Had a scare today (also posting some new pics)

It is kind of crazy. Here we are, on February 28th again (I lost my mucous plug on the morning of Feb 28, 2006 when I was 18 weeks pg with Isaac and Rachel) and after getting up this morning, I realized I was bleeding bright red quite a bit. Only this time is quite different because I am already at 32 weeks 6 days. Anyway, I got Jong and he immediately tried calling Dr. S (yes the same Dr. S from 2 years ago) and thank the Lord the Dr. actually answered his cell phone right away. He was about to go into a C-section but told us to go into the clinic at 10 am and the nurses will start monitoring me and he will be there after he is done around 10:30 am or so.

So I lie down in bed and waited till it was time to go to the clinic. The good news was I was feeling Abigail kick and the bleeding seemed to have slowed down. They monitored Abigail's heartrate and to see if I had contractions for about 30 minutes and we were both fine. When Dr. S got there, he also checked my cervix and there was no blood there and my cervix is also still closed. That is the good news. The slight bad news is we have no idea why I am bleeding (Dr. S also confirmed that its not placenta previa). So to be safe, Dr. S sent me home on a week of bedrest for now. I have an appointment next Thursday morning and we can reevaluate the situation and see how things are.

Your prayers for Abigail would be greatly appreciated. I am hoping that it was just a glitch with one of my cerclage stitch (may be Abigail bumped it?) and everything will go back to normal. Still praying that she can be born at almost full term.

Poor Jong was quite traumatized this morning. When he got a hold of Dr. S, he announced himself as "Sonia's wife". LOL.

We are all fine now after the little drama. I actually felt quite a bit of peace through out the whole process except for when I first saw the blood and I also panicked a bit - I calmed down as soon as I started feeling Abigail kick. I think the Lord was really with us and we were able to get some friends praying for us very quickly.

Anyway, I have been meaning to post some pictures from the last couple of weeks so here we go.

Jong and I went to a nice dinner the Saturday after Valentine's Day. I decided to wear the one nice maternity dress I bought that I wore for our anniversary dinner again. Except this time I was too lazy to put on makeup. We went to a restaurant called L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. To our surprise, Joel Robuchon was there in person that night so we got to meet him. According to Wikipedia, he has a total of 17 Michelen Guide stars among his restaurants - the most of any chef in the world so I guess we should feel special. :)

You can see my pg bump in these pics:
Jong took Isaac to join his pre-school's field trip to the local fire station last Friday. Isaac didn't much like the experience but the pictures are too cute not to post.
We also have a guest, Flat Stanley visiting us this week. He came from the Czech Republic, New Zealand and Australia and will go onto the U.S. after visiting us. Unfortunately, its been a bit boring for him as he arrived late Sat and Isaac was under the weather on Sunday so we didn't go anywhere. Then he accompanied me to work and back the next few days and now we are on bedrest. Poor Stanley! Here is a link to Flat Stanley's Blog if you are interested - Flat Stanley's Blog.

God bless,

Sonia

2nd Day of Pre-School

Isaac went to his 2nd day of pre-school. Jong and I stuck around for the first 30 minutes and Isaac actually sat with the group on one of the teacher aide's lap and stayed there! They then went to the park and we said good-bye and let him go with his class without him. We tried to go back in an hour and the class had just returned from the park and they were at the entrance of the school. But Jong said we were distracting Isaac (he started crying when he saw us) so we didn't go into the classroom with him. When we went back for the last 15 minutes of school (they had a special "good-bye" circle with parents joining for Valentine's) Isaac was NOT crying and playing with cars with the teacher!

So starting next week, we will just be dropping him off at 8:30 am (may be staying for the first 30 minutes) and picking him up when school is done at 11:30 am.

I got a bit weepy today when they were singing "Love grows, one by one..." at the goodbye circle. I just can't quite believe my tiny 1 lb micropreemie baby is growing up so fast and here we are at preschool with him! What an incredible, blessed journey we have been on these past 2 years. Its just amazing what God has done to my heart and my soul through my precious miracle children - one in heaven, one in my arms and one in my belly.

We also asked if there was an opening in the same class (same teacher) in the next term starting in April, whether we can switch to the 3 day per week class. They are full right now so we will leave it up to God as to whether Isaac should move up to 3 days per week in April. I wanted to wait till flu season is basically over before we switch him to 3 days per week.

Oh and I am so clueless, all the parents bought Valentine's gifts for all the other kids. I guess they all knew about it and we are too new to know. I still felt bad though. I am looking forward to my maternity leave when I can pretend to be a SAHM for a couple of months and actually do these things right!

Oh and I got my first Valentine's from Isaac. They made Valentine's cards using stickers in class. I actually decided to share Isaac's Valentine's with Rachel as its next to her ashes now.

I just feel so blessed and my heart feels so full today. I pray that your heart will feel as full as mine on this Valentine's Day.

Sonia

First Day of School

So we survived today!

I was so nervous last night it was definitely worse than if it was my first day of school!

Jong and I both think Isaac did relatively well this morning. He cried a few times, sometimes when he felt overwhelmed but mostly when he was supposed to sit and not run around and he didn't want to sit still. God blessed us with a really great lead teacher. She is very engaging with the children and has a beautiful singing voice. Isaac looked a bit stunned the entire time and didn't really know how to stay with the group of kids.

Isaac is clearly developmentally behind all the other kids. His class is supposed to be for 15-24 mos old toddlers. I was amazed at all these other kids. They are so well behaved and almost all of them can talk really well. They can all sit at the table and eat all their snacks quietly. Isaac dumped all his cheerios out from the cup and tried to run away. LOL. We knew Isaac was quite behind verbally and in his fine motor skills but today made me realize that he is behind in gross motor skills as well. He cannot jump or go up and down stairs holding onto the railing by himself (he may be can go up the stairs holding onto railing by himself but he tends to crawl up but he can't go down stairs).

BUT all in all, we think he did pretty well since he entered mid-stream, especially considering where he came from. I almost cried thinking about this while I was there. Its so amazing that we are actually at pre-school! It just seems so unbelievable even before December before he started OT sessions!

I think we are going to try to wean off starting on Thursday - leave for one hour and see how Isaac does. Please continue to pray for Isaac and also that he can stay healthy. There were a few kids coughing with green guck coming out of their nose today. We are only doing 2 days a week so I don't want him to start missing classes already before he gets used to the routine.

Oh and to answer Abby's questions to my previous post. Isaac is a TERRIBLE eater. We can hardly get him to eat at home. Fortunately, the pre-school is only from 8:30 am to 11:30 am so he just needs to snack once and he will pick at cheerios or corn pops. But as you see he dumped them all out first. He is also very tough to put to sleep. We spend a lot of time wrestling him to sleep (literally) as he tries to get up and run away. Fortunately, he naps in the afternoon and not the morning so this pre-school program works for us.

Without further adieu, here are the pictures from today.

Isaac with his backpack getting ready to leave the apartment:
At the entrance hallway of the school:
Walking to his classroom:
In the class with the teacher:
Plus a couple of bonus pictures I missed before he got his haircut with Isaac as samurai:
Thanks for all your prayers.

Sonia

First Day of School Next Tuesday!!!! Stay Tuned for Pictures!

Believe it or not, Isaac is going to start going to school next week! When we went back to the US in Aug/September, Isaac went through an Early Developmental Assessment and it was recommended that Isaac get occupational and physical therapy. We started looking for English speaking therapists after we received the actual report in the fall and finally found an English speaking occupational therapy (OT) through Tokyo International Learning Community (TILC) - a special eds school for the expat community in Tokyo. Isaac started OT sessions one hour a week in December and we immediately began to see huge improvements in Isaac's fine motor skills and his communication skills with us - even though he still doesn't talk much nor sign much but his understanding, comprehension and interaction with us improved a lot.

Anyway, I have been told I have to apply to preschools early, may be up to a year ahead of time and Jong and I thought it might be good for him developmentally to get an early start too so around mid December I asked the Head of TILC for recommendations for pre-schools that might be good for kids with slight special needs and we got 3 recommendations. I immediately contacted the 3 schools. Because it was right before Christmas break, I heard back from 1 school immediately which told me to be in contact again in the New Year but never heard back from the other 2 schools. After the new year, I did hear back from another school and we were able to arrange a visit but despite a lot of efforts, I could not get in touch with the school that I heard from before Christmas (it turned out that the school administrator got quite sick). Anyway, we visited the school and it seemed like the right school for us:

-they have a high teacher to student ratio (3 teachers to 1 student but 1 extra teacher for the class of 9 children when they go to the park),
-they had 2 or 3 days a week programs (we didn't want Isaac to go 5 days a week since he is still so young and so prone to getting sick),
-they let parents (and nannies) stay and observe for as long as they want (I am not sure if this is typical or not in the international schools in Tokyo since we only visited one school but this was important for us to let Isaac ease in gently)
-their programs are English only (some preschools in Tokyo try to be bilingual English and Japanese and because of Isaac's speech delays, we have been told that we should only focus on English with Isaac)
-and last but not least the school is located right across from Jong's tennis club so daddy can play tennis after dropping Isaac off at school :) (for those of you who know preschools in Tokyo, its ABC International School)

When we visited, we were told that they might have an opening sometime in February for their 3 days a week class. Although 2 days a week seemed a bit more attractive but we thought that would be okay too. We didn't expect that Isaac could get in so quickly but we really thought it would be really good for him as he is getting so bored at home and he really loves being around other kids. Since I work and because of Isaac's early days when we couldn't really go out and interact with others, we don't really know that many other kids his age so I have not been really able to set up regular play dates for him. Anyway, we have been waiting to hear and then all of a sudden I got an email from the school right before lunch time on Friday and was told that they had openings in both their 2 days and 3 days a week program and that we could start as early as next week! So we decided to go for it! We are going for the 2 days a week class. Isaac is going to start preschool next Tuesday!!!!!

Please pray that Isaac will thrive in pre-school and not get sick too easily!

Its kind of funny because every expat parent I have spoken to all have visited all these schools before they decide which one is best for their child. We just visited one school and that was it. :) I guess it might be because our goals are a bit different. Most people are trying to make sure that they children go to the best school that can help them excel and become future leaders and geniuses. Not that we don't think Isaac can be a future leader (although being born in Japan he is unfortunately not eligible to run for President (in the US)) or a genius, right now we just want to help him catch up developmentally and make some friends. It sure is a very expensive way to get him structured play dates though. We calculated the per hour cost for the preschool and its more than his 1 on 1 occupational therapy sessions!

So we will be taking lots of pictures on Tuesday and I will try to post them as soon as I can.

On other news, I am now 30 week pregnant. I can't believe I am in the 3o's now! I did get the unfortunate news that I have borderline gestational diabetes so I have had to adjust my diet. Its a bit difficult to go for a low carb diet in Japan. I am also bummed that I am told that I can't gorge on chocolates right before Valentine's Day. Its funny because I am not a big chocolate eater but now that I am told I can't eat too much of it, that's all I have been thinking about! ^_^

Anyway, I WILL BE BACK!

Sonia `

A few random videos

Its been a while since I have posted videos. Isaac is constantly on the move so videos are actually easier to capture but I always forget plus it takes a lot of time and effort to upload to my laptop and then to photobucket. BUT if you can't guess, Jong is traveling and he kept asking for videos of Isaac so I got my act together and got these done tonight. I can never capture Isaac's smile/laugh on camera so at least you can see that on video. Oh and you may notice his new haircut. We finally got his hair cut 2 weekends ago.

Isaac putting his shoes away:



Isaac the tiger:



He just started doing this today. At least I think so because he wasn't doing this when I was with him all day yesterday. Somehow he thinks plopping his hiney into the bumbo chair is really funny. Funny thing is a Japanese channel actually showed the SuperBowl tonight so I had it on. At the final touch down, I was yelling (not that loudly) "touch down" and Isaac sat down. By the way, I am normally VERY confused about football and I have barely watched any football since we moved to Japan over 5 years ago. I am loving all these tools to help dummies like me understand what's going on. Especially the big sign in the middle of the field with a BIG ARROW and things like "1st and 5" plus those bright yellow lines. I can actually kinda follow what is going on without Jong!



Oh and it snowed big time in Tokyo yesterday, which is quite rare in Tokyo. Since I didn't want to actually go outside by myself with Isaac, I just took him to our deck to see the snow. After spending all the time bundling both of us up and taking both our camera and video, we went out for less than 1 minute before Isaac slipped and fell hands first into the snow. I hadn't put gloves on him and he did NOT like the icy feeling of snow on his hands so we had to shuffle back in and unbundle all of us again. Anyway, I only got one good picture while we were out and you can barely see the snow. LOL.
Finally, I never got to post after my last check up 2 Fridays ago. My cervix did not shorten anymore and stayed at the same length - around 3.7 cm and doc said as long as its 2.5 cm or above, I am fine. I have been having some dizzy and fainting spells and we are thinking that its caused by low blood pressure. We are also waiting for results for gestational diabetes test to come back (the 2 hour fasting test). I will have another check up on Thursday morning and will try to post afterwards. I have been missing Rachel a lot these days. I think its because having Abigail, even though I am so humbled and feel so blessed that God is giving us another girl, made me realize that no one can ever replace Rachel and I will always feel like I am short one daughter here on earth. Its okay though. I think its healthier for me to not try to make Abigail live up to Rachel or replace Rachel. They are two separate but very special miracles on their own. However, it is a good thing I am not buying much for Abigail (I guess she is going to be a tomboy wearing all of Isaac's hand-me-downs) but when I did shop for a pretty "take-me-home" outfit for Abigail, it made me miss Rachel tremendously because I never got to shop for anything specifically for her. I had a very nice dream last night though. I dreamed that I was very pleasantly surprised to find out I was having 2 girls instead of one and of course one girl was Rachel and one was Abigail. It was a very nice dreaming that both of them were safe inside me - I woke up feeling very close to Rachel. :)

One last thing - I am thinking of moving most of this blog to a private/password protected blog where I will post more personal thoughts, etc. I will keep this blog address for more generic updates and pictures. When I do move to a more private blog, I will include a link on here and you can email me if you want to be added to the list to view the private blog. I am not sure how I will do it because I am still trying to figure out how to do the technical side of things as I want to move most of our older blogs/archives to the more private blog.

Anyway, thanks for checking up on us and Happy Chinese New Year to all of my friends and family who celebrate it!

Blessings,

Sonia