 |
|
 |
|
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Yes, Baby Dixon is due to arrive in about three months!!! How did we get to this stage?? (warning: this could be a lengthy one, pull up a chair and get some coffee)..... I will start at the beginning. Well, we're in America now -- Birmingham, Alabama, to be exact. We arrived a couple months ago. We found out in early March that I am 'with child' ---when I was already in my 2nd trimester!!! We went to the first prenatal check-up in Beijing, Frank and I couldn't believe our eyes. God is awesome!--We were expecting to see maybe a little pea-sized unrecognizable dot (as I thought I was probably 5-6 weeks along), but what we saw was a completely distinguishable human creation---head, legs, arms, ears, and maybe, said the doc, boy parts!--moving all around like crazy, waving hello to us on the screen! It was by far better than anything I've ever seen with my own two eyes, better than any kind of landscape (Everest, Grand Canyon, etc.) I could imagine. I started crying and laughing at the same time, I was bursting with joy--no exaggeration! I had a couple of the ultrasound scans that put up on our bulletin board so as to remind myself that there is actually another human living in my abdomen.
One could be wondering at this point how in the world I was so in the dark for an ENTIRE trimester?!..... I got off the pill at the end of December (was going to run out soon and had been taking expired packs for a few months anyhow, plus I just wanted to get off chemicals after being on them for many years) and expected it to be a while ( i.e. many months or even a year+) before I even started menses, much less became normal and fertile, so I thought nothing of it to go for 3 months without a trace, especially considering I had not a one of the typical pregnancy symptoms. The only reason I even took a home pregnancy test in the first place was because I was going to start taking a Chinese herb that is suppose to make you start your menstrual cycle by flushing out your system, but the pharmacist (who was very, very old and sported a long, tapering white beard down to his sternum) said to make absolutely sure that I wasn't pregnant and handed me a Chinese pregnancy test. So I went home and nonchalantly did the test.....and then I had to make sure I was reading the Chinese right on the instruction pack when two pink lines appeared! That was when my heart starting pounding out of my chest ninety-to-nothing!
(which didn't stop for several days--I couldn't even sleep well, I was up thinking about it so much). Frank wasn't home at the time of the test-taking, but when he came in soon afterwards, he recalls that I was flapping my arms and speechless--all I could finally frenetically mutter was, "pregnancy test!" and pointed to the table. Since he had no idea that I was even taking a test, obviously, he had a shock coming to him, as well.
And of all the times in my life that I've not tried to take fairly excellent care of myself (with a few brief exceptions), it was on the road during our 6-week tour through Southeast Asia (mid-January through early March). I won't go into all the details, but I asked people to please pray that God would knit him together in my womb just as He desires. That time for the baby was the most crucially formative. We had a testimony in our small group from church that same week from a Hungarian girl whose mother had been recommended to abort their recently-diagnosed Downs Syndrome baby---but by faith, they began to pray and asked friends to pray. Next check-up??---a completely healthy baby with no sign of any genetic problems! A true miracle. I was also listening to online sermons that week on God's sovereignty and how nothing comes by chance, but only by his Fatherly hand. Very comforting....even the things that we think of as "bad", we just can't see through God's eyes the big picture how He is working it all out for good.
Anyway, the little guy (yes, our suspicions have been confirmed by the American doc--he is definitely a he!) is coming along just fine, as far as we all can tell. He's definitely been making his presence known (what a kicker!--you can even see my whole belly rumble around and jut out when he's going at it--amazing!). Frank is Frank Murray Dixon III, so basically we have to decide if he'll be the fourth
or something else--preferably either a Biblical or family name--we've got a couple strong possibilities up our sleeves now. I have been feeling tremendous this entire time, better than I normally do, I believe (could it be that I/we should always try watch what goes into our bodies and exercise so consistently?!). I keep wondering when the hard part's coming (I think I know--I am putting off peering at the last section of all these pregnancy books: 'Labor & Delivery'). I can't believe the rate of weight gain, though. I've already put on about 22 pounds, and there's still lots more to go!
We'd actually planned on coming back to America anyway at the end of May, but we decided to cut it short by a couple weeks. My brother was going to come stay with us those last few weeks and practice all the Chinese he's been learning at Vandy, but he missed his chance. It was sad saying goodbye to the people there whom we may not see again and who have been so encouraging to us, but we both feel that God would have us in the U.S. at this time--main reason being spending time with our parents.
And that's exactly what we've been doing.... We are still officially sleeping under the roof of Murray and Sue Dixon (yep, that's the inlaws!). We have been busy spending time with both of our families, actually, driving back and forth from Hattiesburg to B'ham to stay with each family, but mainly we are at Frank's parents and go to see my parents on the weekends (they now spend 3 of of the 7 days of the week down in Orange Beach on their boat, so most every time we've visited them, we've gone down there). We're planning on living in B'ham for the next year or so before going to graduate school--M.Div/MBA dual program---possibly in the fall of 2007 or '08. But who knows.....
Frank just got hired by a small investment banking firm that tithes their time and profits, which is unheard of. I believe it'll be such an encouragement for him to be surrounding my young men (the proprietor is only 38) who are doing this all for God's glory. Now that we know where he'll be working, I'm trying to find us an apartment or house somewhere close to his office and hopefully get moved in next week. And then we'll start with all the getting-ready-for-the-baby fun! We went garage-saling yesterday morning and checked off the list some of the major things.
Ta-ta for now!
Posted at 06:55 am by Brandi In China
|
|
 |
|
|
|
