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Kampuchea Crossings

Bump to baby on the beaten expat track

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The gestational journey ends

18 January 2010 by Nathalie Abejero Leave a Comment

Thank you, everyone, for sharing advice, for the visits, calls and gifts, and all the well wishes! We’re still catching up with baby and sleep so for now, just a quick update :-)

Christmas Eve 2010
2 days old

 Above is his first passport photo, taken by the hospital’s photographer at about a day old.

We flew to Bangkok at 35 weeks, since the airlines don’t let you travel any later into the pregnancy than that as a precaution against having to deal with a woman in labor on board. Other mothers in Phnom Penh have driven either down to the border at Koh Kong (via a road that goes off the grid for a solid hour, as of 2010), or else up north through Poipet into Aranyaprathet, Thailand, and then bus/train it to Bangkok. But I just didn’t think I could handle that! The road to Poipet border crossing has much improved since I’ve been through it last, but decreasing the number of uncertainties while I’m heavily pregnant is a good thing!

My first groggy thought after waking up out of anesthesia and meeting our son was a dismal, “they mixed ours up with this cross-eyed Chinese baby”, but Hubby reassured me that from the time they took him out the Chinese-looking baby hasn’t left his sight. The baby’s filling out his features now, so my mixup worries are going away :-)

We had an unplanned c-section. First contractions were at 8am and by 1030am when we arrived at the hospital I was already 6cm. Between the pelvic girdle problem I’ve been having in the last trimester and the contractions, there was no respite from the pain so I asked for an epidural. Three hours later I was fully dilated but he wasn’t coming down fast enough and his vital signs were rapidly dropping, so I was wheeled into the OR. Apparently the cord had wrapped around his neck and arm, and he was losing oxygen rapidly. WHEW!

He came with big lungs and a small stomach – they say this is normal :-\ Thankfully he doesn’t use his lung power much :-) except when he’s getting his BCG shot :-(

Here he is in his bassinet :-)

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: baby, Bangkok, birth, delivery, pregnancy, Thailand

the decade in magazine covers

16 January 2010 by Nathalie Abejero Leave a Comment

… by Magazine Publishers of America and the American Society of Magazine Editors

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: magazine, media, video

when Asia’s per-capita income catches up to the West’s.. by Hans Rosling

11 January 2010 by Nathalie Abejero Leave a Comment

Check this video out. The Asian Century has never been more real, yet it’s still surreal for those of us used to a western-centric world. Presented so compellingly by Hans Rosling, the public health infographic brains behind the Gapminder, this modeling sends home a message that isn’t new but is quite amazing even for the rapidly changing times we live in.

Filed Under: Interests, Life Tagged With: Asia, china, gapminder, hans rosling, india, infographics

Employment recession

11 January 2010 by Nathalie Abejero Leave a Comment

Quoted from Silicon Alley Insider, the chart above by Calculated Risk…

… shows the decline in jobs as a percentage of the work force at the peak.

To date in this recession, we’ve lost more than 8 million jobs.  The decline as a percentage of the workforce is the worst since the Great Depression, matching the sharp but short drop in 1948, as the war machine wound down.

Equally important, the duration of these job losses, as well as the lack of a sharp recovery (at least so far), suggests that the problem will be with us for a long while.  We’re now 24 months into this decline, and we’re still at the bottom.  By this point in most previous recessions, we had already recovered all of the lost jobs.

Wow.

Filed Under: Interests, Life Tagged With: employment, recession, US

New Year’s Eve on the banks of the Mekong

3 January 2010 by Nathalie Abejero Leave a Comment

Phnom Penh actually got into the festivities, installing a street PA system that counted down to the new year. A bunch of friends and I decided to watch this year’s fireworks from a boat. Naga Casino, Cambodiana and the riverside all set off fireworks. This event was even more special because of the clear skies and a blue moon which coincided with NYs Eve for the first time in 20 years. These were taken with a Nokia e71. Pics aren’t great but they’re ok no?
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Filed Under: Life Tagged With: fireworks, mekong, new year

tunes: All Alone on Christmas

24 December 2009 by Nathalie Abejero Leave a Comment

Christmas movies are so corny. This year we watched Love, Actually. It’s a feel-good, very watchable chic flick. Loved this track from it by Darlene Love, although the video is for Home Alone 2 (which I also enjoyed years ago). This holiday fanatic is always looking for good christmas flicks, so if you have a rec let me know :-)

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: christmas, darlene love, movies

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Those little feet pitter-pattering about rule our lives lately. But on the occasional free moment I get to tap out scatterbrained bursts of consciousness about raising toddlers in Cambodia, traveling with them and working abroad. These posts are my personal updates to friends and family. But since you’re here, have a look around. Thanks for stopping by…

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