10 Week 3 Days ultrasound and other news

We went to the doctor's today and saw the little fufu again. Here is the little alien head fufu. You can see where the eyes, nose, mouth is. The little round things on either side are the hands. During the ultrasound, we got to see the little fufu move around, his heartbeat, his ten finger and ten toes, nice long legs and arms. Everything, she said, looks fine. The doctor, however, did notice some fluid in his head, and the NT (nuchal transluscency) of 3.2mm. She said it wasn't anything to be THAT alarmed of, but it is over the 3mm mark, which is considered safe. The fetus having large NT measurements are more at risk of Trisomy 21, 18 and other genetic defects. So the dear husband and I were freaking out, but the doctor did assure us that ultrasounds produce many false positives and it's too early to tell anyway. The NT screening tests and blood work is supposed to be done between week 11 and 13, so she set another appointment for us to come in exactly next week, which will be 11 weeks 3 days mark. 

I have faith in God that He has blessed us with a healthy, normal, beautiful baby, and I know in my heart that everything is fine. We just need to go in next week to confirm that our little fufu is a healthy normal baby. Until then, please keep us in your prayers.

I have made the first big purchase for this pregnancy, and it is the maternity pillow! This product has significantly improved my sleeping; my shoulders and neck don't hurt anymore, and it helps me sleep through the night. It does take a lot of space on the bed and dear husband feels like he's going to fall off the bed, but anything for the little fufu! :]

And it can be folded in different ways so I can use it in a variety of ways. YAY! I love this pillow!

Anyway, that's all the news we have and please keep us in your prayers until next week!!

Week 10 belly pics and others

So here are week 10 belly pics. 

What's different from last week is, the bump that was in mostly the lower abdomen, has now slowly creeped up to mid-upper abdomen. It still looks like a pooch and the dear husband says he can't tell the difference, but I can. :]

Besides the belly photos, here is another pic. 

Please pardon my messy hair and gaunt face and hollow looking eye sockets. This was after I had a round of puking. ANYWAY, I was putting moisturizer on my face one day and I noticed SUNSPOTS forming... Do you see those blackish discolored marks on the cheeks? I didn't have that many before, now they are popping up like crazy! 

So I did some research, and apparently, sunspots are one of the symptoms of pregnancy, and you should prevent them by putting sunscreen, whether you are indoors or outdoors. They also say that you should definitely take care of them after you give birth. 

SIGH...

Every week, something new pops up(literally) and to add to the misery, the morning sickness has now reached its peak.I've been throwing up at least once a day if not more. According to the research, it'll start easing up starting week 12 and should be almost gone by week 14. 

On a brighter note, I am excited because granny Kim, my mom, is arriving tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, we go to see the doctor!

More to come!

Week 10 news

We are officially in week 10 of our pregnancy!
According to the pregnancy center app on my phone, the little fufu is now a size of a kumquat...낑깡 in Korean... for a better understanding, here is a picture of kumquats.

So there are many upcoming events this week. First off, Granny Kim aka, my mommy, is coming to visit us this wednesday. Hubby, Guinness, and I can't wait for her arrival!
In preparation of her arrival, we cleaned the house, but I had to give up mid-way because all the fumes from the cleaning products made me feel dizzy and sick. SO the poor husband slaved away and cleaned everything from the toilets to the rugs...Thank you hubby!
Then, this thursday, we have our second appointment with the doctor and can't wait to see the little fufu via ultrasound! I've been doing a lot of research, and this week is a kind of landmark week because we are now entering the fetal phase of the pregnancy...(we were in embryonic stage for the previous weeks). I've read from forums and medical websites that we can get to see the fetus move and jump around, wave his/her hands and feet, and jump and bounce around in the uterus! How awesome is THAT! Well, it depends on how active our little fufu will be, but regardless, husband and I are extremely excited!
Also, something very interesting:I've come across on the web of this 'baby flutter'. Apparently, you can feel your baby before the normal 16-19 week mark. These so called 'flutters' can be felt as early as week 6 of your pregnancy! Some have commented that it feels tingly, others have said it feels like muscle spasms, still others say it feels like butterflies in your stomach.. I don't know if I'm not paying attention to my body, or if I'm just too busy being gassy, nauseous, or pukey, but I've never felt those sensations... I need to listen more to my body...
On a funnier note: I've been very needy lately towards my husband, about everything... 'babe can you do this for me?', 'babe can you bring that for me?'.... he'll give me a look and I'll just say, 'what? I'm pregnant with our baby!" The other day, I said that to him again, and he replied, "I'm pregnant too! I feel just as tired, hungry, sick as you do because when the wife is pregnant, the husband is pregnant too!" I just cracked up so loud, it was just one of those random moments of sheer humor... oh dear husband...But in retrospect, I could understand why he said that... he's been so tired lately with managing our business, and dealing with me, and worrying about the future, and still wanting to have his guy time with his buddies... I'm so thankful that I have such a supporting husband, and this pregnancy has been that much easier, albeit the puking and the nausea, because of my dear husband.
We are so grateful to God that He brought us this far, and we pray that He'll continue to bless us. Week 10 Belly photos will be updated!
P.S. I pray that all of you in Korea will be safe and sound from the typhoon.

to poop or not to poop; that is the question

The title pretty much sums up my dilemma
The pregnancy hormones are definitely messing with my bowel movements and at times it gets to be very confusing.
Here is a little scenario to explain the situation.
I get up in the morning and my stomach is in excruciating pain. Then all these thoughts flash through my head... is there something wrong with the baby? Am I having a miscarriage? Is this part of morning sickness? What is happening? Then all of a sudden, 'pshhhhh' release of gas and I am relieved of the pain. Then I get up and start brushing my teeth when I get a second wave of pain. I try to fart, to no avail. I sit on the toilet, and believe me, I don't even try to squeeze anything out for the fear of passing the fetus...I know it has no scientific backing whatsoever, but when I had my miscarriage, I was pooping and squeezing for the life of me...THEN finally I feel my brown friends making their trip SLOWLY down the tunnel and PLOP they go into the bowl...
Then there are mornings when I have to run to the toilet because I almost miss it- yup diarrhea attacks... AND TWO TO THREE TIMES A DAY too! Dear Lord, I don't know what's worse, being constipated or having diarrhea... either way, every morning is a gamble for me, I don't know what surprises will await me each day regarding my trips to the bathroom.
I'm still having major morning sickness, and still have all the other symptoms, and all the research I do just point to one major factor; progesterone. Apparently the rise in the pregnancy hormone can mess up with your whole body, and boy does it mess with my body. Not only that, I get mood swings too, and it just doesn't really help with the situation. Oh and I've noticed I'm getting sunspots on my face! Again, research points to unbalanced hormone levels..
Sometimes I hate progesterone, but I have to love it, because it's the hormone that continues the pregnancy... so this love-hate relationship will probably go on until at least second trimester when I feel half decent and half human.
On a brighter note! We will be visiting the doctor for our second prenatal visit in a week, and we will get to see the little fufu again through ultrasound, and also get to hear his heartbeat for the first time through the doppler machine! Plus, mommy dearest is visiting to be the extra pair of helping hands, bless her soul. We can't wait for all the upcoming events, and the husband and I are always so thankful we have family supporting us. Can't wait!

Week 9 news

Today marks the beginning of week 9 for our little fufu

Every week something new happens, and here are couple of things that have happened so far

Onset of new symptoms: major backache.

Since I have been very cautious with this pregnancy, mostly I have stayed home, and laying down on the bed. Seemed to be working fine until my back started hurting really badly. Dear husband says: "Babe you are not young anymore; if you lay down for a long time, your back is going to hurt." I guess he was right, because yesterday, I tried to sit up as long as I could with a good posture, and we took Guinness (our dog) out for a walk for about 15 minutes. And voila, back didn't hurt when I woke up this morning!

Major headache/migraine

I blame this on the allergies I have. Since the days are cooler and it's turning into fall weather, my ever so sensitive sinuses have seriously kicked into full allergic mode. I have congestion up the wazoo and I can't breathe in the morning when I wake up. Which, in my opinion, cuts off oxygen to my head, and causing me to have these severe headaches, borderline migraines. Not only that, my eyes itch, I have sneeze attacks, and well, I'm already a mess from all the morning sickness, but then this just takes my state of being messy to a whole new level. Since I don't want to take any medication this pregnancy, I have resolved to home remedies: ice packs and tea. I drink peppermint tea, it clears up my sinuses and the ice pack just alleviates the headache.

Dizziness/lightheadedness

This only happens when I've been sitting down or laying down for a while and I get up. I try not to get up too abruptly, and I've had this head-rush before I was pregnant, but this dizziness is every single time when I get up. So my solution is, give myself a few seconds before fully standing, and standing up slowly. That seems to do the trick. Oh and when I take the first few steps, I don't rush into it, because that also makes me lightheaded.

gas....

I've always been a gassy person, even before pregnancy, but being pregnant takes it up a notch. So I've been a farting, burping, noise making machine. well, all I can say is, you gotta let it out.

cravings! (my favorite)

The cravings have started! This doesn't mean I can eat without throwing up or feeling nauseous; it just means I start thinking about certain foods that I'd never eat pre-pregnancy. For example. I hated fudgesicles- you know the popsicle that's chocolate? But I was craving it the other day and asked Dear husband to go get it for me and oh boy did it taste GOOD!

So here are the things that have been happening to us starting week 9. Belly photos will commence as soon as I look decent and have dear husband take them for me!

*update*

Belly photos week 9. Shirt over belly, and belly exposed...

I really think something of a pooch is coming out... no matter how hard I try, I can't suck that in!

the dreaded morning sickness

in my case, it's more of all-day sickness
It all started at the end of week 6, and it was in full swing on week 7 and still going strong. (We are currently at 8 weeks 3 days)
It starts in the morning when I get up, just with a little bit of queasiness, and then it amplifies to full on nausea- then it subsides with a lot of fluid intake- my choice of beverage is ice cold water; soothes my stomach. Then it kicks back with a HUGE wave of nausea, and depending on what I TRY to eat, I either throw up, or barely keep it down.
If you know me well, then you should know that I'm a foodaholic, I love eating good food, and I love trying out different foods all the time. That stopped as soon as the all day sickness started and least to say, making me a bit sad. But I'm happy nonetheless, because this is all part of pregnancy and motherhood :]
So my Dear Husband, who has a weak stomach, and who can't bear to hear me puke and purge into the lovely porcelain toilet bowl, started researching. 'cure for morning sickness'
This is what we accumulated so far

Sea Band is a pressure point band/bracelet that you wear, the pressure on the acupuncture point relieves nausea. This product is my favorite so far. It really does help, and you don't have to eat or drink anything to alleviate your misery.
The premium crackers, and 'ace' korean crackers- they are both lightly salted and very bland. These help when I have nothing in my stomach, i.e. when I just wake up or in between meals, I munch on couple of them and they help. Thanks mom for sending me the Ace crackers!
Preggy Pop Drops and Hi-Chews. These are sweet and sour candies that help to keep the mouth watered and occupied so you won't get that hit of nausea. The Preggy Pops were sold at Walgreens before but they don't carry it anymore so DH ordered it online through drugstore.com. These are ok but they leave my mouth dry after a couple.
Then we have the morning sickness tea- it's made with ginger roots and peppermint, and both those herbs are supposed to suppress nausea, but sometimes they give me headaches so I only drink it when it's severe.
So there it is- my morning sickness regimen. So far, it's been working, much better than when I didn't have these things, but there are times when none of these work, and the best thing to do is just good old throwing up. :)

A fresh new start

So-
my past posts have been very negative. So I decided to delete them and start anew.
Dear Husband (DH) and I are financially stable, with a small business, and now we are at a place where we can be comfortable with our lives.
I guess with all of this positivity around me and God's amazing blessings, there was no better time for us to get pregnant than now!
Yup, you read it correct! We are pregnant! :]
Here's the story.
It all happened starting from our one year anniversary(March 12th) dinner. We were having dinner at our favorite restaurant Antico, with a glass of wine of course, and got to talking about the future. We both agreed that we were set financially, and both our parents were healthy and well, and all we needed now was a baby. We were both still sad from our first, and the miscarriage that followed, but we both knew it was time to move on and really try to conceive.
So began the journey of ovulation predictor kits, basal body temperature recordings, vitamin and health foods, lifestyle changes.
What surprised me the most was that even after my cycles became regular again post-miscarriage, some months I didn't even ovulate. We started April, and the month of April, I didn't ovulate at all. (No smiley face on the digital ovulation predictor kit) Got my first set of smileys in May (ovulated-yay!) and a negative home pregnancy test told me we didn't conceive in May.
Then came June. Got my set of smileys again, and after we made love, something made me pray. (Holy Spirit?) "God let this be a sticky one." That's all I said. Then things started happening. The day after, my mom called and asked if everything was ok because she had an amazing dream of a huge bright sun rising from the horizon. Then two days later my mother in law calls me and tells me she dreamt of a very fertile plot of land and how these huge, plump, korean radishes were piled endlessly up to the sky...
Then a week later, I had a dream that I was in the hospital getting blood work done, and it came back positive for pregnancy.
Then three days later (July 13th) just out of curiosity, I took a pregnancy test and... plain and simple, it said-

After only three months of trying, we got a 'pregnant'! I was scared more than excited since I already experienced a miscarriage, and DH didn't even accept it, he was more like 'shut up'. 'no really, babe, the test isn't going to lie'.... 'wow'
Then began the search of a gynecologist and the first appointment was set. Didn't tell the parents yet since we didn't want to break the news and didn't want to go through another miscarriage news....
So the day of the appointment was on the ninth (8/9) and we got our first ultrasound. Here is the little fufu at 7 weeks 3 days- estimated due date is March 25th, 2013. Introducing, baby Kim:

We got to see the little heart beat really fast, and the doctor said everything seemed really good and nice. we were ecstatic and DH now is more accepting of the fact that we are indeed pregnant.
We told our parents that weekend of the appointment, and all of them were so excited and happy for us :] my mom started crying..... But for now, the announcement is limited to immediate family. we will be making a formal announcement when we pass our first trimester...
So the next appointment is on the 30th and we can't wait! Until then, I'm pretty much house arrested, doctors orders- don't do anything too strenuous.... Oh and my morning sickness is pretty much all day sickness and I have actually lost weight since I can't seem to keep anything down. There are times when I'm so miserable and cranky, but I remind myself that this is just a process that all moms go through and when I remember that, I'm so appreciative of my own mom. This pregnancy makes me reflect a lot on my relationship with her and motherhood in general.
So the husband and I are just grateful and thankful. We are extremely cautious and we just hope everything will go smoothly. I am willing to go through this misery if it means our little fufu is healthy and well.
Keep us in your prayers and until next time, I will keep updating! Coming soon- belly photos!