Week 22 Stinky

Pregnancy farts are a little between rotten eggs and diarrhea. You do not want to be anywhere close to them. It came upon us so suddenly there was no escape. How does it get that foul?

Week 21 Ultrasound

After almost peeing my pants the last time I had an ultrasound, which was like 5 years ago due to some pain on my side, I learnt that it's better to time the water intake to account for the appointment being late. 

I drank 2 cups of water 30 mins before the appointment and it worked perfectly.

I went into the room first. The technician wanted to do all the measurements before the dad was allowed in. I tried to watch what she was doing but the angle was too awkward. She told me the baby was moving a lot, so much so she was having trouble getting the right images for the measurements. However, she reassured me that everything looks really good. After she was done, David was called in. 

Unfortunately we were not allowed pics in the room because it's considered a medical examination. It's too bad because it's the coolest moment of parenthood so far and must be even more so for David.

The first thing we saw was a cross section of the baby and it was opening and closing its mouth. The technician said it was drinking amniotic fluid. I didn't even know they did that! Next was the beating heart with the valves opening and closing. We saw the full spine and the inside of the corpus callosum of the brain. It was surreal seeing the baby move and kick and feeling it at the same time. She asked us if we wanted to know the gender and we did indeed. I asked her to show me instead of telling me and there was no mistaking that it was a boy! 

We already had a girl's name (Evelyn) because we had the hardest time agreeing on a boy's name. This is going to be hard but I'm just happy to hear everything's ok.

Week 22 (actually 21) Midwife

Now that I’m big enough they’re starting to measure my belly. It measured 22 cm which apparently should coincide with the number of weeks I am. However, after reviewing my ultrasound measurements, I’m apparently 21 weeks which means the new due date is June 22nd.

She also revealed that the umbilical cord is on the marginal edge of the placenta. This is common but it is something they will want to keep an eye on. So I will have an ultrasound in the 3rd trimester afterall. Maybe we can sneak a video of it this time.

I still have low blood pressure and baby’s heartbeat is strong.

Need to cut down on sugar and start exercising. 

Gestational diabetes test at week 24 to 28.

Week 18 and 19 Italy

Italy!! Now that we're back from Italy I really can't stomach another slice of pizza or pasta for a long time but I really like the philosophy of Italian food (always fresh, local and in season). It's rare to see chain stores in Italy. We saw signs for a McDonalds but they are mostly at the train stations. Everywhere else seem to have just mom and pop shops and restaurants. Anything ethnic that's not Italian is super expensive and we heard not very good/someone got food poisoning. Although Italian restaurants are also expensive. Just sitting down and getting water would probably be 2euro + 2euro cuperto so that's 4euro, like 6 bucks doing nothing! They also look at you weird if you don't order a drink. For breakfast if you order a pastry/coffee and sit down then it costs extra. Naples was the cheapest for eating.

Our trip was Rome - Florence - Naples - Sorrento - Rome

Rome - favourite was Borghese Gallery and the Vatican Museum (Sistine Chapel). The Vatican was so grand, I felt guilty just being there with so much gold covering everything. I was surprised to learn that Michaelangelo was not much of a painter (he was more of a sculptor - David) but the Pope convinced him to paint the Sistine Chapel and it is amazing. Some people are just so naturally talented.

Florence - our favourite city. People are extremely well dressed there. Waiting for the bus at the train station was like watching a runway show happening on the sidewalk. I remember this guy with checkered suit and suit pants. Rina was too shy to take pics. Gelateria dei Neri had amazing gelato. Climbing the Duomo and viewing Florence from the cupola was magical as we caught the sunset. Pino! David's butt! I enjoyed checking out the tiny shops in the narrow streets. There was this honest leather guy who taught us that lamb leather would not be used for bags since it's too weak, so you'll only find purses made of lamb. You can also try to see if the leather comes off on the inside to check if it's bonded leather. Did not like the truffle spread at that famous sandwich shop but it had great porchetta. There were no working washrooms at the train station (seriously??).

Naples - best pizza! We had this really shady moment while getting a shwarma near the train station. This dude came in and called some other dudes who came and just stood at the entrance eyeing us. The workers at the place kept warning us to make sure to keep an eye on our stuff. He mentioned there are some bad people outside. When I asked him is it those people that came in? He said yes. We were a bit spooked but just b-lined it to the train station.

Sorrento - beautiful coastal town. Expensive. Unfortunately rainy most of the time. We got the bus to Amalfi and it was so nauseating. We agreed that going to Positano would have been a better idea since it's about half way in between. We had good lemon cake there and a $20 spaghetti bolognese that we shall not speak of. The visit to Pompeii was really neat. It was good to visit the museum in Naples beforehand because that's where they store the originals of the artifacts found like the huge mosaic at the house of Faun. The city is amazingly preserved. You can still see the murals on the walls and pots in the restaurants. We liked the amphitheater and Rina liked it even more than the Colosseum since it was just us there. It just finished raining so the floor created nice reflection pics. Lots of stray dogs at Pompeii, including one that followed us to the station.

During the 2 weeks I would feel tiny flutters around the tummy area mostly in the morning. They were so small it wasn't really worth mentioning. 

The first morning after we came back I felt a solid kick to the side. That was definitely baby! I got David to feel it and he felt it too. His response was "are you sure you're not tensing your muscles?" I wouldn't even know how to do that in a concentrated area like that. So cool! Too bad Rina missed it. I'll miss her tummy rubs. Her expressions were so priceless.

Week 16 Baby Brain

This week was the attack of the baby brain. 

I managed to knock a glass tumbler to the floor, the glass bottle containing the rice fell to pieces when I went to get the cereal behind it, and the pestle somehow smashed to pieces on the counter. 

David also managed to add one to the list by dropping the glass container of momofuku pork I made.

Maybe glass is not a good idea…

Week 13

There were several days this week where I’d get headaches that won’t go away after sleeping. The skin around my mouth is incredibly dry and I have to scrub it away every morning, which leaves red patches. I also have very vivid dreams. I woke up at 3:41 am because I fell off a mountain and was just about the hit the rock and die. I was trying to take a good picture of the scenery with my phone but the wind picked me up and threw me at the rock. Strangely enough there were other people at the rock position so I shouldn’t really die but anyway I had trouble getting back to sleep after that. I had another dream where we brought a baby home and it was in a basket. I took the blanket off to examine the sex of the baby and it was a boy. David said the baby had an abnormal head. I was afraid that would mean it had down syndrome.

Second trimester is supposed to be the one that’s least nauseating but I feel worse. I think my pants are starting not to fit comfortably anymore. Next week is the last few days before Christmas holidays and I’m planning to tell my boss what’s been going on. At least it gives some explanation to my emotional roller coaster at work.

The code name for the baby is Xor.

Week 12

We heard the heart beats! The midwife applied some aloe vera lotion on my belly and felt for the top of the uterus. Then applied a sonar device to amplify the tiny thump thumps. It was so amazing and reassuring to know that there's something there. 

http://goo.gl/dy3D2i

Also on the same day I woke up at 4am and felt really weird. I couldn't fall asleep and debated whether to join the studio crew at work since they were laying down the new turf that was late. I decided it might wake up David if I got ready so got up and drank some water with some bread instead. Almost immediately I had this sudden feeling and puked everything up. Normally you feel the burn of the stomach acid down your throat but I guess most of it was water so it didn't feel too bad. I was able to sleep after that.