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last day of the week

Today feels like Friday although it's Thursday. Tomorrow we're taking the morning off for my 1st prenatal doctor's visit. We should be able to get an ultrasound done so we can see the little tike.

My lesson at school today will be a lot of words like: labor, delivery, operation, and learning how to ask questions like, "Will the baby be able to stay in the room with me or be in a nursery?". I've had a couple lessons on visiting the doctor or being sick but nothing about pregnancy. So, I asked Annie, my teacher, to prepare a special lesson for me today. Our friend, Kati, will be going with us on Friday and she had all three of her children in Taiwan. She'll be helping us as needed which I imagine will be quite a bit.

Unfortunately, all the stuff we hear from other foreigners about having babies in a local hospital isn't what we want to hear. So, we're hoping our talk with the doctor on Friday will be more positive. Either way, it will help us make the decision about staying here or going elsewhere for delivery. The hospital we'll visit tomorrow is one that many foreigners visit for their prenatal stuff and we know of one foreigner currently planning to have her baby there. I also know of another foreigner who had her baby at that facility. So, the staff and doctors have run into our mindset before.

I've been feeling so much better for over a week now. I still rarely feel like eating at meal times but I don't feel like throwing up during them so much anymore. I can also eat Chinese food again although I don't actually look forward to it. I normally love to eat so this is pretty different for me. But, I am feeling a whole lot better.

Saturday's birthday party planning is underway. Chao Chao, Peter and Clinton have been invited. Phil and I figured out details last night. We'll have the kids and their parents or Ayi over at 10:30am. We're going to set up a short box maze in the hall that I know they'll love. It'll lead from the hall into Maddie's room. At 11:30 or so we'll have a simple lunch of pb&j sandwiches cut into animal shapes, popcorn, and fruit. The adults will have a choice of "adult" sandwiches - egg or tuna salad. Of course, some adults still prefer animal shaped pb&j. If the weather is nice we'll go downstairs in the courtyard to play more and have birthday cake. I'm not sure about present time. It seems kinda cruel at this age to have other kids watch one kid open a bunch of presents and all the others get is a little gift baggie. So, we'll see how that works out.

We tried to plan a morning that Maddie would really like. Hence, her closest play pals, timing before nap time, pb&j as the main course, and being outside.

It looks like Natasha and Jason (Peter and Clinton's parents) will be able to take care of Maddie that afternoon as Phil and I go to the soccer match. So, she'll have a fun afternoon, too.

Last night at dinner we were talking to her in Chinese and she was answering us in Chinese. It's the cutest thing.

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