It's a GIRL!!!!

It's a GIRL! I'm sorry I haven't been able to post (no wi-fi at the hospital) :) On Wednesday (Nov 25) I had started to feel worse than I had before. My vision had blurred a few times that day and my blood pressure was getting higher, so we called my doc that evening and she said we needed to check in. We checked in and they monitored me for a few hours (and my BP kept slowly climbing) and my doctor decided we needed to go ahead and have the baby. Since I had a previous c-section, she didn't want to induce, so we scheduled the c-section for the next day. It was a TOTALLY different experience from last time! If anyone is interested, I'll write about it, but I was totally lucid during the entire c-section (which I wasn't last time) and I was talking with the attendants about Bollywood movies while they were stitching me up - it was fun :) (until the numbness wore off....)

Anyway, here's Diya's Info (if you can't read it, you can click on the pictures to see them bigger):

Here is Diya right after she was born:

And another one Adam took right after she was born:

Here she is on her 2nd day :) She looks a lot different from Aashini. She has dark hair and different feet, hands and mouth. She also looks a lot more darker complected (and as of now doesn't have any jaundice)...

Aashini got to meet her for the first time on the 2nd day. Aashini was so excited! She kept poking at her and naming things (eyes, nose, mouth, etc). At one point Diya moved and Aashini was surprised and said: WHOA! (maybe she thought she was a doll before :) haha!). Aashini really loves her baby sister! She's also pretty protective. Our neighbor came by today and was holding Diya and Aashini kept crying. She was afraid they were going to take her.

In this pic you can see her baby bracelet. Most people here wait a while to give the baby a name (or wait for the Hindu priest to name the baby), so they call the babies: b/o (baby of) Andrea.

This picture made me laugh :)

We got home today and our house was decorated so cool!

Our friends the Washas and their kids decorated our house to welcome in little Diya! There were fun decorated diyas all over and paisleys. It was really fun :)

So, she's here now- we have our very own special Thanksgiving Turkey and we're super happy and excited!

More pictures to come!

Traditions!

So we have a fun tradition in the Capital here in South Asia :) It all started with the Caskeys (in the pic on the left). They were pregnant with their first when they lived here in the Capital and she was ready for the baby to come, so our friend Mandy sang her a special "baby come out" song. Within 48 hours the baby was out :) (Right Kelley?). It worked for the Roberts too and just the mention of the song had me in the hospital having a baby :) haha! (OK, so I know it didn't have to do with the song, but it's still funny how it worked out!) So now it's become a tradition we sing to all pregnant moms that are ready to have their babies :)

The Caskeys and the Roberts got the opportunity to get together this week (the Caskeys had surgery on their unborn twins this week - check out their blog and please pray for them!!!) and they made this awesome picture for me and "sang" the song for me on Facebook :)

Baby Pop Rock... won't you come out?

Baby Pop Rock... You'll be so much fun!

Baby Pop Rock... You'll be number one in your family...

Oh Pop Rock Baby, Oh Pop Rock Baby

COME OUT BABY POP ROCK!!

Thanks guys! You guys ROCK!!!

Baby Shower Fun x3!!

My awesome friend Leslie threw a baby shower for me and 2 other friends (Megan & Mindy) in the Capital that are pregnant! She made these fun invitations and designed them herself. I love this picture (below) of the three of us she drew! (I'm the one on the left) - cool hunh??

She even made an awesome cake to match!!!!

Here we are posing like the picture :) I look so HUGE!!! Me and Megan (far right) are due just a day apart! We're both 36 weeks in this picture. Mindy is due in March :)

We played games :)

I love taking pictures during games, you can get some great poses :) haha!

Here's a picture of me and Leslie :) It was a lot of fun! Thanks!! You ROCK! :)

I just noticed how puffy my face is in this picture!! It's time for the baby to come!! haha! I'm hoping this baby comes soon!! Make sure you put in your votes for when you think the baby is going to come :) There might be a prize for the winner :)

HaPpY HaLLoWeEn!

Here in South Asia we don't celebrate Halloween, but that doesn't stop us from dressing up and eating sweets :) Adam's dad sent Aashini this Minnie Mouse costume and she LOVES to dress up. We put it on her this morning and she was so excited! Here she is showing off her costume to Shanti :)

We went out to our neighborhood park to take a few pictures. Aashini had a blast!

She felt like quite the princess. She's really into princesses lately. I'm not sure what made her love them so much, but she really does love princesses. Yesterday we asked her if she was a princess and she put her head down and looked so sad (it was the saddest thing I've ever seen!). Then we told her she was a princess and she was soooo happy! It was really cute!

So here is our little princess Minnie :)

OK, so since we have NO IDEA when this baby is coming, we thought it might be fun if everyone puts in guesses for when you think the baby will come ;) A friend did this on her blog and I thought it was fun, So, in the comment section put in your guesses! Date & Time :) Read the blog post below if you need more info. My due date is Dec 5 (we won't have the baby past Dec 7). I'll post people's guesses on the right side of the blog. You guys ROCK!

35 Weeks!

I am now officially more pregnant than I've ever been (I had Aashini at 34 weeks)! I definitely feel pregnant! I know I'm supposed to keep getting bigger but I just don't see how that's possible! Here's a few belly pics... I look pretty rough :) haha! And yes, my belly is "pointy" looking. I always end up with a torpedo-looking belly!

So I really have no idea what is going to happen as far as WHEN we're going to have the baby and HOW. We originally thought we were just going to plan a c-section because we didn't think we could do a VBAC (natural birth) here in our city. If you want to know more, I'll explain more, but basically we didn't think the hospital was equipped for it. A couple of weeks ago we found out that the hospital is equipped for it and my doc does them all the time and actually prefers to do them.

With all of that said, that means that we could possibly have a natural birth. There are a TON of factors involved with that though... first of all, for her to even consider it, everything has to be going perfect (my Blood Pressure has to be perfect and I can't have any big signs of preeccampsia, along with a few other things), AND I have to go into labor on my own (she won't induce me for a VBAC). So, along with all of that, we weren't planning on having a VBAC, so we didn't do an extra visa run, which means that we have to leave the country by January 7.... SO, that means that I can't have the baby past the due date because we need about a month to get the paperwork in AND a baby can't fly unless they're at least a month old.... SO I have no idea what is going to happen :) (I sure said "so" a lot!).

We went to the doc yesterday (thank goodness my doc is back in town!!). My BP is a little higher than normal, and my weight registered much higher than it should (I gained 4 kg ~ 8.8 lbs in 2 weeks) - which is a sign of preecclampsia. It was a different scale than normal at the doc's office, so I think that's why (at my home scale I had only gained about 2 kg). I'm also swelling in my hands, face (yes, my lips, eyes & nose... so nice) and some leg swelling. It's normal to have swelling in pregnancy, but the way I have swelling is usually related to preecclampsia, so my doc was a little concerned. She wanted to CHECK ME INTO THE HOSPITAL! I am NOT ready to go into the hospital, so we talked it through and she decided to have me run some tests and come back on Tuesday.

In the picture below you can see how I feel about all of this - haha! I look scary in that pic!

Sooooo.... all of that said.... I have NO idea what is going to happen :) Hopefully I won't have to be checked into the hospital on Tuesday but we're going to be prepared for it anyway (my bags are packed!)... I'll keep ya posted!!!

You guys ROCK!!!

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!!!!

Ultrasound!!

I haven't been the best at posting lately - sorry! Here's a few pics and a video from the 20 week ultrasound :)

This picture was to show that Pop Rock has all 5 fingers on that hand :)Pop Rock is pretty flexible :) She has her foot touching her forehead :)
Here's a 3D picture - I always think they're a little weird looking... but they're fun :) This picture makes it look like he has elf ears - haha!
... and here's a short ultrasound video :)
So I've had a few people ask questions about baby stuff so I'll do a FAQ blog soon... so if you have any questions (where are we having the baby? How is it different here? Boy or Girl? etc...) Let me know! You guys ROCK!

Belly Pics #1

I was going to wait until 12 weeks or so to start the belly pics... BUT my friend Kari is in town, so I had to get a belly pic with her before they left to go to the states for a while. That, and I'm showing WAY earlier this pregnancy! I'm already bigger than I was at 12 weeks last pregnancy AND my belly button is already starting to poke out!!!

Anyway, here's a pic... I think it's funny - haha!So right now I'm 9.5 weeks and Kari is... uhh... can't remember the weeks - but she's due in July.

I'm not sure what is going on in this picture :)
We tried to reinact our Jumping Picture from last pregnancy.

(we didn't actually jump this time though - haha! We faked it :))

Pop Rock & ABCs!

** There is a short video at the end of this post if you want to go down there and press play/pause to let it load while you read **

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Well, a lot of people have been asking me how this pregnancy is going so far, so I guess I'll answer :) I put in a few random Aashini pics so that it doesn't get boring :) haha! No really, I don't have much to say though. Last pregnancy I was miserably sick! I was pretty much in bed all day and throwing up all day. I couldn't even move a lot of days (or even shower!)! I also had extreme vascular headaches and I was miserable!!

Well, I've been afraid to say anything because it really hasn't been so bad! I feel nauseous every day, but not all day - usually in the evening. I haven't thrown-up at all! (yet)!! Last pregnancy my headaches started at about 8 weeks (there's a technical reason for that if you're interested :))... well, I'm currently 8.5 weeks.... and I've had one headache, but it wasn't too bad. I'm really hoping that it stays like this! I still have to stay inside a lot though - (When I get hot, I tend to get pretty nauseous, and it's over 100 outside most of the day (last night at 9:00 pm it was 95!) (heat experience from last pregnancy - if interested)) Although I've felt pretty blah! it really hasn't been bad at all and I really can't complain. I'm really praising G0d for this!!
So, for fun :) - Here' a video of Aashini :) I saw a friends little girl saying the alphabet the other day so we decided it was time to start practicing :) This video cracks me up for a couple of reasons :)

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1. Aashini loves to see herself! She'll do all kinds of cute tricks and say fun things, but when the video camera comes out, she goes crazy! We always have to point the screen at her so that she can see herself, or else she will keep going behind the camera and looking at the video :) Aashini can't say her own name yet. She calls herself "Ni-Ni". She went through a phase where she said everything in double (dog-dog, bear-bear, ma-ma, etc), so when she said her own name it became Ni-Ni. We call her that a lot too and you'll see her call herself that when she sees herself on video (and you'll hear her say "no, no, no" when Adam tries to turn the video screen back to himself - haha!)

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2. When she says the alphabet she usually gets hung-up on the letter "I". She'll point to her eye and then sometimes move on to other body parts (nose, mouth, etc)... it's pretty funny :)

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3. Aashini's bandanna :) She LOVES to wear things on her head and when we pulled out the camera, she pulled out her bandanna :) haha!

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So, without talking anymore, here's Aashini's take on the Alphabet:

Guess What???

We're having a baby in December!!!!

I'm about 5 weeks along!

Our due date is about December 8 :) We're Excited!!!!!

So... we need your help. Before Aashini was born, we called her Jellybean :)... sooooo.... so that we don't have to call this baby "Little Baby" the entire pregnancy, we need your help coming up with a fun Little Baby name.... Should we stick with the candy theme? (Jr. Mint, Runts, Smarties, etc)... or go with the bean thing? (Black Eyed Pea, Kidney Bean - haha!, etc)... :) Do you guys have any ideas?? :)

Also, please pr for this pregnancy that it's NOTHING like the last one (except for the end result :))!

You guys ROCK!!!

And... because I don't like doing a post without pictures... here's a random Aashini picture :)