No Labor This Week

We went in for my weekly check today. My cervix is not open and no sign of birth.

"When will I have this baby?"

"Pei, that's a million-dollar question. If I can answer that, I would be sitting in a beach house sipping a margarita and and have everyone come and do the Austin Baby Timer check - I can collect $10 per head. I'd say it's 3% chance every day. But the possibility of you having the baby this week is quite small."

"How much does the baby weigh this week?"

"I'd say about 7 lbs and 2 ozs, but that's just an estimate. What did I say last week?"

"6 lbs. You said it was only 6 lbs last week."

"I think it'll be between 7 lbs 2 ozs and 7 lbs 5 ozs when it comes out. But it depends on how much it weighs on the scale. Could be 8 lbs. If the baby still doesn't come out after your due date, we'll induce you a week or two later. I'll pick a day when I'm on call for 24 hours to induce you. Or you may have the baby this weekend because I'm on call this weekend." *Wicked Smile*

So we got nothing as usual. The baby's head is still downwards, heartbeat is normal, my blood pressure is 114/70. We're on the right track. I don't think I'm ever ready for this baby.

I've built two extensive database models for my substitute to run while I'm out. My boss is talking about calling me while I'm on maternity leave. And he is going to send my substitute to Asia for business trips right after I come back from leave. How unfair is this society to women? I missed out all the traveling opportunities this year and maybe any career development explorations as well.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1920's 30's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because....

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU Lived!

CONGRATULATIONS!

What am I getting myself into?

I'm full term now. Two weeks and five days to due date.

Dr. A said that my hips will split during labor and may not resume normal till after 6 to 9 months, which means I may not fit into my normal clothes. I feel devastated. Why haven't anyone told me about this before? Nobody cares about me. People only care about whether there are enough formula and diapers stocked up in the house, what soup recipes I should have to produce breast milk, and so on. No one gives a damn about whether I'd like those soups or not, whether I'm going through postnatal depression afterwards or not.

My stepmother is the only person who gives me recipes on how to restore my hair after labor, how to get my body cleaned from afterbirth bleeding and how to keep me protected from getting arthritis through any type of winds or breeze during the first 6 weeks. A few other girl friends advised me on how to wash the wound after birth to make it heal faster and to get epidural as soon as I am admitted into the hospital to avoid unnecessary sufferings.

Worst of all, everyone I meet these days would stop and ask me, "Are you ready?" "How are you enjoying your last days?" Like I'm having worst case Leukemia or fourth stage lung cancer. I understand my life is done. All my childhood dreams of traveling around the world, be a hiphop singer, write a best-selling novel, will come to a stall.

I quickly realized that all these things actually sounded rubbish, and I for one notion will find that dividing my spare time between changing 15 diapers every day and pumping breast milk every 2 hours quite appealing. No more parties, playing cards, going to the gym whenever I want to... I must have done something really evil in my previous life to deserve all this...

And I'm supposed to put away all my fun money into a college fund as soon as he has a social security number? We are talking about accumulating $200,000 in the next 18 years right now. What if the baby doesn't want to study? Are we supposed to give him the cash when he is 30 or transfer everything to our own retirement savings?

Will I be happy? No one gives a toss. Will I still have to work hard and make money to pay for the bills, the house, the kid and our medical insurance if I'm upset? At the end of this whole thing, will I have the slightest feeling of satisfaction and achievement out of the baby deal?

I am not enjoying these countdown weeks. I think the postpartum depression already started.

Cord Blood Bank

Sylvia first introduced the idea of Cord Blood Bank to me. When the baby is born, we could have the doctor seal the embilical cord along with the cord blood inside and send it to a company to freeze up in liquid nitrogen. In case the baby develops some childhood leukemia in future and needs to get rid of all those cancer-embedded blood, we could use the stem cell in the cord blood to regenerate blood for the baby.

Dr. A said the chances we would use this is miniscule. It is just like a life insurance policy that could help put our mind into peace. We're better off put money in college fund than this. Biajee thinks it is a waste of money. What if the company goes bankruptcy in 20 years? What if there is a major system shutdown or power outage?

Anyway, we are not going to invest in this at the moment. The cost is $1,725 for initial start and then $95 per year. What if they raise the price half way through? We have no choice but to accept because the cord blood is stored in the liquid nitrogen. If we don't pay, they'll throw it out and all the effort in previous years will be in vain.

Dr. A got some samples from me today to culture for the strep-B test. He said 75% of women would test for postive and this means they'll need antibiotics in their IV during labor. We need to remember asking for the results next week. The baby is in good position - head down and feet up.

Trivial Pursuit

We were introduced to this game two Thanksgivings ago at Sam's house. Biajee bought a genius edition immediately afterwards because none of us were playing very well then. Laura suggested that we bring it to the hospital so that Biajee can read the questions and answers to me while I am in pain to divert my attention.

We opened it up the night before and started to go through the questions. It is really not a fair game for us poor foreigners. There are averagely 3 words neither of understand in one question and after we look up their meaning, we still have no clue of what the answers should be. For example, do you know which American president held a PhD degree? But questions like which continent has the shortest coastline should be a no-brainer.

Anyway, we laughed at ourselves and the questions every night. There are over 4,800 questions in this box. Biajee suggested we get a normal edition because it's quite frustrating that we don't know the answer for 9 out of 10 questions. I think we should wait at least till we're able to memorize all the answers by heart before we get another set.

When I am Old - A Mother's Whisper (Mother's Day Special)

When I am old

No longer the person I used to be

Be Patient



When I decorate my clothes with dinner

Forget how to tie my shoes

Be Patient



When I repeat myself

With stories you heard yesterday, last week, last hour

Be Patient



When I can no longer bathe myself

Be Patient

Fill the bath, scrub my back



When technology becomes a foreign language

Be Patient

Translate it into my language



When my legs are weak

Be Patient

Lend me your strong arms



When I forget

What we are talking about

Be Patient

Let me collect my thoughts



When you notice my age

Be happy, not sad

Hold me, touch me, talk to me

Make me feel safe



When you were young

I led you through life

Guided your hand

Made you feel safe.

Your smile,

Your laugh

Your love was all I needed



Now that I am young again

At the end of my time

Lead me with love

Guide me with compassion

Make me feel safe.

Accompany me



In return I will give you

My smile

My laughter

My unconditional love

=======================================================

This is my first attempt for an English poem. It's really difficult, but my friend Thomas Allen Shaw has helped me getting the rhythms and wordings correct.

I'm very jealous of people who still have their mothers alive to talk to because I lost mine two years ago. All I wish is to be able to call her and tell her that I miss all the nice little dishes she used to cook for me...

Soduku

I introduced Soduku to Biajee on Saturday night when we were touring around the Kite Shop in Boulder. They sell kites and all kinds of games, puzzles, toys and gadgets. It's a Japanese puzzle fuddling with numbers. Basically you get a square with 81 slots. Some of them were pre-filled with numbers from 1 to 9 for you. You need to fill out all the empty spots and make sure that each number (from 1 to 9) appears only once in each column and row and each 3x3 area.

Biajee worked out one on Saturday night and immediately lost interest in this puzzle. This is a logic game and can be very easy to solve.

We haven't packed the hospital luggage yet. Biajee dragged me out to The Nederlands yesterday. As soon as we got there, it started to rain. So we did some shopping in Flatiron Mall afterwards and bought a pair of very comfortable slippers for me to wear after labor.

No matter what he does tonight, I shall pack the suitcase tonight. I'll be considered full term by the end of the week and the baby may come at any time. As much as Biajee wants to play and hang around doing nothing, I need to get prepared even I have to have this baby by myself.

On the Loose

Biajee had told me last year that if I stayed home and became a housewife, I'd be busier than when I was working. I didn't quite believe that until today.

He left for a whole day conference near Castle Rock area while I stayed home by myself trying to take care of several things. I went swimming in Broomfield Recreation Center in the morning, gulped down a McMuffin sandwich for breakfast and went to purchase nursing bras. There was a guy in Bosom Buddies trying to buy some nursing bras and a Medela breast pump for his wife. What a nice husband! He must have spent over an hour there in total. It took him some time to figure out which kind of bra the wife liked and what might feel more comfortable. The lady measured me and gave me a few things to try on before she checked me out.

I had no time for lunch because my salon appointment was 12 sharp. I had my hairdresser cut 2 inches this time because I won't be there for another 2 months. Of course Biajee won't notice when he gets home. He always wonders why I spend so much money on my hair when he couldn't even tell the difference of the length.

Then I took the Sienna for wash and wax. Biajee could always find excuses of not doing it. I finally picked up some black sesame seed powder for the after labor drink. It is said that my hair will fall out a lot after birth so I'd better prepare some treatment right now. I don't believe a lot of the old wives' tales, but there is some basic knowledge and truth to it. Better be safe than sorry.

Oh he just came home! We're going to Sushi Tora for dinner again! Bebe is a wild spender. It's better to keep her in bed having labor and let her work 12 hours a day so that she won't have any time to go out and waste money.

Photos of baby shower

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40678696@N00/

Enjoy ;)

Breast Feeding Class

Biajee is not allowed in this class because we were supposed to have a nursing mother show us the real deal. Instead, we watched a video last night. We saw all kinds of breasts: big, small, white, black, Asian and all kinds of babies sucking on them. By the end of it, I felt like vomiting.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that the baby be nursed for one year at least. From a diet standpoint, nursing is much worse than pregnancy because I have to be more strict on my diet. No more diary products at all - farewell milk, cheese, icecream and yogurt... All these will make the baby gassy, fussy and colicky. Not to say I cannot eat much salt during this whole period.

Despite all the above sufferings, I am still planning on breast feeding because Arnold is going to MIT (although Biajee wants him to go to Berkeley). Of course we have to start his college fund as soon as he has a social security card.

I'm well equipped with knowledge of nursing bras, nursing pads, engorgement and milk clogging now. I am supposed to continue nursing even if I catch a cold because the baby can get the benefit of immunal products generated by my body. I will almost feel guilty for not getting sick during the nursing year...

中国制造 （May 08）

（原始链接：http://spaces.msn.com/biajee）

周六去Boulder给车车换油，顺便骑车玩耍。把车车放在修车厂里，高高兴兴得骑着Trek双人休闲自行车，结果在马路当间链子断了。然后，只好推着自行车回到车厂。幸好早晨起得早，等我们推着自行车回到丰田修车厂的时候发现门口有一队车在那里排队等着修。正好，车车换完了油，接着开着车去自行车行去修自行车。老美修自行车真是快，一问是链子掉了，再问是在他们那里买的，不由分说就开始修，三下五除二，换了个新链子，正了正闸。最后，小伙子花了好大的功夫撕贴在车上的一个标签。我一看是“Made In China”的字样，中国做的东东就是不灵，难怪不敢跑到美国来卖汽车呢，连自行车都越做越差了。

之前10点整去了Mall里新开的苹果店，准备拿免费的印有咬了一口的苹果的T恤。结果发现进苹果店的队伍排到了三四百米开外，于是只好扫兴的去换油了。以前见过东京苹果店开业排队的录像，没想到丹佛这个大农村也有这么多没事干的人。
2:16 PM

火锅 (May 02)

（原始链接：http://spaces.msn.com/biajee）

为了消除寿司丹（Sushi Den）带来的不好回忆，我们决定在五一国际劳动节吃火锅。顺便提一句，五一劳动节源自于1886年5月1日芝加哥20多万工人流血大罢工以争取八小时工作时间的活动。然而，唯独在美国是不过五一节的，美国人的劳动节是在九月的第一个星期一。

下了班，赶紧去路上的中国超市买了一只龙虾和一条鲫鱼，当然都是活的了。火锅底料，梅林午餐肉，冻豆腐，金针菇，黄豆芽，冬瓜，粉丝。默念真主之名，该宰的宰，该杀的杀。（宰龙虾一定要先从脖子处一刀下去斩为两段，要不然看它疼得乱动会生怜悯之心的，而且哆哆嗦嗦下刀的话死去的龙虾到了阴间也不会饶你的。当然，就算鱼和龙虾被切成一段段的时候还是会动的。）打开电磁炉，看着nbc的系列拜金节目deal or no deal和apprentice（没有TNT，没法看nba），各种美味一一下肚。涮海鲜还是要比涮牛羊肉要好吃许多的。也许是杀生的缘故，晚上做了奇怪的梦。

12:37 PM

Greetings From The White House

Susan's mother had her 100th birthday in March and she got a card from The White House signed by Laura and George W. Bush telling her this country is so beautiful because of her service, bla, bla, bla. It's really cool. My coworkers told me I could request a greeting for our baby as well.

We checked out the website http://www.whitehouse.gov/greeting/. This applies to US citizens only. Biajee will have to send the baby announcement because I'll be in too much pain to remember all this. I shall have to make a phone list or email list for him very soon because people would want to know about the baby.

It snowed last night. I started to worry about all the seeds we laid in the soil on Saturday. We planted tomatoes, green peppers, green beans, watermelons, etc. Biajee is more concerned that rabbits will come over and eat up our garden before summer falls. He'll actually go to Home Depot and Lowe's to get some fencing ideas while I sit in the 2nd breast feeding class tonight.

Bad Apple

When Biajee told me that The Apple Store in Broomfield would have its grand opening last Saturday, I was really excited. They were giving out free T shirts to the first 1,000 customers. We got up early that morning, had breakfast at McDonald's and pulled in our car to the parking lot at exactly 10 am sharp - the store opening time.

I jumped up and down on the way to the store thinking I would have a T shirt with a design of bitten apple within minutes. Surprisingly enough, the line was half a mile long and there were security guards everywhere. Biajee and I went to the end of the line just to see the length of it. He convinced me that it wouldn't be worth it to stand there for 2 hours. If he hadn't said anything, I would probably have stayed in the queue like everyone else. His rough estimate was that there were over 1,000 people in the line already so even if we had waited, there wouldn't be any T shirt of bitten apple for me. Plus at my current stage, I really couldn't even stand for more than 3 minutes.

There went with my dream of the bitten apple T shirt. Boy, I was so disappointed. Biajee had known long before that there would be people lining up waiting for the T shirts, yet he didn't say a word till we saw the crowd. American consumers are so well-trained and perverted. Biajee showed me the bitten Apple T shirt he got from Xiao Di. I think the apple is too small. You could hardly tell its existence. Why can't they print bigger apples? They just won the first round of lawsuit against Beatles Apple Company.

Baby Shower

Baby shower is an exhausting event. We just broke even because we sent each guest a $10 Starbucks gift card and a Thank You card. I don't think it's right to take things from other people for granted. And I can't have my son indebted to friends' kindness before he is even born.

We went to shop at BabysRus immediately afterwards and spent over $200 there. We got a full crib bedding set for the baby that is more expensive than all our bedding sets added together. That just tells us that we need a better bed and a luxurious bedding set.

We learned how to play Bingo yesterday. Biajee and I don't care for it much. It was patented as well. It's a typical example of how you cannot control your own fate and suitable for very young kids who just start to learn 2-digit numbers.

As time progresses, I'm feeling tired and fatigue every day and I need more and more sleep. Biajee doesn't understand that. He still goes to bed at midnight and wakes up late every morning. He refused to go to the gym with me in the morning and invested all his time internet surfing.

Bike Hoist

We bought a $200 electric drill last night. It's a nice RIDGID one that comes off the base and you can recharge the battery at any time. Needless to say, our bike is high up on the ceiling of the garage now. It's Biajee's master piece yesterday. We tested it for one night to make sure that it won't fall off the hook and hit the cars.

One thing crucial if you own a house: Always get the best tool you need. We had a $30 electric drill that wouldn't work nearly as well as this one. There is a reason for the price difference. If you don't put down your money in the beginning, you'd end up spending more as time goes.

We played Scrabble again last night while the drills are being charged. It's my favorite game since I was a kid. Biajee is getting better and better though. He beat me in the past few rounds, but last night I won. It's all a lucky draw - the person who gets the high-value letters (Q, X, Z) usually stands a better chance to win. I used to have a very nice Scrabble set from my pen pal with all the alphabets nesting on the board, but this cheap one we got from Wal-mart is just a plain board with all letters floating around. I wish some day I could get a travel set like the previous one I owned.

Diaper Discount

Four more boxes of diapers and a pack of swimming pants arrived at our door yesterday. Biajee is an enthusiastic online shopper. We have over 2,000 pieces of diapers around the house at the moment, all with different sizes and brands. The main reason he stocks up all these lovely pampers is that we get a discount from Amazon.com.

I'm very grateful in my heart that he is so involved with the baby's life even before it is born. Most dads wouldn't even bother. I hope our son pees and poops enough every day to thank Daddy for his hard effort.

We got some basic knowledge of breast feeding and lactation last night. The next class they'll bring a nursing mom and show us how to breast feed. All husbands will be banned from that class. But of course, they'll get all the details from the wife afterwards.

Our bike hoist and my jumping rope came in as well. A normal 9 foot jumping rope is too short for me. Biajee had to search on line to find one that's suitable for my height. He tried for 2 hours to install the bike hoist in our garage with vain.

The conclusions are:

1) The maximum weight of this bike hoist is 2 lbs shy of the true weight of the tandem bike;

2) Several screws were damaged during the process;

3) We need a better electric drill to get the job done;

4) We're going to Home Depot tonight.

This set of bike hoist can be used on the single bike we have. In the mean time, Biajee will order a deluxe powerful one from Yahoo's online shopping for our tandem bike.

I enjoy it when he is working on the project. It's a sweet feeling to know he is around the house installing all kinds of different fixtures for us.

Graduation

Believe it or not, we actually got a graduation certificate from the Child Birth class last night. We're going to frame it and put it up in our room. I was quite overjoyed. Biajee brought me back to reality by letting me know that piece of paper would not guarantee me for a safe and easy labor, nor would it lift me from any pain. He can be a very discouraging person from time to time.

It was the least intense class we had in the past five weeks. We started with an amusing Bill Cosby talkshow about labor, went through post partum care for me and did reviews for all the previous classes. The hospital tour was afterwards. Last night was a quiet night. Most rooms were empty. There were probably one or two people there for labor, but they weren't contracting yet. It wasn't a full moon night. Laura said women tend to go into labor when it's full moon or when it's raining. It ties to the cycle of a woman and the low pressure will prompt them to go easier.

I think my due date is around full moon. Maybe my labor won't be that hard then. Although I did dream of myself being in the hospital for 2 nights and the baby still didn't come out. All I was worrying about was that they may send me home at any time.

Biajee will pack Trivial Pursuit into our hospital luggage so that he could ask me questions when I was forced to walk around the building in pain. He also ordered some films and camcorder tapes on line last night to make some historical records of the little lizard I'm going to give birth to. He already started to complain that the couch for the dad doesn't look comfortable for him to sleep on. I told him to bring a sleeping bag. I hope he doesn't sleep like a rock as he usually does. Or he may act like a rat just as last night when he went over all our camera, camcorder, cable and accessory collections.