I'm in Thailand right now, having just finished my 2nd ultrasound check up. I was disappointed that they couldn't see the baby's gender today, because the little bottom was resting right at the bottom of the uterous so they couldn't see under. They said all of the other measurments were good. The baby was clasping its hands together in front of its chin. It looked really Thai. They also changed the due date a little sooner to October 25th. It sure is neat to see something human-like in there. I am 20 weeks now.

We only have 11 more days (not that I'm counting...) before we go to visit family in the USA. I am done with all of the hard stuff at work. I just have to have one more review day with my students and then a class party. I want to tell you that teaching University students is alot less stressful than teaching elementary school. Sometimes they can actually understand what I am saying. They are excited about the baby too. In Laos there is a tradition that the mother sits on a special bed over a fire for about 4 weeks after giving birth. It is to dry out the womb or something. My students asked me if I was going to do this, and they were sad that I said no. They said "But we want to come over and play cards with you!". I was like "We can play cards without the fire."

Lao people really like children. They might spoil the baby.

Sometimes I would like to live in a more developed country, but other times i feel very content here. I get starry eyed when we go to Udon Thani (where the hospital is) and see all of the nice houses and the super nice department store that sells DRYERS. And they have alot of English shows on cable, too. But I also worry that if we moved back to the US, life would be so busy and stressful that I wouldn't have alot of energy to invest in the baby and future babies. I want to be a mom to them.

ckb

Saturday, Jun. 12, 2004 at 2:21 PM