BABY TRAN'S ROOM!

BUMP WATCH WEEK 32

BUMP WATCH WEEK 25

Wow, my bump looks huge!! And here's the kicker (pun intended), I feel even bigger than what the photos depict.

Week 13 ------------- Week 16 ---------- Week 25

Week 16 ------------------------ Week 25

THIS KID BETTER LOVE ME!

So besides the daily punts to the bladder, I've been enjoying the other side effects of pregnancy. And these would be weight gain, stretch marks and limited mobility. During the first trimester, I only gained 2 lbs - over a span of 13 weeks and shoving my face with pizza, chicken salad sandwiches and fried chicken, I only put on 2lbs. Not bad ehh? The second trimester hit and it all went downhill from there. Notably it was around week 19 that the pounds started piling on. In my defense my eating habits hadn't changed that much, in fact I was eating less than during my first trimester. But now I was averaging a gain of 1-1.5lbs a week!! I felt like a swine being fatten up for the annual county fair. And I would've won the blue ribbon for sure. To accompany this weight gain, stretch marks decided to make an appearance. FIVE stretch marks on the left side of my belly to be exact. And I think we figured out why the stretch marks were only on the left side (for now) and it's because the baby's head has always been positioned on that side. And lastly, I really began to feel pregnant. My belly was sticking out and I felt so heavy and clumsy. Moving around was becoming quite a feat. My dear husband was enjoying all of this. He thought that my weight gain, stretch marks and waddling were the cutest things he's ever seen. It seemed like each morning I would call him and be like "Hon, I gained another pound!!" His response? "You're supposed to be gaining weight, the baby is getting bigger." Umm, the baby isn't getting bigger by a pound each day!! I told AT one night, "With all that I am going through, this kid better love me more than you!" Wisely, he just smiled at me and remained silent. But here's the crazy thing, I would gladly gain 50lbs, get 50 more stretch marks and move like a 50yr old for this baby. There's nothing in the world that we wouldn't do for this kid.

OUR FUTURE 2030 WORLD CUP PLAYER

Around week 17-18 was when I first felt the tiny flutters of movement in my stomach. They felt like little butterflies floating around in there or someone lightly tickling the inside of your stomach. I was ecstatic to feel these baby movements. At week 19-20 the movements got stronger, I began to feel full on kicks to my bladder. I would be sitting there after eating a meal when the little one would decide to flex its leg muscles and aim for my full bladder. And he or she wouldn't just kick once, usually it was a round of kicking and jabs that made me run to the bathroom. Week 21 came and now I could feel the baby even without a full bladder and even when I was not sitting down after a full meal. It was a sign that this kid has gotten bigger and that the real estate in my belly was getting limited. But let me tell you how wonderful it is to start feeling your baby move. It's tangible proof that there is in fact a baby growing inside your belly and to a first time mommy, it's so reassuring to feel these kicks, jabs and rolls every single day.

GRINNING IN UTERO

We had our 20 week detailed anatomy scan on May 25, 2010. I love getting to see the baby and wow, this baby has grown since our last u/s at 12weeks! Little Tangerine is now 11ounces! Everything looks fine and normal. Baby had its arms crossed over its face most of the time. I think we're dealing with a shy one here...completely opposite of mommy and daddy. Baby gave us a precious grin at one point which was priceless.

BUMP WATCH WEEK 16

16 weeks 4 days = just a tad bigger. However, many jeans are beginning to not fit even with my hair band extender. Stretchy waistbands, belly bands and maternity pants are definitely part of my wardrobe now!

Comparison:

Week 13 versus Week 16 (instead of hills and valleys, its becoming more like a big 'ole mountain)

LETTERS TO THE BELLY #1

April 22, 2010

Dear Baby,

Mommy apologizes for freaking out today. It’s just that she loves you so much and the thought of you possibly escaping from her is too much to bear.

Mommy also doesn’t care that the nurses at her OB/GYN now thinks she’s nutso for calling them up and asking whether she could come in to listen to your heartbeat. They should be used to crazy, hormonal first time mothers after all.

But boy, was it a huge relief to hear the thumping of your heart. 154bpm. Daddy now thinks that you’re actually a boy rather than a girl since your heart rate has gotten a bit lower. Just between us, regardless of whether you are a boy or girl, Daddy will spoil you rotten and you will definitely have him wrapped around your tiny little finger. Even though he denies it now but you just wait and see.

Mommy has a small favor to ask, can you please give her some energy back so she can go shopping for more than 2 hours at a time? Shopping was one of her true loves and she really misses it!

And one last thing, keep growing Baby, Mommy and Daddy can’t wait to feel your first kick.

Love you lots,

Mommy

NEVER GET IN THE WAY OF A PREGNANT WOMAN AND HER FOOD!

I enjoyed two glorious weeks of gastronomic bliss! I had a huge appetite, the meals I ate tasted fabulous, and I was able to eat and eat w/o any negative side effects (i.e., heartburn, indigestion, weight gain). My THING was Potbelly's chicken salad on toasted multigrain, topped with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and the piece de resistance, hot peppers. Hmm yum. I'm drooling as I am typing this. I ate 5 of these sandwiches over a span of 7 days. It was the best time of my life. Some of you guys reading this might think I am exaggerating, but for those who have been pregnant or who are currently pregnant, you know exactly what I am talking about. There's just something that happens to a pregnant woman that makes her deliriously hungry, and watch out if you are in the way of her and her beloved sandwich. (Note: after consuming 5 delicious sandwiches, I realized that chicken salad was considered a deli meat that pregnant women should avoid due to listeriosis)

Here are some pics of other stuff I ate:

A DAY IN D.C.

AT and I seldom venture into DC, too much traffic, parking is a hassle and there is always a chance of running over a wayward tourist. But last weekend the weather was so nice and I wanted to try out a restaurant on M street and see if the cherry blossoms were still in bloom.

The gorgeous cherry blossoms were all gone, replaced with regular green leaves. I did manage to get a few snapshots of some tulips. If you can't tell by his frown, AT didn't want to take this picture.

It took us forever, as expected, to find a parking spot nearby Hudson Restaurant and Lounge. The restaurant was modern and sleek and served "contemporary comfort food".

We ordered Belgian waffles topped with brandied bananas and pecans, Angus steak and eggs, and the Hudson Burger (angus beef, toasted brioche, pickled red onions, mushrooms and bacon) served with mouthwatering french fries. Everything except for the waffles were delicious. I could've used a mimosa though.



After that "light" brunch, we had to take a stroll through the streets of DC. Walking around, holding hands and talking about anything and everything made me realize a few things - first, we should do this more often, second, I really get along with my husband, and finally, that we better savor this time because pretty soon even leaving the house with a baby in tow will be a feat in of itself.

BUMP WATCH WEEK 13

I felt it was time to take some belly pics. As you can see there is a slight bump.

Some more visuals. Btw my jeans are being held together by a hair band looped around the buttons.

HIGHWAY ROBBERY

So on Saturday, after what seems like months being cocooned away, I made it out of the house and went on a shopping spree! The weather was fabulous and after all my positive appts. during the week, I was feeling wonderful and when I feel good, I like to spend some money.

My first stop was Old Navy where it was $5 polo tees day. Of course, by the time I got there the only sizes left were smalls and x-l, but I managed to grab a few for my mom. I stopped by the "maternity" section which consisted of 3 rows of clothes. Sad huh? And the items were expensive too! $49.50 for a pair of jeans? This is Old Navy, the land of $5 polos and 99cent socks. Needless to say all I bought were the polo tees.

Next stop was Target. Okay I guess you guys were thinking I went to the mall like Tysons or Pentagon since I stated that it was a shopping spree. After being on the couch for the last month and a half, going to the nearby 7-Eleven was a shopping spree for me. So at Target, I had to stop and get something to eat. It had been 2 hrs since my last meal. Target is not known for its delectable cafe selections so I got a soft pretzel to tide me over. I miss my time at GWU and those $2 gigantic soft pretzels you get at the hot dog carts.

I ended up buying a belly band and my first item of maternity wear - a pair of denim capris that were oh so comfortable! Clothing manufacturers should make every single pair of pants with a stretchy cotton spandex waist. It was pure bliss to wear those capris the next day. And they were a bargain at $24.99.

THE DOPPLER EFFECT

Last Friday, I went to my dr. for my 12 week appt. Since I had just been to the u/s appt. I was feeling quite upbeat about the pregnancy. The only nervewrecking thing was weighing in. Based on how much I had been shoving into my mouth the past few weeks, I was hoping that my weight gain was under 5lbs. To my utter surprise, I actually lost 3lbs. SAY WHAT?! I'm just going to accept this and not try to ponder the many mysteries of the universe. However, the dr. did express some concern and told me that she didn't want me to eat too healthy that I am losing weight. No worries there, I've been eating pizza all week long!

A couple of more awesome things about this appointment included the nurse whipping out a doppler monitor to measure the baby's HB. And it took her awhile, or what seems like awhile. She probably heard the anxiety in my voice b/c she kept saying that it was very hard to detect a HB at 12 weeks with a doppler and that she's had no luck with any of the other pregnant patients that morning. However, she kept on trying and after moving the monitor around, we finally heard the glorious sound of my baby's heart pumping away at 163 bpm. According to the dr., to be able to hear the baby's HB using a doppler at a mere 12 weeks is a "major achievement in the baby's development." It turns out that a doppler usually only picks up a HB at the 14week+ mark. Happy to hear that our kid is already an overachiever! The other great news was that my blood work was "excellent" - everything came out fine, blood count, iron levels, and my blood type is O+ so be nice people, I'm a universal donor (except for those with O-, sorry you're on your own). All in all it was a very good appt. and one of the best weeks I've had so far.

Upcoming major events: 16 week screening (more blood and prolly another doppler hearing), 20 week detailed anatomy scan for the baby (also time for finding out the sex which we're opting not to do), and 32 week growth u/s.

12 WEEK ULTRASOUND

Finally today arrived!! Everything turned out well.

The baby measured normal at 12weeks 1day with a HB of 163. He/she was kicking and doing somersaults throughout the screening. Baby also had a bout of hiccups which made us all laugh. So cute to see its tiny body shaking with the hiccups.

Nuchal translucency, nasal bone and heart measurements were all normal so we can breathe a huge sigh of relief. However, the technician had a hard time measuring the nasal bone b/c the baby would not cooperate and kept lying on its side. I had to cough, laugh, lie on my left side, have my hips propped up by a cushion, jog in place, bend over and touch my toes and walk around, all to see if the baby would move and get into a better position. The baby would move around but then go back to its original position. I guess that was comfy! So a 30 min appt. took almost 2 hrs. (btw I had to empty my bladder 5 times during those 2hrs.) It wasn't until I switched over to my right side, that we finally got the view we wanted. The hubby proudly commented that our baby is very stubborn. I wonder if 16 years from now, he will still feel the same way about this characteristic?

We were able to see a hand with all 5 fingers, legs thrashing about, arms waving around. It was wonderful. I think I can start to relax now and just enjoy the ride.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE

Whatever, being patient is overrated. I have my 12 week u/s scheduled tomorrow and I wish it was tomorrow like 2 weeks ago!! I'm torn b/t being very excited to see that the baby is doing well and being really nervous and scared if something doesn't turn out ok. Argh! 2pm Thursday cannot arrive soon enough!

On a lighter note, I just received a call from AT who was at the DC fish market getting a bushel of crab and some flounder. Can't wait for dinner either. (See, patience is definitely not a virtue of mine.)

HONEYMOON PHASE

Okay, I LOVE being pregnant now. Why now? Because I feel SO MUCH BETTER!!! Other perks include:

(1) Eating as much as you want and not gaining weight (for now).
(2) People going out of their way to make sure you are eating as much as you want.
(3) Cravings dictate what I eat, so no more indecisiveness before each meal.
(4) Extra attention from the hubby.
(5) Parking at the spaces reserved for mothers to be.
(6) Having my belly stick out and not having to suck it in.
(7) Rosy cheeks and shiny hair.
(8) Daily phone calls from the hubby as to what I want to eat every night.
(9) Being able to use the line "I'm making a penis inside of me, what are you doing?" when I get upset at the hubby.
(10) Lounging on the couch all weekend long, while hubby cleans, cooks, refuels my car, and does laundry. (ok, I admit this was already in effect before I got pregnant)

EATING HABITS

My meals for yesterday, Sunday 3/28 were the following:

6:30am: A cup of Corn pops cereal with fat free organic milk
9:30am: A bowl of bun bo xao - rice noodles with grilled lemongrass beef served with cucumbers and carrots
1:15pm: A BK Whopper along with fries and Coke Zero
5-6pm: Slices of kiwi, a handful of Craisins, several bites of linguine during cooking
6:00pm: A plate of shrimp scampi linguine and a big glass of passion fruit lemonade (prepared by AT)
8:45pm: A small bowl of rice and grilled porkchops
and finally 95+ ounces of water throughout the day

Exercise: Walked the dogs for a measly 45mins.

My meals and exercise before I was pregnant:

9-11am: 2.5 cups of coffee with 2 tbls of flavored creamer
2pm: Portion control lean protein/veggies and rice
4pm: A snack such as a banana and Laughing Cow cheese
7pm: Portion control lean protein/veggies and rice
8:30pm: Another snack such as fresh fruit or a frozen fruit bar

Exercise: 50-70 mins cardio (spinning, elliptical, stairs) and some weights

MY HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED!!

IS IT POSSIBLE?

That I am feeling better?! This week marks week 11 and all of a sudden, my symptoms have improved (somewhat). I am no longer super sleepy or tired in the afternoons. Of course, this is all relative. If you haven't felt well for the past month and a half, any sort of relief is a huge improvement. Hopefully, things will continue to improve so I can get my butt back to the gym to counteract my huge appetite. Haven't gain anything so far (shocker!), but I know it's coming. I'm looking forward to what others refer to as the "honeymoon" phase of pregnancy.

STAY AWAY FROM THE WATER!

So we found out a few days ago that a close friend is also expecting! We're so excited for her and her husband. Ever since I learned that I was pregnant, I've been urging her to get pregnant too. The more the merrier I guess. I didn't expect for my powers of persuasion to work that well, but it did. She is due on/around November 25. Congrats to her and her H!

It's definitely that time in your life that everyone around you is either getting married or having babies. I have another friend who is expecting this August and 4 coworkers/wives who are pregnant. I commented to my cousin the other day that that's what our late 20s and 30s are all about - getting married and having babies. Which are much more fun and exciting than when we hit our 60s-70s, at which time it'll be all about illnesses and funerals. What a depressing thought.

AND THE BEAT GOES ON...

I knew coming into my second Dr's appt. on March 5 that I would not be receiving a ultrasound that day. Knowing and accepting are two distinct things. Needless to say, I did not accept this, I had to get some kind of ultrasound done. I was in desperate need of some form of physical and tangible proof that there was a baby somewhere inside of me. So I told Dr. S I was experiencing a dull ache/pain on the right side of my pelvis. Mind you, this was not a lie, I really did feel some aching on that side but I kinda suspected it was because of the corpus luteal cyst (Google if needed). Dr. S, now familiar with my anxiety and control issues, quickly writes up a referral for an u/s and writes up an additional referral for my standard 12-13 week u/s. Score!

I was so happy to be in possession of those referral slips and scheduled my first u/s appt. at 8w6d for March 9, that following Tuesday. Throughout that weekend, I started worrying about not hearing a heartbeat, or worse seeing an empty sac with no embryo. Tuesday finally arrives, AT picks me up from work and we head to our first u/s appt.

As we're sitting in the exam room, AT is surprised that I have to go commando. I guess he thought that they were doing to do the abdominal u/s but I knew that this early on in the pregnancy, they were sticking with the transvaginal u/s (no pun intended). I describe to him what was going to take place and he starts to chuckle like a middle school boy - not sure if he was cracking up b/c of the notion of a penile shaped device or because he was nervous. He quickly stopped laughing though when the u/s tech. came in.

The next few minutes were all a blur. We saw the baby, or should I say some form of jumping gummy bear. We heard the heartbeat. Everything looked normal. I was measuring right on my dates and the lil' tangerine's heartbeat was a strong 171 bpm. We were ecstatic and got to bring home 3 sonogram prints. We would spend the next weeks diciphering the images on the sonograms and figuring out which part was the head versus the bottom. We never figured it out.
Baby facing left w/ arms sticking out.

MY BIG FEAR

It's funny how much you can fall in love with something in such a short amount of time. After the initial shock receded, I fell deeply in love with this human being that was growing inside me. WE fell hard big time.

If you missed my earlier post, we weren't planning on starting a family. AT thought we were going to start trying in May/June but I was going to renegotiate the terms in May and plead my case for an extension until later that year. Sure, emotionally, financially, relationship-wise we were ready for that next big step. But I knew that a baby changes your life, of course for the better, but it was a change that I wanted to hold off on for a bit longer.

Now that we're expecting, I can't imagine wanting my life to be any other way. It's so cliche, but so true. And now was the start of my biggest fear. Losing the baby. I was freaked out by what I was reading online. Every other woman it seems, had suffered from a miscarriage. And the hardest part was accepting that for the most part, it was something I had no control over. Zilch. Nada.

I began to worry that for this part of my life, since everything has worked out so well for me that something has to give. That I can't possibly continue to be so freaking happy and experience and receive everything I want. The other shoe has to drop at some point, doesn't it?

As I am writing this I am 10weeks 3days, and yes, I am still worried but the level of anxiety has tapered off somewhat with each passing week. I will be more confident about this pregnancy when the 2nd trimester rolls around (12-13 weeks) but I know I will just find more things to worry about at that time.

MY POOR HUSBAND

Before I became pregnant, AT did more than his fair share of housework. I mean the guy loves to clean (although he denies this fact). I would do the main grocery shopping with him tagging along to push the cart, cook every other night, do laundry on the weekend etc. But once I started to suffer from all the pregancy symptons, he did EVERYTHING around the house. He went grocery shopping and managed to get all the right produce, meats, seasonings. He cooked and cleaned the house. He drove around to pick up whatever meal I was craving that day. And he managed to do all of this even though he was still working early hours and going to classes at night.

I, on the other hand, got home from work around 2-5pm depending on how sick I was feeling and I spent the entire evening perched on my couch whining about how sick and tired I was. (I even did this on the days that I felt slighty decent, but trust me those days were few and far between)

AT's actions during this time didn't surprise me. I already knew he would step up to the plate. And I know that when the baby comes, he will be a very hands on dad and will take very good care of both of us. I am a very lucky woman in this regard.

AT preparing the meal.

Garlic/ginger rice with soy sauce and boiled chicken.