday we will board a couple planes to make our final trip to Thailand.  We are asking the Father to help me get bumped to first class...looks so comfortable.  About 3 weeks later my mom will arrive in Bangkok, and hopefully within the week baby boy will be born!  I am so excited to meet the tiny thing who rolls around inside of me for a couple of hours each and every night, starting at 10pm.  He is by far the most energetic baby I have ever carried.  Hopefully KB and I will have a name settled upon by then.  

Hanging Out at Starbucks

Here are the reasons why I love we having Starbucks in our city.  First - the menu is in English.  I have thankfully been here long enough I think I could order entirely in my second language, but sometimes it just feels good to say it in English.  Second - I can get decaf drinks!  This is huge for me and my pregnant body.  Third - I can also get drinks in non-fat.  I say this like it is a big deal because it is.  Both non-fat and decaf are usually not an option in the standard tea/coffee shops here.  Fourth - the bathrooms are in general cleaner than most places around town...not so much at the end of the day, especially since they are unisex, but still, they are better.  Fifth - it is a non-smoking environment.  Wow, I cannot say enough about how wonderful that is.  You never realize how great non-smoking laws are until you and your two small children are in a room full of smoking men.  It is enough to make you have a list of "do not eat at" restaurants just because of they allow smoking.  

As we were getting ready to go meet friends for our weekly "get-together" (hint hint), we got the phone call that one of the kids in the host home threw up his breakfast.  Although it was pretty certain he threw up from overeating, our kids had both recovered that week from Adenovirus, and we were not taking chances with picking up something else.  Since we were already dressed, we all hoped in a taxi and made our way over to the closest Starbucks.  There the kids split a non-fat hot chocolate, I had my usual green tea late (it is wonderful and I do not think it tastes anything like grass as some people say), and KB had his coffee.  We played Candyland, Shoots and Ladders, and a Veggie Tales game.  

Overall it was a good morning.