getting ready...

officially on maternity leave

yep, starting this coming sunday. of course no working until then - it is a national holiday when noone works. i am looking forward to my non-working days spent on shopping for the baby, cooking for my husband, cleaning and rearranging the room for the kicky addition to our family:):) also i am planning to do a lot of walking. 30 weeks, yea! just 7-10 more weeks to go...

2,5 hours of Chaikovskiy

My youngest sister made a gift to all of us having bought tickets to the ballet Swan Lake to Chaikovskiy music. Cold fall night, leafs falling, a bit raining, causy and beautiful opera theatre, full house, children dressed like angels, beautiful music, amazing dancing, apllouds, flowers, hot tea during intermission, baby kicking and rolling inside (enjoying music). Very elevating experience. On the way home we were all singing and even trying to dance some pa's from the ballet:):):) Fun! We thought we should do it more often.

O thou who art turning thy face towards God! Close thine eyes to all things else, and open them to the realm of the All-Glorious. Ask whatsoever thou wishest of Him alone; seek whatsoever thou seekest from Him alone. With a look He granteth a hundred thousand hopes, with a glance He healeth a hundred thousand incurable ills, with a nod He layeth balm on every wound, with a glimpse He freeth the hearts from the shackles of grief. He doeth as He doeth, and what recourse have we? He carrieth out His Will, He ordaineth what He pleaseth. Then better for thee to bow down thy head in submission, and put thy trust in the All-Merciful Lord.

Abdul Baha

Fall

I haven't been in Almaty during fall for five last years. I forgot how colourful and beautiful it is! Warm weather is perfect for walking and enjoying these last days before snow comes. I had a week of vacation last week and was able to spend a lot of time outside to get vitamin D. Our baby is 28 weeks old now, I and Amir cannot believe the time is coming up when we will see him and hold him...

10kg

trying to reduce on sweets and bread these days, mostly eating grains, veggies and fruit. 10 kg in two months is more than a normal gain, although i am feeling the same, and haven't changed in my looks - same skinny girl with a big belly:):):) this is a challenge since i love sweets so much, i guess when a baby comes into one's life- no more me, my likes, my fancies, just him, his health, his well-being...

we learned how to bath and rap the baby last saturday, how to give him massage in home conditions, we had these dalls to practice on, so much fun! tonight is another exciting lesson for couples - first phase of labour - partner's assistance.

we also have started studying ruhi 5 for juniour youth animators yesterday, finally! first 7 sections had a lot to learn from and contemplate on. it's going to be a weekly class, hoping to finish it before i have my son in my hands:) let's hope i can use this knowledge in my services in future.

love

Class - preparaton for labour

Last night was the first session. There are around 10 of us - beautiful young ladies, for most of them it is the first pregnancy. Our trainer is a wonderfl energetic lady, who has an experience of helping 6000 women in labour. She has a great personality and is a great speaker. In one hour and a half I learned so much! Amir had difficulties understanding her as she speaks fast, but he stayed with me till the end. Actually two other husbands were so happy to see him as they were worried to be the only ones there... Here the partnership is just starting developing and being a common thing, as, culturaly, husbands do not participate in such activities of women and especialy they do not see themselves helping out during labour:) But slowly slowly it is changing... at least here in the capital, thank God!!!! Tonight we will watch a BBC production about pregnancy, a 40 minutes long film where the camera was placed into the womb of a woman and recorded the whole process. Exciting!

doctors, doctors...

I've never liked visiting doctors, since childhood. may be cause the docs i visited were not very friendly, or whatever reason i don't know. I wish we had
more Baha'i doctors in the world! Because most of the time it's not that docs don't know what they are doing (which is the case in some situations), but the attitude they have to you, kind of, leave-me-alone, or here-they-come-again kind of attitude. It makes you feel guilty that you came to see them. But of course i am not generalizing, there are some very good ones, who make your day by just smiling at you and making you feel comfortable and cared for. Not complaining, just have to visit two more of them this week. wish me luck.

last night

was so much fun! we had our second ultrasound! we went to another lady who was soo nice to us, showed us everything - his cute little heart which was bitting so fast!, kidneys, legs, arms, feet, hands, head, brains, spine and ribs, and even genitals. it's a boy!!!!! to make sure, she showed it from differenet sides, it was very clear! she said our boy is doing great, then we saw him moving his arm inside, it looked like he was waving at us:):) he is quite active, constantly moving, rolling, he still has some space to do it:):):) she also showed us his eyes, they are big! we came out absolutely amazed of his progress since last ultrasound, and happy that everything is good. next time will be the last before delivery - to see his position at 34 weeks. thank you again for all your prayers!

much love...

tell me everything you know...

about influence of computer on pregnancy. i have read many articles on internet and all of them are very contradictory, some of them say no inflience, some of them say stop using computer especially during the first trimester, when baby's organs are being formed. my monitor at work is very old, i don't think it has a protection, so, after having sitted here for two months, i am gettng worried:) they are buying me a new monitor this week, but still, i am bit worried. please let me know if you know anything about this issue... thanks a lot!

pictures

We have recieved a cd with pictures from our farewel in the Holy Land that were taken by our friend Melonna. It was nice to see them now, almost 10 months after leaving, and remember that warm, cozy home of Liudmila and Serghei on a cold Novemeber evening, and close friends getting coming to say good bye to us and wish us luck. I have posted most of the pics on my facebook, and here are some of them for blog readers.

home...

check out the nature behind my cousin...

watermelon and green apples

are my devoted companions through pregnancy... no day passes by without a kilo of green sour apples and some watermelon. i find myself more indifferent to oranges which i used to love before, bananas and grapes. what i miss is mango. we have mangos here brought from china, but they are nothing in comparison to the ones i tried in israel and of course double of nothing to the ones amir says grow in south east asia:)
another strange feeling i get is crave for swimming! and it's funny cause i don't know how to swim, just learned last year how to float. somehow i get this confidence that my belly will hold me on the water:) i think it's my baby who will be a good swimmer, and who knows i might learn while i am pregnant to swim as well:) on 30th august is a national holiday - constitution day, we are going to the outdoor swimming pool for the whole day, yey! it's also my sister's birthday, so she might join us there, i hope the wheather will not change our plan. so far it's nice and warm during days - perfect for swimming:)

discovering the world of cramps

my sister is a professional dancer and when i told her about my experience, she said it's such a usual thing among dancers and sportsmen, that she had them all the time while studying, they are caused by overtraining. she said i must have walked too much that evening and my muscels were reacting to it, especially beacuse i am heavyer now:) she also said that if the cramp is so intense that it doesn't let go off your muscle, dancers take a needle and poke the muscle to release the spasm...ouch! that might really hurt! but she said it helps immediately. then my sister started telling me terrible stories about some dancers who tear their muscles during practices and the muscle runs away from it's usual location, so in order to catch it before it runs, after it's ripped, they take a safety pin (!) and pin it to the other ripped end. terrible!

this morning...

I had a terrible first time in my life leg cramp. The pain was sudden and very intense,

I cried and called Amir to wake him up to help me. I heard before that if one has a mussle cramp, he needs to strech his leg and flex toes back towards the knee. I tried doing it but found it very painful. The cramp lasted for about 1,5 minutes, it felt like eternity! Amir massaged my calf and slowly it got better. Gosh, so painful. It still hurts when I try to massage that part. This is what I found on Internet about cramps during pregnancy:

Why am I having leg cramps during pregnancy?No one really knows why women have more leg cramps when they're pregnant. It's possible that your leg muscles are tired from carrying around all of your extra weight. Or they may be aggravated by the pressure your expanding uterus puts on the blood vessels that return blood from your legs to your heart and the nerves that lead from your trunk to your legs.Leg cramps may start to plague you during your second trimester and may get worse as your pregnancy progresses and your belly gets bigger. While these cramps can occur during the day, you'll probably notice them most at night.
How can I prevent these cramps?Try these tips for keeping leg cramps at bay:

• Avoid standing or sitting with your legs crossed for long periods of time.
• Stretch your calf muscles regularly during the day and several times before you go to bed.
• Rotate your ankles and wiggle your toes when you sit, eat dinner, or watch TV.
• Take a walk every day, unless your midwife or doctor has advised you not to exercise.
• Avoid getting too tired. Lie down on your left side to improve circulation to and from your legs.
• Stay hydrated during the day by drinking water regularly.
• Try a warm bath before bed to relax your muscles.

• There's some evidence that taking a magnesium supplement in addition to a prenatal vitamin may help some women. Check with your provider before taking any kind of supplement during pregnancy.You may have heard that having leg cramps is a sign that you need more calcium, and that calcium supplements will relieve the problem. Though it's certainly important to get enough calcium, there's no good evidence that taking extra calcium will help prevent leg cramps during pregnancy. In fact, in one well-designed study, pregnant women taking calcium got no more relief from leg cramps than those taking a placebo.

What's the best way to relieve a cramp when I get one?If you do get a cramp, immediately stretch your calf muscles: Straighten your leg, heel first, and gently flex your toes back toward your shins. It might hurt at first, but it will ease the spasm and the pain will gradually go away.You can try to relax the cramp by massaging the muscle or warming it with a hot water bottle. Walking around for a few minutes may help too.
What if the pain persists?If your muscle pain is constant and not just an occasional cramp — or if you notice swelling or tenderness in your leg — call your practitioner. These may be signs of a blood clot, which requires immediate medical attention. Blood clots are rare, but your risk is higher during pregnancy.

Astana during night

week 20

today's visit to doctor showed that i am 20 weeks pregnant, for the last months i gained 5 kg (!), my blood test was good, blood pressure is normal, the baby is happy (i added that) and that i need to consume more calcium. In two weeks i have an ultrasound appointment, until then we won't know whome we are expecting for sure:):) last ultrasound didn't show any such details. the baby started kicking three weeks ago, i didn't know it was supposed to kick every day, so i was kind of tired of it moving too much inside me. second week of kicking was not as intense and on the third week i am completely used to it, and if i don't feel any movement, I start worrying. for the past week i had backpain during my sleep which made my nights sleepless. the last two days pain went down to my legs, i had trouble walking last night... i shared these feelings with doctor and she conlcuded that i am lacking calcium, whereas my opinion is that it is the neuralgy caused by weight increase of my baby and pressure on my nerves in lower back. i will have more calcium for the next two weeks and see if the pain goes away. not sleeping at night made me realize that from this time on my nights won't be so calm any more, especially first months after the baby arrives. luckily i have a very caring and helpful husband, cannot wait to share parenting experience with him!

pictures from past couple of weeks

we have a family park we went to one weekend with our friend Askhat. It had this huge old equipment excibited from the times of world war II.

in this section of the park old peole were having their dancing party... they were all dressed up and looked happy. i thought it was quite cute:)
Another day we spent in my sister's husband's mother's place..hahaha...we just call her Tatte. she lives in the suburbs of almaty with beautiful view of the mountains and very clean air

one of her grandsons turned 5 that day, this was the occasion we got together. he is a fan of spiderman:)
i never know how to pose my belly for the pictures, this one is funny, like i am afraid to drop it:):):)
trams are for old people here, we love them though, and took a ride after a birthday party
Kamila is at the age of loving antie's shoes
bbq we had last weekend at Tatte's place

three sisters
kazakh hats
the birthday boy!!!!!!a.k.a. spiderman
his birthday cake

making a wish before blowing candles

us coming back from our first ultrasound check
fish being deep fried...yum! another couple has decided to verilly abide by the Will of God
Almaty mountains
the veiw of the city at sunset

flowers my sister bought for us one day, she is so sweeet!
heart- shaped middle
me - tired and sleepy
can u see the tiny foot??????
random encounter in the middle of the city

Flan in Kazakhstan

I will remember Haifa for many wonderful things. One of them is trying out lot of different culture's foods. Yum! I won't even bother going into listing all of them as there is a lot i tried at dinners, parties and weddings! I surely miss this diversity here in Kazakhstan. Although I am a bit lucky that my other half is of differnet culture becouse he cooks so well! I've been trying to see if Kazakhs know what flan is - one of my favorite desserts after Haifa, but only few people, in fact two, in my office knew what it is and tried it at least ones in their lifes. So me and Amir, got the recipe and decided to make it one night. We didn't manage to find a vanila syrup. Not wanting to give up, we tried to use the maple syrop instead and this flan of ours turned out to be soooooooo real and DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!! yum! I brought it to work, now people are asking for its recipe, I am so glad they liked it:):):) How can u not like the flan??? Thank you to Isra for the recipe and thank you to Amir for making it, thank you to me for the idea and being there while it's made:):):)
What would be next??....

Stomach abuse...ouch!

Being pregnant and having a bigger appetite is NOT a good reason to eat as much as i ate yesterday! My goodness! I couldn't literally walk, and sit and function in general!!!!!!!!!!! Our office mate bought all this delicious food to celebrate his birthday during lunch time yesterday and I forgot my hand-break at home...:):) Please!!!!!!!!!!! Moderation in everything!
On this picture i am already sitting with one leg hanging from the chair because couldn't put my legs together - so big was my poor pregnant belly! And, I still manage to smile!
It was a torture to digest all that food, I am telling you! And it's all my fault, can u hear, i am not complaining, just warning you not to do what i did:) The food was delicious!