Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Happy 2nd Birthday, Kyla!
Kyla is now 2! We celebrated our niece's 2nd birthday with her cousins and friends.
28th Week of Pregnancy...Let the Last Trimester Begin!
The 2nd trimester went by so fast. Physically, I have no complaints. Nothing abnormal.
I'm trying to protect myself from colds and flu, and I do admit that I'm a little cautious. Ok, maybe standing on the cusp of overly cautious. I opted not to get the H1N1 vaccine. I never in my life have had a flu shot. I've never been stricken with a terrible flu even though I deal with a lot of sick kids at my job. The worst it would ever get for me is a 1 day sore throat and 2 days of coughing, perhaps considered barely a scrimmage for my immune system. I think I have the immune system of a cockroach, but maybe it's just how careful I am with washing my hands with soap and sanitizing those student desks and chairs with Lysol anti-bacterial wipes. Whenever I substitute teach for a sick teacher, I bring my own pencil case of dry erase markers, pencils and pens. I never use any of their tools. I'm also being careful with shaking people's hands and lessening my time spent in common area places that have potential to harbor people with illnesses.
The 3rd trimester begins today. I still have no complaints, but I do feel tired and sleepy more often. At night I battle my bouts of sleep insomnia, which inspires me to blog. Although I drink plenty of water, I still experience leg cramps in the middle of the night. Those are the worst wake up calls! I also have swollen feet, angles and hands. I can no longer wear my wedding rings. I've gained a lot of weight. I started at 155 lbs. but now I'm 180 lbs. Doctor says don't worry.
Last Friday I went in for my 1 hour glucose test. I flunked it by 2 points. Why? Aww, I'm not diabetic. I was guilty of eating a huge seafood dinner at Claws in Garden Grove the night before. I knew I wasn't going to pass the test. Eating that king crab dinner for Kuya Wil's birthday at Claws was so worth it! So the doctor has me scheduled to do the 3 hour glucose test. It's ok. I'll pass the 3 hour glucose test. Eat everything in moderation.
The recent ultrasound shows that my placenta is still lying low. This was no surprise to me since the first full scan ultrasound showed partial placenta previa back in September. The placenta is blocking my cervix and I will not be able to deliver the baby by normal birth. In some cases, women who have placenta previa experience bleeding and need to go on bed rest.
Thankfully, I haven't bled nor experienced pain 'down there' and I haven't been recommended to go on bed rest. I do need to take it very easy though. Having plenty of rest is key. I have to really be sensitive to all the physical cues that my body feels. I have to really limit the long-day activities that I normally involve myself in on the weekends. I also have to take it easy at work, especially with the heavy lifting and excessive walking. I realize that am not made of steel, and I'm just making sure my baby daughter has a high chance of a healthy delivery.
The ultrasound also shows that the baby is breech too, which means that the baby's head is not positioned down below by the cervix. Whoa, a double whammy! C-section looks like this baby's only way out. Although I know this type of surgery is both risky and common, I'm not going to get myself too worked up about it.
My own mother had given birth to 3 children by Cesarean section back in the pre-historic ages (1977, 1979 and 1983) with rudimentary medical technology. She shared to me that I was born around the time during the New York City blackout of 1977. She even mentioned that my father had to climb 23 flights of stairs to visit my mom at Bellevue Hospital, which I imagine was not exactly the medical haven at that time. Then she lifted her blouse to expose the small incision scar from her experience. It's not a scary scar.
Does this mean that I'll dodge having to experience horrible contractions during labor? I get varying "opinions" from folks (men and women, people with kids and people who don't have) about labor and delivery. I didn't know that it would be such a definitive issue for folks. What Erwil and I need to do to is research the various pain medications used for labor and delivery just so that we know what can be available to me. Would it make me look like less of a mother if I opted for an epidural in my pain management plan? All I know is that my own mom's lack of fear and zero post-partum complications from her 3 C-sections gives me a strong assurance that it's going to be OK in that delivery room when that time comes.
Birth plan hasn't been discussed by details, but Erwil and I definitely need to sit down and decide the play-by-play. Looks like we'll need more time off from work and more help around the house after the baby's delivery. I know that my mom is taking a week off in January. She's off on the 14th to be exact. Erwil is also taking a leave but we haven't discussed exactly when to start his time off.
There are still a couple of loose pieces to hammer down with our bosses at work, but hopefully the requests for leave time will be granted smoothly.
I'm trying to protect myself from colds and flu, and I do admit that I'm a little cautious. Ok, maybe standing on the cusp of overly cautious. I opted not to get the H1N1 vaccine. I never in my life have had a flu shot. I've never been stricken with a terrible flu even though I deal with a lot of sick kids at my job. The worst it would ever get for me is a 1 day sore throat and 2 days of coughing, perhaps considered barely a scrimmage for my immune system. I think I have the immune system of a cockroach, but maybe it's just how careful I am with washing my hands with soap and sanitizing those student desks and chairs with Lysol anti-bacterial wipes. Whenever I substitute teach for a sick teacher, I bring my own pencil case of dry erase markers, pencils and pens. I never use any of their tools. I'm also being careful with shaking people's hands and lessening my time spent in common area places that have potential to harbor people with illnesses.
The 3rd trimester begins today. I still have no complaints, but I do feel tired and sleepy more often. At night I battle my bouts of sleep insomnia, which inspires me to blog. Although I drink plenty of water, I still experience leg cramps in the middle of the night. Those are the worst wake up calls! I also have swollen feet, angles and hands. I can no longer wear my wedding rings. I've gained a lot of weight. I started at 155 lbs. but now I'm 180 lbs. Doctor says don't worry.
Last Friday I went in for my 1 hour glucose test. I flunked it by 2 points. Why? Aww, I'm not diabetic. I was guilty of eating a huge seafood dinner at Claws in Garden Grove the night before. I knew I wasn't going to pass the test. Eating that king crab dinner for Kuya Wil's birthday at Claws was so worth it! So the doctor has me scheduled to do the 3 hour glucose test. It's ok. I'll pass the 3 hour glucose test. Eat everything in moderation.
The recent ultrasound shows that my placenta is still lying low. This was no surprise to me since the first full scan ultrasound showed partial placenta previa back in September. The placenta is blocking my cervix and I will not be able to deliver the baby by normal birth. In some cases, women who have placenta previa experience bleeding and need to go on bed rest.
Thankfully, I haven't bled nor experienced pain 'down there' and I haven't been recommended to go on bed rest. I do need to take it very easy though. Having plenty of rest is key. I have to really be sensitive to all the physical cues that my body feels. I have to really limit the long-day activities that I normally involve myself in on the weekends. I also have to take it easy at work, especially with the heavy lifting and excessive walking. I realize that am not made of steel, and I'm just making sure my baby daughter has a high chance of a healthy delivery.
The ultrasound also shows that the baby is breech too, which means that the baby's head is not positioned down below by the cervix. Whoa, a double whammy! C-section looks like this baby's only way out. Although I know this type of surgery is both risky and common, I'm not going to get myself too worked up about it.
My own mother had given birth to 3 children by Cesarean section back in the pre-historic ages (1977, 1979 and 1983) with rudimentary medical technology. She shared to me that I was born around the time during the New York City blackout of 1977. She even mentioned that my father had to climb 23 flights of stairs to visit my mom at Bellevue Hospital, which I imagine was not exactly the medical haven at that time. Then she lifted her blouse to expose the small incision scar from her experience. It's not a scary scar.
Does this mean that I'll dodge having to experience horrible contractions during labor? I get varying "opinions" from folks (men and women, people with kids and people who don't have) about labor and delivery. I didn't know that it would be such a definitive issue for folks. What Erwil and I need to do to is research the various pain medications used for labor and delivery just so that we know what can be available to me. Would it make me look like less of a mother if I opted for an epidural in my pain management plan? All I know is that my own mom's lack of fear and zero post-partum complications from her 3 C-sections gives me a strong assurance that it's going to be OK in that delivery room when that time comes.
Birth plan hasn't been discussed by details, but Erwil and I definitely need to sit down and decide the play-by-play. Looks like we'll need more time off from work and more help around the house after the baby's delivery. I know that my mom is taking a week off in January. She's off on the 14th to be exact. Erwil is also taking a leave but we haven't discussed exactly when to start his time off.
There are still a couple of loose pieces to hammer down with our bosses at work, but hopefully the requests for leave time will be granted smoothly.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
100 Days to Go...
Since I started working in the classroom again, I haven't had much time to blog about week 22, 23, and 24 of my pregnancy. I'm looking at our countdown calendar and today marks that Erwil and I only have 100 days left to prepare for our baby girl.
Here are the common questions that folks have been asking us:
- Do you have a name? (Yes, we have a name already picked out for our baby girl. We'll reveal it when she's born.)
- Do you feel the baby moving? (Yes, the little lady has been tumbling and giving me kicks.)
- Any cravings? (I'm always hungry!
- Have you taken any classes? (We've completed 2 nights of breastfeeding class at Torrance Memorial Medical Center with Susan Orr, a certified lactation consultant. It was a really good class! We recommend her! We have also signed up for an Infant/Child CPR class with American Heart Association and held also at Torrance, along with the Prepared Childbirth classes.)
- Do you have a baby registry set up? (Babies R Us and Target, and we feel so empowered walking through the stores zapping merchandise away.)
- When is your baby shower? (I'm receiving my 1st baby shower at work this coming Friday, October 16th. There's also one for the family and relatives on Thanksgiving day. We also have one for our friends on November 21st. We wanted to do this before the holiday season gets really hectic. Thank you to all our family and friends who are willing to give us a shower!)
Thank you to Sarinna, Jovica and Rocelyn for letting me borrow maternity clothes! Now that I'm in month 6, I can't get away without wearing them every day. Since there's only 3 months left, I'm not really shopping for more maternity clothes. I have plenty! Erwil also took me to Payless Shoes to buy new white wide width tennis shoes. None of my tennis shoes fit me, so I needed a wider width to accomodate for my grown feet.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Erwil the Builder
There was a tea-stained crib and matching changing table for the baby's nursery that perfectly matched with the tea-stained futon that we have in the baby's room. The moment I saw it, I knew it was perfect in size, safety and price.
Driving home with the large, heavy crib tied on top of my truck's luggage rack was more of a pain. To securely tie the heavy box down with thin plastic twine took longer than setting up the baby crib set! We S-L-O-W-L-Y drove from Irvine back to Buena Park on side streets because I was too worried that we didn't tie the package down well enough. We also didn't want to compromise or damage the wood either for safety reasons. Note to self: Next time, stop being so cheap and just pay for the baby furniture delivery service! Sometimes being frugal is not always worth it.
Erwil has been quite the builder these past couple weeks. Since the guest room has been converted into the nursery, we had to donate a few pieces of old furniture to Goodwill make space for the new. There was no need to re-paint the sky blue walls, since it compliments well with the color of the baby's furniture. The baby's crib and the her changing table were easy to build with the help of my brothers Noel, Elmer and our friend Jay. It took less than an hour to put everything together.
Erwil and I have always wanted an ABC and Animals theme and neutral blending colors in mind for the nursery. Fortunately, Target has exactly what we had in mind for the baby's nursery!
We're quite happy that the boring and empty guest room is looking more and more like a cheerful and cozy room for the baby!
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