Lock Down

I haven't been posting because our gracious host country has shut down Blogger. The powers-that-be have blocked our access to both Blogspot and YouTube. Thank goodness for our students who show us the websites that will get us around these blocks. I'm using a proxy to post through blogger. I just don't know if it will keep working, and I don't know if I can post pictures! I guess I should be happy if I can type.

These days are just a waiting game. Two and a half weeks until my due date. No name picked out for sure yet. The doctor threw me for a loop on Friday, suggesting that I have an induced labor during my 39th week. She said she finds it's best for baby's to be born during that week, but I have my suspicions that she does a lot of inducing out of convenience. I'm planning on getting an epidural, so she says I might as well induce. It would be convenient, but it certainly takes the suspense and mystery out of things. We are thinking about it. It's going to be really difficult with me over in Hong Kong, Joe in China teaching, and Sophia to think about. Luckily, our neighbors and friends have agreed to take Sophia in for a night if necessary. The only problem will be if I go into labor and Sophia is over visiting me on the weekend. It also gets complicated for work, with no maternity leave at our school, every day counts. Joe's planning on teaching summer school starting the week after regular school is out. Somewhere in there, he's going to have to miss some school.

I only have four more days of school and then it's off to Hong Kong for the big wait. At least I'll be able to blog from there, so we'll be able to post baby pictures when the time comes. The doctor's been nagging me all along about how huge this baby is going to be, telling me to eat a low-glycemic index diet and work out more. Then, on Friday the doctor seemed to forget all her dire warnings and say maybe this baby will catch up to her sister. I'll probably go in to the doctor next time and hear again about how big she's going to be. You never know until they come out, I guess. My doctor isn't the most personal lady, but supposedly, she's the best. She never seems to remember who I am, and I have had to remind the office to give me a shot and then a test. They seem to forget what I need. Good thing I read up on what I'm supposed to be getting!

We have just been hanging out. Some friends threw a celebration for us last Sunday for the new little one. It was nice to think about the baby's upcoming birth and celebrate with friends. Sophia has been good lately, getting so big. She's a good helper these days, but it's still a lot of work to get her to do things if she just doesn't feel like it. We've installed a potty sticker chart for her sudden string of accidents. She did pretty well last week and even earned herself a toy for all her stickers. We're working on getting her ready to be a "special helper" for Mommy when the baby comes. She's definitely more positive about the pregnancy. She kisses my belly and gets excited about the bumps she feels.

Sophia has a big spring concert this week and a fun water day at school. Hopefully, we'll be able to get out of our classes for an hour to go see her perform. It's always entertaining watching a bunch of two-year-olds sing songs like the Hokey-Pokey and Chicken Dance.