Welcome to the world Baby Sophia!

Sophia Hu was born on February 6, 2008 at 6:29am weighing 7 pounds, 3.4 ounces!!

Taking votes.  Who does she look like more? 

I started a new blog for our baby, where I'll update pictures and thoughts about this whole being a mommy thing. http://babyhu.blogspot.com/

I decided not to publish the birth story on the web because we ended up (unexpectedly) having her in our home instead of a hospital, which is sort of a controversial thing, so if you're curious, give me a call or email me.  I'd love to share the story, and I think I'm just about fully recovered and ready to be sociable again!

Random Stuff

Jensen and I watched Eat Drink Man Women this weekend (highly recommended film!), and it left me desperately craving some real Chinese food.   The only Chinese food we've found in the area since we've moved here was Americanized Chinese takeout.  Ick.  I was even willing to eat P.F. Chang's this weekend!  Fortunately, we asked a guy at the church we've been going to if he knew of any good Chinese places and he pointed us to a Chinese noodle house called A&J.  Hooray!  We ordered spicy beef noodle soup, green onion pancake, wonton soup, shao-long bao, and some small cold appetizer dishes.  It made me very happy.  The cafe was also adjacent to a small Chinese supermarket that sold boa-zhi and tzong-zhi, and a Chinese bakery that had my favorite -- egg custard bread with red bean paste!  woohoo!

My food tastes seem to be going back to normal now.  Since I have been pregnant, I have had aversions to broccoli and any kind of curry, but the other day, we were at the Asian supermarket, and they were giving out samples of golden curry, and for the first time in a while, it smelled good to me!  I made a big pot of it for the week, and ate it with some steamed broccoli.

Today I filled out an absentee ballot application for the primary elections on Feb. 12 for the state of Virginia.  The reason I wrote on the form was "Disability or illness - Pregnant, due Feb. 7.  May be recovering or possibly in labor."    This will be my first time voting in the primaries.  I never really followed them before, but it's such an exciting election year!  I wish that VA would let you vote in both Democratic and Republican primaries, but they make you choose just one. 

I'm 37 and a half weeks pregnant now, which means the baby could pretty much come at any moment now.  I haven't had any signs that she'll be early, but who knows.  I'm scheduled to work for two more weeks, and I told Jensen we should drive to work from now on....just in case.  The thought of having contractions on the metro doesn't sound so fun.  Plus, it sure is getting cold up here.  We were in the teens this weekend.  brrr..

Currently Watching Eat Drink Man Woman By Sylvia Chang, Ah-Leh Gua, Winston Chao, Lester Chen, Yang Kuei-Mei see related

Expectancy

Another thing I'm enjoying about pregnancy is that I find that I really love what I call "periods of expectancy" -- those stages between major life events where you prepare your heart and your mind for the promises ahead.  There is a mixture of anxiousness and excitement, of wonderment and fear, an openness and teachability that I think is unlike the "steady" periods of one's life. 

I liken pregnancy to our period of engagement.  I think there are many reasons why we have in our tradition an engagement period, and it isn't merely to have time to plan a wedding.  I loved that time of mediating on God's gift and plan for marriage, of learning what it means to be a wife and a married couple, the weightiness of the calling and responsibility, looking back at what had brought us to that point, remembering that the Lord had done great things for us and expecting the same for the future.  I'd encourage any engaged folks (and I know there are a ton out there) to really enjoy that time for what it is and not let the planning of the wedding event take over.  It is a sweet period of one's life.

In the same way, I think it is no accident that we have 40 weeks to prepare for the actual arrival of our newborns.  It is too a precious time of excitement and mystery and transformation.  In the way that we often get caught up with wedding planning during our engagement periods so much that we forget to focus on preparing our hearts for marriage, I have found that I have been caught up with planning and preparing for the birth event, but neglecting to prepare my heart in becoming a mother.  Of course, wedding planning and birth planning are things that need to be done, but it is also a bit of short-sightedness to focus on those things alone.  After all, those things are over in a day (hopefully...in regards to labor ) but you have a whole lifetime of marriage and parenthood ahead of you! 

35 week mark

Now people are going to think I'm a total weirdo.  First I say I'm actually looking forward to labor, and now I say I think I actually am going to miss bring pregnant.  Sure, there is some discomfort.  I waddle around like a little duckling, and my pelvis aches from all the weight bearing down on it.  My legs get numb if I sit still for too long, and I get short of breath after just one flight of stairs.  And there are all sorts of other mysterious and weird things that happen.

But feeling a little person moving around inside of you is such an amazing experience.  I honestly sometimes think my husband is envious that I'm the one that gets to bear children (or really the special mother-baby bond that results from it).  It really is quite a privelage.  I'm not sure why some women get bitter at their husbands that they don't have to go through it.  Now really, what is the point of that? 

Plus, it's kind of nice not having to deal with the monthly period, having free license to eat like a black hole and having my husband forbid me from cleaning the bathroom cause he doesn't want me inhaling any chemicals (even though we use Seventh Generation cleansers, which I don't think are so bad). 

Lastly, I think being pregnant makes me feel beautiful.  Whenever I saw pregnant women before, I always thought they looked so cute and lovely.  It's not just the hormones or the "glow" that people talk about.  I actually think it looks more proportional...hahaha.  There is just something "right" about the way the butt and the belly offset one another...it forms a nice counter-balance.  (This is of course assuming a fairly healthy pregnancy weight gain.)

Of course, none of this is to say that I'd rather stay pregnant than give birth.  It's just some funny thoughts I was having last night. 

32 weeks and counting

We're now at 32 weeks, which means the expected due date is just about 2 months away!!!  Here I am carrying 30 extra pounds.  I'm definitely starting to feel it.  Today, everytime I got up from sitting, even from just a short car ride, my legs would feel slightly numb because of the lack of blood circulation.

The baby has been kicking a lot, and thankfully, I feel all her kicking above my belly button.  Good sign.  That means her legs are up and her head is down, which is much safer for birthing.  They don't even want to try to vaginally birth a breech (feet down, head up) baby over in the D.C. area...it's almost as if it is a lost art and no one wants to take the risk, which is just one reason why the c-section rate in this area is over 40%!!!  (National average is closer to 25%.  Optimal rate according to the World Health Organization is about 10%)  So anyways, we're praying that she stays head down.

I'm getting really excited about the birth, not only finally getting to hold my baby and see what she looks like, but I'm actually really looking forward to experiencing labor.  Think that's weird?  Well, for one thing, I think it's all a part of being a woman, and I think that's a blessed thing.  I feel a lot of confidence that I can do it, that I'll be able to cope with the pain, that God has created my body to do it and has given me all that I need to get through it, and that Jensen will be amazing at supporting me, as he has been amazing so far. 

It's kind of like when you're preparing for a marathon or some other physical feat.  You train and train, all to culminate on the day when you put your body to the test, and find that, yes, you can do it!  And if any unexpected complication happens, at least I will know that we did what we could to prepare and we can be at peace about it.