Moving on to 12! (By my standards, anyway)

Tomorrow is a really big day for us--it's our 12-week appointment! The anxiety has been driving me crazy (pretty literally), so all I've wanted to do all day is just sleep the day away and wake up tomorrow just in time to get ready for the visit to the doctor.

For those wondering, we are having an NT Scan done tomorrow. Why? At least at our hospital here, it's really just routine. The doctor never really mentioned that it was to assess any risks for Down Syndrome, just that it was to take some measurements. That's what's done at ultrasounds anyway, so why not? I'm totally against several procedures that are often performed on pregnant women, but for me, I look forward to getting to see our baby in such great detail. (If you're wondering for whatever reason, no, 4-D scans are really not all that appealing to me.)

I was surprised when browsing a pregnancy message board that so many women in the States are against it and decline it. I guess it has unfortunately just earned a pretty bad reputation over there for inducing unnecessary fear in moms-to-be. The only thing their concerns have truly warned me about is that I should probably go in expecting a crazy bill when all is said and done tomorrow! (In Korea, you pay per visit.) I guess I'll learn "the hard way" that it's not exactly just another ultrasound. It'll be worth it, though. I really can't wait for our appointment to just be NOW already!

Anyway, I can't wait to see how big he/she has grown. Speaking of he/she...

I had my first truly definitive "gender-telling" dream during my nap this afternoon. Pre-pregnancy, there was usually a specific gender in each dream. Since becoming pregnant, though, it's just been a mystery, though I've felt slightly inclined to boy in a few. This one was no slight inclination, though! In it, something weird happened, and then I gave birth to FOUR babies--ALL GIRLS! It will now be absolutely hilarious if it turns out we are having a boy. I will say that they were all incredibly precious and adorable like you wouldn't believe. And the labor was 100% unrealistic (like, "What labor?"). Talk about a crazy dream!

Anyway, let's have the pictures tell some more of the past week's crazy tales:

11w

Feeling rather uninspired this day, I wanted to take a belly pic but didn't get around to it. I know, lame. Before one of my classes, I had to run to the grocery store to buy some snacks for the children. I wanted to buy chocolate-covered peanuts for myself, but this was all they had. Low-quality chocolate, but it gets the job done. What I REALLY want are salty chocolate-covered pretzels. Oh, yum.

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11w1d

Yay, picnic season! Students here go on school picnics like woh, so their mothers prepare gimbap. One was kind enough to donate some to my cause. :D

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11w2d

This is the food of DOOM. I am 99% sure this is what wound me up in the hospital. It usually looks and tastes better, but I apparently just did not have the right craving at the right time. At least Hee Suk was okay.

If you somehow missed it, 11w3d was awesome enough to get its own post.

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11w4d

What do you eat for dinner the day after you've recovered from food poisoning? That's right--pizza. We tried a new place and really liked it. :D It doesn't cost an arm and a leg like Domino's or Pizza Hut here, so I think we have a winner!

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11w5d

This has a sad story to it. Well, sad to me.

All I have craved is the American food I never thought I would miss. It is so hard to find the key ingredients to be able to make and eat what I want. It's just awful. You know what I went through trying to find a burger and a can opener just to eat some green beans.

Walking home on Monday (I took a taxi to class since it was raining at that time), I started choking back tears. As soon as I got home, I cried like a baby, just absolutely sobbing. I was home alone, hungry and had nothing appetizing that would be easy to prepare. I then decided to go way out of my way to go to TGIFridays so that I wouldn't have a complete mental breakdown. I was so desperate that I called myself to ask about closing time and get directions. I never do such crazy things here.

I was so hungry that I didn't even think to grab my camera to take a picture of the food, but I wish I had! The stock photo on the menu looked great (Jack Daniels Chicken with shrimp, veggies and mashed potatoes), so since there was no honey barbecue chicken and other chicken choices (I wanted chicken) were all white sauce style, I ordered that. My meal looked almost completely different. The chicken was fine, as were the veggies, but the shrimp was sooo heavily breaded, seasoned and fried. I though it would be coconut shrimp, but it definitely wasn't. The mashed potatoes wound up being mashed sweet potatoes (which Koreans love), organized into two neat little balls side-by-side. I didn't realize it at first since I was starving, but the cinnamon they sprinkled on top in the center of the potatoes had them looking quite like a bosom. It was hilariously disturbing. I might be confusing some information with healing PCOS and with pregnancy, but I had heard sweet potatoes weren't the greatest thing to eat, so I ate a few bites and left it at that.

So anyway, the tissues are from my sobbing fit before dinner.

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11w6d

This brings us to today's photo, which is dedicated to (baby's) Uncle Brian. I want to listen to classical music periodically just because it's a good thing to do, so today's classical selection was my Xenosaga II OST Disc 1. Not exactly pure-bred classical, but it's darn good stuff!

And that's all I've got for today! To all those awaiting emails, I know you're probably wondering how I can say I am too tired for emails when I write novels here. All I can say is that I am sorry. -.-; I will try to be better about getting back to people.

My Lord, we are truly in Your hands. You know my thoughts, my worries, my fears, and I just commit them all into Your able and mighty hands. You have never let us go, and I know I just need to trust in Your strength, especially when I am feeling weak. Thank You, my mighty King!