Getting Ready for Baby Dois

With 15 days to go until my official due date, we have been busily preparing for the arrival of Baby Dois. The cradle has been assembled and is standing in our room... baby clothes and blankets have been laundered, folded, and put away... diapers have been purchased... the infant car seat has been installed in our van. We also attended our last Bradley method childbirth class last week; and on Sunday, we took our hospital tour. And of course, there have been the doctor's appointments, which always seem to take the better part of a morning, or an afternoon.

So, pretty much the only baby-related thing left on my "to do" list is to pack my hospital bag. There are some other things I am hoping to take care of before he decides to make his appearance, though... before I am consumed by nursing and newborn care once again, and the fog of those early weeks postpartum descends on my brain. Everyone assumes that I want him to be "early," and I do, but now that the threat of induction is past, I wouldn't mind if he waited until after the first to decide to be born!

Alex has been eager to help as we prepare to welcome his little brother. Here is a picture of him and Rusty putting together the cradle:


And of course, after it was all put together, he had to try it out! He doesn't exactly fit in it quite the way he used to. Nothing like a picture like this to make you realize how much your "baby" has grown in three years:

Almost 37 Weeks

I will be 37 weeks pregnant tomorrow. This is another big milestone, because it is considered "full-term." So, it is pretty much a waiting game at this point. Will Baby Dois be early, as Alex was? Or will he decide to stay where it is warm and comfy a few days longer?

I continue to feel fine, although I tire easily and find it more difficult to sleep comfortably at night. I have been having some issues with low amniotic fluid volume, so they will be monitoring that from here on out. This means I have to go into the office twice a week for an ultrasound and a non-stress test. I have also been given orders to rest as much as possible and drink lots and lots of fluids. There was talk last week of inducing labor if fluid levels continue to drop. I do not want to see it come to that, so I have been downing the water and the Gatorade -- and running to the bathroom every 20 minutes or so! Today when I went in, my fluid level had jumped from a 6.7 all the way up to an 11, putting me back in the normal range. My doc is happy -- and so am I.

Please pray for a healthy conclusion to this pregnancy and a safe and short delivery of Baby Dois!

Three Years Old

Alex celebrated his third birthday during our recent trip to Arkansas for a team meeting. It is funny to think that for every single birthday he has had so far in his young life, including his actual "birth" day, he has been in a different city -- born in Mito, Japan; first birthday in Portland, OR; second birthday in Memphis, TN; third birthday in Little Rock, AR (and I guess we should count Livonia, MI too, since that is where he had his party). It is a testimony, I suppose, to the fact that we are truly global nomads. I wonder where we will be for #4?

Anyway, back to the birthday boy. His Aunt Teague made him a caterpillar cake out of cupcakes, which turned out super cute (see pics below)! Alex enjoyed everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to him, and blowing out candles for the second time. He also had a few presents to open. It is fun to watch him really get into the whole birthday thing -- he seems to really understand what it is all about now.

Happy Third, my sweet boy! I have been so blessed to be your mama these last 3 years.

A Thomas Birthday Party

We had Alex' 3-year old birthday party on Monday. He has recently developed an obsession with the Thomas and friends trains, and he told me several weeks ago that he wanted a Thomas the Tank Engine cake. That made the theme an easy decision! We decided to have the party at the church and invited all the kids in his Sunday School class. Including Alex, there were eight children. It was a bit chaotic in the beginning, and there were some tears and some trouble with sharing... but we were able to move past all that eventually, and by the end, everyone was all smiles. A big thank you to my mom for all of her help with the food and the decorations! I don't think I could have pulled it off without her.

Here is the cake... and please pardon the fact that it is sitting on top of the washing machine. This was to keep it cool, and also out of Alex' sight until the party. It was a lot of work, and I stayed up until 1:00 the night before decorating it (Rusty helped, too), but I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I got most of my ideas from this website, so if you are looking for some "do-it-yourself" ideas for birthday cakes, give it a try.

The kids' table was set up with wooden tracks and trains and also some coloring sheets and crayons. Just something for them to do in the beginning before the organized games.

Playing "Pin the Number on Thomas." We also played "Musical Train" and a bean bag toss game.

Time to eat! We had macaroni and cheese, mini pigs-in-a-blanket, and fruit kabobs (If I were to do it again, however, I would skip the skewers and just make a fruit platter -- skewers are a bad idea with 2-4 year olds! I don't know what I was thinking!)

The birthday boy as we were singing "Happy Birthday" to him. The cake was a big hit with all the kids, and they loved that I let them choose their piece. Most chose based on what kind of candy was on top of the car.

Alex opening his presents. Thank you to everyone for coming and for the great gifts! We had fun and hope you did, too!

Pregnancy Updates

When I was pregnant with Alex, we were very diligent about taking pictures of my growing belly every four weeks or so. I am embarrassed to admit that just last week, we took our second round of belly shots. At this rate, we'll be lucky to have three sets of pictures to document this pregnancy.

In the picture below (taken on Valentine's Day), I am just over 32 weeks pregnant. I am now almost 34 weeks, and I feel HUGE! It's hard to believe I still have a few weeks of growing to do. My doctor, however, tells me that I am measuring small, but it's not anything she is overly concerned about. It's kind of funny because when I was pregnant in Japan, I measured ahead of schedule pretty much the entire time... but I chalked that up to the difference between Japanese babies and Western babies. My weight gain so far has been pretty consistent with what I gained with Alex -- less than 25 pounds as of last week's checkup.

This pregnancy has progressed uneventfully so far, and for that we are thankful. I must confess, though, that I am enjoying the experience of being pregnant less than I did the first time around. I still marvel at the miracle that is growing within, but the usual aches and pains seem to be more pronounced, diminishing the enjoyment factor somewhat. I am also experiencing some pregnancy symptoms that I escaped the first time around -- like painful varicose veins in one leg, UGH. Also, Baby Dois seems much more active in utero than I ever remember Alex being, making me wonder just what we are in for with this child!

As far as birth plans, God has blessed us with a really great doctor. She is a family friend and a member at the Livonia church. She seems totally on board with my desire to have a natural birth with as few interventions as possible. So, although I toyed with the idea of trying to find a midwife and checking out a couple of birthing centers in the area, I have decided to stay with her, which means I will be delivering at a hospital. The labor and delivery unit at this particular hospital is pretty much brand new (in fact, it hasn't even opened yet), with labor tubs in every room -- yay!

Rusty and I have also been taking Bradley Method childbirth classes, which have been so informative and helpful. Most people look at me kind of funny when I tell them we are taking childbirth classes -- kind of like, "It's your second baby. Didn't you learn everything you needed to know the first time around?" But since we were living in Japan, we didn't have the opportunity to take classes (in English), and there are a lot of things that I wish we would have known (like some of the relaxation techniques and coaching methods) that I feel like would have made a real difference in my long and difficult labor. My doctor keeps telling me that this second labor will go so fast and be so easy. I hope she is right. Of course, as I've stated before, fast and easy are relative terms in my book!

32 weeks and growing

His Latest Talent

Last fall, Alex finally figured out how to ride a trike. We took these videos in Memphis about a month before we left, but I am just now getting them off the camcorder and uploaded to Youtube. We brought his trike with us to Detroit, and when the weather is decent, he rides it around the neighborhood.

More Snow Pics

You'll have to forgive all the pictures of us frolicking in the snow. Not being native Michiganders, it is still a bit of a novelty for us... although I have to admit that the warmer temperatures earlier this week were a nice break. More snow is forecast for tomorrow, though!

These pictures were taken last month after a Really Big Snowfall!

Alex really wanted to "plow" the snow with his dump truck!

Trying to catch snowflakes on our tongues

Making a snow angel

This picture gives you an idea of how deep the snow was.

I'm ready to go in and have my hot chocolate now!

DC Trip

At the beginning of January, we made the trip out east to our nation's capital. The main purpose of our trip was to pay a surprise visit to Rusty's sister, Ronda, who was there visiting her boyfriend's family for two weeks. Since neither Rusty or I had ever been to DC before, we went into town one day with Ronda and Mark to see some of the sights. We didn't have a lot of time, so we just found a place to park near the Reflecting Pool, and walked to the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the World War II Memorial, and the Washington Monument. From there, we headed over to catch a glimpse of the White House, then grabbed a hot dog on the way back to the car. It was neat to see, in person, some of the things that, up until now, I have only seen in books and on TV.

Our family in front of Abraham Lincoln's statue

In front of the Washington Monument

Alex chasing pigeons -- the fattest, laziest pigeons I have ever seen! They didn't even fly away when he ran at them, just sort of waddled out of his path.

Alex and Auntie Ronda

We also traveled down to Virginia to spend a couple of days with my oldest friend, Michelle, and her husband, David. Rusty was able to do a presentation to their church on Sunday about Angola, and we enjoyed some time to just visit with them and catch up on their lives. (I am embarrassed to say that the camera didn't make it out of the bag the entire time we were there, so I have no pictures of our time with Michelle and David!)

On our way back to Detroit, we stopped in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania -- another place neither of us had ever been. We picked up a map at the visitor's center and did the self-paced auto tour. Seeing all the monuments and the battlefields which look much the same as they did in the 1860's was inspiring and thought-provoking. Then we stopped and got a bite to eat at a restaurant downtown before heading home.

Alex in front of one of the Gettysburg Monuments

Merry Christmas, 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was somewhat bittersweet for me since I couldn't help but think that this may be our last holiday season in the United States for quite some time. Still, I was determined to enjoy it and to help Alex enjoy it, too. He really got into opening presents this year, which was fun for all of us to watch. My brother Matt was home from ACU for almost a month, and we enjoyed our time with him... and playing his X-box until it died (sorry, man). After Christmas was over, we made our traditional trip to the Henry Ford Museum to see the holiday model train display -- always a hit with Alex. On New Year's Eve, we watched "It's a Wonderful Life" (Matt had never seen it!) and then had some time to reflect and pray together as a family as we welcomed in the new year.

Christmas morning -- traditional family pic in front of the tree

Alex and Uncle Matt playing a duet

Driving the Thomas train at the Henry Ford Museum

More hands-on fun at the museum

Guitar Hero fun -- even Mom got in on the action!

On New Year's Eve, we let Alex tear down and eat the gingerbread house.

Christmas Prep

We really enjoyed being at my parents' house for the entire holiday season this year. For me, half the fun (or more) of Christmas is all the preparations that go on in the weeks leading up to it. I got to help my mom with all her Christmas baking -- the famous Stephens' cookie trays -- yum, yum! And Alex was old enough this year to participate in some of the special Christmas preparations, like:

decorating the Christmas tree...

watching the train go around and around...

decorating sugar cookies (and sampling all the candy sprinkles)...

helping Mommy decorate a gingerbread house...

...and making pinecone ornaments.

Coming soon... Christmas pictures, our trip to D.C., and pregnancy updates. Oh, and I may throw in more snow pictures, too! Check back soon.

Fun in the Snow

My humblest apologies to all our loyal blog readers for not updating in over a month. I have several posts in the works, so check back over the next few days for some Campbell family news and goings-on.

For the first time in my life, I am living in a place that gets lots of snow in the winter. So far, it has been fun, although since we have all been battling the sickies, we have not been able to get out and enjoy playing in it as much as we would like. These pictures were taken in December -- in the weeks leading up to Christmas, we got a lot of snow. So, we had a white Christmas this year, which was fun. (As I type this, Michigan is in the middle of an arctic freeze -- we had several more inches of snow earlier in the week, and now the temps are in the single and negative digits. Brrrr!)

Teaching Alex how to make a snowball -- or trying, anyway. All of the snow we have had so far has been dry and powdery, so snowballs and snowmen have been hard to make.

Alex and Uncle Matt

Thanksgiving, 2008

This Thanksgiving was a special one for me as I got to share it with both of my grandmothers. The last time I saw both of them together was nearly 10 years ago at our wedding (and both my grandfathers, too, although they have since passed on). My Dad's mom ("Nyanya") was here from Oregon for a 2-week visit. She left the day after Thanksgiving. My Mom's mom ("Grandmother") lives in southern Michigan, about a 2-hour drive from Livonia, so my parents brought her up here to celebrate Thanksgiving with us.

I am thankful for many things this year... a safe move... Rusty being almost done with grad school... a wonderful husband and precious son... a healthy pregnancy... caring and supportive parents. But this year, as we sat around the table and feasted on turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and sweet potato casserole, I was also thankful for my heritage of faith... for the godly women who raised both my parents to know the Lord, and in so doing impacted my life, my upbringing, my choices, and my own spiritual journey.

L to R: Grandmother, Mom, Dad, Laura, Alex. Seated: Nyanya. Not pictured: Rusty (behind the camera).

The Move to Michigan

Rusty and I were discussing our various moves the other night and trying to determine how many times we have moved since we have been married. By the most conservative standpoint, this move to Michigan was our eighth move in 9 1/2 years of marriage. That means we have averaged about one move a year in our married life. For the last four years, we have moved once every year, and it doesn't look like we'll be breaking that pattern in 2009!

As moves go, this one went very well. It was stressful, as moving always is, but we had no major catastrophes, and we actually spent very little money this time! Rusty took most everything in our apartment to our storage unit via multiple trips in our little trailer. Then, we packed the van and the trailer full of the things we would be taking to Michigan and began the journey north. We left the day before Thanksgiving, and arrived at my parents' house in time for the Thanksgiving feast on Thursday afternoon.

So, for the foreseeable future, the Campbell family will be living in Michigan with my parents while we continue to plan and prepare for Angola and seek out a congregation who will sponsor us in that work. We are thankful for their generosity during this time of transition for us.

And here's a picture of Alex "helping" with the packing. What is it about cardboard boxes and packing material that holds such fascination for a 2-year old?

Baby Dois: Sneak Peak #2

And here is the littlest Campbell at 19 weeks gestation (I am 22 weeks now). We are thankful that the ultrasound revealed a healthy, growing baby, and yes, definitely a boy! We are about 90% decided on a name. We have the first name picked out; we are still trying to settle on a middle name. However, as with Alex, we have decided to keep the name a secret until the baby is born. So he will continue to be known as Baby Dois for the time being.

Fall Fun

This is my catch-all fall post. We have enjoyed a lot of fun fall activities over the last few weeks, including HUGSR's annual Fall Fest, Highland's Trunk-or-Treat, a trip out to Priddy Farms, and Halloween. And I have fallen a bit behind on blogging what with all the other things we have going on -- like team meetings, packing, and getting ready for our move to Michigan at the end of the month.

This year, for the first time, Alex was old enough to really participate in Halloween and trick-or-treating. He and Mackenzie were quite the pair in their Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber costumes:

Hi, Bob! Hi, Larry!

So cute.

We enjoyed participating in the Highland church's Trunk or Treat this year:

The parade of costumes

"Trick-or-treat!"

One Saturday in October, we took a family outing to Priddy Farms. It was such a neat place. They had all sorts of toys and play equipment for the kids, a hayride, a pumpkin patch, and a really neat "choo-choo wagon" made out of old barrels. Alex loved it, and he cried when it was time to leave. Unfortunately, we left our nice digital camera at home, so these pictures were taken with our camcorder, and they are not the greatest.

The hayride out to the pumpkin patch

Alex in the "choo-choo wagon"

We carved our jack-o-lantern two days before Halloween this year. Alex picked out the design, but that was the only real hand he had in the process. I wanted him to help me scoop out the pumpkin guts, but he didn't want to get his hands messy. Go figure! He thought it looked really cool with the candle inside, though. We don't have any pictures of the actual carving process, because Rusty was at work, and I wasn't about to attempt to take pictures and carve a pumpkin at the same time. But here is the finished product:

Happy Halloween!

On Halloween night, we went to a Fall Carnival at the Methodist church where Alex attends Parents' Day Out. We invited the Gearsons to come with us and had a really great time. There were lots of games for the kids to play, a moon bounce, a mini trunk-or-treat, and free food. Alex and Mackenzie had a great time, but I was officially "Halloweened" out after this event, and glad that we weren't going to be bringing home anymore candy!

Playing ring toss

Alex and Mackenzie were both fascinated by this monster doll that danced and sang when you got up close to it.

And the Winner Is...

...Jamie Custer who guessed, A BOY! (Jaime, email me you mailing address -- rustyandlaura AT gmail DOT com). Since only four people guessed correctly, my job of selecting a winner was made pretty easy. I thought Teague had let the cat out of the bag when she said she thought it more likely that the tech noticed boy parts right away, but people still kept guessing "girl." By the way, that is exactly what happened. In fact, the conversation went something like this:

Tech: Everything looks great. There's the heartbeat. Placenta looks good.
Me: Wonderful!
Tech: Oh! (slight pause) Do you want to know the sex of your baby?
Rusty: How sure are you?
Tech: 100%
Me: Well, it must be a boy, then!
Tech: (nodding her head) It is.

So, Alex is going to have a little brother, and it looks like I am destined to be the only girl in this family, at least for awhile! :) We are truthfully very excited. I am glad that Alex will have a brother fairly close in age that he can play with, and it does make it easier on us since we can reuse all our "baby boy" things. Oh, and, they can share a room for the rest of their lives!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our little game... I had no idea so many people were reading our blog! I will have to have contests more often, I suppose. Also, thank you to those who left comments on this post. I have enjoyed reading your stories and thoughts and plan to follow up soon with more of my own. It's not too late to leave a comment if you would like. Just click the link above, or scroll down two posts.

Finally, A Bit of a Bump!

There is this awkward stage of pregnancy (for me anyway) where I don't really look pregnant, just like I've put on a few pounds. Where I'm getting too fat to wear my regular clothes, but loose-fitting maternity clothes just look dumb. I feel like I've been at that awkward stage for about two months now... but finally, at 16 weeks, I'm starting to develop a more noticeable "baby bump." See for yourself:

I went to see my doctor again last week, and when she couldn't find the heartbeat, she sent me for an ultrasound, just to make sure all was well. This was not the routine "screening" ultrasound that is usually done at around 20 weeks, so I wasn't expecting to find out what we are having. HOWEVER, one of the first things the tech said was, "Do you want to know the sex of your baby?" So, of course we said, "Yes," and she told us we are having a...

And now it's time to play the "Baby Gender Guessing Game!" Leave your guess as to Baby Dois's gender in the form of a comment below by Friday, October 31st at midnight. I will draw a name from among those who guessed correctly and send the lucky winner a little something special!

Chime In: Childbirth

Since discovering that Baby Dois was on the way, I have been doing a lot of thinking about birth and my birth options here in the United States. It should come as no great surprise to anyone that I am not exactly eager to repeat my first birth experience. Well, let me qualify that statement a little. I don’t want to be in labor for three days this time around! The only positive I can see from my lengthy first labor is that I now have an extremely high threshold for what I would consider a “short” labor. Hey, if I’m only in labor for half the amount of time with Baby Dois (32 hours instead of 64), I’ll be saying, “Wow, that was fast!” (And most people – Americans, anyway – will still look at me pitiably and say, “You poor thing! Why didn’t your doctor give you a C-section?” But that’s beside the point.)

No, this time around, I would like to order a shorter labor, if you please. And I think I’ve established that I’m fairly easy to please on that score! But in all other respects, my first birth experience was a very positive one. If I could, I would go back to Japan to have this baby. I really would! I miss the maternity system there (which basically gives you two free doctor visits during pregnancy and then reimburses you for your hospital expenses after the delivery). I miss my midwife. I like the OB I found here in Memphis well enough, I suppose. But going to see her is just not the same as going to see Kudo-san, spending the better part of an hour with her, drinking tea and talking, and ending with a wonderful and relaxing incense massage! Truth be told, I even miss my Japanese doctor, who, although he was old and gruff, and spoke next to no English, and smoked – in his office (!), was a true champion for natural childbirth. I am beginning to appreciate in new ways, now that I am Stateside, the gift it was that, despite my lengthy labor, I did not end up with a C-section. And the thought that a second lengthy labor might lead to one here in the United States terrifies me.

The fact that I will likely not be having this baby in Memphis is of some comfort to me. There are not many “alternative birth options” here, I’ve discovered, other than homebirth. There are midwives, but midwives don’t have hospital privileges in Memphis, so if you opt to use a midwife, you have to also opt for a homebirth. I am not opposed to the idea of homebirth, but my personal preference would be to give birth in a freestanding birthing center with a CPM (Certified Professional Midwife) or a CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife). I have already begun to research my options in Michigan, and I’m reassured by what I am finding. There are several birthing centers within an hour’s drive of the Detroit area, and even a group of CNM’s who practice at one of the area hospitals.

I have also been doing a lot of thinking about what I wish I had known the first time, what I wish I had done differently, and what I plan on doing differently this time around. I recently became “blog friends” (through some of my Internet research on prodromal labor) with another woman who has had labor experiences similar to mine, and she encouraged me to do some thinking and reflecting about this. And so I have, and I plan to post some of those thoughts here in the next few days. In the meantime, I would like to invite any readers who have either experienced or would choose a “natural birth,” whether at home, in a birthing center, or in a hospital, whether here in the United States or overseas somewhere, whether recently, or many years ago, to chime in with your thoughts, stories, and suggestions. I am especially interested in answers to the following questions:

1. How did you arrive at your decision of how and where to birth your baby?
2. What books, websites, and other sources of information did you find particularly helpful?
3. Did you write a “birth plan,” and did you find it helpful?
4. If you chose a hospital birth, did you hire a doula, or labor support person?
5. If you chose a homebirth, did you have a backup plan? (In other words, did you receive “shadow care” from an OB or family doctor in case complications arose during delivery, requiring a hospital transfer?)
6. What childbirth method did you choose? Did you take childbirth classes, and did you find them helpful?
7. Would you make different decisions (i.e. choose a different birth attendant or birth locale) for any subsequent births?

Angling Towards Angola

(Thanks to Rusty's Uncle Lyle for this catchy -- and admittedly cheesy -- play on words!)

Time for an update on our plans to do mission work in Angola!

Since returning from our Survey Trip three and a half months ago, we have continued to plan and prepare with our team. We have now decided on a location in Angola to base ourselves and our ministry. We will be living and working in the city of Huambo in central Angola. There are many reasons that we as a team arrived at this (unanimous) decision. I will not go into them all here. Suffice it to say that Huambo was one of the cities hit hardest by the war, so there is a great need; and as far as we know, there are currently no missionaries (from any denomination) working in Huambo. Click here to review the pictures of our time in Huambo.

We have continued to meet monthly with our team. Part of our preparation involves completing several workshops put on by Missions Resource Network. This month, we will do a Theology Workshop, and in November, an Interpersonal Relationships Workshop. Next year, there will be several more workshops to complete. We hope that these will be beneficial, not only as we plan and prepare for the mission field, but also as we weather the "storms" that will inevitably come during our time there.

On a personal note, Rusty is winding down his time at Harding Graduate School. He will complete his degree requirements in December and graduate next May. To say that he is looking forward to being finished with school would be a huge understatement! But the fact that he will not be taking classes next semester has forced us to make a decision about where to go from here. We do not have a sponsoring congregation yet -- if we did, this decision would be easy! But as we are still waiting on God's perfect timing, we needed to figure out what to do in the meantime.

So, we are moving out of our campus apartment next month, putting most of our stuff in storage, and going up to Michigan to live with my parents for a few weeks (or months) -- until we find a sponsoring church or until they kick us out, I suppose! We are looking forward to some extended time with them, especially around what will probably be our last holiday season in the U.S. for quite awhile. Rusty is looking into a job transfer to a Starbucks store in the Livonia area, and I will go back to being a stay-at-home mommy.

So, those are our plans for the immediate future!