Expat Pregnancy Club Meets Again!

This time we meet at the Seven Springs restaurant in Myeongdong (near Myeongdong Station, Exit 6) on a side street. It is mainly a buffet place, which offered a lot of choice for our large group: 11 moms, 1 grandma and 2 babies.

I definitely need to come back to Myeongdong after pregnancy. There was a lot of cheap goods on the street.

Connecting with these other women has been great for all of us. It makes such a difference to have people to share information and experiences with. Even though we come from different places, the English language and our foreignness have allowed us to bond quickly. As Sarah said, I hope this becomes a baby group after everyone has their babies.

*******This small group has transformed into a Expat Parents Club Forum.

Go here to join:
http://expatparents.50.forumer.com/index.php

One Thing at a Time

We are getting close to our departure and I have a list of things to do and appointments to keep. Sometimes I just want to hurry everything up and get things over with, but I am trying to remind myself to take things one at a time and enjoy them. It is hard in the freezing cold to venture out, but today, I got myself to yoga and then took the metro to Myeongdong to go to lunch with the Expat Pregnancy Club.

I am down to 3 yoga classes to use and there are 6 classes that I can potentially attend before I go so I hope to be able to use them up. We did Yin Yoga today in my Heal class at Pure Yoga Studio in Apgujeong. Christina explained Yin Yoga as a passive yoga. You relax completely into the pose instead of pushing yourself for greater depth. It is really difficult, but there are a few poses I think I will try to do regularly. It is good preparation for using hypnosis in childbirth. It is difficult to relax completely but it is amazing as you stay in the pose and feel tension that you couldn't recognize before, release it and go deeper.

I've started to gather the things I want to take back to the States and put them in suitcases. I am going to try to get most of the packing done this weekend. We may need to buy another suitcase or two, but I am going to try to get by without buying anything more.

Maternity Underwear: Revised Statement

In a previous post, I said that I was going to get maternity underwear and thongs, but not the full belly kind. I also said I preferred underbelly pants. Well, as I approach the third trimester with cesarean scar, things have changed. As soon as I get back to the States I am buying belly covering panties and pants. The underbelly ones are irritating my incision site.

Freezing Friday

We've lost some photos due to lack of a back up system in the past. Before we came to Korea, we bought a back-up drive, but only a few months ago did we actually start to use it. Things were great using Time Machine on the Mac, but one day, the computer did not recognize the back-up drive. We tried it in a different computer and it didn't work there, either. We are going to try to send it to the company when we get back to the US, but for now we are without a back up drive. Curt is sick of tech failures and doesn't want to get another. Until that passes, I have burned some back-up dvds and spent half the day scanning our professional family photos. The scanned photos won;t be the best quality, but at least we will have some sort of back up for them. That dvd is burning right now. Then I will be done. I need to do our wedding album eventually, but I don't think it will happen before I leave for the States.

Ian and I went to the chiropractor today. He said my adjustments are holding and I should be good for about a month. With traveling and the holidays coming up, that works out perfectly. I usually park on the base and walk. Today was FREEZING cold. Luckily, Ian fell asleep in the car and I put him in the stroller with his winter coat, hat, gloves and a blanket. I think the blanket over his face is what kept him asleep the entire walk there and back. I had a hat and gloves, but not a scarf and my face was burning. I almost bought a scarf on the way there.

We were supposed to go to a party tonight, but Curt isn't feeling well, Ian ate something that did not agree with him and I am tired so I don't know if we will make it.

Natural Childbirth Doctor in Korea

Dr. Chung will soon be delivering babies at Soonchunhyang University Hospital. Dr. Chung is a huge advocate of natural childbirth in Korea. I have heard nothing but fantastic reviews of this doctor, so it's nice to know that he will also be available (and yes, he speaks English). Currently, he can be reached at his screening clinic in Apkujeong: 010 6813 8000.

Also, Dr. Chung is currently getting certified to be a hypnobirthing instructor and will being teaching starting in February 2009.

20% Off Hypnobabies Coupon Code

From the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group (code is good through 12/31/08):

Hi Ladies,

This year, in light of our current economy challenges, we have decided to give a 20% discount on all products at Hypnobabies throughout December, as our gift to all Hypno-Moms!

*PLEASE use the following code at checkout to order:

HOLIDAY

Available only at www.Hypnobabies.com
Happy Holiday Hugs from Kerry

Kerry Tuschhoff, HCHI, CHt, CI

Founder/Director of Hypnobabies

(714) 952-BABY (2229)

www.Hypnobabies.com

A Must-Read Book for Empowering Natural Birth Stories! "Journey Into Motherhood" http://www.hypnobabies.com/doubletrackcd.html

Baby Keepsake Books, Calendars and Boxes

There are a lot of choices in this category of baby item. You can get very stylish and personalized albums if you are willing to spend the money. There are lots of styles and formats. This item is difficult to choose online because the organization can make a big difference in how successful you are in filling it out.

After a lot of searching, I found an album by CR Gibson on clearance at Babies 'R Us for about $15. It is not quite like the one in the link but has a similar feel. It has acid free paper, a fabric cover with a slot for a baby photo in it, pockets for storing things and pages for events and interesting family information.

I found a lot of baby books were too cutsie with cartoon characters and that is not my style. Some of them were overly detailed in the amount and frequency of info they tracked. Others had the opposite problem, they were too blank. Of course, depending on your personality, different book formats are right for you.

Another way to go is the Baby Keepsake Box. You can put the baby's hospital bracelet, birth announcement, lock of hair, etc. You can keep everything together in a safe place. If you think you might not fill out a baby book, the box is a good way to keep memories organized without a lot of effort.

The third category, the Baby Memory Calendar, is a great supplement to either the Baby Book or Baby Box. I received one as a gift and thought I wouldn't need it because I had the baby book, but it turned out to be great for jotting down notes to transfer into the baby book later. It was easy to leave it out for quick access. Many come with milestone stickers so when baby gets his first tooth, you just slap a first tooth sticker on the calendar. You can get these for about $10. Of course, you can also just jot notes on your regular calendar. It won't have the stickers (which also help to remind you what to track), but those aren't completely necessary.

I was looking around for a book for Baby Seoul and found this one that has an ink free foot print option. I'd like to see more of the inside though. I think I will check out what I can find in person or maybe go to the designer's website to hopefully get a more detailed look of the inside.