Week 19 -- It's a ...

GIRL!!!! Emile and I were very excited to find out that we're having a little girl!!! I thought for sure it was a boy that I was in shock. We're going to have a daughter!!!

We had our "big" ultrasound on Thursday, December 20th. We decided to keep it a secret so we could surprise our families. The morning of the 20th, we went in for our anatomy ultrasound and found out we're having a girl. The technician, and later our doctor's nurse confirmed, that our little girl looks "normal" -- arms and legs the right length, brain looks good, face is in the right proportions, etc. The technician wasn't able to see the kidneys, chambers of the heart or spine in the position she was in so I have to go back on January 10th for another ultrasound. Our little girl weighs 7 oz. right now and is in the 50th percentile for her weight based on the day of our ultrasound (I was 17 weeks 5 days pregnant) -- so right on target.

That night, we flew to Minneapolis for Christmas at Emile's parent's house. We told them we were having a girl by wrapping up a little dress with the ultrasound photo. We had them unwrap it -- Riet held up the dress for about a split second before she exclaimed "are you having a girl??!!!!" and proceeded to jump up with excitement.

We had to then keep it a secret for another week until we saw my family in person this past Thursday on December 27th. We told my family the same way -- wrapped up a dress with the ultrasound photo and had my parents open it together. My mom responded pretty much identically to Emile's mom -- held up the dress for a split second before exclaiming "are you having a girl?!!!" and then proceeded to get super excited and overjoyed. Apparently, my dad kept whispering to my mom while they were in bed that night "we're having a granddaughter!". It was great being able to tell our families in person that we're having a girl given that we've had to tell them most things about our pregnancy via telephone or webcam.

Our families gave us a lot of wonderful baby items for Christmas -- little dresses, pink and purple blankets, baby bedding, a Baby Bjorn, play mat, little items for the diaper bag (such as wrist toys, bib, etc.), light "mood" bear, taggie blankets, sign language book, touch and feel book, Baby Einstein lullaby CD, and newborn gift set. Emile's aunt and uncle in Holland (Anneke and Norbert) sent us some Dutch baby items that are adorable -- a little bear, heart that plays music and a schouder spuugdoek (shoulder bib/burp cloth). They all have photos of windmills and a Dutch boy and girl kissing in the Delft's bleuwe color. All the gifts we got were wonderful and greatly appreciated!!

Today, I'm 19 weeks pregnant!! I definitely feel like I'm getting much bigger faster now!

Week 18 -- Month 5

YAY!! I've finished 4 months, on to month 5. Five months to go. This past week was great -- I'm pretty sure I felt the baby move on Tuesday (December 18, 17w3d). It felt like something was rolling right under my belly button and happened about 2-3 times. Always ended with a tingle through my belly button. Since then I've felt other "rolls" and maybe a kick or two occasionally. I probably won't feel the baby move consistently until a few weeks from now though. But it was really neat and exciting!

According to the average weight gain charts, I'm doing pretty well for 18 weeks which I'm happy about although I'm starting to feel heavier in my stomach. I'm also getting more hungry again and definitely can't go more than a few hours without eating. I feel like I'm starting to grow again in my belly compared to last week where it didn't feel much different. The baby should be about 5-5.5 inches long and weigh around 6.5 ounces. You should be able to see the chambers of our baby's heart in an ultrasound now. His/her vocal cords should be fully formed also. Over the next week, our baby will start forming hair on his/her head and forming teeth buds.

Week 17

The last week of Month 4! Our baby is now roughly the size of my hand outstretched. He or she has a much more normal "human" appearance now. Our baby is now able to hold his/her head more erect and his/her body and limbs are longer in proportion to his/her head. Pads are forming on the tiny fingertips and toes. Soon those individual swirls and whorls will be apparent. Our baby's eyes are looking forward now, but they are still firmly closed. Our baby's skeleton is tranforming from cartilage to bone. The bones remain flexible to make the journey through the birth canal easier.

I'm slowly seeing my stomach get larger but overall there hasn't been much that has gone on this week. I'm still waiting to feel the baby move -- all the flutters I keep reading about! I'm looking forward to that! By the end of this week, my uterus will be the size of a cantaloupe or little larger.

This weekend, Emile and I checked out our first new home location -- Connecticut! We both really liked the area and could see ourselves raising our family there. We'll have to see how the next few weeks pan out.

Week 16

Yesterday was 16 weeks! I thought this was going to be the start of my last week of month 4. Turns out, I didn't realize month 3 has five weeks in it (Weeks 9-13), so that means month 4 actually started with week 14 and I'll start month 5 at the beginning of week 18. Here's the breakdown for those who don't know how this works:

First Trimester

Month 1: Weeks 1-4
Month 2: Weeks 5-8
Month 3: Weeks 9-13

Second Trimester
Month 4: Weeks 14-17
Month 5: Weeks 18-21
Month 6: Weeks 22-26

Third Trimester
Month 7: Weeks 27-30

Month 8: Weeks 31-35

Month 9: Weeks 36-40

I've started getting super hungry again in the last few days and my stomach is itching. So I think the baby is going through another grow spurt. I'm excited that my baby bump is getting bigger and looking less like fat. All these changes are pretty exciting. The baby weighs probably about 2 3/4 ounces right now and by the end of this week will be about 3 1/2 ounces and the size of my hand spread open wide! Our baby now has soft hair, called lanugo, all over his/her body and has well formed fingernails. His/her (we're now saying "shim") legs are longer than the arms and all four can move a lot now! This week, "shim" will form a lot more body fat. Hopefully, soon, I'll be able to feel the baby move!

I had my 16 week doctor's appointment this past Wednesday. Dr. Jin confirmed that I'm type O- and thus, depending on Emile's blood type (if he's type A, B or O +), then I'll have to get the RhoGam shot at 28 weeks and after the baby is born. This isn't anything dangerous or to be worried about -- it's only preventive, to ensure my body doesn't form antibodies against the baby's blood if the baby's blood were to mix somehow with mine and was a + type. This could just cause problems with me getting pregnant in the future if I end up forming the antibodies. So they take precautions.

We also got to hear our baby's heartbeat again at the doctor's using a Doppler machine. It was so reassuring and comforting since I can't tell what's going on. Dr. Jin said I wasn't showing yet but we think she's crazy. Whether the baby is just pushing my stomach up and the baby's still below my bellybutton (which is the case) or whether the bump is all baby -- I look pregnant versus fat so I'm going with it. Our next appointment with her is January 2. Assuming the baby cooperates, we should be able to find out the sex of the baby!! YAY!!

My mom is in town this weekend and we've done a ton of baby-related items. It's been fun. On Friday, we went to Baby's R Us and added some more things to my wish list. I'm using the registry as away of keeping track of what I want to buy over the next few months. Yesterday, my mom, Emile and I took an excursion out to New Jersey to a baby furniture store, Cribs and Teen City in Paramus (we left the island! without flying or me going to work!). It was definitely an adventure. Since we don't own cars, we had to find alternative way to get there. To save money we decided not to rent a car but instead we took: 1) a cab to Penn Station; 2) a train from Penn Station to Secaucus Station in New Jersey; 3) another train from Secaucus Station to Radburn Station in Fairlawn, New Jersey; and 4) a cab from Fairlawn to Paramus (which getting a cab in NJ is not like hailing one in NYC -- we had to call for a cab, wait awhile for a guy to come from his house to pick us up and he didn't really know how to get where we were going). Then after we looked around the store, we repeated steps 1-4 in reverse after waiting 30 minutes for a cab to come get us -- I love NYC public transportation and missed it being in New Jersey!

It was worth the trip though. We found the crib furniture we were originally interested in (Munire Antigua) and realized we didn't really like it that much. But luckily, they had a number of other Munire cribs. We decided on the Munire Savannah set in ivory! We ordered the crib, combo dresser (short one in the photo), foam mattress and changing pad (they were having a deal on buying those four together). My parents bought us the crib part of the set which was wonderful and really appreciated!

Week 15

I've "popped"! I am definitely showing now and it felt like it occurred almost overnight. Towards the end of this week, coworkers could even notice a huge difference. There is nothing to suck in anymore. And it now looks like I'm carrying low (for now). Emile and I can't stop smiling about the changes. I definitely look pregnant instead of fat which is a nice feeling!

Our baby will be about the 4 1/3 to 4 2/3 inches by the end of this week. Between this week and week 17, our baby will have grown from about the size of a softball to the size of my hand stretched out. One of these days I should start feeling the baby move in flutters (usually happens between now and around 20 weeks -- hopefully I'm one of the women who feels it earlier!).

One nice thing about being in the second trimester is now I have to pee less! I actually sleep through the night without getting up 4-5 times to pee! Yay!

My next doctor appointment is this Wednesday. I'm looking forward to going in again. I hope Dr. Jin at least uses a doppler to hear the heartbeat -- it's such a reasurring sound! We should find out on Wednesday when we get go in to find out the sex of our baby! I can't wait.

Today Emile and I got our Christmas tree for our first Christmas married -- this time next year we'll be celebrating our first christmas with our baby!

Week 14 -- 2nd Trimester!

I'm finally in the second trimester! I'm so relieved to be past the first trimester -- to many worries during those three months! Now I get to look forward to feeling the baby move for the first time and finding out whether we're having a he or a she. :)

Our baby is now the size of my fist and by the end of this week will be close to the size of a softball. In the last week, I've become super hungry. I pretty much feel like I have to eat every 2 hours or so. It's amazing! I've never felt so attached to eating before. Although most people wouldn't be able to tell I'm pregnant in my regular clothes, I can tell more. Plus, my abdomen itches a lot now. I go through much more lotion than I used to. My clothes aren't fitting as well anymore and I'm much more comfortable now in maternity pants. I don't think I've "popped" yet as I can't see a bump when I lay on my back but I'm getting there. Soon!

I recently checked the lunar calendar for 2008. Looks like there is supposed to be a full moon on May 20th, 4 days before my due date. They say many women give birth on a full moon -- we'll have to see if I go early! Still such a long way off though.

Week 13

My last week of the First Trimester!!! My pregnancy through the first trimester has been wonderful. Only minor nausea and no "all out" morning sickness (Emile wants me to state that the turkey burger he made for dinner once made me gag and we haven't had turkey burgers since), some moodiness (although Emile may think there's been more than that), a lot of stretching feelings in my abdomen, very tired especially the last week or so, and only the average weight gain for the first trimester. I've been keeping up with my 4.5 mile walks on the weekends and trying to get in either pilates or yoga once or twice during the week. We had three ultra sounds (one which you couldn't see as much detail in but could see our baby's heart beating away again). The best part of the first trimester was seeing and hearing our baby's heart beat for the first time and watching him/her turn around during out last ultra sound (NT scan).

At the end of the first trimester, our baby is now the size of a peach, and has started to resemble a baby with well formed fingers and toes! Our baby's vocal cords have begun to develop, and more and more of the organs are functioning every day. All twenty baby teeth are formed beneath the gums. Our baby's bone marrow, liver and spleen have taken over the production of red blood cells. Although our baby's intestines were originally formed inside the umbilical cord, they are now moving into the abdomen. Fuzzy hair is beginning to form on our baby's head and is white (unpigmented) right now.

There are a lot of great things coming up in the next trimester. We will be finding out the sex of our baby soon! At some point during this trimester, I'll really start showing with a "baby bump" and I'll begin feeling the baby move around and kick! We can't wait!

Week 12 -- 3 Months!

We have finally hit the 3 month mark. I feel really relieved and excited to tell everyone our wonderful news! Time to let the cat out of the bag! (I doubt Picus and Ashley like that saying). We started to telling our extended family and friends already. My plan is to tell my boss on Monday -- that should be interesting given my strained relationship with him. Now I'll be able to find out the specific details our ENVIRON's and New Jersey's maternity leave policy.

Yesterday, I had my first appointment with my new doctor, Dr. Jin. She's great! I really liked her. It's not the same as my previous doctor who had a private practice and thus, I never had to wait in the waiting room -- now back to a waiting room but it was pretty quick. Dr. Jin did the normal checks of my body, took my blood pressure and weight. She answered all my questions, and unlike my last doctor, gave me a list of recommended drugs if I got sick (cold, flu, etc.). Dr. Jin took blood samples (about 7 vials) to check for all the normal genetic items (cystic fibrosis etc.) and my Rh blood type (given I'm type O negative blood this could be something I'll need to get a preventative shot for at 28 weeks). Now that I'm at the end of the first trimester she also gave me a flu shot. She also did another ultrasound (my 2nd in one week!) which was great because I got to see your baby again and confirm the heartbeat was still ticking away (you can never see that enough). Unfortunately, her in-office machine doesn't have nearly the resolution as the other machines so the photos aren't even worth putting up here. My next appointment is December 6th.

Today, Emile and I decided to go to Babies "R" Us and start putting together a registry. I can honestly say we were both so overwhelmed with all the choices that we only registered for about 15 things. We have no idea how to choose what's the safest and best product for our baby. Emile and I are going to start researching one item at a time (car seat, high chair, etc.) and add it on-line as we figure out. For the other items, I think I'll be checking out the registry my mom and sister put together for us to get more ideas. When my mom comes in town in December, we'll have to head back to add more. It was pretty overwhelming.

A little over a week till the Second Trimester!

NT Scan

Emile and I went in for my NT Scan this morning. This is an ultrasound they do to check for the probability that our baby could have Down Syndrome. Given that I'm over 30 my doctor recommended it. Although they have to confirm the results of the ultrasound with my blood test, the technician indicated the ultrasound readings were within normal range! What a relief! I'm was pretty freaked out going in. In addition to this great news, we also got to see our baby again! :) What a change since 8 weeks 3 days! We could see the arms and legs in more detail and even the baby's fingers. He/she even moved around a lot - turned his/her back to us a few times :) It was wonderful! The heart was kicking away at 160 bpm. This time technician turned the sound on and we could hear our baby's heartbeat! It was fabulous! Our next ultrasound will be the Big One to find out the gender! Time's flying by!

Our baby with his/her hand near his/her mouth.

What a difference from the u/s at 8w3d -- So many more features are formed!

Week 11

I'm 11 weeks pregnant today. I can't wait to be in the 2nd trimester -- only 2 1/2 weeks to go. :) I'm definitely starting to feel like I'm filling out more. The weight gain is going to be a struggle for me emotionally but I know it's important for our baby. Hopefully, I'll end up looking like those cute pregnant women we seeing walking around NYC. I think my 4.5 mile walks on Saturday and Sunday will help. :)

I can definitely feel my abdomen stretching more, especially in the last few days. And I've become incredibly tired -- cleaning the apartment and doing dishes now wears me out. I'm expecting it to only get worse.

My mom and sister went to USA Baby today -- sounds like they had a lot of fun looking for things we may like for the baby and checking out cribs we're interested. I think Emile and I may head to Baby's R Us in a few weekends to start registering for non-gender specific items. At least this way we'll have a list for ourselves of items we need so we can buy a few items every week or so.

Week 10

I'm 25% of the way done! Give or take whenever I actually deliver. And I'm in the double digits! Very exciting day! Our little bean is now the size of a small plum and will be the size of a large lime by the end of the week (don't you love how the books compare our baby to food). He/she is growing a lot right now. Soon (in the next few weeks), my uterus will come out from under my pelvic bone and I will definitely start showing a baby bump vs. just bloat and/or my normal belly chub.

Morning sickness has definitely not hit me that much during this pregnancy which is nice. Only occasional nausea but no throwing up. Our baby must know I have to take the subway every day and throwing up will not work well there :)

Not much else is going on right now. I've started using my prenatal workout DVDs (yoga, pilates, and strength training) -- I hope to continue staying in decent shape throughout the pregnancy. Unfortunately though last night while working out, I got a pretty serious kink in my neck and am having a hard time moving today. :( Hopefully that goes away soon!

Week 9

I can't believe I'm already 9 weeks pregnant today. Time is going by much faster than I thought it would, although I can't wait till May. Emile and I decided to go look at cribs today -- after the ultra sound on Tuesday, we're really excited to start looking into everything. We went to 3 stores -- all of different quality and hence, cost -- Bellini , Pottery Barn Kids, and Baby's R Us. So far we both like the ivory or light wood color cribs -- I think it will keep the baby's room airy and light! Plus, when else would I ever buy white furniture :)

I had my last doctor's appointment with my current OB/Gyn this past Thursday. She did the normal -- took my blood pressure and checked my weight. Thursday marked the last time we will be discussing my weight until I turn 32 -- 10 months from now! She referred us to another doctor at Cornell (Manhattan location vs. Ithaca). I'm hoping to line up my first appointment with her for when I'm about 12 weeks. That will be after my next ultra sound (on November 6th).

Not much else is going on right now -- my morning sickness is still pretty mild (thankfully). I'm looking forward to looking more pregnant than just bloated or chubby. I'm sure that's coming soon!

Also, Emile looked more into the Old Wives Tale and the baby's heart rate. As expected, he found a number of scientific articles that shower there is no correlation between heart rate and the baby's gender. To give you a pictorial view, we found this graph that shows in general the heart rate tends to be higher at around 8 weeks (when I went in) and drops off later in the pregnancy -- whether a boy or a girl.

From: http://www.in-gender.com/Gender-Prediction/Fetal-Heart-Rate.aspx

Where does this leave us? Right where we started -- we have a 50:50 chance of having a boy or a girl :). Hopefully, we'll find out in about 9 weeks (when I'm 18 weeks pregnant).

First Ultra Sound

We are so excited!! I can't get over how overjoyed I am right now. We got to see our little olive (that's about the size of our baby right now) and everything looks great - two arms and two legs are forming and his/her heart is kicking strong (one baby, no twins!). I'm so excited!!!! The doctor and ultra sound technician both said everything looked great -- exactly where it should be right now.

He/she is actually measuring further along than calculated. Today, based on my LMP date, I'm 8 weeks 3 days; however, our baby is measuring 8 weeks 6 days based on the crown to rump measurement. We probably won't need to change our EDD though because it's only a difference of a few days.

The heart rate is measuring 174 beats/min. Based on old wives tales, this would indicate a girl (greater than 140 beats/min) -- but this is an old wives tales! We'll see what our olive turns out to be at my ultra sound at 18 weeks. Here are two 2D ultra sounds and two 3D ultra sounds.

For both photos below, his/her head is on left, body then feet at the bottom.

Below are two 3D photos. You're looking at our baby from behind. You can see the right side of the head, back, arm bud and leg bud. The long tube coming out of the baby is the umbilical cord.

Week 8 -- 2 Months Completed!

I have officially completed 2 months of pregnancy -- only 7 months to go! I can't believe I'm already 8 weeks. It's gone by so fast. I thought it would take forever to get to the week of my first ultra sound but it's already around the corner. This Tuesday, Emile and I will get to see our baby for the first time and find out if it's one or two babies :)

My morning sickness has gotten a little worse. I still haven't thrown up but I start feeling nauseous around early to mid morning and it stays with me for most of the day. I think I'm going to need to stock up on peppermint tea and ginger ale -- two things that are supposed to help with morning sickness (a misnomer as it can last all day and doesn't necessarily start in the morning).

I ordered some prenatal workout DVDs which arrived this week. After my 4.5 mile walk today, I tried out the pilates DVD -- I'm so glad I got these. I feel much more comfortable doing workouts now -- less concern that I might be doing something wrong. I had been avoiding doing anything other than walking up until now.

So far I haven't gained any weight. In the first trimester, on average, I'm only supposed to gain about 3 pounds. I expect that will probably come in the next few weeks.

Week 7

I am 7 weeks pregnant today. There are a still no major changes to my physical appearance. This week, I've started to feel a little more nauseous; however, nothing to severe yet. Less than two weeks to go till our first ultra sound -- time is flying!

Week 6

Turns out that Dr. Chrisomalis miscalculated my estimated due date (EDD) -- next year is leap year so there is an extra day; my original EDD was correct: May 24, 2008!! Thus, I was 6 weeks yesterday, Saturday, September 29th. Not that this makes much difference - most women don't give birth on their EDD anyways! And the doctor could change my EDD once they do my ultra sound.

I have set up my appointment for my first ultra sound. Unfortunately, they are not able to get me in this week like I was hoping. My 1st u/s appointment will be Tuesday, October 16th! I will 8 weeks 3 days pregnant. Although we were hoping to see the heartbeat sooner, at 8 weeks, our baby will have more features that are recognizable plus the heartbeat should be going strong at that point! We're looking forward to that day.

By the end of this week, our baby should be the size of a BB pellet -- still pretty small. He/she is hidden behind my pelvic bone right now so any "bulge" you see in me is all bloat! :) Around 13 weeks, my uterus should be out from under the bone and thus, baby belly starts!

Luckily I still don't have morning sickness but on average it starts around the 6th week -- we'll see if I'm one of the lucky few who don't get hit hard with it.

Week 5

Today I am 5 weeks pregnant. As you can see, there is no change in how I look. I'm not expecting to see much difference until about 8 weeks or later.





I thought I'd add a poll to see whether everyone thinks we're having a boy or a girl. The poll is on the right side of our blog -- you just have to select whether you think we're having a boy or a girl! I'm sure everyone already has thoughts on this! :)

We're Having a Baby!

Emile and I discovered I was pregnant on Thursday, September 13, 2007! We're super excited! I started to get an inkling that something was up because I was getting lower abdominal achiness that was not going away and I had this major metallic taste in my mouth -- my mocha and diet coke that day tasted horrible! I've since given up caffeine with surprisingly no withdrawal symptoms -- unlike other times I've tried to give it up. My body must know I don't need it right now!

I told Emile that I was pregnant by coming out of the bathroom with two onesies in hand -- one that says "Daddy's Little Girl" and another that says "I love Daddy" in blue and red. I asked him, while shaking uncontrollably, which one he thought we'd need more! I believe is response was "Are you serious?" with a big smile!

We told our parents via webcam. Because I'm not that creative, I used the onesie idea again. This time I held up two onesies that said "I love NY". One was blue and one was pink. I asked them which color they liked better. To say the least, our families were both extremely excited!!

Today was my first doctor appointment which Emile came to. Dr. Chrisomalis reconfirmed I'm pregnant (yay!!), checked my blood pressure and checked that my tubes didn't feel tender (which could indicate a tubal prgenancy). All was good! She changed my due date to May 25, 2008 so instead of being 5 weeks today like I thought, I'm back to 4 weeks 6 days. Tomorrow I'll be excited again that it's now 5 weeks :) She referred me to a doctor to get an ultrasound. It will most likely be in a week and a half. I'll be about 6.5 weeks and thus, we should be able to hear the heart beat! I'm looking forward to that day!

Dr. Chrisomalis want's me to keep my asthma in check and let her know if my bronchitis doesn't clear up in a week. I'm sure it will be then. Other than bronchitis (unrelated to pregnancy), my only symptoms right now are the achy abdomin pain and I'm starting to get a little emotional (Emile may have a different view of how emotional I'm being) and tired. We'll see if morning sickness kicks in.

We also found out that Dr. Chrisomalis only cares for women through their frist trimester so at 12 weeks, I'll need to find another doctor. The problem with this is that I'll also need to find another doctor when we move in January/February. So instead of only looking once for a doctor, I'm going to have to look twice. Oh well, we'll figure it out!

So far we're only telling our immediate family and closests friends! I'm looking forward to the day we tell everyone!