Sunday, October 11, 2009

32 Weeks!!

I haven't posted belly pics in a while, so I guess I need to do that. I look pretty rough in these pics though! haha! Aashini really likes my belly button right now (in all it's poking-out glory) and if you ask her where the baby is, sometimes she points to my stomach :) It's cute :)
So... I have had a couple of questions this pregnancy. One of them is if I'm going to have a boy or a girl. It's probably obvious at this point in the pregnancy that I don't know and we're not going to find out :) haha! but there's a few reasons for that. One of the reasons is that we like the surprise :) We think it's fun :) BUT the main reason is that it's illegal here. We could have found out in Thailand, but we didn't :) We like the surprise :) You can find out here too if you want, but it's illegal, so it could cost the technician their job and I really don't want to hurt my witness asking them to do something illegal.

Anyway, most people ask me why it's illegal here. The sad reason is that female foeticide is a big problem here (killing or aborting female babies). According to the government's statistics for our city alone, more than 24,000 female babies are aborted each year - and that's just in our city alone!! It's causing a lot of problems and the sex ratio has become really skewed. For every 1000 boys born in our city, there are less than 820 girls (they should be about the same!)!! It's crazy. So... they made it illegal to find out before birth what you're having.

You can see a sign in the pic below that is in the waiting room at the doctor I go to. It says:
"Ma. The world's most precious word. Where will all the mothers be tomorrow if there is no girl child today? Stop Female Foeticide"
So do you think I'm having a boy or a girl?? (you can vote on the top right of the blog). I'm carrying about the same as I did with Aashini. At the beginning of this pregnancy I craved more protein, but now I really want sweets! This pregnancy I'm craving South Asian food and last pregnancy I didn't want anything to do with it. Last pregnancy I had some SERIOUS morning sickness that lasted forever but this pregnancy even though I felt bad and was nauseous every morning, I didn't even throw up once (PTL)!!

I'm actually feeling pretty good! It's amazing how different these pregnancies have been. I'm still sleeping pretty good (only wake up about once a night) and have a decent amount of energy. Of course I'm more tired these days, and all the other fun things that go on at this time, but it's going great. Thanks so much for all of your prayers!! That's totally why I'm doing so great this time around :) I'm 32 weeks and last pregnancy I had Aashini at 34 weeks!! What a difference!!
Not real attractive, but thought I'd post them anyway :) I like to take jumping pics - especially while pregnant - BUT sad to say, these are going to be the last jumping pics of this pregnancy... I was hurting later that night after all that jumping :) haha!!

We're still struggling with baby names :) We had a boy & a girl name picked out but we keep changing our minds. We have a lot of trouble picking boy's names. A lot of our picks end up sounding like dog names... so hopefully we'll get a name before this baby is born!! Culturally we could wait a whole year before we give our baby a name, but we have to hurry and get the passport and exit visa after the baby is born (b/c we have deadline to leave the country), so we don't have any days to spare!!
That's it! :) Let me know if you have any other questions or anything like that! You guys ROCK!!!!

14 comments:

Emily said...

Andrea,

You look amazing!!! I cannot believe that you are 32 weeks. I am praying for you as you finish out this pregnancy strong. You made me lol about the names sounding like dog names. too funny :)

SouthAsiaRocks said...

haha! Thanks :) You ROCK!!

Erin G said...

you do look awesome. I voted boy since then you'd have one of each, like us. :)

It's probably a sign of the pregnancy hormones, but I think this is the second time you have written about female foeticide and it has made me cry. I do have to applaud the south asians for calling what it is, though.

Emily said...

True, I didn't think about it that they call it feticide. I think that's good too.

Well for the longest time, I thought you were having another girl - I would look through girls clothes and think, "I need to send this to Andrea..." So I told Kelley that must mean you're really having a boy. BUT the downside to that is that now I think of Pop Rock as a boy. So does first or current intuition count as my vote?

You know what names I like for girls for y'all. Especially the middle name that starts with a P. :) I'm SO SO SO excited for Pop Rock to get here!! Oh and you still look incredibly great! Your jumping pics are fun.

Meagan said...

You really do look amazing for being so close! I was wanting to be off my feet 24/7 at that point. I am SO happy for you that this pregnancy is going so much better. I hope it continues! I like the "public service announcement" sign. It's pretty blatant. That's so sad, though. I didn't realize it was a problem there. Why is that? I'd heard it happened a lot in China, but why there? Same reasons?

SouthAsiaRocks said...

Yeah foetcide is a huge problem here. It's almost as bad as in China, but it's just not public knowledge as much as China's problem is. There's some different reasons - China it's b/c of the 1 child policy and wanting only a boy if they can only have one kid. Here there are many reasons. One is that if you have a girl child, you have to give her away when she gets married (and have to pay a LARGE dowry). You also have to have at least one son so that you have someone to take care of you when you're older, and perform a lot of ceremonies (especially the ceremony when the parents die). So, a lot o families will abort their first child until they get a boy first... some will have whatever first and then abort until their next child is a boy... It's sad.

SouthAsiaRocks said...

Emily - we're still liking the "P" middle name a lot! :)

Sara Beth said...

If you're like me, I'd say boy. I was sick with Zion and not with the boys. I think it'd be fun for you guys to have one of each! Makes life more interesting because there is a big learning curve as parents between boys and girls I think. Not that that wouldn't be similar between 2 girl or 2 boy personalities I don't guess. You do look great! Glad you are feeling so much better this pregnancy!

alwaysjoyfuldejs said...

Boy! I'm sure you'll pick the perfect one. How 'bout Fido? HAHA. Seriously, y'all are great namers.

Life in Green-Land said...

I was equally sick with all 3 pregnancies... in fact, all 3 were pretty much the same for me, and I came out with 2 girls & a boy. So, as for my vote, I am going to join team girl!

You've got me intrigued and scratching my head over the dog names comment... are you planning on naming him Sparky, Buddy, Fido, or Spot?

SouthAsiaRocks said...

haha! You got one of the dog/boy names :)

Life in Green-Land said...

I'll bet it's Fido! ;)

SouthAsiaRocks said...

haha! Awesome :)

gloria said...

yes, you really look amazing and I'm so glad you are feeling so much better this time.
It's so much more exciting to be surprized. You chose a great name with Aashin so I know you both will figure out the perfect name!!!!Can't wait. lovegg