Saturday, October 31, 2009

we're "powaiians"

Yay, the deal is done and we closed on our house yesterday!

It's been a long journey which tried both B's and my patience. Can't even count how many times we've had to switch off on our tag teaming and said, "I'll take care of it this time". It took a lot of work on our side to keep on top of everything during the process, but we knew it'd be worth it in the end.

We will definitely grow into this house. The timing is cutting it right down to the wire, but we're SO glad to know that we'll be bringing our little one "home" when he's ready to make his appearance to the world.

The house is in Poway and is minutes from my office. We think folks of Poway are called Powayans, but we feel more da kine. Aloha!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

womb sounds

Another trip to L&D due to high bp last night. This time, our OB (Dr. Dunn, a.k.a. "Double D" as we like to call him) was on call, so I got to skip the part about giving the doc my history. So the drill goes like this: Go into a room, provide a sample, lie on a bed, have the fetal monitor band velcroed around my belly, wait for the lab tech, "youch" a needle, bp goes down to levels lower than any I record at home, wait for the lab work, bp lowers even more, labs come back normal, "whew", head back home.

B theorizes that they're pumping something in the air ducts that lowers my bp. Since Double D was there, we got to joke around and run it past him. He actually beat us to the punch line and suggested there's a certain zen in the room that calms me down.

Curious to try to figure out what the magic formula is, my theory is that hearing the baby's heartbeat is the missing factor at home. Since then, I've been listening to the CD of womb sounds which I picked up anticipating the need for an arsenal of sleep aids for the baby. Seems to be helping! We got a two-fer on the CD - works on mama too. ha!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

mr. big brains

Today was the first of a series of twice weekly visits for the remainder of my pregnancy since I'm considered to be in the "high risk" category. During each visit, I'll have an amniotic fluid index (AFI) ultrasound followed by a non-stress test (NST).

The tech's first question during the ultrasound, "Has he been measuring big?" "Not that I know of", I replied. She mentioned that his head is measuring large, about two weeks ahead of what she was expecting. great. First thing I thought of was, "What will this mean for my delivery?" Oh well, nothing I can do to control this. As long everything else is progressing well, that's all I'm concerned about.

The way I see it a larger head means more brains!

Monday, October 26, 2009

room to breathe

A couple of weeks ago, I was noticeably short of breath. It didn't matter if I just walked up the stairs to our front door, was talking in a meeting, or was simply sitting still. I know it's a common experience, but it was uncomfortable nonetheless. It didn't help that I just started taking meds to lower my blood pressure about the same time. Made it hard to determine what was causing the breathlessness. Maybe a combination of both?

Last week, after another visit to L&D to monitor my bp after another high reading, I was placed on modified bed rest. Eeks. At first it was hard to come to terms with having to stop working so abruptly (and three weeks earlier than expected!), but always knew where my priorities laid. Baby comes first.

On a call with my mom later in the week, she commented that I sounded like I was struggling less for breath while talking. She was right. I was able to take deeper breaths again. ah, lightening. Just another sign that we're coming along the final stretch...

We're on the final stretch on the house hunt as well. We've got a couple more checklist items left to complete this week, then will hopefully be able to close this Friday(!). The house has plenty of room and we're looking forward to having family and friends come for a visit.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

merbaby

This week was baby week for us. We started taking childbirth classes, took a hospital tour, registry gifts are trickling in, and got to end the week with a belly painting!

I found out through my multi-talented prenatal yoga instructor, Shelly, that the UCSD Midwife Services is celebrating their 10th year and is offering a week's worth of free events. Of all the events, the belly painting/dance party sounded like the most fun. My co-worker, Mikala, thought the same, so we went together.

For my belly design, I wanted an underwater theme. I even wore my favorite mermaid/ocean-themed socks for inspiration. Shelly, who happened to be my belly artist as well, and I tossed around a couple of design ideas. When she suggested a merbaby, I was sold! Lots of women with fabulous belly designs. Mikala's "Bean" painting was adorable.

Following the painting, we had fun doing prenatal belly dancing. I felt a little hippy-dippy doing it at first, but after a few hip circles and shoulder shimmies I realized how good it felt. What a nice way to loosen up the joints and encourage movement and creating space for the little one in the belly.

The event was fabulous!