Good reminders for this Advent season.

fire alarms and beetles.

The excitement started last week when we had some of Olive's nurses over for dinner. We were all just beginning to enjoy dinner together when I started to smell something burning. As you may already be aware, pregnant women have an exceptional sense of smell compared to the average human. Nobody else seemed to smell it but me, but about 2 minutes later the fire alarm started blaring in our apartment building.

There are 24 stories in our building and we are the 18th. Rusty's first response was, "Lynette, you can't come! Stay here and I'll go check it out first" to which my response was, "No way! I'd rather have the baby today than burn alive!" He agreed that was sensible and we went on our way. As we walked past the 11th floor smoke was billowing out of the hallway and startled people were running in all directions. 

After reaching the bottom of the stairs we hung out with all of the other tenants for the next four hours until everything was under control. Later we heard through the grapevine that someone had been smoking on their bed and their mattress had caught on fire. 

In the end it was a really fun night meeting lots of other tenants in our building. I had some contractions for an hour after making it to the bottom, but they subsided after I was able to lie down. My legs were also sore a few days later, but this again felt nice after feeling like a human sloth for the last 2.5 months.

Moving on to our next story of excitement for the week...

Last Thursday Rusty got a strange red blotch under his eye, and two days later I developed a matching one. Over the next few days mine started to blister and leak fluid (very attractive). Then I started getting more painful blisters on my fingers, my side, and on my leg. At this point I started to freak out a bit and research what this could possibly be. 

After reading about shingles online I was convinced I had it. The symptoms I read about were...

1) Fluid filled vesicles (little blisters) only on one side of your body.

2) Not itchy, but very painful.

3) The blisters usually follow your nerve endings, so show up a band or a strip

ALL of which I had. Then I was started reading about shingles and how dangerous is was for a pregnant mothers, and how birth should be prolonged for at least  5-21 days of a breakout. 

I continued to read startling things like, "it can be fatal for a newborn baby to be born while the mother is having an outbreak because the baby can contract chicken pox at birth and their immune systems are too weak to fight off an infection this strong," and "shingles near your eyes can be very dangerous, even with risks of becoming blind" and "you must go to the doctor within three days of symptoms so that medication can be given in time to treat it"...all very reassuring facts. 

Rusty was in Chiang Rai for the weekend, and every time we talked on the phone we both were getting a little more nervous that my symptoms were continuing to worsen rather than getting better. As soon as he arrived back on Monday morning we headed over to the hospital. 

When we walked in to see the dermatologist she briefly glanced at our faces and my hands, and patiently waited for some silence to talk, while I nervously went on explaining our symptoms and my self-made diagnosis of shingles. Her first response was, "Well, good news. It's not shingles, it's bug bites." 

I went on to make sure she understood all of my symptoms such as the oozing blisters,  that it's only on one side of my body, that it in the pattern of a line...and blah blah blah. Her next response was, "it's just a beetle bite." 

She then showed us pictures on google images of this little black and red beetle that she was certain had bitten us. 

I told her that I was on bed rest and that I never get to leave my room, and wondered how it was possible that I had been bitten by this bug? She looked at me for the 14th time and said, "It's a beetle bite. No need to worry."

At this point I am quickly becoming (and rightly so) one of her most annoying patients ever--especially in a culture where people rarely question a word the doctors say. 

When we left her office I was feeling very relieved that she didn't think it was shingles and still   convinced we needed a second opinion. Rusty kept telling me to just let it go, and reminding me that she is the dermatologist, not me. 

I was still feeling cynical throughout the day until in the evening when I was lying on the bed and low and behold there was a little devil bug crawling on my bed that looked EXACTLY like the pictures she had shown me!!!!

I have never been so happy to see a little bug in all my life. It was confirmed that I did not have shingles and that I had just been attacked in my sleep by this dirty little creature. 

Pretty crazy that after living for four years in Chiang Rai, we've never been bitten by a bug like this one, and then we move to the big city and we are attacked by this sneaky little beetle. 

So folks, those are my exciting points of last week.  Who knew that fire alarms and beetles could bring me so much excitement. Although it doesn't take much to feel exciting these days.

Christmas is coming...

Source: 4.bp.blogspot.com via Danielle on Pinterest

As most of your already now, we have been living in Chiang Rai, Thailand for the last 4 years working with the Akha Youth Development Center. One of my roles there is running the child sponsorship program. The students living at our center are either orphans, come from very remote villages (without access to education),  or have other special circumstances.

Every year for Christmas we try to raise some extra money (about $10/kid) , and take each of them shopping to the local market in town and let them pick out something for themselves that they need or have really been wanting. In the past they've used their money to buy a new pair of shoes, a watch, a school bag, etc.

Though the thought of a new pair of shoes might not be very exciting for kids you know in America, for these kiddos it is a super exciting gift, especially when their toes are poking through their current pair.

Over the last few years we've had strangers, and other friends who have said, "If you ever have a special need, please let us know." So, here I am letting you know. I have made a point of not using my blog as a place to raise money for needs or projects at the foundation. However, recently have had a few e-mails from blog readers asking questions about current needs here, so I decided to share about this particular opportunity to give.

If you would like to give any amount of money to the Christmas fund for the kids this year, please e-mail me. All gifts are tax-deductible. Any money raised that goes above the need for Christmas will be used to compensate for around 10 of our other students who still don't have a sponsor.

Christmas Gift Idea

The perfect Christmas gift idea for the overwhelmed mother who needs an escape from chaos into the cyber world of facebook and pinterest. Also handy for the distracted student trying to study or write a paper in a coffee shop. : >)

Source: instructables.com via Lynette on Pinterest

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Loy Kratong

photo by Sangdao Sattra

I'm laying in my bed watching a few lanterns float by my window on the 18th floor, and staring at the full moon. This little one is doing acrobatic moves in inside me, and I'm reminded I have so much to be thankful for.  Fireworks repeatedly explode right outside of my window, and loud dance music is still blaring at 2 am. Tonight Thailand is celebrating Loy Kratong, one of my favorite Thai holidays. Candles are floating down the river on rafts crafted from banana leaves, and the skies glow with color. If you are outside partaking in the beauty, then you are most likely also dodging fireworks and rockets shooting in all directions. If you're interested in learning more about the meaning behind this holiday, click here. 

32 Whopping Weeks!

Well, I've made it to 32 weeks which is very exciting. This means 7 weeks of bedrest down and about five more to go. I had my doctors appointment tonight and everything with the baby looked good, and the doctor estimated him to weigh about 4 lbs. He didn't check my cervix or if I was dilated. I'm wondering if this was to keep me calm, or if this is just his standard treatment. Although I am curious to know what's going on down there, knowing wouldn't really help anything. At this point I am just to stay put in bed unless I have contractions.

 My sanity is still surprsingly in tact after lying in bed for almost two months. Between visitors, Rusty, school work, projects for the Akha Youth Development Center, writing letters, planning English lessons for The Sold Project, reading, SKYPE,  phone conversations, playing scrabble, pinterest, and episodes of LOST I am surviving.

Lots of people are also concerned about Rusty's sanity. Visitors have helped him a lot. He's been going to the gym to help release his pent up aggression from staying in a small studio with me all the time, making or buying me food for all meals, washing the dishes, sweeping the floors, doing the laundry, and keeping me sane. He has been amazing. He's hoping to get back to Chiang Rai again soon to catch up on work that he is getting behind in. However, every time he says he is leaving he gets nervous that I'll go into labor and he'll miss the birth of this baby too. Tonight the doctor gave him permission to go to Chiang Rai and said he should be able to stop my labor for at least a day (enough time for Rusty to get back here). We'll see...

My chicken legs though have further imploded. No more muscles left of the little that was there to begin with.

I will try to write and update on the flooding in the next few days. People are still saying it is coming to our area, but the water has yet to arrive.

Here is the belly at week #32