Taken on February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Chestnut Week 20
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| Whoaaa, we're halfway there. WhooOAH! Livin' on a prayer! |
As an aside, though, my friend Emily sent me a link to this Onion article that I found hilarious: Smug New Mom Going To Start A Blog. So true!
Technically, this is what's going on this week:
- Chestnut is the size of a banana - ~10 inches (CHL) and 11 ounces. (Note: Babies are measured from the crown (or top) of the head to the rump (or bottom) until about 20 weeks. After that, they are measured from crown to heel. This is because a baby's legs are curled up against the torso during the first half of pregnancy and very hard to measure.)
- Baby can hear and recognize the mother's voice.
- The toenails and fingernails are growing.
- He has teeth buds sprouting beneath his gum line.
- The growth of hair on the rest of the body has started, including eyelashes and eyebrows.
- The skin is getting thicker.
- Testes are descending, though they have not yet passed the abdominal wall.
- The heart can now be heard with a stethoscope. (Hmm...I'm pretty sure that's not true because I cannot hear Chestnut's heartbeat with my stethoscope. But my friend/classmate Wenjia was generous enough to lend me her fetal doppler and it has been fun to eavesdrop on the little boy sometimes!)
- Weight: 127 lb (+13)
- Belly circumference: 36.25 in (+7.75)
- I've gotten quite a few comments this week that my "belly has finally popped out!" Where have these people been, pray tell? My belly has been popping out since I was pregnant with Penelope and it has not ceased to pop out.
- I have a theory that since Chestnut is a boy, the integrity of my skin is different due to boy hormones. I have no basis for this theory. My belly is more pointy (tighter) and my face does not look nearly as pudgy as I did with Penelope or Camille.
- Chestnut moves around quite a bit nowadays and I am loving it. I'm not sure if I'm just imagining things, but I think he's a little less active than his sister. *phew*
- I have become very lordotic almost overnight!
- Chin keeps saying that I have major "pregnancy brain" with Chestnut whereas I didn't have any with Camille. I have to admit...I do have pregnancy brain. I will open a carton of milk, pour some for Camille, and leave it out for half an hour before realizing that it's still open and unrefrigerated. I blank out on words. And I can never seem to find my phone!
- I had one day this week that was surprisingly tough (feeling not so clinically competent, frustrated by academic shortcomings, miscommunication with Camille's daycare person, friends flaking out on me) followed by one very strenuous day of academia. But you know what? I am still here and I still love my life. So, I win.
- Some days, it just makes me smile to think that Chestnut is swimming around in amniotic fluid and drinking his own urine.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Chestnut Week 19
Another eventful week:
- New car! We bought a new Prius and we are loving it. It is blue.
- I was carrying Chin's wallet one day (because he had cash) at a supermarket in Seattle and it was picked out of my pocket. That is the short story.
- We went up to Snoqualmie Lodge for the Boeing Employees Ski Night on Monday for the 2nd year in a row with Camille. Camille loves the snow. Maybe she can start skiing with BaBa next year!
Camille @ Snoqualmie Ski Lodge
- Camille's 1/2 birthday fell on Valentine's Day (in fact, it is always on Valentine's Day). Chestnut is also 1/2 way done "baking" this week. :)
- We spent Valentine's Day dinner with our fantastic friends Marcia & Ryan. We had a lovely cheese fondue and Mexican dinner. On Thursday, Chin & I conned some people into watching Camille (thank you so much, Brasteds!) while we went out to try Facing East for the first time. It was a restaurant we'd always wanted to try...without kid in tow. We had a very pleasant time.
- Chestnut is the size of an heirloom tomato - ~6.5 inches and 9 ounces.
- Placenta continues to grow and nourish the baby.
- Features of baby's heart should be visible during an ultrasound.
- Baby's genitals are distinct and recognizable. (Penis.)
- Scalp hair has sprouted and continues to grow.
- Baby's legs are reaching their relative size and with the increase muscle development occurring as well.
- Baby will increase his weight by more than 15 times between now and delivery!
- Weight: 125 lb (+11)
- Belly circumference: 35.75 in (+7.25)
- My. Boobs. Are. Sore!
- My taste buds have changed a bit. Not just things tasting weird, but I think I have developed a heightened sensitivity to salty foods. The other week, my father-in-law made hot & sour soup for us and I could barely eat it because it tasted so salty. Others thought it was a little saltier than usual but not too bad. And for our belated Valentine's Day dinner, I also thought the food was very salty while Chin felt it was perfect. I guess it's not a bad thing to cut down on the sodium, eh?!
- Urinary incontinence is not my friend. It is my enemy. I have peed my pants several times this week (yes, not just the underwear...the pants!) despite painstaking efforts to do kegels, working with PT on various exercises to strengthen my hips and pelvic floor muscles, and doing biofeedback. I hate you, urinary incontinence! *shakes fist*
- Some people have asked at some point during this pregnancy, "Does it feel any different than when you were pregnant with Camille?" The answer is (and, urgh, I hate this type of answer): "Yes and no." With Penelope, I had a lot of nausea with no vomiting, and the icky feeling of slowed gut motility stopped around 10 or 11 weeks. With Camille, the awful pregnancy symptoms of nausea and vomiting were fast and furious - I was really sick with a lot of vomiting, but it all ended around week 11. With Chestnut, I vomited less...but I experienced this dull, insidious range of sickness that lasted for nearly 18 weeks. So, the symptoms (the slowed gut motility, the gross feeling of nausea and the vomiting that sometimes followed) were the same, but the intensity and duration were very different.
- I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed this week. Lots happening. As evidenced by this late blog post, I am behind on a lot of things. Laundry, school work, cleaning up around the house. I know people will say, "Cut yourself some slack, girl! You're pregnant and taking care of a kid..." Blah blah blah. But, seriously, I have it easy. I have one kid and am pregnant with a healthy singleton. And I have a very supportive, loving husband who picks up my slack. I am very thankful.
- (Gosh, I'm finding that in the process of blogging about pregnancy, the "spiritual & emotional" section is the most difficult for me to write. It's hard for me to slow down and self reflect, I guess.)
Friday, February 10, 2012
Chestnut Week 18
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| That belly keeps on a-growin'! |
Busy week, friends!
This past Saturday, we drove down to Oregon to visit my newest nephew, Jimmy. On our way to the hospital, we got into a car crash. Thankfully we are all safe - Chin, Camille, Chestnut, and myself. Our trusty 10-year-old Corolla did not fare so well, though. :(
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| Ouch |
Our insurance company got back to us and the settlement for the car was quite a bit - much more than we had anticipated! Praise God! So, in being responsible for protecting God's green earth, we decided to reinvest this sum of money in a Toyota Prius. More pictures to come (we don't have the car yet, picking it up tomorrow)...
We found out this afternoon that we are having a healthy baby boy! Here is a profile shot:
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| Handsome like his BaBa! |
- Chestnut is the size of a bell pepper - ~5.59 inches and 6.70 ounces.
- He can hear sounds and may be startled by loud noises.
- Recognizable active and rest periods.
- Tiny air sacs called alveoli begin to form in lungs and the vocal chords are formed. Baby goes through the motions of crying but without air doesn't make a sound...yet.
- The skin is building a protective wax layer (vernix).
- Weight: 124 lb (+10)
- Belly circumference: 35.50 in (+7.00)
- No vomiting this week. Very little nausea, too! I've been eating more frequently and I feel good.
- Good mother of freckles!! I looked into the mirror the other day and discovered that I have so many dark freckles on my cheeks now. I guess that is just part of the chloasma/melasma - the so-called "mask of pregnancy." The linea nigra is also noticeably darker, too.
- We (Chin, Camille, and I) were all feeling achy this week. There was some delayed reaction to the impact of the crash, but after 24-72 hours, we were all feeling the effects of being tossed around. Chin has been going to his regular chiropractor where he is already being seen for lower back problems. I've continued going to my PT where I'd recently established care for my wobbly pelvis. Camille has been more irritable in the evening, before bedtime. We just read to her and play with her - those things seem to help.
- My pelvis has become very wobbly. On top of the aches & pain from the car crash, the wobbly hips don't really help. I tried to scoot across the floor on my knees to get something on the TV stand the other day and I found that, "Uh oh, I can't do this motion anymore. It hurts!!" I woke up one morning this week and felt like I couldn't move: my head was throbbing, my neck was stiff, my shoulders and upper back were tense, my lower back was achy (compensating for the wobbly pelvis), and I felt like someone had just kicked me in the crotch. Oy! But I do feel that the exercises given by my PT will help strengthen and stabilize my pelvis. Not working yet, but I am really hoping that my hips will be stable soon!
- I have a slight outie.
- I had to miss most of my classes this week because of neck/shoulder/back pain. So frustrating!
- Chin is a wonderful husband. I have been appreciating him a lot this week. He does so much for this family out of genuine love and care. Also, he is funny and makes me laugh all the time. And he gives me massages without demanding sex in return (only the occasional, innocuous hints).
- I am feeling more kicks...which makes me love this little boy so much!
Friday, February 03, 2012
Chestnut Week 17
Chin felt Chestnut kick this week! This is another very kicky kid. Ruh roh...
Technically, this is what's going on this week:
- Chestnut the size of a turnip - ~5.12 inches and 4.94 ounces
- The umbilical cord is growing thicker and stronger.
- Baby is about 5 inches (14cm) long crown to rump and would be about 9 inches (23cm) head to toe, if it could stretch out.
- The retina has become sensitive to light.
- The first stools (meconium) are now beginning to accumulate.
- Weight: 122 lb (+8)
- Belly circumference: 34.75 in (+6.25)
- Boarded the vomit comet once (v9). WHAT? I thought I was done with this emesis business! Guess baby is just trying to remind me to stay humble. I am SO freakin' humble right now.
- Foods that suck: not many, really. :)
- Foods that are awesome: pomelo! We got some pomelo from Uwajimaya the other day and I couldn't eat enough of it! I know, Chin bought me produce from get-a-second-mortgage-to-shop-here Uwajimaya. He must really love me! (They were also on sale.)
- A strange and spectacular phenomenon this week: I have a large quantity of food in front of me...minutes later, it disappears. I don't know what kind of wacky time lapse occurs, but I have been putting down food like I couldn't believe! It's really fantastic. And I feel great!
- I have had 2 visits with PT and I have really appreciated the work that they do. The exercises will hopefully help me with pelvic pain during pregnancy and improve strength for labor.
- I'm so relieved that I am finally feeling better! Not much more to say, really. I'm just very happy!
- We've scheduled a date for the mid-pregnancy ultrasound: next Friday, 2/10, at 3pm. Waaay excited! :)
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