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Published: March 9th 2006
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Yes! we are back!! After Tibet we had lots of visitors, my brother Jose visited for 3 weeks, we went together to Beijing and Hong Kong... We never really had time to travel together so I was really excited and enjoyed every single day, especially the last day when we had a bottle of champagne together.
After Jose came my friend Laureen and her daugher Emilia. They stayed for 2 weeks and we also had a great time, part of the experience included a US$4 but an hour long foot massage, getting surrounded by dozens of Chinese in a park when they heard Laureen was American (this is something like having super powers here) and a visit to the local Walmart (not your neighborhood supermarket in the US, here Walmart features live eel, all kinds of frogs, 10 different types of grinded pork skin and they do not take credit cards). Eventhough I had planned to go with them to different places, I felt so tired some times that I just stayed at home.... OF COURSE! I WAS PREGNANT AND I DID NOT KNOW!!!
So I started feeling weird by Mid-November and stoped drinking wine but decided to wait
a bit and did a pregnancy test (we had been trying to get pregnant for a few months) that came out negative.... OK, I thought... I still feel "pregnant" = tired, bloated and just "different" but I am wrong.
Omar had opened a bottle of wine the day before and had left that morning on a business trip so I decided to have a glass of wine (or 2). The following night, the same and then Omar came back and we went with Laureen and Emilia to an acrobatic show and had (again) wine that night.
Of course, the following day I felt VERY strange, did another test and guess what.... POSITIVE!! The following week I went to the doctor and I was already 8 weeks pregnant.
Later I learned that Chinese pregnancy tests are "not that" reliable.... too late, after a bottle of wine...
Any way, I told Omar on the phone and he did not believe me at first, he kept asking
"how come are you pregnant?" (Well, I guess you all know what my answer was)
He was supposed to come home late that night but he came early (this is
8pm) and brought me flowers 😊 and a notebook so I can start writing what I feel.
I have to say that I discovered a whole new universe after that day. The smells are stronger (bad for morning sickness) and I always feel colder than the rest (bad since we have been in winter!) I also discovered that when you are pregnant, you can actually believe that the most repulsive stuff (like tofu + fermented fish balls) is actually "not that bad" and that yes, it is possible that for once in my life I did not want ice cream (this was the strangest thing for me)
So for the first 2 months, I only had lots of water, bread, cheese and tomatoes. No dessert, NO ICE CREAM! NO CHOCOLATE! and thanks God, no weird cravings, only lots of meat at 5pm one day, doughnuts at 4pm another day, lots of canned fruits??? and MANGOES!
I have to say that I was so lucky that I got to go to Peru and Puerto Rico for the holidays and there, I had all the cheese, mangoes, papayas, avocados and strawberries I could ever wish for. Those were the
best days. I did miss having "ceviche" but this is the first thing I will do after having the baby.
During the holidays, I almost had no nausea but as soon as I got back to Shanghai it came back... I mean, it was obvious! What can you do agains stinky tofu, fermented fish, fried squid, fermented tofu and other delicacies sold on the street???
After a few weeks, morning sickness (now,this is a lie... It does not happen in the mornings only!) was over and I started getting REALLY HUNGRY. For me, it is quite difficult to pick fruit that is not oranges or apples since I am always afraid of the pesticides they use here, the sanitation standards, etc + it is winter so there is no many mangoes and the strawberries are totally red, a sign of chemical tints they inject in the fruit so I need to stay away of those berries.
One morning, at 18th weeks, I woke up and I had a belly. WEIRD! Omar came back from a business trip and surprise! I looked pregnant!
Now I am in my 21 week and even though on the street people
do not seem to notice I am pregnant, if I wear tight clothes like a t-shirt with no coat (still cold here) you can definately see that I have "someone" inside me.
One of the highlights of Shanghai MUST be the pregnancy clothes... They are just SO UGLY... They all look like aprons with yellow ducklins or little bears... It's like the stuff you put on a baby not ON YOU!
And do not miss the "anti-radiation" clothes that are sold here... They are really crazy against using computers, cellphones, microwaves, etc... Also, according to Chinese understanding, the best thing to do during pregnancy is not to move at all, and to be supported by your husband when walking, do not eat spicy foods (impossible!) and that's not all, after the delivery, you are not supposed to wash yourself, go out, read, or do anything for at least a month. They also mentioned that you are not supposed to have sex ( I took that as a give since you are not washing for a month...)
I guess it all related to the harsh condition the Chinese people had to endure for so long (and still now in
the countryside) with no heating, etc.
We went for our Level 2 ultrasound last week and we got to see the baby's hands, legs, heart, stomach, head and we even saw whe he/she was touching his/her head... Omar does not want to know if it is a boy or a girl so I can not tell you... You will have to guess 😉 but so far, everything looks good.
For my 30th birthday Omar and I went to Sanya, an island south of China with unpolluted beach (probably the ONLY unpolluted beach in China), sand and nice hotels. We had a WONDERFUL TIME, Omar brought me flowers the morning of my birthday and arranged a surprised dinner for the 2 of us only at a beautiful restaurant. It was very relaxing and I got to eat breakftast for 2 hours (cheese, bread, waffles, fruit and eggs) so I gain 3 pounds in 3 days 😊
Will keep you posted with more!
Gigi, Omar and bebe
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Didi
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Wooua
Congratulations !!! :-)