2 weeks early but all part of God's perfect timing...

It was Monday night, May 14th, and Jon and I were watching one of our favourite TV shows before heading to bed.  I suddenly realized that this was the day that marked 38 weeks of pregnancy for me and quickly asked Jon to take a picture so I could document it.  

Not sure why, but as he took the picture, I had a really strong feeling that this would be my last pregnancy picture.  Something in me just KNEW that this baby was coming... soon.

We finished watching the show and turned in for the night.  Jon was asleep instantly (no surprise) but I tossed and turned for a while.  Then a thunderstorm started around midnight so I got up to put buckets under all the drips throughout the house (this house is somewhat like a siv to be honest).  I wandered back to bed, exhausted and ready to sleep.

Suddenly, at around 2am, I awoke to what felt like I was wetting the bed (sorry if that's TMI) and literally jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom.  There was more gushing and I started to think that maybe my water had actually broken.  I wasn't sure what I should do-- I didn't want to wake Jon from his deep sleep but I was also really unsure if labour was pending.  I know that may sound strange but with Callie, I was induced twice before labour began and it wasn't until I was almost through labour that my water broke, so I wasn't 100% of what to expect.  I finally decided to wake Jon and we both agreed that I should call my nurse, Lori, to see what she recommended.

Sure enough, based on what I shared with her, she was fairly certain that my water had broken and that I should just try to get some rest until contractions started, or, if nothing happened, then to head to the hospital in the early morning.

I went back to bed (with a big towel underneath me, to be on the safe side) and sure enough... instantly more gushing, so by now I was SURE my water had broken and that this baby was on its way.  

Sleep eluded me (obviously) as my mind raced about everything that was about to happen.  I couldn't quite believe that my "motherly intuition" had been right and that this baby was coming, whether we were ready or not. 

Contractions started around 3am but they were very sporadic and didn't last long.  But by 5am, the contractions were coming strong and fast and by 6am, we knew it was time to call our friend, Sandy, to come stay at the house with Callie, and have Carmen take us to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital at around 7am and I swear I could've kissed the nurse when she reported, "You're 4cm!"  

"Hallelujah!" was all I could think... I'm almost 1/2 way already!  

They admitted me and sent me straight to the delivery room where I continued to labour for the next few hours.  

After about an hour or two in the delivery room, I started to beg for drugs.  

"Please, PLEASE can I have something!  I NEEEED drugs!" I pleaded with Jon.  He went and asked the nurse and she said that she'd have to check how dilated I was before they could give me anything.  And much to my delight and horror, I was already 6cm and so they couldn't give me anything.  They offered me 2 Tylenol (which still makes me crack up with laughter... seriously!?  What is Tylenol supposed to do?  Ease my... headache??). :)  I took them but knew that it was going to be a very hard and painful rest of the labour.

By about 10 am, my (wonderful and amazing) doctor came in to check how far along I was.  She reported that I was already 9cm and that if I pushed, I would probably fully dilate.  

So, I gave one HARD push and in that one push, dilated to 10cm.  

Now it was "GO" time and I was... utterly exhausted.  I remember feeling like I couldn't possibly do the rest.  I do believe I even declared that several times and informed everyone that I was "finished." :)

But, after about 35 minutes of pushing, I heard the sweet cry of our baby boy and couldn't hold back the tears of joy and relief!  It was over!  I had survived!!  Thank you Jesus for this precious little life!

Pictured below, my incredible nurse, Lori;

and to the right, my amazing OBGYN, Dr. Supreeya.

These ladies were both INCREDIBLE!  I am truly, forever indebted to them!

Thank-you for everything!! 

Holding our sweet little Marek Jonathan...

Bonding with Daddy...

Big sister Callie meeting her new baby brother for the first time.

She was so excited and SO proud :)

And, of course, our dear friends all came to visit!

Here's Auntie Sandy holding Marek...

The happy Reimers...

And the Owens too...

Our first family picture...

And now, a week and a half later, life moves forward.  Although its a bit chaotic at times, we're so thankful for Marek and Callie and are overwhelmed with gratitude for this awesome privilege of being parents.  Marek has been an amazing baby so far (eats and sleeps so well!) and Callie has been a very proud and doting big sister.

Thank-you to everyone who has sent words of encouragement & congratulations, gifts and meals!  We are totally in awe of the support we've had, even being so far away from "home."  Just more proof of God's goodness and faithfulness!

Introducing...

Marek Jonathan Esau

Born May 15, 2012

@ 10:38am

Weighing 6 lbs. 7 oz. 

& measuring 19.5" long

He surprised us by being 2 weeks early but we're thrilled he's finally here!

More pictures and details to come.

That crazy little thing called 'life'...

Wow.  This blog is in serious need of a good, long update.  Its amazing how crazy life has been lately and how "keeping the world informed" has just fallen by the wayside.  Sorry to all of you faithful readers!  Considering we are just weeks away from our little family addition, I anticipate having a lot more time at home, and hoping that will mean a bit more time for frequent updates... even if they have to be short and sweet.

View from our hotel room in Penang, Malaysia

We actually just returned home after a 2 week hiatus.  As many of you know, we had more than a few visa problems this time around and ended up having to leave the country in order to get new visas.  Seeing as we had an upcoming retreat with our fellow Thailand missionaries (TRAC-- Thailand Retreat and Consult) in Phuket, Malaysia was the closest option.  We were actually set to take our 1/2 year mark vacation around the same time, but unfortunately, instead of celebrating 6 months in Thailand, we had to get visa stuff done instead.  Oh well.  We tried to make the most of our time in Penang and did the best we could to make it our "holiday."

Much to Callie's delight, our hotel had the Disney Jr. channel in English.
Much of our free time was spent cuddling and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse :)

Thankfully, we got our new visas with little to no hassle and were relieved to know we could actually return to Thailand in time for TRAC.  But, just a few days before we were set to head to Phuket, an earthquake hit Indonesia, consequently affecting us in Malaysia as well.

It was the CRAZIEST feeling!  Jon and I were sitting in our hotel room (on the 20th floor, might I add) one afternoon, watching TV while Callie napped, when all of sudden, our room literally starting rumbling and moving back and forth.  We stared at each other in total disbelief-- quickly realizing that we were both thinking the same thing-- "Is it just me or are you feeling that too!?"  We both jumped up and sprang into action.  I grabbed our passports and went to get Callie while Jon grabbed the backpack and our laptop.  The movement was intense enough that it had woken Callie from a dead sleep.

We grabbed her and ran into the hallway towards the elevator, feeling unsure about what to do.  Do you use an elevator during an earthquake?  Well... we sorta had to because I wasn't about to walk 20 flights of stairs at 34 weeks pregnant :)  So, we hopped in the elevator and prayed that we'd get to the main floor safely.  When we got downstairs, people seemed fairly calm and no one was running around panic-stricken, so we sat down in the lobby to wait to see if any of the hotel staff would say anything.  Jon finally asked a staff member that was walking by and he informed us that an earthquake had hit the coast of Indonesia and that we had just felt the after shocks of that.  He reassured us that everything was fine and that we had nothing to worry about.

So, rather than sit around and have Callie start to wonder what was going on, we decided to take her swimming to distract her (and ourselves, to be honest).  Jon ran back upstairs, got our swimsuits and we headed to the pool.  The pool was right on the beach and after being in the water for no more than 10 minutes, a staff came up to me and said, "I'm sorry Ma'am but I'm going to have to ask you to get out of the pool.  A tsunami warning has been issued and we need everyone to return to their rooms until we give further directions."

WHAT!?!?!  A tsunami warning!?  All I could think was, "Are you kidding me!?"
So, out of the pool we went (Callie was not very amused after having only 10 minutes in the water) and back up to our room on the 20th floor.  And we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Until finally I told Jon that we needed to get supper.  He went down to the lobby to order McDonalds (isn't Asia amazing... fast food delivers here!) and find out what the status was on the potential tsunami.  The man at the front desk informed him that IF the tsunami was going to hit, it was estimated to come around 8-9pm that night.    So, we ate supper in our room, Callie watched cartoons and Jon and I sat out on our deck and watched the ocean all night... just waiting to see if the tsunami would come.

Well... thank the Lord, it never came.  Although that would've made for a pretty exciting newsletter, we're very grateful that we didn't have to experience something that scary :)

We spent our last couple of days just enjoying some family time at the pool and park.  Our hotel was very "kid-friendly" and Callie had an absolute blast splashing in the kiddie pool and sliding on the beach front play structure.

Now that we had our visas in hand and had had a few days to rest, it was time to head back to Thailand and join the rest of our fellow missionaries in Phuket for our annual conference/retreat.  

  

Flying into Phuket

The orchids in this country are INCREDIBLE... they grow like wild flowers everywhere!

We had an awesome week in Phuket, spending time with our Thailand MB Mission family, enjoying the beauty of Phuket and taking in lots of sessions/meetings.  The hotel was great, the company was great and the food was great!  We're so thankful for the friendships that were developed/deepened during TRAC and look forward to the next time we'll all be together again.

And that brings us to now.  We're back into the regular routine of life which includes language school everyday and lots of preparing for the little one that is due to join the family in a little over 4 weeks.  We'll be writing another module exam early next week so we continue to appreciate your prayers as we press forward with this language.  We have really enjoyed the reading/writing aspect and are finding that it opens a whole new world now that we can begin to read signs, menus and other written paraphernalia.  I'm hoping to get in at least another 2 weeks of language study before the baby comes-- we saw my doctor last night and she's thinking I'll likely be early, so we'll see what happens.  We'll be sure to keep you posted!

Baby Callie vs. Baby #2...

= a very different picture. :)

Here's what I looked like at around 26 weeks when I was pregnant with Callie...

And here's what I look like now at 28 weeks with Baby #2...

Today marks the start of the 3rd trimester and I can't believe that we're already on the "home stretch" of this pregnancy.  The exhaustion has set in again (though I'm not sure it ever really left) but other than that, I'm feeling really good overall.  Thankful for the disappearance of the "phantom pain" and looking forward to the arrival of this little bundle. :)

Repeat scenario...

As many of you have probably heard through the grape vine, 

I spent 3 nights here last weekend...

Chiang Mai Ram Hospital

... and it definitely wouldn't have been my first choice for weekend plans. ;)

I don't really have the energy to rehash everything that happened but let's just say, it all started with excruciating acute lower back pain (that made its way to my lower abdomen as well) and eventually had me (almost) incapacitated.  A complete repeat to what happened during my pregnancy with Callie a few years ago.  The Thai doctors were equally as "stumped" as the North American doctors were the last time this happened, simply because the pregnancy made everything more complicated when trying to get answers.  They couldn't do a CT scan (obviously) and so they had to work with what they had-- ultrasounds, urine samples, blood work and observing me.  I saw an OBGYN, a surgeon, a urologist and my maternity doctor.  At one point, they were fairly certain it was appendicitis and were prepared to do an appendectomy, but thankfully, the ultrasound and bloodwork ruled that out.  Then they figured it was either a kidney infection, kidney stones or a ureter obstruction and were thinking of doing a minor surgery in which they insert a stint into the ureter to clear any type of blockage.  But again, thankfully, they didn't go ahead with it.  I wasn't exactly keen on the idea of surgery just a couple of months before I will be delivering a baby.  And thankfully, the results they had weren't conclusive enough to go ahead with it.

Anyway... after 3 nights and almost 4 days in hospital, the pain had subsided enough that they were able to send me home.  They still weren't sure what the cause was, but gave me some (baby-safe) muscle relaxants and told me to come back if the pain came back worse than the last time.

I'm happy to say that I've been feeling much better (though I have had a few more "pain episodes" since being home).  Overall, I'm hoping and praying we're "in the clear" now and have tried to get back to normal life as much as possible.

I also just want to say thank-you again for everyone's concern and all the prayers that were prayed on our behalf. Both Jon and I feel richly blessed to have such a strong support network behind us.  Although its tough to be away from loved ones in situations like this, there is comfort that comes with knowing how many people care about us and are interceding for us.  So, thank-you!
I'm now just 1 week shy of being 7 months pregnant and would definitely covet your prayers for a healthy remainder of this pregnancy and a safe, smooth-as-possible delivery when the time comes.  I'll continue to keep you updated as much as I can.

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend!  Blessings for the week ahead.

The latest Thai saying...

We learned a new phrase in language class yesterday and thought it was very fitting for something we've been wanting to share with you.

Here's the question:
"Khrawpkhrua khun mii kii khon kha?"  (How many people are in your family?)

And my answer would be:
"Khrawpkhrua dichan mii sii khon kha."  (I have 4 people in my family.)

Do you get it??  If not, I'll spell it out for you.

Our family currently has 3 members... Jon, Callie and myself.  But, as of late May 2012, we will have 4 members.  Yes, that's right.  We are expecting our 2nd child!  Certainly not what we were expecting for our 1st year in Thailand, but we're excited and thankful that the Lord's timing is always right.
I'll be very honest... it has made for an extra tough transition with exceptional exhaustion and morning sickness amidst moving to a new country and culture and starting full-time language training, but I'm finally feeling quite good these days and we're getting more and more excited to meet this little one.

So... were you as surprised as we were?? ;)