#4 The Birth Announcement

We have a date...and a place to stay!

I will eventually catch up on updating the Beijing experience, but I want to spend a little time catching everyone up on the progress of Clare and Luke.  Throughout the pregnancy, we have received results/reports/measurements on how the twins are progressing based on observations of the Thai doctor, 'Dr. P', meeting with our surrogate.  Initially, from weeks 4-12, our surrogate attended weekly screenings/ultrasounds.  Then, the schedule changed to every four weeks during the 2nd and early stages of the 3rd trimesters.  Once we hit around 30 weeks, our surrogate began to see Dr. P about once every two weeks.

All along we have been told to expect the twins to be born, supposing they aren't early, at the 37th week (which would officially be July 26) by C-section.  So, in making our travel plans, we decided to arrive in Bangkok by the 35th week since many times twins like to come earlier.  The last time our surrogate met with Dr. P, we were told that she likely had gestational diabetes.  While this isn't something of tremendous concern for either the surrogate or babies, it did mean the babies could potentially be growing faster and, thus, need to come out earlier than 37 weeks.

Last week, the day we left Chicago, our surrogate had her '34' week (which was actually at 34.5 weeks) scan.  The tests for gestational diabetes ended up being false, which was good news.  The twins both measured at 34 weeks and 2 days.  'Fetus A' weighed in at 2087 grams (4.6 lbs) and 'Fetus B' weighed in at 2343 grams (5.2 lbs).  We love to see these numbers this high!  We still aren't quite sure which baby corresponds to which 'fetus'.  The labeling is based on which baby is closest to the exit (A is closest).  I guess we will soon find out their true identities.

The biggest news, no further suspense, is that Dr. P has set the date for the birth of our twins to be

Tuesday, July 22, at 7 AM!!! 

(Bangkok time...meaning Monday, July 21, at 7 PM Chicago time).  He is confident the twins will be in a strong position to be born at this point.  We could not be more thrilled with this news!  Hearing the actual date of birth has been the biggest moment of reality (meaning more numb now) in this entire process!  We hope our surrogate and the babies have a safe and uneventful final finish.

More reality comes from the fact that we are now physically in Bangkok.  We arrived Saturday night, July 12, really late, stayed out by the airport, and cabbed into the city the next morning.  We checked into a hotel (with apartment-sized living spaces and amenities)

1-BR apartment

THE most important appliance...Chris is still trying to figure out how this works!

that we thought would be a good spot to set up camp for the better part of the next month.  Thankfully, it is. I think we were sold when we arrived to our room on the 25th floor and opened the window to see our view,

Wow!

which, if you take a closer look, you can see the hospital where Luke and Clare will be born in the distance just steps away!

BNH Hospital...watch out, the Knapp-Heald's are taking over soon!

The pool isn't so bad either.

Can't wait to swim laps here!

We took a quick stroll over to hospital

BNH Hospital...since 1898

which felt a little more like a resort.  We are excited to come here next week for the most exciting day of our lives!  We checked out our surroundings and found the supermarket (they have diapers and wipes!), the 7/11 (in Bangkok 7/11 stands for 'there might be 7 or 11 of these stores within walking distance') and, most importantly, the closest McDonald's (for Chris).  We even stumbled upon Chris' company headquarters in Bangkok.

Happy JLL Employee

We couldn't be happier with our location.

So, now we are a week and change away from the big day.  We have talked with some folks during our journey and we keep getting asked about our level of excitement.  Of course we are excited even though it still feels miles away.  I have been telling people how every travel day tends to feel like 3 days at home, so its almost like we are still 3 weeks away.  Regardless, we will be daddies soon enough!

With the extra time before the births we have decided to take off for Cambodia, tomorrow (Tuesday) and visit Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor Wat.  We will have plenty of time to explore Bangkok (which we have already started) when we get back, so we are looking forward to heading somewhere close by (1-hour flight) and enjoy some ruins and relaxation before heading back for the final pre-birth moments.

#3. Bumming Around Beijing (Days 2 and 3)

Day 2:  Back to Business

Day 2 began with renewed energy and a slightly improved foot.  Sadly, with the lack of complete improvement, we had to officially eliminate traveling to and hiking the Great Wall.  It was a sad and frustrating moment.  After a short mourning period, and a typical Chinese breakfast of dumplings

I'd rather be eating McDonald's

 and a bowl of rice porridge (all for about $3!...), 

At 6 Yuans to the $, what a deal!

we set out for the Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City is where the Chinese emperors lived for more than 500 years.  It is an absolutely massive complex with many halls...very cool.  Here are a few pictures of our tour of the Forbidden City.

Here we are at the Hall of Supreme Harmony

Lion statue in front of Forbidden City hall

Forbidden City hall close up

Even closer

Another part of the Forbidden City

Thinking of Clare and Luke at the Forbidden City

This last picture was taken by a young Chinese man who was immediately demanded, by his way too excited parents, to pose in a picture with us.  He was so shy but did pose.  I'll never forget him kindly telling us 'xiexie ni' (which means thank you) for the mandatory opportunity to help promote our celebrity run in China.

After leaving the Forbidden City, we headed north to Jingshan Park, which has a man-built hill formed from the excavation of land used to dig out the moat for the Forbidden City.  From the top, you can get a great view of the Forbidden City we had just explored.

View of Forbidden City from Jingshan Park

At the park, you can also end up talking and limping (my foot pain was picking up at this point) with a Chinese man claiming to be an 'English teacher' (before he learned I am a teacher) whose daughter and wife were 'out shopping' while he toured the city.  20 minutes later he was still walking down the hill with us to help 'keep him company' wanting to talk about Chicago real estate and classroom sizes.  When we got to the bottom of the hill, he asked if we would come have tea with him, a request that set off major alarm.  We quickly exited with a polite 'No thanks'.  Unfortunately, these types of people prey upon tourists to lure them to traditional Chinese tea ceremonies where things end up costing exorbitant amounts of money.  Luckily, we were not fooled.  I've read a lot about and have experienced a lot of scammers in my travel experiences, but this guy was good.  He should feel accomplished to have spent so much time with us before his dismissal. Well done 'teach'!

We next headed to one of the city's many remaining hutongs.  A hutong is a narrow alley-like street where many Chinese used to, and continue, to live.  Some of the hutongs have been built up to be a tourist attraction, while others remain more rustic.

Typical hutong

We had lunch at a restaurant in one of the hutongs.  

Braised pork intestines and hot & sour soup!

Chris was less impressed by the meal, but he perked up when we found his favorite store.

Christmas in July, yeah!

The rest of the day was spent at Beijing's Houhai Lakes.

Paddleboats on Houhai Lakes

This proved to be a more peaceful alternative to the busier tourist attractions of Beijing.  We first decided to rent a paddleboat for an hour out on the lakes and check out the scenery from the water.

I had to do this with a guy with a bum foot for a whole hour??

This temple now houses a kindergarten

In the afternoon, the crowds picked up.  So, we did what we know to do best and grabbed a beer from one of the rooftops overlooking the lakes.  

Recovery by Tsingtao

Shocking enough, it was at this point that I realized my foot (which at lunch was throbbing with so much pain I took my shoe off and then took 2 full minutes to put it back on) was no longer an issue (this always happens...the pain/injury comes randomly and leaves randomly).  Still, as much as we wanted to walk around the lakes more, we decided to hire a rickshaw to drive us.  

This poor guy with us in the back

For about $20, we got a nice 45-minute trip out of our nice driver.  He even stopped (on his own) to take a photo for us.

Enjoying the rickshaw experience

We saw a few more hutongs along the way

Houhai Hutong

and ended up back at our starting point.

Not actually our driver, but guessing ours shared the same fate

We spent the next hour or so walking around one of the lakes and taking in the scenery as night arrived.

Walkin' the lake

 Some were swimming,

Not sure I'd get in this lake!

some were fishing,

Never saw these guys get a bite

and some were doing what the cool kids do.

They're everywhere!!

 All was peaceful

I love these lakes

 as the sun began to set,

Paddleboats ready for tomorrow

 and then the lights turned on and we had to go home.

Goodnight!

Day 3:  The Final Hours in Beijing

We woke up early to check out of our hotel and took a couple of photos around the grounds of our hotel.

We never even hung out here...

but could see this from our room

We boarded the subway station near our hotel one last time

Jianguomen Station

and set out to meet up with our dear friend Matt Ross for breakfast.  Matt Ross was in town on his way home from a business trip.  It's always exciting to meet up with friends when you visit foreign countries.  Our time was short, but it was nice to see one last familiar face for what may be a month or so.

We didn't have a big agenda for the day but did plan to see a couple final sights.  Before setting out for our first we took some time to check the area near Matt Ross' hotel.

A trip to fantasyland

There was lots of shopping, but when leaving the main drag, we ran into streets filled with souvenir-type shacks and interesting food items.  When I say interesting, I mean the types of things you would be dared to eat on Fear Factor.  Take a look at this video.  Yes, many of these were still alive.

I'm actually disappointed for not giving the fried version a shot.  I've since been reminded I will most likely have more opportunities.  Stay tuned!

After departing the Matt Ross area, we headed for the Lama Temple, Beijing's premiere Buddhist temple (which is incidentally Tibetan in style).  There was incense in the air

Folks paying homage at Lama Temple

and flying through the air.  I accidentally burned myself with an incense stick.  I think I will have a permanent burn mark on my finger.  I was so startled that I shook the stick causing hot ash to fly through the air and promptly land on Chris' ankle.  Chris will also likely have a permanent burn mark.  (Buddha doesn't seem to like us).  I managed to obey the rules and avoided photographing the Buddha statues (it was tempting given that no one else followed these instructions but I felt like I was already on probation) but did take a picture of this message above the massive heavy set Buddha in one of the halls.

'If the heart is bright, the wonderful will appear'

The temple grounds had some neat scenery

Roar!

and we really got into spinning these prayer wheels (I think Chris thought this was Wheel of Fortune), which are to be spun clockwise only.

Our final destination in Beijing ended up being Olympic Park.

Memories from the summer of '08!

I've been fortunate to see quite a few of the Olympic Stadiums (some while under construction) in my travels.  However, none of the stadiums are as awesome looking as the 'Bird's Nest' stadium from 2008.  While the stadiums and Olympic area typically end up abandoned, this has not been the case in Beijing.  The Olympic grounds seem to be very well visited and we enjoyed taking some photos with the Birds Nest

Chris laying an egg at the Birds Nest

and the Water Cube.

Wishing I was Michael Phelps

Here's one final selfie of us at the Birds Nest.

We had a great time in Beijing!

Next stop, Bangkok!