Cankles!!!!

Yesterday was the first day I noticed that my feet and ankles are so swollen. Paul says my feet look like sausages! haha.. I have cankles- ankles the size of my calves. It's shocking and scary to me but it's funny at the same time. I normally have the skinniest ankles and smallest feet! Before pregnancy, my shoe size was 6 and now it's 7.5. That's just crazzzzy! Below is a picture of my feet from last night. Please excuse my toenails.. I haven't gotten a pedicure since I got pregnant with the fear that the nail polish might hurt the baby.... One good thing was that I got a nice foot massage from my husband last night!

31 week check-up

Today was our 31 week check-up with Dr. Bohn. In short, everything checked out perfectly! I have gained 3 pounds in the last 3 weeks, which is right on target (1 pound per week is our target) which makes the total weight gain of this pregnancy to 19 pounds. We checked baby's heartbeat and it was 140 beats/minute which is perfect. We also measured my belly and did the normal urine test for protein, checking for preeclampsia. It seems like a successful doctor's visit! I'll go to the doctor every 2 weeks for next 3 visits and then every week after that. Lots of doctor's visits but we wanna make sure everything's in tip-top shape!

30+ weeks and counting!

Today marks 30 weeks and 4 days of our pregnancy journey. I must say, the last couple of weeks have flown by at a blink of an eye. Luckily, I've been feeling great, eating a lot and sleeping well. I hear that the last month of the pregnancy is the hardest. I can imagine why... My ever growing belly is becoming heavier and I can feel the pressure of it on my legs and hips. Trying to sleep on my side has been challenging as well. Paul constantly finds me on my back and tells me to turn... I even have a ginormous body pillow, why can't I sleep on my side?

Strangely, I have not had any cravings throughout this pregnancy. I wanted to eat potato chips for couple days but that was about it. It is funny how once I see something on television, like a burger commercial, all I want to eat is a burger and I cannot think about anything else until I have it. It's amazing how our body is designed... I also keep forgetting that my belly is protruding quite a bit now and I keep bumping it into things. I guess I think I'm skinnier than I really am... Now that I'm close to the finish-line, I have forgotten the miseries of first trimester morning sickness or any other discomforts I've had and looking ahead to motherhood! Oh, I'm going to cry.... I cannot wait to meet our little girl! Seeing Paul being so loving with my niece and our friends' babies, I can't wait to see Paul with our little girl as well. He will be such a wonderful daddy!

Below is a picture we took at week 30. WOW....

Welcome Baby Sho and Baby Charlotte!!!!

Yesterday (January 22) was a very exciting day! Two of my closest friends, Ray and Tiffany, both had their babies! Ray's baby boy named Sho was born yesterday morning around 9am at 6 pounds 10 ounces, 19.5 inches. Tiffany's baby girl named Charlotte was born around 3am at 6 pounds.

I do not have a picture of baby Charlotte yet but I did stop by the hospital and see Ray's boy last night. Isn't he sooo cute? His face was so soft and he smelled so good! He slept so quietly the entire time we were there and I heard he slept through the night so mommy and daddy can sleep. What a good boy!

Ok, I just got a picture of Baby Charlotte! What a beauty!!!

Bigger and Bigger...

It's been 2 weeks since I last took my belly photo. It's amazing how much my belly grows in 2 weeks! I feel like I'm ready to pop and I still have 11.5 more weeks to go... My belly button is still somewhat present so I assume I still have long ways to go. I know I walk like a penguin and Paul says "wow" everytime he sees my bare belly. I think my belly looks a lot bigger because the dr. says I have lots of amniotic fluid. This is me at 28 weeks...

4-D Ultrasound

Yesterday, Paul and I had the most amazing experiences of our lives. We saw our little girl (yet to be named) on a 4-D ultrasound. Paul's parents who are visiting from Philadelphia accompanied us to the appointment. I'm so happy that we were able to share this moment with them! I always knew she was a very active baby but on the ultrasound, you can see her moving around like crazy! She was sleeping and I don't think she was happy that we disturbed her sleep.. She first gave us a yawn when we started and then couple of waves... Then she decided to hide from us and take another nap practically hugging my spine.. Her face was buried towards my spine so that we couldn't see her for a while. After 20 minutes of trying to make her face us, we decided that it was time for me to take a walk and hope that she moves.. I guess she is not a natural movie star! She can't be camera shy, could she?

We finally got her to turn around and we were able to get approximately 10 minutes of facetime with her. Below are her first pics!! In the first one, we have her profile with her eyes and mouth open.

The second one below shows her face.. her left eye is open!

In the last one below, she has her hand on her face. I think she had enough by this point..

The sonographer showed us our baby's hair follicles on the 2-D ultrasound and said that she thinks our baby will have lots of hair when she is born. Yay!!! She also said our baby has chubby cheeks. We all agreed that she has very pretty mouth!!! Isn't she precious? It really was the best day of my life!

Third Trimester.. New Discomforts...

First of all, I spoke to one of my bestest friends, Tiffany, last night. She's 33 weeks so it was so fun talking to her about what she's going through in terms of her pregnancy. She traveled to Canada for Christmas and had such a hard time coming back to California due to weather conditions. Her story was like watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles all over again! One good thing that came out of it all was that she got to stop by Chicago and see our friend Sara and her family and her newborn son! Lucky! But what is she doing traveling at 33 weeks?? Crazy girl!

Second of all, what is with all these weird, new discomforts I'm feeling these days? I am such a textbook case pregnant woman. May be it's all psychological what I'm feeling. You name the symptoms you read about in pregnancy books and I'll tell you I've had it! Blurred vision? Check... Backaches? Check.. Constant trips to bathroom? Check.. Constipation? Check.. Sleeplessness? Check.. Mood swings? Check.. Blurred vision as the scariest by far! It lasted only a few minutes but it was scary...

I am happy to report that I've started to work out again. I should have worked out during my second trimester but oh well.. Better late than never! I figured it'll help with the backaches and sleeplessness. And I read that it helps with constipation and easier delivery and getting back into shape afterwards. I'm having nightmares these days about the delivery so whatever I can do to make it easier, I'll try it!!!

Tomorrow is the beginning of our third trimester! Hooray, only 3 more months to go! Can't wait to meet our little girl! Now, anyone have any name suggestions for our little one?