6 More Weeks

We are now in the 8 month and there are so many changes to report. Let's start with Mimi. Her belly is large now and the baby is finding it difficult to move around. Almost every night, the baby will make this rotating movement which will drive Mimi crazy. I on the other hand, since I can't feel anything, think it is awesome to see our baby so active and alive. Many of the books have said that the baby's head will move downward during this time to prepare for delivery. I have to say that I might disagree since we often feel a hard part and we think it is the head. I suppose the books could be right and what we have been thinking was the head is really the baby's butt.

My interns have been commenting how good Mimi looks considering she is pregnant. They said that looking at her from behind, they could not tell she was pregnant. She only protrudes forward and not sideways like many other pregnant women do. In fact, I saw this one Asian lady last night at dinner who was pregnant, and she looked pregnant from every angle. She would rotate 360 and it was pretty obvious. I actually think Mimi is the type of person who, after giving birth her body will just go back to the way it was before, with very little exercise needed. I think that is just pretty amazing. I'm also a little jealous because when I gain wait it takes me forever to loose it and a lot of hard work. Who am I to compare, I'm not the one carrying the baby, Mimi is.

Let's see, what else can I comment about Mimi and the pregnancy? She continues to struggle with sleep. Last night, she woke up at 4:00 and was unable to return back to sleep, tossing and turning. She eventually got up and went down to play some Wii. How do I know this? Because I was tossing and turning too and I heard her movements when she got up. I was having a tough time sleeping because of my own physical pains of doing my long run. I am also a light sleeper in general, so those movements just wake me up at night. I know that when this baby is crying to be fed, I will also hear it and even though I might not be able to feed her, I think I'll be getting up too.

So with 6 weeks remaining, I have to honestly say that this is getting more and more real for me. I can feel a little excitement and nervousness. I know that the life we live without children is coming to an end and we will forever be changed. The freedom to go here and go there will not be available to us for a while, and we'll have more responsibility than we have ever had before. In the same regard, I remember when we were trying to have a baby and God gave us a foretaste just a year ago. Now we are having a baby and I really believe that we are ready. We want to be parents, Godly parents, and loving parents. I also think we'll have our share of mistakes to learn, but in the end, I hope that since we're older, we might be a little wiser too.

"What are my current concerns of worries", I was asked. My answer is this. I'm concerned about the health of Mimi and the baby during delivery. I know that for the most part, things go smoothly. God has made this process work perfectly for so many thousands of years. He will do the same. There is always this small chance that something may go wrong, and I would be devastated should anything happen to Mimi, and terribly sad should anything happen to the baby. Do I trust God? Sure I trust God, and I pray daily that He would continue to develop her into a strong and healthy baby. I believe God will answer my prayers and towards the end of December, we will have a strong baby girl and Mimi will be one tired mother after giving birth.

Mimi's mother came home this past Tuesday from Taiwan. She has come back to rest, reconnect with her friends here, and take a break from taking care of her own parents. I know inside I have been struggling with the addition to our household and I could not understand why, at this point, was I have so much trouble with the transition when I did not have this much trouble before. I realized that the social worker at work had mentioned something about nesting, that I also read in a baby book. Nesting is where we prep the environment and or our lives for the changes of having a baby. I'm realizing now that this is what I have been doing during the entire pregnancy, getting ready for this new life to join us. Since we moved back to Foster City, we have been trying to get this place cleaned up and junk stored so we could have room for a family. We are still in the process of getting the baby room set up, but even that involved moving books, furniture, and packing or throwing away more stuff. I've been religious about cleaning the carpets and floors and dusting, and I never would have done this in my younger years. All of this weighed on my mind and I'm realizing now that it is what they call nesting. I guess what it comes down to is when Mimi's mother came home, I had based our nesting on the two of us and there was more control with just two. Now that she is back there is a third person involved and I don't have as much control and there are unexpected things that creep up in life. This now throws me off and makes me question whether our nesting is secure enough. This is not to imply that I don't want Mimi's mother to be here, let alone my parents to come later on after the baby is born too. I'm just trying to get used to having this other party to deal with. Honestly, if my parents were here now, I would feel the same way towards them, that they were affecting the nesting work Mimi and I had worked so hard to attain. I'm actually happy that they parents can feel free to be a part of our lives, and I know that their help is greatly appreciated. We're definitely going to need it after the baby is born, and they are only a shout away.

In other baby news of our small group, Ton and Cynthia finally announced that they were pregnant. To our surprise, Newt and Joanne also announced they were pregnant, and their due dates were two days apart. How crazy is that? I also found out this week that my resident is also pregnant and due around the same time. I guess this is the time for making babies. There is the maternal or paternal urge to get the family started. I'm telling you, this small group will no longer just be young couples and singles. It is transitioning to a young family group right before our very eyes. This is going to be very cool because we can certainly lean upon each other for support.

Finally, I want to end with how much I love my wife. She is constantly amazing me at how strong she is, how patient she is, and how much she loves me. When I have things on my mind, I can talk with her. When I have a bad day, she is there to give me a hug. Despite her big belly and lack of sleep, she pushes forward and gets her work done during the day. Her birthday just passed and I was reminded that over the past 5 years of knowing her, a lot has changed for both of us. This is what I wrote to her in a poem for her birthday.

At 30:
You came into my life,
Making things, new and bright.

At 31:
You said “I guess, (a.k.a. YES!)”
When I asked you to be my other half.

At 32:
You married me this year and to no surprise,
God blessed our time, our families, and our lives.

At 33:
You and I traveled the world,
Japan, Cabo, DC, San Diego, Chicago.

At 34:
You and I, determined we were,
To have a baby, a boy or a girl.
God heard our prayers and now we can say,
Thanks be to God for the gift He gave.


At 35:
You and I will now be dad and mom,
To a girl, maybe boy, either one.
God’s love is good, perfect, and true,
Happy birthday my dear, I love you.

That night we went to ABC Seafood in Foster City and had us a nice dinner. We had her favorite Goo-e-duck, fish soup, large pea leaves, and finally a shrimp dish. For just a few dishes, we blew almost $150.00, but for this girl, that was a drop in the bucket. I would have spent double on her.

All right, that should do it for this posting. I'll try to come back more often now that we're getting closer and closer to the due date. My prayer continues to be that God would bless this baby, Mimi, and I.