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3 months

Baby is now 3 months old...after that 8 hour stretch that one time he kind of regressed and went back to 5 hours! but now he's back to 6-7 hours and i'm hoping it stays that way (or gets longer). he's still not really doing anything new, he smiles more and likes to look around a lot. he gets super fussy right before naptime, so i'm going to have to try some stuff out to try to avoid that crying/screaming period.

only one more month to go for my maternity leave! i guess i'm going to try out the working/watching baby at the same time, but i don't know how well that will work out. i should probably maybe start looking for a nanny, but i'm lazy. i would prefer to have someone that speaks chinese, but i don't know if i would trust an asian grandma. so i think i'm looking for someone that is young-ish with childcare experience.

i'm also starting to have craaazy thoughts about having a 2nd baby sooner rather than later. i kind of just want to get it over with! is that crazy?? i think yes, but since i have no clue what it will be like to have a toddler, maybe it's better to just do it and hope for the best =) we'll suffer for a little bit, but maybe it won't be so bad??????? and i think most likely we'll only have 2. i would like 3, but monetarily speaking, it's definitely more practical to just have 2. even if we have 2 boys...wah. we'll see though...maybe we'll have a large age gap if we decide to go for a 3rd. we'll see we'll see. i soooo hope the 2nd child is a girl so i won't have to think about a 3rd haha

2 months

oh dear, i have been so neglectful of my baby blog!! i actually forgot it existed...oops!! so at his 2 month appt his weight was 14 lbs 14 oz (97th percentile) and height 22.25 inches (20 something percentile). yikes! He also got his first set of shots (3 of them) and he cried sooo much. the poor thing. the rest of the day and the next day it seemed like he was crying more, my poor poor baby. i don't look forward to the rest of the shots.

when he was a little over 2 months he started sleeping 5-6 hours during his longest stretch of sleep at night. last night he slept 8 hours!! yay!! the bad part is that i was horribly engorged and it was painful. i actually woke up before him so i could pump.

other than that, not much new to report. he still isn't very excitng yet. he will smile at you and coo and gurgle if he's in a good mood =)

8 weeks

guess what!! last night he slept 6.5 hours!!! ZOMG!! he went to sleep at 11pm and woke up at 5:30am, i was so shocked. except i woke up at 2am and every hour thereafter wondering when he would wake up!! so i didn't sleep that well, but hopefully this means it's the start of sleeping longer. although, his sleeping pattern is pretty erratic because the night before that, he was up every 2 hours. that was very very horrible. j's theory is that it is because he was gassy due to the milkshake i had at dinner. the previous time he woke up every 2 hours we had garlic fries during dinner and he thinks it was because of that. who knows, but i am going to avoid those things now!

anyways, the baby is starting to get less fussy thank goodness. he still has his days once in a while though. at least he'll finally sit in his swing or bouncy seat, but you can only put him in there when he's content or tired/drowsy. if you put him in there when he's unhappy, it won't make him happy (unfortunately!!) too bad there isn't a magical device that will turn off crying - if i could invent one i'm sure i would make a fortune! =)

right now he likes to be held A LOT, so most of the time he is in my arms. i guess that is normal? (i have no clue...) but it's veeery tiring, especially since he's getting so big. our rough estimate is that he is now 14-15 lbs! (i weighed myself on a scale and then weighed myself plus the baby to figure out his weight) i also wish it was easier to put him to sleep. i have to rock him for a loong time before he'll fall asleep. one night i rocked him so much it made me fall asleep but he was still awake, oy.

it seems all i ever talk about is bad things hunh? well, hmm. umm. it's great to hear him coo and see him smile, but that only happens probably 1-2 hours of the day, so uh, the rest of the time isn't very fun. BUT i've read that the first 3 months are the hardest and it only gets better! we'll see.

7 weeks

I think the baby has finally started settling down, the fussiness isn't as bad anymore. The sleep book I'm reading says babies start getting really fussy from week 2-6 and reach peak fussiness around week 6 (sooo true!). I also read somewhere that this is when infant homicide is the highest. I read this to j, and he said "homicide??" in an incredulous voice as if that was totally crazy. On Sat, he watched the baby for a few hours at night so I could get some sleep, and he came to bed saying "I totally wanted to strangle Ryan!" heh...I said "That's how I've been feeling the last few weeks!!" While he's at work I would send him many messages like: "omg i'm going crazy" etc...now he knows what i have to deal with THE WHOLE DAY while he is at work. Anyways, I hope the worse is over. Can you believe we even had thoughts of Ryan being an only child?? =P

Our next challenge is getting the baby to sleep longer. In the sleep book, it says from week 6-8 they should start sleeping 5-6 hours at night. I don't know if Ryan will be hitting that milestone any time soon =( He JUST started sleeping 4 hours at a time, so it might be a while. We'll see...I'm already happy he's going 4 hours, 5-6 hours would be heaven!!

Ryan's eating has started to slow down so I've had to pump to get all my milk out, otherwise it gets reaaaally uncomfortable. Now we have an abundant supply in the fridge. We're trying to train Ryan to take a bottle now, but he's still not very good at it. So we're going to give him a bottle every night and hopefully he'll get better at it without having half the contents on his clothes!

Can you believe if I just took the standard maternity leave, I would have been back to work last week?? So crazy. I'm glad I am able to stay home for a few months with Ryan before going back to work.

6 weeks old

i had my OB appt last thurs and the dr said everything healed up nicely, yay. except i don't really feel 100% but it's definitely much better than before.

the baby is still as fussy as ever, but i think i'm learning ways to soothe him. his sleeping habits are still not very good though. i've read so many sleeping books trying to find ways to get him to sleep longer but basically right now he's still too young to try most of the sleep training methods. i guess i'm just impatient but i think it's important to have a well rested child and regular schedule. i guess for now i just have to continue to suffer until he's around 3 months old. the last 3 nights were rough, instead of making progress he regressed, waking up several times at night. i have a feeling it's been due to gas, so we just have to do a better job of burping him. i wonder if the food i eat can also make him gassy. hmmm. i've also been eating a lot of sugar to cope with my tired-ness. i bought 4 bags of candy from target! eek. halloween is a bad time of year for me =) perhaps all the sugar i'm intaking is also affecting him?? every night it takes a loooong time to put him down to bed because it seems like he's totally wide awake. anyways, other than the sleep problems and general fussiness, he's been a great baby. he's starting to coo and smile more. i don't think he's eating as much as he used to, so i don't think he's gaining weight as rapidly as before. it's so fun to feel his fat rolls, sooo soft. j's parents are coming to visit on fri for a week so i'll have some help then. i need to take my car in for a smog check and renew my driver's license!

4 weeks / 1 month old!

one week older, but not much has changed. every night i hope that he'll sleep one hour extra but i am always disappointed. one night he ended up waking every 2 hours, 12am 2am 4am 6am 8am...that sucked considering each feeding is half an hour and then half an hour to fall asleep. bleh. and during the day i am constantly having to hold him!! when he is awake, he can't be content just chillin, laying around and playing. after a few minutes he'll start crying so i'll have to rock him/bounce him, soooo tiring. i just wish i could figure out why the heck he is crying after i've just changed his diaper, he ate already, and he has been burped!! the swing and playmat don't seem to interest him right now. i'm going to try the bouncy seat next week, but omg i can't get anything done during the day. those few precious minutes/hours that he is asleep in the crib (sometimes he won't even sleep there, he'll fall sleep on my chest and then wake up once i put him down in the crib) i can finally go use the restroom, eat, drink water, do laundry. sigh. what have i gotten myself into?? i'm really hoping it gets easier as he gets older...i've only been alone with him a few days and i'm already frustrated/sick of it. =/ i can totally see how people can get the baby blues, taking care of a newborn is HARD! last night i even mentioned to j, perhaps we should just have one child...oy. everyone says the first few months are the hardest, so i guess i just need to get through it. the first month passed fairly quickly, so hopefully the next one will too! i look forward to the weekends when both j and i are at home so at least i can fob the baby off onto daddy for a little bit.

baby is getting chubby but it is very cute. his skin is super soft and it's fun to rub. he got his first bath last weekend and i'll be giving him a bath every 2-3 days. he seems to enjoy it, he doesn't cry at least! ok...baby is crying....again. wahh..time to go!

3 weeks old

the baby is 3 weeks old already, time seems to pass by a lot faster than when i was pregnant hehe. not really much has changed with baby. his umbilical cord finally fell out a few days ago. omg, he's the noisiest sleeper!! he makes lots of snorts, wheezes, sighs while he is sleeping and it makes it really hard for me to fall back asleep after his feedings. he had his dr appt on tues and he is now 10lbs 2.5oz (75 percentile)!! he's been waking up every 3 hours like clockwork at night to eat (although one night it was every 2 hours which was sooo tiring). each feeding takes about 30-45 mins and then it takes me about 30-60 mins to fall back asleep so i really only get about 1-2 hours of sleep in between. i'm getting sooo sick of all this feeding, i don't really see it as a bonding experience yet =/ i think the hardest part for me is being woken up during my deep sleep and then watching j and tofu sleep so peacefully while i'm stuck tending to the baby. ugh. my issue is not really a lack of sleep because i'm rested enough to be awake during the day with a 1-2 hr nap, it's the interrupted sleep and trying to clear my foggy head while baby is screaming at me. not fun. sigh. i'm REALLY looking forward to when he's older when he doesn't have to eat as much and can sleep longer through the night. i REALLY hope it's soon!

about me, i'm still slooowwly recovering. it kind of sucks that even after 3 weeks i'm still not 100%. i'm so impatient! it still hurts to lift my leg up (like when putting on pants). and since our bed is so high, we had to put my step aerobic apparatus next to my side of the bed so i can get in and out of bed more easily. so sad. and it still feels kind of funny to walk around, but i've kind of been forcing myself to do it (like taking tofu for her walk) in hopes that it'll speed up my recovery. i'm definitely hoping in another 3 weeks when I have my OB visit i'll be back to normal. supposedly you can start exercising 2 weeks after having a vaginal birth, but uhh, i don't see any exercising in my future. luckily i've lost most of my weight, just have 5 lbs to go. once i'm fully recovered i'll definitely need to do some kind of stomach exercises since there is some loose skin there. i tried on a pair of my jeans and they buttoned up, but they were really tight and i had a nice muffin top =/ my belly button looks really weird and wrinkly and i also still have my linea negra, not a pretty sight.

oy..i guess this post has been very complainy. hopefully before i know it, several weeks will have passed and all of these problems will be a distant memory =)

2 weeks old

baby is such a hungry monster, he eats A LOT. at our 2 day appt after we were discharged from the hospital (thurs 8/28), he was down to 6 lb 12 oz because my milk still had not come in yet, so he lost almost 10% of his birth weight (7 lb 6.2oz). so they asked us to come back on sat 8/30 to check our progress. at that appt he was up to 7 lb 3 oz. typical weight gain is only 1/2 oz to 1 oz a day, so he gained 7 oz in 2 days!! j was in disbelief and thought the scale must have been wrong haha we had another weight check on wed 9/3 and he was up to 7 lb 14 oz. another 11 oz in 4 days!! if he continues that kind of growth he's going to be sooo fat =P we have our first pediatric appt on 9/16 so we'll see how his weight is then.

so far everything is going ok...sleeping 2-3 hours at a time sucks though. ugh. i'm looking forward to when i can get 4-5 hours!! also, the baby gets suuuper fussy sometimes and won't go down to sleep. like today he was up from 11am til around 5pm!! it was so tiring trying to figure out what he wanted. i'm just glad it was during the day and not during the night. i think it was because he was hot and it was uncomfortable to sleep but who knows. it was nice that both of us were home so i could pass him off to j when i was tired/given up. good thing my mom will be helping out for the next 2 weeks when j goes back to work, but after that i'll be on my own..eek.

the baby fell asleep on my tummy today and it made me think, wow just 2 weeks ago the baby was inside my stomach and not on top of it! i still can't believe he came out of me haha

one week old

the baby is now a little over a week old and we're slowly getting used to getting 2-3 hours of sleep at a time. it's very tiring oy. it seems like the baby sleeps more during the day than at night. my theory is that the heat wave makes him drowsy and sleepy but i have read somewhere that babies tend to be more active in the night. This is because when they were in the womb all the motions you do during the day rock the baby to sleep so they are usually more active at night. anyways, i'll try to update the blog more often when i have more to write, right now the baby just sleeps and eats...not very exciting. oh, he poops and pees a lot :)

baby is here!

ok i guess this is a little late, but in case you didn't know, the baby arrived on 8/24 2:12pm. You can find out more info about it at our homepage..link is on the right.

lost mucous plug

well, i lost my mucous plug today, so labor should be imminent. could be a few days or week(s), hopefully my doctor can guesstimate something after my internal exam on tues! eek.

baby shower at work

last thurs my coworkers threw me a baby shower! it was very nice of them and totally unexpected. i wasn't really sure what to expect because it was merged with our monthly happy hour, but they planned games and had a cake, so it was fun. we had the baby food game again, but this time the food the person picked was really gross. and totally hard to distinguish because there were at least 5 ingredients in each!! like one of them was green beans, potato, carrots, lentils..that is so hard to distinguish! anyways, got lots of gifts again and our house is overrun with baby stuff. it's everywhere!!

i have a little more than 2 weeks to go and i'm sooo ready for this baby to come out. my stomach is huge and very pointy. oy. two weeks ago i thought i wanted this baby out...now i REALLY want this baby out. i'm hoping it's soon. very soon.

36 week appt

everything is looking good. did the usual- urine test, blood pressure & weight taken, belly measured, and listened to heartbeat. in addition got swabbed for group strep b (if positive will have to take antibiotics during labor) and the dr did an internal exam. she said baby is head down (yay!) and my cervix is starting to thin and is fingertip dilated. so that's good news, my body is starting to prepare for labor...eek. next appt is in 2 weeks.

4 more weeks!!!

i really can't believe i only have 4 more weeks to go, esp since it now means i can go at any time. well... hopefully after next week since the baby will be full term at 37 weeks. my coworkers were planning a surprise baby shower for me, but somehow i was on the email list so i now know about it. hehe. they still haven't set a date yet but the last baby shower we had at work, the guest of honor didn't make it because she had given birth to her baby that morning!! she was 2.5 weeks early AND her labor was a breeze- she basically slept through most of it!! she woke up in the morning feeling pain at 5:15am, timed her contractions and called doctor, dr said, oh i don't think you need to come to the hospital until 7am. she packed her hospital bag and was ready to go at 6:15am, so decide to go to hospital a little early and arrive at 6:45am, and has baby at 7:05am!!! OMG!! she was saying if she had gone to the hospital at 7 she really might have had the baby in the car. wowzers, it would be awesome if my labor was so easy, but i don't know if i'll be so lucky. it's so interesting how labor can be SO different for different people...very odd.

more classes

on sat 7/26 we took a childbirth preparation class (basically a lamaze class but they can't call it that because it's a brand or something). it was a full day class and we mainly just practiced some breathing exercises and some various positions to use when you're in labor. even after the class i'm still soooo nervous about it. on one hand i'm totally ready for this baby to be out of me, and on the other, the labor and postpartum period makes me very worried. i think the main thing is just not knowing what it will be like. i mean, you can try to prepare yourself as much as possible by reading up about it, attend as many classes as you want, but it's still not the same as actually going through it. plus everyone experiences something different, so who knows what mine will be like! i'm really curious to see what contractions feel like and how i'll deal with the pain. my plan is to only get the epidural if i totally can not handle the pain. in all the birthing videos we watched in class, everyone seemed pretty calm when they were in labor. i mean, it looked like it hurt, but they weren't screaming their head off or anything haha another concern i have is the size of the baby's head. since j has a big head, i'm afraid the baby might have a big head too!! i would like to avoid a c-section if at all possible.

anyways, i think once i'm actually going through it all, i'll just have to deal with whatever comes my way and i'll probably be fine. but since i still have a month to ponder what it *might* be like, what *might* happen and what *might* go wrong, it's a little nervewracking. i just need to try to think about other things.

mon night 7/28 we took a breastfeeding class. it was a pretty good class and only 2 hours (thank goodness!) it seems like kaiser santa clara has a really good support system and really wants you to be successful, so i'm feeling fairly confident that breastfeeding will go ok (i hope!).

we are now D-O-N-E with classes..yippee!! baby can come out now =P

4D ultrasound

on mon we went to get a 4D ultrasound done at Siemens in Mt View. If you know anyone that is pregnant and interested in getting a 4D ultrasound, let me know and i can send you the info. they are always looking for models (to collect data to improve their software) and they pay you to go in. so instead of spending $150 to get it done somewhere, i got paid $40! =P

anyways, it was really cool to see the baby...it's still a boy =) he's head down (thank goodness! if he's breech i would have to try to get him to flip or else be scheduled for a c-section) he likes to suck on his hands or put his hand in front of his face, so the tech constantly had to try to get the baby to move his hand to get pictures of his face. he yawned a few times and it was so cute. i can't wait to finally meet him in a few weeks!!!

you can check out some of the photos here

the ultrasound estimated the due date to be 8/29 and calculated the baby to weigh 5.2 lbs (but tech said could be off by 12oz). usually the baby gains 1 lb every 2 weeks, so estimated 8 lb baby. we'll see how accurate it is!

newborn care class

last weekend we took a 6 hr newborn care class. it was basically a class about what you need to know once the baby is here. it was very informative and interesting...the instructor was very much into breastfeeding and being green. she kept on advocating cloth diapers, so it's something we are considering. there's a cloth diaper service in the bay area that will pick up/deliver diapers every week and the cost is only a few cents more per diaper than disposable diapers. i just don't know how leaky cloth diapers will be, but we're attending a "diaper 101" session in august at the store that provides the cloth diaper service so we'll find out more info then. the instructor also said that we shouldn't use disposable wipes in the first few weeks and to just to use a washcloth and water!

each day i feel like i'm getting bigger and bigger...still have 6 more weeks to go! the baby is pretty active and moves around a lot which makes it fairly uncomfortable for me. it's interesting to see all the shapes my belly contort to though. a lot of times there will be something sticking out, it's very funny. we're going to do a 4D ultrasound on Mon so i'll see how the baby is oriented and hopefully get a better idea of what's poking me!!

32 week appt

had my 32 week appt today, waited half an hour for a ten minute checkup. ugh i was so annoyed. took a pee test, got weighed, took blood pressure, measured belly, and listened to heart beat - everything checked out fine. the dr gave me some pre-admission forms for labor and delivery and talked a little bit about the birth plan. omg. i can't believe the birth is coming up so soon...a little more than 7 weeks to go! eek.

on sunday we went to babiesrus with MIL and FIL before they drove home and we got the crib and a BUNCH of clothes. so i think we now have most of the big stuff. now we just need to go buy the diapers, wipes, and other misc items that we'll need and then we should be set. we really have nowhere to put all this baby stuff we've accumulated though..all the gifts are still hanging out in our living room and probably will be there for a while :)

baby shower

on sat 7/5 my sister threw us a baby shower! it was the first for all of us so we kind of just did whatever. it was just supposed to be a fun get together before i have the baby (who knows how much socializing i'll be able to do after the baby comes!) so it was a great success. my sister came over at 10am to start cooking and decorating. i was helping a bit and barely had enough time to change and throw on some makeup before the first guests arrived! even though there was no heat wave, with so many people in our house it got really H-O-T, especially since we have no A/C. the games were entertaining, especially the baby food and poopy diaper one hehe we got some very nice gifts and i can't wait to use them all when the baby comes! it was good to see everyone again (esp those that travelled from afar) and hope everyone had a good time!

late pregnancy class

On 7/3 i had an 1.5hr late pregnancy class. i told j he didn't have to go since it was at 6pm and we'd be taking plenty of other classes. i turned out to be the only one without their partner heh. anyways, the teacher went over the fun symptoms we should be dealing with now -lower back pain, frequent urination, swelling, problems sleeping. unfortunately all she could say was, it only gets worse until the baby comes. yay. then she talked about contractions, going into labor, and when to go to the hospital. she also talked about the birth plan which is basically just a form you can fill out beforehand which indicates how you would like your labor & delivery to go. ie if you would like an epidural, if you plan on breastfeeding not to feed the baby formula, who to cut the umbilical cord, if you have a boy whether or not you plan on circumcising, stuff like that.

i'm still undecided about the epidural, i'm not opposed to it but if i can handle the pain, i would prefer not to have it. since i have no idea what the pain will be like, i'll play it by ear. but i think most likely i'll be getting the epidural hehe

and one big decision we are still undecided about is circumcision. it's a pretty controversial topic though and is mostly done for aesthetic or religious reasons. the american academy of pediatrics no longer recommends the procedure saying that there isn't enough evidence that it has any health benefits. i'm kind of 50/50 on it, both have pros and cons so hopefully we can come up with a decision.

30 week update

10 weeks to go!!! i can't believe i'm almost in single digits, kind of freaky...

the baby gets hiccups several times a day, i would say 3-4 times a day. he moves around a lot, especially at night time. i now get up 1-2 times at night to go pee, mainly because it takes me a looong time (almost an hour) to fall asleep. so usually within that time frame i use the restroom again. it takes me so long to fall asleep because of the heat wave (sooo hot in our room!) and i can't find a comfortable position to sleep in. my shoulder/arm that i'm sleeping on usually loses circulation so i have to adjust...not fun. luckily my back hasn't been giving me too many problems, i know a lot of women need to use a lot of pillows when they sleep because their back hurts, but i've been ok. the only time my back starts hurting is on weekends when i'm actually up and about doing a lot of things. on weekdays i'm mostly sitting and working, so it doesn't strain my back.

i haven't really been talking to my stomach because i don't feel like the baby really responds to my voice. and when i start talking, tofu looks at me funny. haha some people read books or play classical music but i haven't done either. the baby doesn't really seem to respond to j's voice either, but i still make him say something before we go to bed =) sometimes the baby will give a little kick or move around

we signed up for several baby classes so that's what we'll be busy doing in july. and buying all the baby stuff. july will be really busy..i want to have all the important things ready JUST IN CASE the baby comes early. i highly doubt that'll happen but you never know.

28 week appt

I had my 28 week appt today, nothing really eventful happens at these prenatal appts. i get my weight taken, blood pressure taken, the dr measures my belly, and then we listen to the heartbeat. that's it! everything looks fine. i've gained 15lbs so far. my belly button is almost completely flat now, but hasn't popped out (i hope it doesn't). i feel like my stomach is huge already, but no stretch marks so far.

my sweet tooth is back in full force- really loving sweets. doughnuts, chocolate, ice cream, candy. over the weekend i made brioche french toast stuffed with nutella and bananas. i made rice krispie treats the previous weekend. i've been also loving fruits, so we've been going to the local farmer's market every weekend. navel oranges, white peaches/nectarines, pluots, cherries, strawberries. summer fruits are my fave!

gestational diabetes test

i went in yesterday to take the gestational diabetes test and thankfully i passed! there are two tests, the 1 hr and the 3 hr test. if you fail the 1 hr, you have to take the 3 hr, otherwise you don't. for the 1 hr test, you drink this really sweet soda-like drink within 5 minutes (about the size of those mini water bottles), wait 1 hr, and then get your blood drawn. for the 3 hr test, you drink a similiar drink and have to get your blood drawn every hour for 3 hours. i'm soooo glad i passed the 1 hr, i was already getting restless sitting in the lab for an hour, i really did not want to have to go back and do the 3 hr. i was worried because i heard most people fail the 1 hr and usually pass the 3 hr, so i was thinking i might be one of those because i'm such a carb lover! luckily i read a tip somewhere about not eating breakfast and taking the test in the morning, so i did that and passed! yay!

third trimester

i'm officially in my 3rd trimester...3 more months to go!!! yikes. it's still kind of surreal to have a living thing in your stomach and having him moving around all the time. right now he has the hiccups, hehe i checked out a bunch of baby books from the library that we're starting to go through and we *finally* hit a baby store last weekend to look at stuff. we probably won't have a nursery room for the baby yet because we plan on using one of the occupied rooms, but our tenant said he was most likely going to move out in Aug. so the baby will stay in our room for the first few months and we'll have to set up his room later.

when we were down in LA during memorial day weekend we had dinner with one of j's friends who are also expecting 2 weeks earlier than us. they are waaaayyyy more prepared than us. the theme of their nursery is yoshi's island or little mario, something like that. anyways, they're having someone paint a mural in their nursery, they have all their nursery furniture, stroller, $200 worth of mario stuffed animals... they are even looking at daycares already!!! gosh, i feel like such a slacker. personally, i don't think i'm going to have an elaborate nursery. i'm not really into decorating and making everything cutesy. i don't think the baby will really care hehe as long as he is fed and has a place to sleep he should have nothing to complain about =P

week 25

nothing really interesting is happening, we're starting to think about buying stuff and registering, etc etc. we'll probably buy most of the stuff after the baby shower. i think our trip to puerto rico was at a perfect time during the pregnancy. i'm not too big yet and the pressure on my bladder isn't too bad. i'm definitely starting to feel it though, if i'm up standing walking around it feels like i have to pee every 20-30 minutes. good thing most of the time i'm sitting on my butt haha i'm still able to sleep through the night and i'm used to sleeping on my side now, yippee. i feel the baby move a lot and he's definitely getting stronger, now when he kicks i can see my stomach move. my belly button has become VERY shallow, pretty much almost flat. my doctor said it would become an outtie (ewwww) but i'm really hoping she's wrong and it just stays flat. my belly button was already shallow to begin with, so don't know if there will be much to "pop out". i'm feeling HUGE and still have 3.5 months to go...ugh. i really dread the last month when i'm really big, retaining water, swollen body, middle of summer......

ok, here's some fun, we're still trying to think of some names, what are your top 2-3 names from the list? feel free to add other suggestions if you want =)
- Brandon
- Ryan
- Derek
- Darren
- Riley

week 22 update

here's my latest picture:


my stomach is definitely starting to grow...i can only fit about half of my wardrobe right now. and it's interesting, depending on how the top/dress is cut, some make me look and feel HUGE while others seem to minimize the stomach. i weighed myself at costco over the weekend and i've gained about 7-8 lbs. i'm hoping to keep the weight gain to 20-25lbs total. on avg you're supposed to gain 1 lb a week in the 2nd & 3rd trimesters, so if i stick to that i have 18 more weeks to go and that would put me at around ~25 lbs. we're going to puerto rico on wed for a week, so we'll see how much weight i put on hehe i have a doctor's appt on 5/9, 2 days after we get back... hopefully the number on the scale won't be too high =P omg, i tried on my bikinis and i am totally busting out of the tops- don't think i'm brave enough to wear them out in public. i don't want to go out and buy a new one because most likely i'll never wear a bikini again for a while after this trip, so i'll just have to wear my one piece swimsuit. thank goodness that one still fits!

3D/4D ultrasound

we're still debating whether or not to get these, i don't think either of us particularly want them, but MIL really wants us to do them. personally i think they look a little creepy and this is j's reaction when he saw some sample photos while researching for facilities to do the ultrasound at: "OMG, EWWWWWWWW, that's what the pictures look like?? i don't want to do that!!" haha i think the avg cost is about $150-$200 and you get a lot of photos and a DVD. i don't think it's really worth it but we'll see if MIL brings it up again. it's better to do it around 28-32 weeks anyways because the baby is a little bigger and better developed (and hopefully less alien-like!)

i did find this Siemens study thingie that will actually pay you to do a 3d/4d ultrasound. i think it's testing with their new machines? not really sure. it doesn't really say in the paperwork but you have to fill out a bunch of forms so it kind of makes j nervous about doing it. so that's another option we're considering...at least it would be free AND make MIL happy, a win-win all around =)

20 week update

i'm in my 20th week now which is exactly halfway through the pregnancy. 4.5 months to go! my stomach is getting bigger and i can feel the baby move now!! i don't feel it all the time, usually when i'm laying still. the first time i was reading and had my hand on my stomach and felt something move and i got so freaked out!! it just feels like something in your stomach is rolling, it's kind of a weird sensation. last night j talked to my tummy and the baby moved so he felt the baby also, yay.

the pregnancy is going well, no complaints. still getting used to the growing stomach, it's so strange seeing it so out there. and it's only going to get bigger, oy. i don't really have any cravings either, just been eating normally. i do like jamba juice a lot though, but i think it's mainly because my mouth is parched a lot and sweet icy liquid is very tasty. i have really horrible back acne, it's really gross. some on my chest too, but not as bad. i guess it's good that i'm not breaking out on my face, but back acne is reallly hard to get rid off. eww. i still find myself sleeping mostly on my back, but i think as my stomach gets bigger it won't be very comfortable. the problem with sleeping on my side is my shoulder, it gets in the way or my arm falls asleep.

ultrasound pics

here they are! the ultrasound was soo fun, it was so cool to see our little baby moving around in there. i drank some apple juice before the appt so he was awake and twisting around a lot. you could see him kicking my bladder but i still don't feel any kicking yet haha it's so odd to see all this movement going around in my stomach but i don't feel a thing! hopefully soon. we're still working on names, it'll probably be a while before we decide on one. we still have 5 months to go so i'm not stressing about picking one yet. after seeing him on the ultrasound, it makes it all real, we're actually having a baby, ack! time to get my butt moving. i've been a delinquent mommy and haven't read any books or done much research about baby stuff and haven't thought about the nursery at all. 5 months still seems like a long way off....yes, i'm definitely a procastinator..and so is j

it's a BOY!

due 8/28! you could totally see his wang on the ultrasound. he moves around a lot too.
looks healthy so far... hopefully we can post the ultrasound pics soon.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI

growth spurt

if you look at the week 16 growth post last week, it said that "In the next three weeks, she'll go through a tremendous growth spurt, though, doubling her weight and adding inches to her length."

looks like it is so true!!


i take a pic every sun morning and all previous week pics were very similiar to week 16's. one more week until the ultrasound!!

maternity jeans

i bought my first pair of maternity jeans!! haha i actually don't really need them yet, but i found a good deal on a pair of paige maternity jeans on ebay so i bought them. they were already altered too. got them for about $60 when retail is almost $200!! they are quite interesting, you basically just pull them up and there's a stretchy waistband on top. no buttons or zippers to fuss with! so yay, i might get one more pair, we'll see. i dunno how much i'll be wearing jeans in the summer, i actually kind of dread it. i'm going to be big, uncomfortable and hot, on top of which our house has no A/C! lovely.

week 16 update

nothing really exciting going on here, but symptoms to date:
-pretty frequent headaches (usually worse when i don't drink enough water) have had to take tylenol twice when they were really bad
-have to eat small meals throughout the day, if i eat too much at a time it feels REALLY uncomfortable and i feel sick. it's really hard to control how much i eat when we go out to eat though. i probably should only eat about 1/5th of my dish but end up eating at least 1/2 which makes me feel terrible afterwards. hopefully i'll get better at it.
-don't really drink enough water, i'm trying though! every time i get up to get more water, i end up going to the bathroom as well!! luckily i've still been able to make it through the night without having to pee. i guess there is no pressure on my bladder when i'm lying down or sitting, whew!
-however, i do wake up several times throughout the night trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in. i'm not supposed to sleep on my back because it supposedly puts pressure on some artery, so you're supposed to sleep on your side. the whole first trimester i slept on my back because sleeping on my side was so uncomfortable. but now sleeping on my back is not feeling that great either, so i try to sleep on my side, but it kind of makes my back hurt so i wake up a few times at night to shift positions.
-my stomach is getting hard and round, but i think for the most part you still can't really tell. to me it feels like my stomach is getting big though =) jeans are starting to feel tighter but i can still wear them for now. i'm really curious to see how much i weigh- i should buy a scale. i don't really over eat or crave unhealthy stuff yet, but it's still early.

week 16 growth

I get these weekly updates from babycenter.com about how the baby is growing. I'll copy it here so people can see that the baby is still super super tiny!! (PS those pronouns they use are random, sometimes they use he, sometimes they use she.)

At 4 1/2 inches long (head to bottom) and 3 1/2 ounces, your baby is about the size of an avocado. In the next three weeks, she'll go through a tremendous growth spurt, though, doubling her weight and adding inches to her length. Her lower limbs are much more developed now. Her head is more erect than it has been, and her eyes have moved toward the front of her head. Your baby's ears are close to their final position, too. Some of her more advanced body systems are working, including her circulatory system and urinary tract. Her heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, circulating her total blood volume through her body many times. (By the end of your pregnancy, this will increase to about 190 quarts.) The patterning of her scalp has begun, though her hair isn't recognizable yet. Although closed, her eyes are moving (slowly), and she's even started growing toenails.

2nd trimester

i'm officially in my 2nd trimester now. my stomach is starting to get round and hard. i think i'm now entering the phase where i look a little pudgy with a big tummy instead of pregnant.

i've had one dream so far about the baby. it was a very strange dream, but i've been having a lot of very bizarre dreams lately. this one was the only one that was baby-related though. in this dream, my SON was about 3, his name was "Hero" and he was sitting on my lap. I gave him two strands of my hair and asked him which was one thicker. HMM, weird no? so umm, i'm pretty sure this dream is not going to come true, except for maybe having the son part. his name is definitely not going to be Hero, haha. we've finally come up with 4-5 possibilities of boy's names. we'll probably try to narrow it down later if it is confirmed we'll be having a boy, and maybe even taking a poll! i am thinking that it is very likely that the baby is going to be a boy, so i'm preparing myself for it hehe

one thing i wish is that i had more appts just to ease my mind that the baby is still alive in there. a lot of women actually rent baby dopplers so they can listen to the baby's heartbeat at home whenever they want. i was considering it since it's only $20 a month, but j seems to think that is crazy and i'm being too paranoid. since he is not the one carrying the baby and having to worry about it, i don't think he really understands, but whatever, i *should* start feeling the baby moving around soon, so that will help. i've actually still been hesitant to tell people i'm pregnant until i actually SEE the baby on the ultrasound. 4 more weeks, hopefully they pass by quickly!!

gender prediction

just for fun i've been trying to see if i can find anything online about gender prediction. Here are some old wives tales about being pregnant with a boy:
* you are carrying your baby low
* the baby is very active
* you are craving salt
* a wedding ring suspended on a string over your belly rocks back and forth and not in a circle
* the baby's heart rate is less than 140 beats per minute
* you didn't have a lot of morning sickness in the first trimester
* your feet are cold
some of these don't apply to me because it's still too early in the pregnancy. i haven't tried the ring thing either, seems kind of hokey?? so i guess i'm craving salt (more than sweet at least), not much morning sickness, and my feet have always been cold!! so a boy could be very likely.

but there's also a chinese astrology test which just uses your age when you give birth and the month of conception to determine the gender. according to that, i'm having a girl.

for some women, they have dreams about their baby and the gender is usually correct, but so far i haven't had any baby-related dreams. j had a dream last night that we were having a girl, so we'll see if it comes true or not!!

5 more weeks until the ultrasound. i don't really believe any of those old wives tales or the chinese astrology test, but it was fun to look them up. one is saying i'm having a boy and one is saying i'm having a girl, no help at all!!

freakouts

i think every pregnant woman has these freakout moments where she thinks "omg what have i done??" it's definitely a life-changing event to have a baby, one i'm not sure anyone can really prepare for. yes you hear all the stories, but it's not really "real" until you actually experience it yourself. i've been reading up on what to expect in the last trimester, the labor & delivery, and the aftermath. wow, it's quite overwhelming and very scary. but it looks like there's no turning back now!! i mean, a woman's body is made to handle having a baby, but imagining something approximately the size of my dog coming out of me?? it's hard to wrap my brain around it. and of course there's the whole body image thing. seeing your weight on the scale in numbers you've never seen before is not cool. i'm just hoping i don't end up weighing as much as j!!! i'm really hoping to keep it to a modest 30-35 lbs. i also don't look forward to the mommy badge of extra skin/fat that i'll have on my mid-section after birth either. ah well, i'm sure once the baby comes i'll say it was all worth it, but as of now, i don't think i can say that yet =P

i have ~6 months before i have to say goodbye to my life. as everyone says, once you have kids, you can kiss your own life bye!! everything you do will now be for your kids. i think there will always be a part of me that will wonder if maybe we should have stayed DINKs to be able to travel whenever we want, spend our income on ourselves instead of college funds, and not have the huge responsibility of shaping someone else's life. but i've always wanted kids and i think i'm up for the task, so time to live it up until the baby comes!!! and brace myself for the craaazy rollercoaster ride i'll be on for the next 20 years..........

sigh of relief

well, i had my appt today and it sounds like the baby is still alive in there because we heard the heartbeat using the doppler! i think at kaiser, if you don't have any complications in your pregnancy, the only ultrasound you get is the 20 week one to check the sex and it's done at the santa clara facility. (at my first appt i had a vaginal ultrasound-not the tummy one- which was used to date the pregnancy) i had to take another urine sample, i tried to drink as much water as possible after i woke up (my appt was at 9:20am) and managed to squeeze some out. the dr also took a pap smear and whatever else they usually do during a normal gyno exam. she also went over my lab work that i had done last fri and everything checked out ok except I have an UTI. i don't have any symptoms, but i have to take antibiotics for 7 days.

so everything looks to be going well. no noticeable weight gain, maybe 2-3 lbs so far. not showing yet, just bloated for the most part. throughout the day my stomach seems to get bigger from the food/water, but after going to bed and waking up in the morning, it's back to normal. i can still fit in my normal clothes with no problem and the dr thinks i probably won't show until 6 months. i don't really have an increased appetite or real cravings yet, i actually don't really feel pregnant at all except for the fact i get tired very easily!

looks like i've breezed through my first trimester without too much suffering and can probably start telling people that i'm expecting, whee! next appt is not until april 1st for the ultrasound.

prenatal class

I had my early pregnancy class today, it was pretty uneventful. The teacher just gave some pretty basic information. We had to get some blood drawn and give a urine sample, so I was stressed about the pee test the whole time. I bought a bottle of water and finished it in 30 minutes haha. I still only filled up about 20% of the cup but hopefully that was sufficient. I finally have my next few appointments lined up though. Every appt from now on will have a urine test, so I'll have to prepare myself each time. Getting a urine sample is no fun...ugh.
2/13 is my next appt, if everything checks out ok then i've made it through the first trimester. i'm hoping and praying there will be a heartbeat!! i've been worried about it lately because the few pregnancy symptoms i had are gone, eek. plus i'm not sure if this is good or bad, but i haven't gained any weight. so i guess we'll see how it goes. it's only 5 days away.
4/1 is the ultrasound appt where i can hopefully find out the sex (if the baby cooperates!!).
4/30 is my mid-pregnancy class, but i just realized that is the day we're leaving for puerto rico so i'll have to reschedule it.

WARNING!!! Too Much Info post ahead!!!

since i've been preggers, my bowel movements have been few and far between. i think i go every 5 days or so??? i've been trying to increase my fiber but it doesn't seem to really help. i might have to start eating prunes ew. i really wonder where all the food is going, i'm hoping the baby is absorbing it all hehe. coffee works really well on me as a laxative, but i'm trying to limit caffeine and all that. ugh ugh. i'm also retaining a lot of water. even when i drink a lot of water, i don't go to the restroom very often. it's quite odd since an early symptom of being pregnant is having to go to the bathroom a lot, but for me it's quite the opposite. i guess my uterus is not putting pressure on my bladder yet. anyways, so the result of these two lovely symptoms of constipation and water retention have me feeling bloated all the time. fun fun.

tick tock

time is moving soooo slowly....i'll be sooo relieved once my first trimester is over, argh. i keep reading all these stories of miscarriages happening in week 11, 12 etc. i'm totally freaking myself out. there's not really much you can do to prevent it, but it's just the fear that it *might* happen. there's still a little more than 5 weeks left which seems like an eternity. my worry is having one of those miscarriages where you don't have any outward signs (like heavy bleeding or cramping) but your baby no longer has a heartbeat and just stops growing for whatever reason. i am anxious for my next appt which will check for the baby's heartbeat, but it has yet to be scheduled. i have to first attend a prenatal class on feb 8th where you fill out a bunch of forms regarding prenatal tests, patient history yada yada. so supposedly i schedule my next appt at the class and most likely it'll be around the end of first trimester/beginning of second. it's kind of driving me nuts not knowing what's going on, you know? i think other women are usually so sick during their first trimester, they are too miserable to even worry about miscarriages!! oy.

8 weeks

6 more weeks until i'm officially out of my first trimester. my due date seems so far away and the first trimester seems to draaaaggg. i don't really "feel" pregnant because i don't really have any too many symptoms. it's very strange. most of the time i'm wondering if i actually am pregnant?? i'm definitely not complaining though, i know i'm very very lucky that my first trimester has been pretty pleasant. i start to feel queasy/sick in the afternoons but nothing too horrible. i've actually lost my appetite for pretty much all foods. i eat cereal for breakfast, a pb&j sandwich for lunch, a random snack, and then a few bites of dinner. i'll eat an apple if i can stomach it. i mean, i can still force myself to eat stuff, but the thought of eating is just not appealing. and my sweet tooth is completely gone!! j ended up eating ALL of the choc chip bundt cake we got from vegas plus the little lemon bundt cake that I wanted..i would eat a bite and get grossed out. how sad. we also have a bunch of cookies that i got from friends for christmas and i haven't touched those either. i'm really hoping my appetite will return in the 2nd trimester. i can't wait until the next ultrasound and i'll finally be able to tell people i'm pregnant! it's so weird to keep it a secret.

first appt

i had my first prenatal appt today and everything looked fine. i saw the heartbeat! the "baby" is tiny still (like 2-3 inches i think). i have a picture but you can't really see much, if i ever find access to a scanner i'll try to scan it in. i had some spotting yesterday so i was a little worried but the doctor said it was ok, as long as it's not like period bleeding. i won't have another ultrasound until 6-7 weeks from now, so i'm crossing my fingers the next few weeks will pass by without any issues. still no morning sickness, thank goodness. estimated due date is Aug 29 =)

i got me a babby momma!

w00t!

so far so good

so i'm in my 5th week and so far not too many symptoms yet. no cravings, increased appetite, aversions to certain smells, or nausea. another symptom is supposedly fatigue but i feel as tired as i was before i got pregnant. the only symptoms so far are mild cramps and slightly sore breasts. morning sickness supposedly starts in week 6 so we'll see how i'm doing next week =P