Happy News

As much as my blog posts indicate that I am completely consumed by baking cakes, I've actually been consumed by something else quite large which Alan and I have been waiting to share until the right moment which is now. We are expecting a baby boy in April which makes me officially entering my 5 month of pregnancy today in fact. We're really excited about this major addition to our lives and even more so after seeing the little guy today on the ultrasound scan bouncing around and super active. He wouldn't even sit still long enough for the doctor to get a good look at certain angles but we're happy that he's got a strong heartbeat and the organs all seem to be developing well. The belly is growing and I went from people telling me two weeks ago that I barely looked pregnant to really popping out this week. I am anticipating feeling the little guy moving around any day now and can only imagine by the looks of his activity on the ultrasound that he will make his presence known soon. I'm staying as active and fit as possible and am keeping up my three times a week walks with my friend Marina who is also teaching a prenatal yoga class I'm in with two other pregnant women. I'm even going to try aquaaerobics in our pool tomorrow!

And of course, the fact that we're living in Ghana pregnant, brings with it funny and interesting stories. Like just today in the waiting room at the doctor's office, the nurse came out to inform us that there was no electricity in the office so we'd have to wait for some time to be seen until they fixed the problem. So we watched as electricians ran in and out of rooms trying to get it back on and even continued to when we were in the exam room after it was fixed. Luckily I was finished with the exam when they entered. And if my early posts didn't give a clear enough picture of our fear of malaria, it's only intensified now that I'm pregnant. I am not taking any antimalarials because of possible risk to the baby but getting malaria while pregnant can be very dangerous. So I am on strict dusk lock down in the house, windows shut, A/C blasting in an attempt to lower the exposure to malaria-carrying mosquitoes. I still get bit once and a while and every time we have a twinge of worry but the chances that an occasional bite leads to malaria are pretty slim. So bring on the deet...it's better than getting malaria.

Then there is the baby room prep which we're beginning a bit early because I'll return to the states in January where I'll safely stay until the baby is born. We wanted to get the room as set as possible before I leave and given that there is not a Babies 'R Us to be found in Ghana, you have to get creative. So we came up with a retro safari theme inspired by our orange velvet vintage chair and the 9-foot tall orange wooden giraffe that they sell on the side of the road that we just had to have. And after some heavy heavy bargaining, we managed to fit the giraffe in our car and positioned it just below the ceiling in the baby's room. Now we're on a mission to get a wooden elephant table! I've made some curtains and we found an orange shag rug so the room is really coming together. We still haven't figured out major items like the crib that we'll likely have to bring over with us on the plane but we have a few months for that. We're even getting a dresser/changing table made here by a shop that does great woodwork and carvings.

We're having a great time planning and enjoying the pregnancy so far and will try to post pictures soon of the growing belly and retro safari baby's room when my computer is back up and running.