35 Weeks

Here I am in all my pregnant glory.  According to my due date, I have less than a month to go.  Not that I'm hastening the end of this pregnancy.  It's quite a bit easier to deal with occasionally being kicked in the middle of the night than being woken up repeatedly by a crying newborn.  Life is busy enough with our other little dudes, so I'm ok if this one stays put to the bitter end.

I really have enjoyed the experience of being pregnant.  It has been such an unexpected blessing, and with that comes a deeper sense of gratitude.  I wonder sometimes if I'll miss the intimacy of carrying him inside of me once he's born.  But then again, once he makes his debut, I'll have toes to count and cheeks to kiss, so I suppose that will keep me plenty busy.  

I am thankful to say that this has been an incredibly uneventful pregnancy.  My doctor even used the word "benign" to describe my experience.  No puking, no indigestion, pretty few aches & pains...God truly does know what I need!  We made three international trips during my pregnancy, two of which involved flights over 10 hours.  We packed up our house and restarted life for a season in America.  Could I have done that with morning sickness or on bed rest?  I think not!  

I'm also thankful to have spent the last portion of my pregnancy in the States.  Chinese people were very concerned when they saw me carrying Sam, especially if he was in any way touching my belly.  But, pregnant or not, my other little boys still need their mama.  There was plenty of unsolicited advice from our Chinese friends (and Chinese strangers too!) about what I needed to do.  Drink hot water to keep my uterus warm, don't be too active, and make sure to take a Chinese medicine amazingly translated as "asses' glue" after delivery.  Hmmm...we'll see about that one!

I will say, though, that Americans haven't held back their comments either.  I took the boys to play at Chic-Fil-A by myself one morning.  One of the other moms counted my babies and said, "Wow!  You've got your hands full today."  I thought her qualifying statement of "today" was pretty humorous considering I'm pretty much that busy everyday.  Then there was another woman who asked me if I'm having twins.  In my opinion, under no circumstance should that question ever be asked unless you are 99.9% sure of the answer!  Am I really that big?!?!

So those are my random ramblings about all things pregnancy!