Week 13, 5 days - lemon

At the beginning of this week, our baby was the size of a peach (2.5"). Now, he/she is the size of a lemon (3"). It's amazing how fast the growth is! I am five days into my second trimester, and baby's growth (along with mine) will increase this trimester.Just look at the white lines on the graph below (from whattoexpect.com). Those are the recommended weight gains. My gain is the maroon line, so I'm right on target (yay!). Maybe I should eat more....hehe...

Road trip

Really excited to go visit H2 this weekend. I like road trips...but probably because I don't do most of the driving. I am going to go out on a limb and say I probably won't do any driving this trip...Anyways, excited to go somewhere (while it's still convenient)!

Public news now

A made a public announcement on Facebook this morning that we are expecting. So guess the cat is out of the bag! Everyone is excited for us. A got at least 20 comments on that post, and I've been getting personal Wall Posts from it.

Week 13 - peach

From whattoexpect.com

Our baby is now about 3" from crown to rump, which is about the size of a peach. I have peaches in the refrigerator!

Well, I just got over the NASTIEST headache I've ever had. It started Sunday afternoon and lasted all day Monday. It was a throbbing headache, like my head was being squeezed between two plates. So awful! On Monday afternoon, I just couldn't take the pain anymore and took 500 mg of acetaminophen (or Tylenol), which is completely safe during pregnancy. But other kinds of headache medicines, like ibuprofen and aspirin, are not safe. I felt much better overnight, and feel about 99% this morning!

Headaches are pretty common during pregnancy because of the increase in hormones. But I should also watch my diet and sleep patterns. I remember sleeping weird both Saturday and Sunday night. And Alan joked that I was going through rice withdrawal (we ate mostly salty, Western cuisine last week). So yesterday Alan made congee and chicken soup, with no salt, so we could both purge our bodies of excess salt.

I think I might have also been going through milk tea withdrawal - those instant milk tea powders made by Lipton. Anyways, I'm glad my head doesn't hurt anymore, and I'll be more careful now.

From abclocal.go.com

On a side note, J&J made a huge recall of Tylenol. There was a moldy smell coming from the bottles that made people sick. So, that's why I took plain old acetaminophen and not Tylenol. If Tylenol is basically the same thing as acetaminophen, why don't people just buy the generic stuff and save some money? Guess people are just comfortable with the brand name.

Stay-at-home or Career Mom?

Yesterday, I told my friend from high school the news. Funny thing, we ended up going to the same university, after Drexel bought Hahnemann University Hospital. Then, we ran into each other in grad school at Drexel (again). Anyways, long but neat history. She has her Ph.D. and now also has two small boys. Her desire to have kids and stay-at-home changed over the years, and also by just being a mom. Our little conversation taught me to take things one day at a time. Not everyone is fulfilled as a stay-at-home mom, and not everyone needs a career outside of the home to be fulfilled. So...guess I'll keep my options open, talk a lot about it with A, and pray for the best for our family.

Start spreading the news

We started telling people that I'm pregnant...maybe we're telling people who don't know us that well (like our new church friends) or whatever, but I'm not getting the response that I thought I would...

Do they not want to be nosy? Do they feel awkward? It's so weird!

Even my friends in grad school, whom I've known for like 5 years now, were excited and congratulated me, but didn't really have anything to say beyond that. Maybe it's just me - that I'm nosy and think other people will be nosy too with me...oh well...doesn't change the fact that I'm still excited to tell people!

But a girl at bible study made an interesting comment after we announced the news...she said when we walked in the room, she thought I was pregnant. Maybe it was that I seemed happier or maybe it was "the glow". Interesting huh? Though A doesn't think I have "the glow"....thanks, sweetie! (with sarcasm)

Anyways, going to tell a high school friend and two other close church friends today. Hope someone (in addition to my family) will give me the reaction I am looking for! Haha!

Week 12 - genetic screening

A and I went to our first genetic screening. It consisted of an ultrasound and blood work. Well, first things first. The ultrasound below shows are baby in profile. The head is on the right, with legs curled up to the left. The "CRL" on the screen print stands for "crown to rump length". It is 5.04 cm (or 2 in) as seen in the bottom right corner. Because babies are all curled in the womb, the medical community measures CRL to check on the babies growth. His/Her growth is right on track! Also, we heard the heartbeat again. It was much stronger and we got to see the sound pattern on screen. Very regular at 170 bpm!

As part of the genetic screening, the technician measures the thickness of the nuchal translucency (fluid beneath the skin behind baby’s neck). It took a while because the baby had to be stretch out straight. I had to change positions, cough, and drink more water to try to get him/her to move. He/She was certainly moving around - doing the robot dance, we think. And finally after 15 min or so, she got the measurement. It was a normal measurement, so yay! I got a blood test too, which will measure hormone levels of hCG and PAPP-A. At about 16 weeks, another set of blood work is done.

So far, so good, according to the doctor at the hospital. The travel time to Grand View is not bad either, but with traffic and contractions in July, I hope the time will still be "not bad". Haha.

Week 11 - lime

Fingernails and hair follicles are developing this week. He/She is even developing testes or ovaries!

Sciatic nerve

Know what the sciatic nerve is? I didn't....before I went to the doctor's last Saturday.

On a side note, after I learned what the sciatic nerve is, it came up on an episode of Friends (Season 4). I am holding mini-marathons of Friends with my newly received entire-series-on-DVD-set from Alan. Anyways, Phoebe has a crush on this massage client. One day, he asks her to work on his "sciatic area" because it's been giving him pain. Before, I wouldn't have even heard the word "sciatic" in the line, but that day, I did. It turned out to be the "part beneath the towel" - aka, his butt. Anyways...back to what I found out at the doctor's...

From WebMD:

I was having this pinching pain in the middle of my "sciatic area" for about a week - only on one side though. The doctor made sure the pain hadn't spread to my back or legs. On my back, she rolled my hips side to side, and lo and behold, the pain was only on one side. So...nothing to worry about. It's probably pregnancy-related as the weight in my body both increases and shifts. She said that if it kept bothering me, I could take Tylenol and see a chiropractor. But these last few days, I haven't really noticed it. Yay!