Expat Life: Expecting baby #2 abroad

As I sit here {im}patiently waiting on the arrival of our darling babe #2, my mind goes into overdrive thinking about the fact that we are now about to give birth to our 2nd baby while living overseas as expats in Malaysia.

I’m officially 2 days late on my expected due date today and although I know deep down that due dates are mere estimates and rarely do people actually give birth ON their due date, I was still praying like mad I would one of the lucky few, or earlier than the date, but alas, not so much I guess :(. Apparently I have stubborn children &/or make seriously comfy wombs! (Ava was 6 days late).

In any case, maybe writing this post will force the baby out?! One can only dream…….

It’s crazy how when I was pregnant with Ava living in KL, everything was new to me, not just the fact that I was having a baby in a forgeign country, but simply just having a baby. I would talk to friends both here in KL and stateside about having a baby and although there were many similarities, there were also many differences, but one thing always unites women around the world who have the desire or are mothers, and that is pregnancies and babies.

No matter how you get to that moment when you see your perfectly made beautiful little bundle of joy, whether it’s a “oops”, a planned pregnancy, through IVF, surrogate, adoption, etc……we are all united in this together, and thus begins the beautiful process of bringing home baby.

When, after just 6 months with Ava, we began discussing again wanting to expand our family, we had some choices to make. Do we forge ahead and have another baby while living in KL? Do we wait until we move back to the USA? There were so many questions and since we are not getting any younger, coupled with the fact that we have been absolutely head over heels in love with being parents and having a family of our own, we decided after a few months to go ahead and try again. Well, as luck would have it, a short 2 months later we became pregnant with baby #2- wow, so exciting & yet strangely scary too!! How would we adjust to being a family of 4? How would Ava take it? How would it affect our relationship as husband and wife and as parents?

I knew one thing though, this baby would be Malaysian born just like his big sister and that was a fun bond that would forever unite them and unite us as a family. We still don’t know when that time will come when we leave this country for our home one again, but we do know how fortunate and blessed we have been to have been able to have 2 babies (almost!!) while living in KL.

This second time around has been so much easier for me! Besides the obvious of not having to buy so much baby “stuff”, I also knew where to go to purchase the items I need, I have the support system of other families around us while away from our own families, I knew what to expect throughout the various stages of pregnancy, I knew what my limitations were and where to go to exercise, to relax, to get help from pain, etc., but most importantly, I had already found a doctor and team of nurses at a hospital I was very familiar with and oh so comfortable with- what a joy! My OBGYN is a godsend, seriously, he is amazing. In fact, we attended his family & friends Christmas party over this recent holiday season, how cool is that?! It’s such a comfort knowing that when I do go into labor (please God let it be NOW), I know what to expect from him, from his nurses, from the labor and maternity ward, from the pediatrician, and from the after birth midwife & massage care….not to mention we know the drill on what it will take to get baby brother a USA passport and citizenship. Whew, what a relict to not stress about all that stuff!

So that’s about all I have for today…..and I wanted to share with you our maternity pictures with the talented Clare Barker Wells Photography. She captured some gorgeous moments of us while we are still a family of 3…..and dealt with a downpour of rain thus being undercover the entire shoot, yet still captured some memories to cherish for life! I’m so in love with our little family!

Until next time, pray alongside us that God blesses us with our baby boy SOON~

Kimbra