Gah! I did the “worried pregnant lady” thing today and called the doctor to ask questions about some minor weird little things from the past few days (do you really want to know? Are you all women out there? I’ll tell those of you that would want to know on the phone, how’s that?). She surprised and scared me by telling me I should have come in immediately! It’s my third trimester! I have to be careful! Come to the office! Gah!

First off, of course, nothing is wrong.

So after a short cry (she scared me) while I was changing out of my houseclothes (boxers and a ripped up old t-shirt of Jesse’s) I got in a cab to the doctor’s office to see a giggling, 50-something, French ObGyn. They went through all the motions; weight check, blood pressure, pee in a cup, etc., and then took a look at my cervix, which was, as always, pronounced very healthy. It’s actually quite reassuring to have always been told how healthy my lady-parts are. They always get praise.

And then I got another ultrasound. Score! I have another set of pictures of a chubby baby face. I asked the technician how the size of the baby was and it’s measuring just right - 60th percentile or somewhere around there and somehow from measuring around it’s head and body and legs or something like that, she came up with a weight of 1.23kg which is somewhere over 2 lbs.

All together, it was a good time! All is well in my uterus. I jumped the gun on my scheduled monthly appointment, which was next week, so they canceled that and have decided to check my cervix (great) just once more a day before I fly.

Geez, I’m sorry. I think I’m rather single-mindedly tuned in to all-baby-all-the-time talk these days. There must be more I can share with you. Ah, yes! I taught my last class at Jesse’s school yesterday, finishing up a course I created for beginning students where we read, discussed, and played around with some short (simple) stories. It was fun and I’m going to miss those students. Jesse’s really darn excited about coming home, too, but feels he’s going to miss teaching quite a bit. You know what? He’s a very good teacher.

Oh, also, we went on a little mini-vacation this last week. We took a 4 hour bus ride to the base of the nearest mountains to Shanghai (hills, really, but craggy ones) and then a taxi up the mountain to a small town. The “taxi” was actually a mini-mini-van (smaller than my honda) and the road barely fit two of them to pass. We careened up the mountain around hairpin turns so tight they had mirrors to see who might be coming and a 20 km/h speed limit. Our driver went around 40km/h despite his engine starting to steam (or smoke?) alarmingly about halfway up.

Once there we settled into our very nice and clean hotel and found a sandwich to eat at a “lodge” ran by a foreigner. It was not so hot as Shanghai, but really steamy and thunderstormy. We went for a walk around some trails and through bamboo forest, but after my 7th mosquito bite, found a place to have a real lunch. After our lunch of bamboo and tofu, we returned to the hotel and reclined in the steaminess and read our books. For hours. It was awesome.

We had a late dinner of some more bamboo (don’t get me wrong, all this bamboo was delicious) and egg and something else. Back in our hotel we rinsed off in the shower and drifted off early, like barely after 9pm.

Jesse (purposely) woke up at sunrise (this means 4:30am in China) and took a walk through the forest, getting some really fantastic pictures. He came back around 7:30, just as I was waking up. I went in the bathroom to pee, at which point the power went out and I accused Jesse of turning the light out on me. The power never came back on, but it made no difference, except we missed having the fan. Also? The proprietors never mentioned it even when we were checking out, despite the lights flickering on and off while we were chatting with them.

We had an awesome traditional English breakfast at the “lodge” and read our books again for a few hours before a taxi came to careen us back down the hill. We had been up in the mountains for exactly 24 hours. After another bumpy, swervy, horn-honking, 4 hour bus ride, we were back in Shanghai and grabbing some McDonald’s to go for dinner.

And that was our vacation! Actually quite relaxing and beautiful.

Jeez, it’s been ages. I don’t blame anybody if they don’t come to see me around here anymore. If you feel like it, leave me a comment telling me how long it took you to break down and come by to see if I got off my lazy tuckus to come and say hello.

Life is pretty swell, I must say. Nick and Abby came and went and we had a really good time. I mean it, you guys, we so, so enjoyed your company. They endured 3 or so hot and wet days and the rest were just wet and wet. Which they will concur is much nicer. Nick willingly (and Abby, too!) partook of all the weirdest foods Jesse could think of offering them to eat. Good job, guys.

I’m still pregnant. I’m not quite used to the bump sticking out my front yet and tend to accidentally bump into doorjams, tables and whatnot when maneuvering around rooms. I also am quite startled when I catch my reflection in mirrors and windows, but I suppose my appearance will only get more startling. Really, I have quite a modest bump so far when compared to pictures of other ladies around the same time. It was impressively massive yesterday (Jesse’s eyes bugged out last night when I took off my shirt to put on pajamas), but that was because I made bean dip for dinner the night before, ate more at lunch and was hugely bloated with saltiness and gas. Oof.

I’ve scheduled my flight home. Yay! Hooray! I mean, I don’t want to make China feel bad, but, hooray! Home! Burritos, family, dogs, friends! I’m so excited. I’ll be flying into Seattle July 29th and then going down to Portland the next weekend and then going to Redding, maybe Berkeley, back to Portland, probably to Bend, etc…. Yay! Don’t you worry, I’ll be trying to schedule time to see you. All of you!

And that’s all for today. Got any great baby name ideas?