The last week of the second trimester!

Can you believe it??? Time just flew right by! My last week in the oh-so glorious second trimester and I'm about half way through! By next week I'll officially be in my third and LAST trimester. Again, exciting and scary!

OK, first things first. Here's this weeks excerpt:

This week your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14.4 inches long with his legs extended. He can now open and close his eyes, and he sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if he were to be born prematurely. Chalk up any rhythmic movement you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and isn't bothersome to him, so enjoy the tickle. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. Wonder what he's thinking?

So this little excerpt got me thinking. Wow... our little bagel is already 2 lbs and about 14.5" long head to toe! Then I started to think how on average, most babies are born about 7lbs and maybe 19-20" long right? That kind of put things in perspective there. I mean, it's amazing and scary to think that it took me 6 months to get this little girl to 2 lbs and in just 3 more she's going to gain 5 more lbs and about 4more inches???? eeeek! I mean you always here that in the last trimester it comes on full blast with the growing belly, weight gain and all the other "wonderful" pains that come with it. But my goodness! That's a lot in such little time! Again, amazing and scary!

OK, but enough about that. HOW CUTE is this 3d ultrasound??? I know, it's not her but still. I can pretend can't I? I wonder when I'll have another ultrasound anyway. Hmmm... I seriously have no clue. I want to watch her moving in there!!! I think she really likes it when we watch American Idol because she is most active during that show! I wonder if they can do an ultrasound while we watch American Idol. haha! That would be pretty damn cool!

So the other day I went to a clients to drop off some jobs. When I walked in, the optician working there asked if I was expecting. Well I thought that to be a little funny because I had noticed the last few times I came in she would stare at my belly and you could just tell she was wondering whether I was expecting or just putting on a few. She never said anything and so I never said anything either. haha! Is that wrong of me to just let her wonder? Ah, oh well. It's fun for me! Anyway, so she finally asks and I tell her I am. I should have said no at first shouldn't I? The look on her face would be priceless! hahaha! Anyway, I said yes and she got all excited and wondered why no one told her. Well now, I can't explain it. I mean as excited as I was to find out and am to be pregnant I really only announced it to family and friends. I didn't really go telling every client I talked to thereafter. Maybe she thinks we're tight like that. I don't know. Anyway, she asked if I was having a girl or boy, I told her a girl. We got to talking about other pregnancy related things and I mentioned how my brother was shocked when he learned we were having a girl just because boys are so prominent in our family; especially first borns.

She then asked how Mario is related to me. I told her that's my brother... the one I'm talking about. Then she said, "Well how come no one told me he was your brother! I'm going to have to get on him about that." Again, not something you really go announcing to all your clients because does it matter? hahah! ANYWAY... so here's the funny part.

This morning I was telling my brother about that whole conversation and he said she called him yesterday and morning and said, "Congratulations!" "Thanks... for what?" "You're going to be an uncle!" He then told me that he got nervous for some reason and stated to think, who's pregnant??? He said the news is old news and so it caught him off guard.

You know, that was a lot funnier at the time. Repeating it in this blog... not so much. Sorry you had to read through that. haha!

Well tomorrow's Juniors birthday! yay!!! More cake! hahaha!

26 Weeks! (A Little Late)

OK, so I'm a little late on this post. I mean this Wednesday I'll be 27 weeks already. haha! oh well. Better late than never, right? And I know... that belly picture was REAL late. But in my defense I tried getting it up there earlier. I don't know what happened. But some how I was able to save that post. To be honest I don't think I even really finished my thoughts on that post, but it's been too long for me to remember now! So I just posted it and am moving on.


OK, so this time I have both pics (animation and 3d) from babycenter.com up. Remember, that is NOT my 3d ultrasound so don't get too excited. Well maybe just a little because when I saw it I thought, wow... look at her arms! And it's not even really her. haha!


Oh yeah, here's the babycenter.com excerpt for 26 weeks:


Your baby now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber), from head to heel. The nerve pathways in her ears are developing, which means her response to sounds is growing more consistent. Her lungs are developing now, too, as she continues to take small breaths of amniotic fluid — good practice for when she's born and takes that first breath of air. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three days.


Changes as of lately? Backaches are little more consistent than they were. Not TOO bad, but more often than before. For 26 weeks, I read online that I might be experiencing back aches more. Still crazy how on the dot they are with that. Anyway, turns out it's because my joints and ligaments are loosening up to prepare for birthing. EEEEK! How exciting and scary is that?! I still feel like I have a ways to go, but at the same time I know it's right around the corner. Oh man... I don't know if I'm ready, but whatever. I'm taking this one day at a time!


I've been a little emotional lately. Saturday sucked ass. But I think that may have partly been due to the stormy, gray and rainy weather we were having. Add that to pregnancy hormones... not a good mix. Not that I lost my beans or anything. Just felt blue. Today was such a pretty day, I did feel a lot better! Although I got to thinking about how yesterday would have been my mom's 70th birthday! Can you believe that? My mo never looked a day older than 40 something. I kid you not. People were always so shocked when they found out how old she was. I think that's partly to do with the asian gene, though. Many asians (not all) age really gracefully. Whew! Even my dad looked really good up until the chemo took the life out of him. But prior to that, he never looked older than 40 something either. Anyway, so I was thinking about how yesterday was Mom's 70th birthday and how I had every intention of visitng her but didn't get to. We were at a baptism/birthday party and by the time we were able to leave, the cemetary was closed. So today as I drove by after work (I always pass that cemetary on the way home from work), already closed, I thought about Mom. And then I thought about having the baby and tears came. How I wish my parents would be here when I have the baby. And sometimes I think it's not fair that my kids will never get to know my parents and the great people they were. I seriously hold my parents on a pedastool. Sure, what kid doesn't have ups and downs with their parents but as I get older I see how wise my parents were. And I always think that if I ever become half the parent they were, I'll consider myself lucky. And as gradparents they were even better! I've seen how they were my my neices and nephews and how much their faces would light up to see them. ugh.... it's heartbreaking. I guess it's more heartbreaking to me that I'll know what my kids are missing out on. And oh my goodness! My mom... she was such the girly girl... quite different than I was. I was such a tomboy growing up. I still am in some ways, but I've grown out of it for the most part. If she were around and knowing that we're having a girl. Oh man... I can even begin to explain what my mom would be doing to prepare for her. Again, heartbreaking. My dad, he was the greatest with kids. He LOVED kids and the kids LOVED him right back. Breaks my heart. Really does. (I'm a total mess right now.)


Thankfully, we still have Junior's mom around although she lives in Toronto. So that kind of sucks. The closest thing to grandparents our kids will have here near us is Junior's aunt and uncle who are basically like second parents to him anyway. And they seem to be super excited too! This baby is, afterall, the first grandchild on Junior's side. So yes, imagine how spoiled she will be! And I have my uncle (my mom's brother) here too so he would be the next closest thing to having grandparents as well.


Ugh... I need to move on from that for now. My emotions are running wild (and so are the tears)!


So yay! Babyshowers are coming up! I'm excited because I've thrown quite a few but have never been thrown one! So this shall be fun and interesting! I'm looking forward to the games! haha!


Oh yeah, I have my glucose testing on the 27th. I have to say that honestly I'm a little worried about the weight gain in the last trimester. They say that's when it comes on full blast and will not stop. I've gained 20lbs already! My doctor said I should gain only about 30! eeek! that's only 10 lbs left and 3 months! And if the weight gain comes as fast as they say it does, I'm in trouble! Aside from me just having gained weight, they say it can make the birthing process harder and my chances of hypertension and other things become higher. So I am a little worried about that. So far I've had a clean bill of health (knock on wood) and I'd really like to keep it that way. And ugh... don't remind me that I have a dress in my prepregnancy size I have to fit into for a wedding! hahaha! 6 weeks after my due date I might add. Now IF I have the baby ON my actualy due date, they say that most doctors require you to rest AT LEAST 6 weeks before doing any real activity... like working out! Yikes... not good news for me. Maybe she'll come a little earlier and give me a couple weeks to work in there. haha! Oh well. Whatever happens, happens.

Get in my BELLY!

(I was able to save the post!)

The long awaited belly pic! The pic isn't that great... the hair is whack, but it'll do. You asked and you shall receive. I took this Sunday, 2/10/08. Although... I swear I think I grew overnight because today I am feeling REALLY pregnant. The belly is definitely out growing the boobs. I mean more so than I have been. So I may have to put another pic up there soon. haha! We know how that goes right? Too bad I forgot to take the belly pic on my birthday. I was all dressed up too! I mean I do have pics, but not belly pics. Oh well.

This week I'll be 26 weeks (Wednesday to be exact). Then that means I have just one more week until I'm considered 7 months. How crazy is that?! I feel like I just turned 6 months! Oh man... and my friend pointed out that I only have about 14 weeks left. That is NOT a lot of time. I can't believe I'm almost in my third trimester. I'm excited, nervous and scared all at the same time. I keep hearing how uncomfortable and horrible the third trimester is. I hope it's not that bad for me!

Anyway, let's not dwell on that. I need to enjoy what COMFORTABLE time I have left! Which to be honest, I'm not all that comfortable lately. I mean not like I am uncomfortable all the time. But I have moments. ANYWAY... I do need to move on from that.

I feel like I got a whole new maternity wardrobe Saturday! I mean not really, but it felt like it. I decided to buy myself something nice to wear for my brithday. Usually I shop for the clearance maternity stuff because let's face it. I won't be wearing for that long! Especially when you are growing and have no clue how much more you will grow, etc. So yes, I go cheap. But Saturday I decided, something nice. So I got the back and white dress... so cute! But there were other things I tried on I really liked too. There's this one shirt I really wanted for a while now, but it's $39 and I think... for something I will wear probably just a few times, and I mean a few is it worth it? Well when I went back, the size I wanted was not there. I was able to fit fine in the size smaller, but then I know it would really only last me a few weeks at best. So I decided not to get it and got the dress instead. Well Junior was with me and really liked this other dress also and ended up buying me two more as a gift. awwwww.... sweet huh? So I got three dresses! Then I got two more shirts from a family friend for my birthday... shoot. That's a new wardrobe to me!

arghh...

last night I started a blog WITH the belly pic. I saved the draft so I could finish it today and post it. Guess what... the draft is not there. I'm hoping when I get home that screen will still be up so I can save it. If not... sorry folks. Yet another delay with the pic.

Dream

I've read that it's common for pregnant women to dream about already having had the baby and experiencing the motherhood (taking care of the baby, changing diapers, etc.). Not that this is the first time I've experienced a dream like that, but last night was interesting and kind of exciting. Now this may be TMI (too much info) so you may want to skip this part. But for those of you that love the entertainment, by all means go on. So I dreamt that my little girl was asleep in her crib, but the crib wasn't ready and safe in that there were still things in the crib that shouldn't be (like extra blankets, toys, etc) and that the rails were down. So I panicked b/c I thought that she might either fall out or that she is in danger of SID (Sudden Infant Death due to those extra items in the crib). So I ran over to her crib, she was fine except that she didn't have a diaper on. So her little bottom was sticking straight up in the air. hehehe... kind of cute. So as I am putting a diaper on, my mom tells me to put diaper cream on her for diaper rash, even if she doesn't have diaper rash. So I thought, wow... does that help prevent it? I have no clue. advice from beyond? maybe? If that's true, how cool is that that my mom is giving me advice? ok, so obviously I haven't reached the TMI part yet. So I'm in the room and it's time to breastfeed her. This will be the first time. They say that when you first breastfeed it's not milk just yet. It's called colostrum and is much thicker than the actual milk. OK... that was a little TMI, but it's about to be more. So forwarning. Skip to the next paragraph if you you don't want to know. It may be a little gross too. Why I'm blogging about it? I don't know. whatever. ANYWAY, so little girl is really excited she's about to eat and she has the most precious smile ever! I mean, I know I'm biased as her mother, but I've never seen anything like it. The kind of smile that puts you in a good mood instantly just seeing it. So I'm trying to get her to latch on and hope that breastfeeding goes well. Here's the gross part. Just like the books say, the colostrum comes easily but how gross. It's not just thick, but lumpy too! And my baby can't swallow it and suddenly I feel it in my mouth too and I TOO cannot swallow that! It's so gross. So I stop, clean out her mouth AND mine and try the other side. Same thing except this time I don't have it in my mouth. And my best friend Gina is watching the whole thing. hahahaha!!!! Don't ask me. Dreams are very weird these days!

OK, TMI gross stuff is over. So trying to analyze my own dreams and basing off of what I read in the books and online, I know I am anxious about breastfeeding because I really want it to work. I think I'm scared that it won't work and I really want it to. Everyone's different so there's no telling until I actually try whether it will work for me or not. Anyway... aside from that, the dream made me happy because I saw my daughter smile and my mom gave me advice from beyond. I'm not sure the advice is true, but whatever. I know my mom will be there. Ok... getting misty eyed so moving. on.

Junior thinks our daughter will be a dancer because in the car there is this one CD she moves a lot too. It's cute. And as I blog, she is doing cartwheels or something in there! haha!

25 Weeks!

Ok, this is NOT my 3D ultrasound. It's the one from babycenter.com. But I like this pic more than the drawing they had. This weeks drawing was not much different than last weeks. Anyway, here's the weekley snipet from that website:

Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. His hair is probably recognizable now (in color and texture), although both may change after he's born.

Ok, changes I'm experiencing? Well I've finally been able to discern between her little movements and hiccups. I've read that it's very common for unborn babies to have the hiccups often but that it's harmful or painful to them in anyway. Not like we would feel if we had the hiccups. AND, their hiccups could last for 20 minutes sometimes! Anyway, I read that not to worry, and just enjoy the entertainment of your uterus rumbling. haha! So I've been trying to really pay attention to her movements and I now know when she's hiccuping only because it's so consistent. Not so funny? The other day she was hiscupping against my bladder. uh... yeah. Each hiccup was like a "I think I need to pee" feeling. But knowing she was hiccuping, I just whethered it through. haha! I THINK I can tell when she's just turning about in there because it's a little different than kicks/punches. But I still can't still when she does kick or punch what body part of her is causing that. That will be tough I think.

OK, so I know I'm supposed to have a picture up already and I don't. Why I thought we'd take pictures during super bowl sunday, I have no clue. BUT, this Saturday is my birthday so we'll definitely be taking pics then! Just a few more days!

On the subject of pictures, last night when I got home from work and was changing into my pj's Junior says, "whoa! You really look pregnant!" As opposed to what? I don't know. BUT ANYWAY, he pulled out his phone as if he was going to take a picture of my belly. BARE belly. So of course I'm like, "what're you doing? You better not show that to anyone!" He didn't take it but he proceeded to show me a little video he took of me while I was passed out. I have to admit it was pretty darn funny... embarassing should anyone else ever see it, but pretty damn funny. Let's just say I'm no sleeping beauty! It was not cute! But it did bring me to tears of laughter. THAT will not be on my blog. haha! So now I'm wondering... how many other pictures/videos is he taking of me that I have no clue about? hmmm... Ok I'll describe how UNcute I was in that video! My mouth was slightly opened... how attractive. My hands and arms were all up beside my head like I don't know what. I was surrounded by pillows... haha! they help. what a punk! hahaha! still makes me laugh though!