Monday, June 22, 2015

Week 21-22

HOW I'M FEELING
  • Fat. Hitting 15 lbs this week and I feel disgusting. Definitely NOT "cute" and "glowy"
  • The frequent bathroom trips have begun. For the record, turns out it's not that you have more pee, but more like you feel like you need to pee more frequently only to have a tiny bit come out (I don't know why that wasn't obvious to me before). Eric now regularly hears me scream "THAT'S IT?!!" during my frequent trips to the bathroom
  • 11PM seems to be when the dance party in my uterus begins. I think this baby is a night owl :(
BABY HAUL.

Things we've bought:
  • Maternity spanx - buy it, wear it, don't leave the house without it. OK that's an overstatement, I don't even wear it that often. However, as I'm getting bigger and it's getting warmer, I find that I am unable to pull off anything of jersey material without unsightly bulges appearing everywhere. On the downside, I am SUPER WARM now that I'm pregnant and spanx doesn't help. The warmness has been pretty much the most uncomfortable part of pregnancy(second to morning sickness). Rings are out of the question now just because my hands are so warm even my loose rings get stuck when the temp rises and I drink/eat cold stuff all day now to keep myself comfortable - something I never really cared for before. 

  • Baby crib - Pottery Barn Larkin crib 
    • Originally we just wanted to borrow/take someone else's because I couldn't care less about used baby things. But then we found out our only option was a dark cherry color and then I suddenly cared. So we ended up buying the Larkin crib from Pottery barn for a couple reasons:
      • It's "convertible", which means you can buy add on pieces to turn it into a toddler bed and then a full sized headboard. I'm not really sure how useful that will be especially if you end up having multiple kids. But given that the price is about the same as if I were to just purchase a non-convertible crib, I gave up on my dreams for an overpriced tufted crib and went for this instead (D:)
      • I liked a crib that has a backing against the wall (vs just backing on both sides). This one had the cleanest lines compared to others

  •  Baby crib mattress - Colgate Eco Classica III Dual firmness Eco-Friendlier Crib mattress, Organic Cotton Cover. 
    • Because this kid is Eric's kid so I just assume it will need some kind of natural fiber, firm, orthopedic, blahblahblah mattress. Of course if she takes after me she won't care so no harm done. On my side, I just wanted to make sure the mattress doesn't have a plastic cover because that doesn't seem safe to me and my logics.
       


Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Week 20 (updated)

Hello day 140 aka halfway mark!

In baby specific news,

IT'S A GIRL! :) :) :) 

Will post all the NSFW pictures of girl parts later.

---
Update 06.14.2015

So it's a girl! When we first got pregnant I said I wanted a girl. I mean sure, they can help out baby # 2 (HA) and etc but really because they are so much cuter to dress up :D. To spite me/make me not feel bad if it was a boy, Eric said he wanted a boy but really he doesn't care.

So the first sonogram at 14 weeks the sonogram technician said she thought it was a girl from what she could see but "don't go buying clothes". At the 18 week sonogram with the OBGYN, the dr thought it was a girl as well but that was due to the absence of boy parts which could still mean some poorly endowed boy - also her sonogram machine sucks. At the most recent 20 week sonogram with the fancy hospital equipment, they confirmed it was a girl with a sonogram of girl parts! For those of you who think sonograms still look like a bunch of bubbles (my mom included), they look for 3 lines in the sonogram depicting the female parts. Baby spawn did a really good job showing the goods this time.

It's a girl! Daddy doesn't like this picture being public. hahahaha sorry baby girl :D

3rd sonogram. 3rd picture of baby spawn sucking on thumb. This one is a fatty.

Hi baby girl!
The 20 week sonogram is also known as the "anatomy scan" where they look for all the vital organs of the baby. Scan takes FOREVER (okay, like 30m but it's boring) as the sonogram technician prods you with the sonogram wand. All the major parts checked out (brain, heart, 4 chambers of heart, spine, arms, legs, feet, hands, measurements, etc) but they did notice 3 soft markers. Soft markers are basically markers that don't indicate anything concrete but *could* be correlated with some more serious problems. These tests are newer as technology has advanced aka, our parents didn't have them
  1. Small fluid bubble in the non thinking fluid part of the brain (or cyst in the brain) - about 50% of normal adults have it and it means that either Eric or I probably have it as well. It may go away over the baby's development in the womb but even if it doesn't, it won't affect the baby in any way
  2. Small calcium spot in the heart - very common in Asians. As with the cyst, it may go away in the next few weeks and even if it doesn't, baby will be fine
  3. Echogenic bowel - this one caused the most concern. It basically means the baby's bowel is brighter than usual meaning some kind of calcification. They view it by turning the sonogram down to the lowest setting and seeing how it compared with the spine brightness. You can kind of see it in the last sonogram posted above.

    Any echogenic bowel can mean a few things:
    1. Trisonomy 18 - aka, an extra chromosome 18 that happened during development. This is unlikely though as it also causes physical malformations and the baby's formations looked normal
    2. Down syndrome - since it's a "soft marker" it doesn't actually indicate Down Syndrome by more like... x% (some low number I can't remember) of babies with Down Syndrome also have an echogenic bowel
    3. Cystic fibrosis - unlikely as Cystic fibrosis is genetic and has to have both parents test positive for it. My test was negative
    4. Viral infection - potentially I caught something and am showing no symptoms but the baby would have it as well
    5. Nothing (most likely) - Baby has some kind of digestion blockage or I had some slight internal bleeding and baby swallowed some blood. OR, sonogram machine was too sensitive
So in any case, I'll be going in for a blood draw to test for viral infections and have another sonogram scheduled in four weeks. We also went in for genetic counseling where I was mesmerized by her genetic tree drawing shorthand. My chances of Down Syndrome based on my first trimester screening had put me on the lowest probabilities  so even with the new soft markers the chances are 1/10,000 so we're not going to go for an amnio as the risk for miscarriage or damage is much much higher (1/300).

Overall we're feeling fine :). For some reason I guess the genetic counselor thought we'd break down in tears or something (she kept asking if I was OK o.O) but we figured the chances of it being something severe is actually pretty low and even if it is, we'll handle it as it happens.

Baby stuff hoarding! This corner of the house makes me so happy






Monday, June 8, 2015

Week 18-19

The past couple weeks have been crazyy. So Baby Spawn, this is what you have been up to these two weeks in the tummy.
  • Grandpa's Chen's funeral :( - you got an honorable mention as a great grandchild so you better not disappoint!
  • Uncle Johnny's wedding :)
  • kicked Daddy for the first time! He's been super jealous that Mommy has been "hoarding all the kicks"
  • Auntie Betty (aka "your favorite aunt" as she wants to be known as) wanted in on the action so you obligingly kicked her as well. So sweet.
  • went in for your week 17 checkup in the belly. Heart rate was around 155 (or 165, I don't know, I wasn't paying attention) and according to the OBGYN's crappy sonogram, she still thinks you're probably a girl. Although that is in the absence of a boy parts and not actual visual confirmation. 
Tomorrow is your week 20 anatomy screening with the hospital's fancy sonogram. That means, GENDER TIME!!! So please be a good little spawn and show your goods tomorrow - no need to be shy.

all the aunts-to-be

with nai nai

new auntie for you!