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Three quarters of a year! It’s genuinely hard to believe we’re already here, this month felt completely nonexistent. Not much because of Adelyn, but rather our insane life changes of moving, packing, and preparing for big things. Though, if you … Continue reading
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That’s right! Two months! Can you believe it?? We certainly can’t. Our little one is growing in strength and personality by the day. She’s quite a handful at times, but we’re blessed with so many precious moments mixed in with … Continue reading
Here it is, a 3rd trimester update 1/3 of the way through my 3rd trimester. I frequently feel like I’ve got to keep on top of giving you all updates about Baby Girl and the progression of this pregnancy, but at times it feels there’s nothing to say, and at other times there’s too much to type out! So, let’s see what details I can hash out for you all as I dive into my eighth month of pregnancy…
For starters, I’m 32 weeks …well, sort of. I’ve seen quite a few doctors over the course of this pregnancy (one of the odd, but wonderful concepts of Taiwan’s health care – no real consequences as you try to find the doctor and hospital that is just right for you), and I’ve heard a lot of different things, but one thing that seems to be consistent is that Baby Girl is just a tad bit small. Well, they think. I know as well as many that the measurements (especially in the 3rd trimester) aren’t the most reliable, and even my doc admitted that their technique for the head measurement is even less reliable since it isn’t a perfect circle… Anyway, I’m not too concerned (anymore) with Baby Girl’s size, but apparently the 5-7 days that she’s been somewhat consistently behind was enough to warrant a due date change. While Baby Girl couldn’t care less when her due date is, the doctors are now expecting a July 30th arrival (Happy Birthday Mom!), as opposed to the previously anticipated July 27th… While none of this means much in terms of when she actually gets here, I’ll be the first to admit that when a momma walks into her appointment excitedly thinking she’s one day away from 32 weeks and the doctor tells her, “Uh, no, you’re just barely 31….” it’s a tad bit disheartening. But don’t worry, I’m getting over the surprise and finding my own sort of compromise at 32ish weeks. After all, it could totally screw up my weekly pregnancy photo schedule. 😉
Speaking of photos, we have more photos of Baby Girl than we know what to do with. An interesting thing about ultrasounds in Taiwan: there’s a lot of them. I mean, A LOT. Like, at literally every doctor’s appointment. And I’ve had probably a third more than the normal pregnant lady because I saw a doctor frequently during my stomach virus and then saw doctors even more with all my commitment issues. I use to think this was quite the unexpected joy – I mean, think of all those pictures! And for the first 5 months, it was pretty great getting to see her so often, and it added comfort in the months before I actually started feeling her move around. However, in the last month, I’ve begun to see how the frequency can sort of backfire. In our last few ultrasounds, we’ve learned a bit about baby’s position. Currently she’s breech, and she has been for what feels like forever. She lies awfully low in my abdomen and my bladder definitely gets fought more for space than my ribs do, so it’s no surprise to me that every 2 weeks the doctor says “Well, she’s still breech. Keep doing those knee chest positions!” Because I will. Because even though I’m no good at feeling what body parts are where, I can definitely assess her kicking pattern and I can definitely tell she’s still breech…
The most recent news came Sunday when we discovered she has the cord wrapped around her neck. We’re aware this isn’t uncommon, and it doesn’t exactly raise concern, but it was a bit scary for us new-time parents. As we researched more it seems it’s actually very common, but not usually discovered until delivery because, you know, you have to have a 4D ultrasound to see it, and back home ultrasounds are much less frequent than they are here. Needless to say, the frequent ultrasounds are becoming sort of bittersweet.
However, all in all, the three of us are doing quite well. I’m having the occasional backache and trying hard to balance my veggies and my ice cream. We’ve made a TON of furniture purchases this month which has hit our bank accounts in the gut (in Taiwan you get paid monthly, not every 2 weeks, it makes the end of the month a bit of a struggle at times), but it’s nice to be crossing things off the list. For months, we’ve shopped and shopped and shopped and budgeted and shopped some more for all the furniture we were wanting to get/replace. We’ve been incredibly fortunate that every furniture purchase (except the crib) has been almost half of what we would have originally paid. We’ve found many of the items on buy&sell websites for the area as well as many cheaper/better options at some of the stores on what felt like our 100th time of going shopping. It’s been a bit exhausting, but it’s encouraging to know we’re saving some money, and we’re slowly getting our apartment ready to be a home for a family of 3.
Finally, for the big news, we’ve decided on a name for Baby Girl!
Now the disappointing news, we’re currently not telling you.
Basically, I’m bursting at the seam for you all to know her precious name, but at the same time, I’m loving sharing this surprise with the one and only best friend who is as excited as I am to welcome this child into the world. So for now, we wait. Speaking of that best friend, I could not imagine a better man to be walking by my side through all of this. He puts up with my indecisiveness, my complaints, my aches and pains, my exhaustion, my inability to pick up anything off the floor, and my frequent tears. He is such a rock and has hardly batted an eye at any of it. What a stud, and what a great father he is and will be.
At the end of all this, I suppose the main points to take away are really our foremost prayer requests. You see, if I’m completely honest with you, this pregnancy has been way more manageable at times than I expected. The back aches, the growing belly, the summer heat; they haven’t bothered me nearly as much as I would have expected by this point (I know, I know, I still have 2 months). But the other things, the unexpected things, the “not-related-to-pregnancy-but-made-harder-because-of-it” things; those have gotten to me. We’ve had many unexpected expenses, many physical ailments for Jon and I both, and some scary surprises including a scooter accident back in April (don’t worry, everyone is A-OKAY). All in all, it’s been emotionally very trying for me and very physically and mentally taxing for Jon. We’ve been well taken care of, supported, encouraged, and loved through it all, first by God and also by sweet friends, but it’s been hard. So we ask for prayers. We ask for safety. We ask for protection. We ask for a better fetal position. We ask for a birth that lets all three of us leave the hospital together as a healthy family. And we ask for faith. This journey has been beautiful, rewarding, and empowering, but it has been hard.
Thank you for walking with us. We love you and cherish your love and prayers.
That’s right everyone, Baby Stutte is a…
GIRL!
While most of you already know this and the news is ‘old,’ the excitement is still growing for us for our precious baby girl that should be here at the end of July. I’m 23 weeks along and growing rapidly. It’s amazing the difference I could see almost daily throughout weeks 22 and 23. Things are changing fast, and we’re trying our best to keep up with it all!
Unfortunately, it’s again disappointing that I can’t have easy conversations with many of you concerning this most recent update, so let me again use this as a platform to keep you all in the loop…
We’re incredibly excited about Baby Girl and getting more excited day by day. Truth be told, we had hoped for a boy because we both have older brothers that have played an important role in our lives growing up. We had looked forward to the idea of having a future “big brother” the way we both did. However, Jon’s also been blessed with terrific older (and younger) sisters, and I’ve welcomed many wonderful sisters-in-law into my life as well, and we know full well that our future “big sis” can be just as much a blessing to our other children, too.
That being said, I wish I liked pink more. Really. That’s probably my greatest (superficial) disappointment. Pink’s great and all, but I’m more for greens and yellows and blues anyway (turquoise is lovely). Besides hand-me-downs, right?
And, no, we don’t have a name yet, though we do have many options we like. It’s a lot easier knowing what gender we’re having, but we are the worst at making decisions. And in Taiwan, you don’t even have to name your kid for a month after they’re born, so, hey, we have time.
Besides we’ve had plenty else to keep us busy. The last month or two has really been kicking our butts. It’s truly been one thing after another, and while some things have been ‘expected’ or even good, we’ve had our fair share of new challenges and struggles – most of them unrelated to the pregnancy, but highly magnified because of it. In the last month,
– I fully recovered from the stomach virus (after 3 weeks, 4 hospitals, 5 doctors, and a whole ton of medication that I mostly didn’t take) and I’m feeling so grateful to be at my most ‘normal’ level of pregnancy yet. My stomach, appetite, and a bit of my energy are finally approaching the second trimester bliss everyone kept telling me about.
– We’ve been able to resume Chinese lessons, and actually spend a bit more time studying and practicing.
– I was able to study for and pass my scooter driver’s license test.
– Jon started a brand new baby class at work for 3 hours every day. It’s five students aged 2-7 years old… Lots of chaos, plenty of tears, and even it’s fair share of vomit.
– And we’ve NEARLY decided on an apartment.
Well, sort of. We just recently looked at what we’ve decided will be our last apartment viewing. After 4 months of looking (or trying to look) at nearly 30 apartments (both of which are an absurd number in Taiwan), we’re worn out. At this point, our mind is so focused on making changes and plans for the baby, that we can’t keep adding other possible variables to the mix. We have enough of that as it is. So currently we’re trying to decide between the last place we saw and staying exactly where we are. Stay tuned, who knows, maybe in another month we’ll have actually decided on a place to live…
Work has had it’s own challenges as well with new classes, teacher changes, one branch closing, and lots of classes combining. Not to mention that I battled the stomach virus just as one teacher was in the hospital with pneumonia, another dealing with the flu, a third whose wife had just had a baby that stayed in the hospital on and off for a short while, and all this soon after a teacher had just come back from 2 months out with a broken jaw. Like I said, it’s been a rough month.
Our current preoccupations include trying to eradicate some mold, decide on an apartment, figure out what in the world we need in order to care for a baby, and prepare for our friend, Kristin, coming to stay with us in just a couple days. I’d say we just like to keep busy, but…
That’s the basics of our lives at the moment. Crazy and chaotic, but protected by a good and loving God, sprinkled with some incredible friends (one of which got a baby sitter and spent her afternoon doing all she could to clean the mold out of our kitchen and bathroom!) and family (the packages and letters from loved ones have been so dearly treasured) and partnered with the best friend and husband I could ever imagine. Life has been hard, but I’m so grateful to be walking through it with him.
Speaking of him, my husband is going to be the daddy to a little baby girl! Will that not be the most adorable thing?? Seriously, I look forward to that every day.
beautifuldaughter 