Pregnant in China!

I'm doing so catch up from the holidays. I was so busy and sick during that time that I failed to make any posts, but we really did have a wonderful holiday- so here's a start to some of our holiday pictures. These are from Grandpa Ropers birthday party.

 

WARNING: This is a pregnancy post, symptoms may be described.

 

Symptom 1: So I thought my smelling abilities had kind of died down, but while we were in Hong Kong we passed by this little food joint. It smelled so bad, like a billion times worse than the dried fish section at my local Wal-Mart. It was just plain FOUL and I started dry heaving in the middle of a crowded street.

 

Usually I have pretty good control and can stop myself but there was absolutely no hope. I tried to hide it by shoving my face into Ezra's shoulder but it was all in vain. So much for not looking like a snobby American. 

 

Symptom 2: So I'm watching Sandlot. You know the movie with funny little baseball playing kids. I'm 5 minutes into the movie and it comes to the part where "smalls" is trying to make friends so he goes out to play with the guys. He can't throw the ball and all the boys start laughing at him and he runs away. What do I do…I start crying! I fought back tears the whole movie! It's Sandlot for crying out loud—not "It's a beautiful life." Holy Cow! I wish there was a pressure point on my wrist or a button I could press to turn the emotions off.

 

As far as hormones go most of the time I feel pretty much like my normal self. But there have been a few instances where I've lost a little bit of self control. Like when I was having problems making spaghetti a couple of Sundays ago.

 

This explains it perfectly: "As the body creates more hormones in larger quantities to meet the demands of growing twins, Mom's mood swings may be more and more evident, making even the worse week of PMS look like a day at the park in comparison. A warning to those who work, live, and play with Moms Pregnant with Twins: Going from tears, to happy, to irrational, to hyper-speed and back again in the span of five minutes is not uncommon!"

 

You're probably thinking "good thing she's in China." Lol- Sorry Ez!

 

Symptom 3: Right now I am completely amazed at how much food I can eat.  I've always been the girl who just wants half the sandwich. Now I eat the sandwich everything that came with it and I'm ready for the next one. It's been so weird! I often think, "Did I really just eat all of that-whoa!" There is only one cruddy part about this. Every time I wake up in the middle of the night to go the bathroom (which seems like 14 times a night) I have to eat other wise I wake up nauseous. So I literally eat ALL day long.  

 

I am beginning to miss western food terribly! Lets face it Chinese food is pretty much the weirdest food on the planet, and nothing I've had here comes even remotely close to panda express! I could live off of orange chicken, but its nowhere to be found.

 

I feel like Po from Kung Fu Panda. Food has become a major motivation- If you tempt me with a potato or a glass of milk- You might be able to get me to do the spilts on a beam in my living room! When I visit in April I am coming back with a suitcase full of food!

 

Symptom 4: Other than the normal pregnancy symptoms I'm just so so tired. I can tell my body is working hard to "grow" two babies.  I get worn out so quickly.   The other day while Ezra was at work I went to Wal-Mart and decided to find all the western food in the store. (which would probably only take up half a shelf if they put it all together.)

 

 I went isle by isle looking for "normal food." After a while I started to feel sick. I felt like I needed to sit down but I just ignored it and kept going, I really wanted to finish my quest. After a couple more isles I finally decided, "I don't feel good, I'll go check out." 

 

Being the smarty that I am I choose a short line, but the guy in front of me had the fullest cart I've seen (in China). Did I mention grocery lines are a great time for people to stare at me? It's something I don't think I'll EVER get used to-oh well. I'll just keep pretending I don't notice.

 

I stand there feeling cruddy thinking, "I'll just tough it out and go straight home and eat and take a nap, I can do this, I can do this, I'm okay, I can do this." It wasn't long before I was thinking "oh man, I'm gonna pass out, I'm gonna pass out in Wal-Mart!" So I ditch my cart and push my way to the front of the store where there are a few benches. At this point my ears are ringing, my vision is blurring, and I can feel the color leaving my face. Luckily I make it to the bench and sit down. At this point EVERYBODY is staring at me, the green white girl.

 

I shove a few hard candies in my mouth and put my head in my hands and think, "this is horrible." I really did need the food and things in my cart so I call Ezra and ask him what I should do. After a few minutes I get up (everyone is still staring at me) grab my cart and get back in another line. At this point I'm really wishing I knew mandarin so I could explain my situation to a Good Samaritan that would let me cut in line. As I'm standing there this little lady starts comin up like she's going to cut in front of me.

 

At this point I had had it, and I was not going to put up with any Chinese cutting in line nonsense. So I look her straight in the eyes and shake my head. "There is no way in H..E..-double that I am going to let you get in front of me." She gets the picture and gets behind me. After a few minutes I see her making verbal contact with the guy in front of me—probably her son. This little lady was just trying to get back in line with her family.

 

Yeah……So at that point I was feeling like one big, nauseous, pregnant, American Jerk!

 

Anyway lesson learned. Now I make sure I listen to my body- if it says eat, I eat. If it says sit down, I sit down. If it says sleep, I sleep. I can't afford to be found passed out in Wal-Mart or anywhere else. They seriously would not know what to do with me. And it would probably take like seven full-grown Chinese men to lift me.

 

Ezra has been telling pretty much everyone we run into that I'm pregnant with twins. As soon as they hear the word "twins" they automatically look at my belly and then they get this confused look on their face like "what the heck, this guys a liar." Then I have to explain that I'm only three months along so I'm not very big yet. I kinda wish he'd stop telling everyone, but at the same time it makes me happy to know that he's so excited to be a dad.

 

I still can't BELEIVE I'm pregnant with twins! - Ezra and I joked about it before we knew. But in my mind it was an impossibility. My brother Nathan said "I bet you're gonna have twins" and I was like "no way dude" and didn't think anything of it. Now he prides himself on the fact that he "totally called it."

 

Okay all you Mom's or soon to be Mom's out there. I need to know if I'm normal or if I'm being totally paranoid and just need to chill. In between appointments I find myself getting worried. I think stupid things like "Are they still in there? Are their hearts still beating? Are they growing normal? What if ones way bigger that the other?" All these questions keep running through my mind, I just wish I had my own ultrasound machine so I could do check ups everyday.

 

I'm probably a little bit worse than I would be because I'm in China and the thought of having anything go wrong while I'm here is just plain scary! But I guess as with everything else I just need to put my trust in Lord. What supposed to happen will happen. I just want to make sure I'm doing all I can. 

 

Overall I'm enjoying being pregnant especially since the nausea has begun to die down. It was really hard for Ezra to see me so sick and miserable and not be able to do anything about it. He's been very sensitive to all my pregnancy needs. He basically waits on me hand and foot.

 

The transition to China has been made much easier because of him. He makes meals, does laundry, brings me food, does dishes, and makes sure I'm comfortable. Plus he works very hard. I am so thankful for a husband that takes such good care of me.

 

I feel like time is flying by (most days) and now I'm onto my second trimester. That means I'm a third of the way through- holy cow! I just can't wait until I can start to feel these two little guys moving around! I also can't wait to know what they are. I have these little daydreams about the possibilities and I picture them all cuddled up next to each other and it just so fun! Boys! Girls! Both! We'll take it!