Labor?

For the first time since I got pregnant I'm feeling something close to labor pain. It feels sort of like period cramps but more all over. It doesn't feel good. :(

Now Is the Month of Maying

I haven't blogged a while, but many things have happened this month, some eventful and some not.

For one thing, I've gotten in touch with a friend from the past, Michelle who I knew when I was a student at Barnard more than ten years back. She looked me up out of the blue and saw my wedding registry from two years ago. She initially contacted David whose email was registered with this particular registry. I'm super happy to connect with Michelle again. She used to be a real friend back then. We even went to the Atlanta Olympics together in 1998.
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A lot of the baby related things are getting done on schedule. We were given many things by Shmulik and Tanapa as I posted earlier. We also bought some of the things. People keep offering up to donate their old baby things that we haven't had a chance to indulge ourselves to buy new things! I really want to buy a McClaren Techno XT pram after the initial four months, when the baby needs to lie down flat, are through with a used pram given to us by our dear friends Merav and Amir. Then yesterday someone else volunteered to give us a "like-new" PegPerego pram. I suppose the baby's so small and won't even know the difference, but I can't help myself feeling guilty about piling used items on such a new person. But who can deny free things?
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In the mean while, David was offered a job post in Korea at a university, and turned it down. Then out of the blue a better option turned up, also in Korea, by an old colleague who is now working in Korea. It was a hard decision the first time around, but now we simply don't know what to do. To go or not to go?!
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So far no success was made in locating a special USB cable needed for the Olympus digital camera that I own. It was originally a camera I bought for my dad for his last birthday. Then Mom confiscated it from him and decided to give it (back) to me because he wasn't using it. When the package arrived it came without the USB and AV cables that the instruction says it should. Dad doesn't remember the existence of these items, so I decided to go and buy new ones here. Apparently the type of USB cable Olympus uses is a special kind with five pins instead of six which is standard. It's so frustrating to have a camera ready and not the cable!!
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Yesterday, Yuen and I went to Zara and bought this beautiful flowing dress for me. It's in blue and eggplant prints, and goes all the way to my ankles which is great because I can use some camouflage around my legs at the moment! It's a halter top with wide ribbon to be tied up my neck, and the ribbon is long enough that it flows down to my chest. The chest area is scooped and cut like a bikini top. This caused David to say "You're poring out of there!", but I can't help it. I'm pouring out of most all cloths at this stage. From below the chest it's got lots of folds and simply flows. Too bad I can't show it in a picture alas to the cable! I feel beautifully pregnant in this dress and Yuen assured me that I can wear it "even after you give birth since you will still have some stomach for a while." Great.

The beach in Haifa is heavenly this time of the year. I love so much to go there with Ocean (our dog) for a walk.

Hand-me-downs

Yesterday, David and I drove down to Jerusalem to pick up some baby stuff from our friends Shmulik and Tanapa. Their baby Shir is two years old now, and they had lots of things they wanted to hand down to us for our little baby-to-come.

The things we received include: a baby crib for 0 to 5 months old babies; a play pan crib (which I love. I think it will be extra useful for us since we have a dog. With this apparatus I can do things around the house without worrying about our dog attacking the baby.); loads and loads of clothes; push cart for the baby to hold on to while practicing walking.

Tanapa also gave me some lessons on what to do with the baby. For example, she told me that I need to have our baby play on his stomach when he's awake in order to practice his neck muscles.

I was told "Wow, you're fat now!" when I walked into their apartment. I guess I am much bigger, but at this stage I feel OK about the way I look. I'm going to post a few pictures of my belly when I figure out the camera Mom sent me.

Low Blood-pressure Ruined My Day... or Maybe I'm Not Strong Enough?

I was planning to go to Tel Aviv today to look at some of the photos that I did makeup for and make decisions on the prints. Plus my friend Paola will be leaving Israel in a few weeks to give birth in Milano where she comes from, so I was looking forward to meeting up with her while I'm in Tel Aviv as well.

This morning when I got up, though, I didn't feel great. I guess I didn't drink all the water that I needed to drink to keep up my blood pressure last night. I drank at least two liters though! I felt faint and hard of breathing. Since my last fainting spell, I'm a bit afraid of doing things when I feel this way. Doctors tell me this issue is temporary which will last only as long as the pregnancy, and that it's much better that the blood pressure be low and not high. So I'm not worried. Just annoyed.

Here in Israel, women are much tougher than the women I see outside. They manage so much while they're pregnant. Almost all the women I know here continue to work until the moment they're due to give birth while looking after their household and taking care of their existing children. Without the help of nannies.

Well developed daycare system in the country seems to make the matter easier. You can bring your child to a daycare as early as when the baby is three months old. But all in all, I think it takes a very strong woman to be able to leave your baby to someone else when the baby's so so small.

The point is, I feel kind of stupid that I'm not managing as well as these strong women I see around.