Birthday Mania

We decided that a set of underwear from Victoria's Secrets should suit the situation for my birthday. We played two rounds of Scrabble at two different Starbucks in downtown Denver. Then we went to REI to get a pair of trail running shoes for Biajee.

Sushi Den was a big failure in our Saturday events. This restaurant doesn't take reservations for groups below five people. We literally waited outdoors in cold winds for an hour. Inside it was like a typical American bar scene - loud, noisy and chaotic. All the sashimi dishes we tried were preseasoned, nothing like a normal Japanese cuisine. We were so disappointed that we tried to write some internet reviews on citysearch.com immediately after we got home. Surprisingly, this website wouldn't post our reviews. We finally managed to put this short article on Yahoo's user review. Hopefully no more people get fooled from now on.

Our lottery and powerball ticket numbers are all revolved around my birthday numbers. As usual, we didn't win anything.

Cesarean

Biajee nearly fainted while we were watching the 2 cesarean videos last night. It was bloody, messy and disgusting, but that's all about labor. It involves urine, shit, placenta, uterus and a zillion other gross things. I can tell he doesn't want to be part of it, but it's too late to go back now.

We even looked at the fancy equipment of a vacuum. The doctor will sometimes vacuum the baby's head out if he stays too long inside me. Then the baby's head will look like a scone for a few weeks. Another choice is forceps which shapes similar like salad scoops. Vacuums are used more often these days.

Episiotomy is a big worry. Most my girl friends have been cut when they had their babies, but it's not common practice these days. Dr. A said that even if I get cut, I may still tear. It is said that Chinese women are likely to tear. Maybe Biajee won't want sex for 3 months after he sees all this.

The Group B Strep Test doesn't look bad at all compared to what we've learned last night. We'll just go in next Tuesday and have Dr. A take out some cells from me to culture. Hopefully he'll remember to tell me the results so that I could get proper treatment during labor just in case I'm tested positive.

The Last Sonogram

Dr. A said yesterday's Sonogram should be the last one before labor unless something funny happened to me.

It was quite disappointing. The baby is already too big and we couldn't get a whole picture of him, just floating body parts here and there. A big relief is that the placenta looked fine. The baby's head looked like a dark gas mask. Dr. A can tell the lips, but I totally lost interest in the end. We're going to do a bacteria test next week to check if the baby has got certain diseases. I missed most part of Dr. A's lecture. Fortunately Biajee paid some attention.

We're having our 4th child birth class tonight. Last week, the nurse said a father in California was too nervous in the labor room. He passed out and his head hit the floor and he died on spot. So she suggested all dads sit somewhere in the delivery room in case they drop dead suddenly. We are so edgy about the horrible stories to be shared tonight...

Spring is Here

It was in 80s both Saturday and Sunday. We went to The Arch for breakfast as usual and picked up a free bike from Boulder on Saturday. The bike itself couldn't sell for more than $5. The handheld bars were bandaged like Frankenstein, the seat is broken and there was no air in the tires. We bought new seat, new handreel, air pump and the whole set of equipment for mending the tires. By the time we're done, we would have a completely new bicycle except for the frame. It might be cheaper and easier to just purchase a new bike. Well, we are a crazy couple after all.

Downtown Boulder felt like a little European town. People were dining, reading and watching shows in the warm spring sunshine. Tulips were blooming everywhere. We had our favorite Baily Irish Cream smoothie in the Haagen Daz store. My only hope was for it not to contain alcohol. The server didn't check our driver's licenses, so maybe we were fine. I had always thought Haagen Daz was from Germany. Biajee assumed it was from Denmark. However, after careful research, he figured out it was manufactured in a stinking place called New York.

We had sushi and sashimi at Japango before we headed for the mall. Biajee bought my favorite liquid eyeliner and eye shadow from Shiseido. Now he'll have to get another birthday gift for me. He said he'd just give me a card on my birthday. He played soccer in the afternoon while I went to the swimming pool for an hour. We were given two portable cribs by his soccer mate. This is definitely a rotten baby. His things spread from 2nd floor of the house to the basement...

Birthday Party

We are going to Sarah's birthday party tonight. She's turning six. We have no idea what to buy for her as a birthday gift. I didn't have anything when I was a kid, not even a stuffed anmimal so I am really clueless of what girls of that age might like. Beautiful clothes, I guess, but we don't know her size. Biajee is not much help either. He knows all the secrets and tricks for boys - they like balls and trucks. Maybe we'll just give cash or a gift card, but that sounds so boring.

I had never had a birthday party before I went to college. I used to celebrate it with only mom, dad and a cake. In college, we celebrate every roommate's birthday like crazy. We'd have so much food together and talk till midnight. It is said whatever we don't get when we are little, we tend to give our kids more. I guess my son will have a birthday party every year, will go to swim class and music class when he is 6 months old, will have piano/violin lessons and a Taikwondo coach when he turns four.

Our facility department confiscated Laura's electric heater the other day for safety reasons.

"I'm freezing, Pei." She whined.

"Try to get pregnant, then you're warm all the time." I teased.

"Oh no thank you. I'll just put a sweater on. It's a much cheaper solution." Judging that she has a 6 month old son and is sitting next to me, she surely has more insight than me of what to do when she feels cold.

Tandem Bike

We picked up our tandem bike from Unversity Bikeshop in Boulder during lunch. It's a shiny blue Trek. What a beauty! It's actually the most expensive bicycle I've ever owned in my life. Biajee said that it would be my birthday gift this year. Well, he'll enjoy it with me too. We're going to a state park for biking this weekend. I'm not supposed to go anywhere that's more than an hour's drive from the hospital after 36 weeks. I think I should enjoy my last days of fun.

We had our first baby care class last night and learned how to swaddle the baby with a receiving blanket and how to burp the baby after he eats. A baby surely is a lot of trouble. And newborn babies are really ugly. They look like wrinkled walnuts covered with jello. Normally after a few days they start to look better. I'm pretty convinced that ours will look more like an alien: what if he gets my look and his height? Anyway, that's the least of our worries for now.

We have to finish shopping by 36th week and pack our luggage for the hospital. We'll be on standby mode every day from then on. I don't know if I can put up with the pain and hard work of labor. I need to remind myself of all the brave commnunist party members who suffered all kinds of torture from the enemy and gave their lives to the foundation of The People's Republic of China. I need to learn from Liu Hulan, Sister Jiang, Dong Cunrui and Huang Jiguang...

Easter

Biajee had a weekend full of failure. I was well entertained most of the time.

We went to American Furniture warehouse on Friday night and shipped a huge bookshelf home with the Sienna. It's about 84Hx48W, just a bit taller than our doorway upstairs. After sweating for the night on Friday and afternoon on Saturday, he finally admitted that he couldn't get it into the room by himself.

We called our friend Wade by 7 pm. He and his family were at our house by 7:45 pm. It took them only 2 minutes to put the bookshelf into place. It's really too bulky for one person to move or carry and of course Biajee didn't want me to help when I'm 8 months pregnant.

We took Wade's family out to Red Lobster afterwards. It's always thrilling to spend time with them. Their two kids (Kyle and Sarah) were wonderful. We went to their house to dye Easter eggs. It was an amazing experience. You put 3 tablespoons of vinegar into each cup (there are more than 10 cups) and then put a little tablet of various colors into each cup. The liquid turns into green, blue, purple, yellow, pink, red, etc. in seconds. Then you dip hard-boiled eggs into each cup and wait. The longer it sits, the deeper the color is. You could use a wax pencil to write and draw on the eggs before you dip them to get created painted easter eggs. We ate a handful of cracked eggs during this process.

Then we helped to stuff some of the plastic Easter eggs with kid's goodies. Easter here is like Halloween or Christmas. Kids get treated by Easter Bunny with gifts. We hadn't realized that it was such a big deal until Saturday night. On Easter Sunday morning, kids will perform an egg hunt and find all these plaster eggs and open them for presents. Then the family get together for a feast in the afternoon. It's almost like Thanksgiving. Biajee and I surely have a lot to look forward to with this baby coming.

We went to 3 state parks yesterday, each contained a lake, pond or reservoir. The sad fact is that we don't have our own boat so we could only stand ashore and sigh. Then Biajee clogged the toilet in our master bedroom right before we're ready for bed. He had to go to Wal-mart and get the plunger to fix it. I'm amazed of his sense of responsibility. I would have let it sit for one night with filthy liquid. At that exact moment, I realized that I had married very well...

Birth Videos

We watched 2 birth videos in class last night. It was devastating. Both Biajee and I were so nervous when we watched them. I don't think I am able to have sex for a very long time.

The average labor time for every mom is about 12 hours. It takes 9 months to cook the baby. Of course it'll take some time to get it out. I watched labor videos when I was in high school, but it's so different when you're pregnant.

At least we got a checklist of things to pack in our car starting from 36 weeks. I could go into labor at any time from then on. We penciled it in our Saturday schedule to shop for some nursing bras and outfits for me. There are 2 great websites for these: www.bosombuddies.com and www.motherswear.com. Bosom Buddies has a store close to our house and we're going to take advantage of it. It's shocking to find out that a good breast pump costs over $1,200. A friend loaned me one so I don't have to worry about that.

Breast Milk

I'm a legitimate cow starting from last night. Breast milk is coming out of me. We tried to taste it. I think it's the same from the fat-free milk you buy from Wal-mart, but Biajee complained that it had no flavor. Oh well, it's for fetus, not for him. Maybe we could start pumping next month since it's good for a month if you freeze it. We could really stock up some before the baby is born.

I picked up some big fat dresses from a friend today so that we could waste less money on maternity clothes. I couldn't believe I was that big when I looked into her mirror.

My boss' boss' boss inquired me whether I could go to Europe for a few weeks from May 1st. "He said travel would be banned from end of this month." I replied blatantly.

"He means your doctor, not your husband, right?" He blinked at me.

"Oh yeah..."

"Hey Miss Pei, I though it would be fun if you spend a couple of weeks in Europe. Just keep in mind I had you on the top of my list."

I guess there is nothing I could do about it. Maybe I'll make it up to him after my maternity leave. It's definitely a NO NO now for any type of air trip.

We're going to have our 2nd child birth class tonight in the stuffy little conference of Marriott. I hope I don't pass out in front of the other 8 couples.

Class Act

Terrified of looking like some slack babymother, I made a point of signing up for three classes (Child Birth, Baby Care and Breast Feeding). I actually found them more useful than my partner — he'd already read widely on the subject, while I sat there like an eager schoolgirl soaking up all this new information.

I found myself crossing my legs and wincing in unison with the other women in the class when the nurse discussed vaginal tearing, and contorting in horror when we were given the brutal details of a dilation.

I found it useful to ask plenty of questions. What books can't tell you about is the specifics of your locality — when is the best time to go to the hospital, when you need to call your doctor, what additional classes they offer. Remember to take note when they give details of breathing through the contractions — you can actually be quite useful here.

C-Section Question

Today we had a short visit to Dr. A's office. I couldn't help asking him, "When you do C-sections, do you cut out fat as well?"

"Pei, there is no fat. You're going to to give natural birth. The baby is going to come down normally." He chuckled as that was the last thing I should worry.

Back at work, Laura told me he shouldn't cut any fat because I need those for breastfeeding. I share a different opinion though - the fat on my belly won't help with breastfeeding...

Anyway, my next appointment gets moved to April 24th because of the ultrasound. We need to make sure that placenta is out of the way. I hope I can deliver through the normal channel. Even the temptation of Dr. A's being able to cut some fat won't lure me to a C-section...

Denver Auto Show

We got up very early this morning and drove down to the Colorado Convention Center. The auto show is from 10 am to 10 pm. There were already people in lines waiting for tickets at 9:35 am.

It was in a much smaller scale than I had expected. We saw Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedez-Benz, Volkswagon, Toyota, Honda, Audi and all the other popular car vendors. It only took us 2 hours to walk around the whole thing. The main disappointment is that they locked all the good cars up and wouldn't let us touch them. We really couldn't understand the logic there. The ticket cost $10 per person. For all the cars these dealers sold out, they must have already recovered their cost. What's the big deal of letting people touch a Bugati? The place was almost like a meat market by the time we left. Obviously people living in Denver don't have too many exhilarating things to do on weekends.

Biajee got a free VW T-shirt for applying to their credit card. The lady didn't give one to me because I intentionally filled out the wrong social security number so that they couldn't withdraw my credit rating information.

We had lunch at a new Cantonese restaurant. Then Biajee set off to play soccer and I went to the Salon to get my haircut. We rented another DVD from McDonald's. It's only $1/night per movie. We got Walk the Line this time. It's an Oscar winner.