Updates

Had my monthly check up with the doctor on Thursday.  Nothing major, doctor checked on baby's heartbeat and all is good.  She also said that in the next couple of weeks I should be feeling the baby moving more continuously (and if not, to call her!).  And I am scheduled to take the glucose test in the next couple of weeks...  not looking forward to it.

I am weighing in at ~136#, with 37" belly.  Back in Panama I weighed in at ~141#, but within a couple of days of being back home, my weight went down...  so my best guess is my spike in weight measured in Panama was from water retention and constipation.  Yikes.  Constipation was at its worst on Easter, then I sort of kind of managed it all the way through Panama.  Digestion has improved significantly since my return almost to the point of normalcy, I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

Back aches are not as bad as they were in Panama...  sitting for extended periods of time doesn't help.  I definitely don't spend as much time in the car here as I did there (where traffic is horrid most of the time).  Doctor said my body just isn't used to carrying around so much weight, so back aches will likely get worse. She recommended massages and soaking in a warm bath...  so that very night Philipp so sweetly filled up the bath for me with calming salts.  <3

Many ladies (family, friends, sales girls, you name it) have said my belly looks big for 5 months.  Statement followed by the question of am I carrying twins.  Aiyah.  Doctor said everybody carries differently, and given my small build, the belly will pop out more.

Other side effects of pregnancy I have noticed/experienced include:
- Bad memory: I have always had bad memory (except for my the crazy multitasking abilities I developed for work about 2 years ago), and now it is worse than ever.  Most days I will walk into a room and wonder what I was going to do/get, and then leave when I can't remember.  Or I think of something to say at a meeting and when I get the chance to speak my mind I forget.  Several times I think of one thing and then end up saying something else (like saying Friday instead of Wednesday when I meant Wednesday).
- Pigmentation: About a month ago (or maybe longer, I forget) I noticed darkening pigmentation in my armpits, more concentrated in the creases.  I'm pretty sure it was not like that before.  Also, today I just noticed small dark spots on my boobs.  And more skin tags!
- Leg cramps: The other night I woke up to painful cramping in both of my calves.  Owy.  Cramps didn't last long, but boy were they painful.  When the pain finally went away, I managed to get up and walk around a bit to shake it off.  But then in the early morning it happened again, on my right leg.  I was hyperventilating from the pain and Philipp woke up, so he helped me stretch my leg.  So now I must try to remember to stretch my calves before going to bed to avoid the cramping.

I have been resisting buying anything for the baby, mainly because I am not sure what to get.  There are sooo many choices for everything, I am worried of getting the wrong thing.  Once I get to looking and reading reviews, I get overwhelmed and give up.  Last night I finally purchased the first item for baby...  a pei pei (blanky), which is very similar to the one I had growing up (and has been MIA since I left for college).  I hope baby likes it (or I might keep it for myself...).

Destination PTY

Made it to Panama and back.  With a bad back.  No nausea on the flights this time, but back pain and belly discomfort made it a looong trip.  I would snooze for a few minutes and wake up from back pain, so then I would try shifting and re-adjusting my pillows.  I was exhausted by the time I landed, both ways.

One of the main reasons for me wanting to go home to Panama in my pregnant state was to see my Apo and show her my belly.  My Apo means the world to me, as she saved my life it was very important for me to go see her.  Even though she doesn't seem quite aware of what happens around her and she cannot talk, I know she can still recognize me.

Next on the list was to eat all the things I only get in Panama: tamales, sancocho, patacones, steamed whole fish, lengua, churros, ginger sauce for pad cham kai, etc.  Thanks to all who assisted in getting me fed.  =)  Another must when going to Panama, is dropping in for a haircut with THE dude.  I was quite tired of the mop of hair I had, so it's quite refreshing to have a short low maintenance do now.

Also, Hen hosted a Belly Rub Party for me (aka baby shower).  It was a nice gathering of friends at the Hen House.  She awed me with an awesome carrot cake from our fav fancy cake baker in Panama, MC, it was sooo cute with a Maja and a bee!

Hen, Jav, and I prepared most of the food for the gathering: roasted chicken Caesar salad, bacon wrapped breadsticks, chorizo frittata, Nutella cheesecake, and chocolate chip cookies.  Larissa brought a broccoli casserole, and Hen got empanaditas (cheese, chicken, beef) from Delicias Caseras.  Somehow all the boys coordinated and wore blue shirts...

Even though we requested a no-gifts policy (as I didn't want to haul it all back with me), I got lots of very cute baby clothes, a handy baby carrier (see picture of me testing it out with Stufi), and a very important belly band for after birth (thanks Prych!).

As Prych is preggers with her third baby, it was nice to compare notes with her on pregnancy issues and get advice.  She is in the not so fun nauseous state and throws up most days.  I feel for her.

With all the eating and hanging out and visiting, within 3 days of being in Panama, I weighed myself and was shocked to see the scale go all the way up to 141#!  Holy smokes!  How was it possible I gained ~7# in such a short period of time?!?  Saturday night when we finally got to sit down and relax at the Hen House, I looked at my feet and thought they looked funny.  My feet are normally very skinny and bony, but now they looked...  pudgy?  Wow, my feet were swollen!  By morning they were sorta back to normal but not quite. On the flight back I could see my ankles were pudgy, so I didn't even dare take my shoes off on the plane.  Fortunately my feet were back to normal soon after my return.

Week 24

Already?!?  Holy smokes.  How times flies when you are busy eating eating eating.

I'm weighing in at ~133.5#, and the belly is 36" around.  Seems like reasonable gain to me.  A lot of people are surprised at how fast the belly seems to be growing.  I've been asked if I'm carrying twins...   ???  And then there are those nice enough to tell me that the belly looks big because I'm not so big myself.  My waist has just disappeared, so I'm probably starting to look preggers from behind now.  I can feel the baby handles (aka love handles) getting more substantial.

The maternity books say to eat this and that and how many servings and calories and blah blah blah.  I don't think I have the appetite to eat all that, so I eat what I can keeping my calcium intake up.  This is what I eat most days:
- oatmeal with bran, raisins, and banana
- 2 glasses of milk
- 1 cup of kefir (liquid yogurt, I got tired of eating yogurt)
- 1 slice of wheat toast with peanut butter
- 1 glass of watered down prune juice
- self-cut fresh fruit salad (apple, orange, mango, berries, grapes)
- 1 hard boiled egg
- salad with lunch or dinner, or any other kind of cooked vegetables with the meal
- lunch and dinner includes some sort of meat protein and grain
- trying to stay away from white rice, white flour, sugar (although every now and then I have a chocolate chip cookie with my pre-bedtime glass of milk)...  =)
- for random snacking I usually carry a nut bar or a piece of fruit leather

Crazy to think that in just 1.5 months, I went from this:

To this:

I finally made it to the mall a couple of weeks back, I know I look funny wearing my regular clothes stretched out to to the max.  I just don't like shopping anymore, I don't have the patience to deal with crowded parking lots and looking through racks of clothes.  But I since I am not familiar with maternity clothes brands and what sizes would fit me, I can't just buy online as I would likely end up returning most of what I got.   So, off to Macy's I went to check out their tiny motherhood section.  I got a shirt and a pair of pants from the sale rack, cotton and modal: so soft and comfy.  I later realized the shirt I got is actually a breastfeeding friendly shirt...  oops, so it will likely not stretch out all the way to a 9 month belly but at least it will come in handy after birth.  And the best part of my shopping trip:  wire free bras.  Had I known the wire in my bras was what was making them so uncomfortable that at the end of the work day I would just take it off on the car ride home...  I would have switched a long time ago!  Wire free bras ROCK.  Unfortunately, they are not as pretty, more like grandma bras.  Oh well, comfort first.

Oh yeah, and I turned 32 in the meantime.  AGH!  Which we celebrated with a relaxed and low key day, yummy lunch at Bouchon and treats from the bakery.  Even Maja got a fancy Bouchon treat!

After just two puppy classes, we have learned to communicate with Maja much better.  And she listens to us more of the time.  And "Maja come!" actually works now.  So well that even when I saw her playing with some mysterious object out in the yard and called her in, she ran all the way around the house into the living room...  with a dead mouse in her mouth.  AAAHHH!!!  P told her to drop it and she did.  Yuck.  As I distracted her, P picked up the mouse and threw it out.  I know Maja is a doggie, and a terrier bred to be a vermin hunter, but it is still shocking to me that my baby bear would do something like that.  Great B-day gift! 

Dreaming

The other night I dreamt I had been in the hospital for 2 days and no baby in sight.  But I was just hanging out waiting for the baby to decide to come out, no actual labor.  Strange.  I got fed up by the end of the second day and decided the baby was coming out no matter what so I went to take a shower.  And that was supposed to help how?

Anyways, dreams dreams dreams.  I always have such strange dreams.  A couple of weeks ago I dreamt Loraine came up with a name for the baby, with much excitement she showed me the name printed on a card: Bobrown Diaphenus.  And then Huebo dreamt I named the baby Connie Makarria.  I think I will pass on both.

I have also had a couple of stressful dreams about my parents coming to stay with us for a month when baby is born.  For the last 10 years the longest I have spent with them in close quarters is 1 week, and by the end of it I'm usually ready to tear my hair out.  It's parents, what can I say?  So it is very concerning having them living with us for a month...  I know they have only good intentions to help out with baby and cooking and feeding.  Still, they can be critical, stubborn and high maintenance.  My hope is I will be SO exhausted with baby that I won't care.  I do worry about Philipp, as they are not his parents...  although that might actually work to his advantage.

That thought brings me to Maja bee.  My parents are not pet people, and they definitely don't know what to do with doggies.  Last time they were in town, Pops just complained about Maja and didn't seem willing to learn to bond with her.  Kuddos to Mom for taking the time to try to understand and play with Maja when she was in town back in early January and I was all nausea and vomit.

And that leads me to concern about Maja's reaction to baby joining the pack.  Currently Maja spends pretty much all her time with either one of us: sleepy time, cuddle time, car ride time, potty time, play time, nap time, sleeve/pant leg tug time, meal time, etc etc etc.  An although we don't give her attention every waking moment, we do make sure to have quality time with her every day.  Once baby arrives, Maja bear won't be getting as much attention from us.  We certainly don't want her to feel left out.  We will need to figure out how to balance our time so everybody gets what they need.  This will likely be a work in progress when the time comes.  In the meantime, we are trying to let Maja grow up (as much as I want her to stay a puppy) and have her independence.  For starters, letting her out in the yard on her own, leash-less and unsupervised...  even in the rain these days.  Often she will come back in on her own, sometimes she is out here for over 30 minutes and I start to panic so I call her back in.  Also, we went to the movies and let her have free roam of the house while we were gone.  As we walked to the car, she watched us from the front door windows, probably wondering why we didn't take her with.  And as we drove away, she ran to the front of the house and watched us from the living room window.  Heart breaking.  She was perfectly fine when we got back a few hours later.  Ok, so who really needs to grow up and be independent?  =P

Update

At Huebo's request, belly pic!  Nevermind the disheveled and exhausted look.

Now, to fix your eyesight, here is a picture of Maja who got a trim and bath this past weekend.  What a cutie.  I have enrolled her in puppy classes, starting this weekend.  Mainly I want her to come to me when I call her (especially in case of emergency).  Other than that she's adooorable.

Last year I got allergies for the first time in my life, right after I moved to Petaluma.  Turns out Petaluma is a high allergy area because of all the grass and farms.  Itchy eyes, non-stop runny nose, random sneezing.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't hit me this year, I have been trying to remember to have a spoonful of local honey with tea every day.  The other night my eye was itchy, so I put in an eye drop.  And just like that, I sneezed and my nose was runny.  Lasted for a few minutes, my nasal passage cleared up after I laid down in bed.  And then the night after I got a sneeze attack in bed after my middle of the night pee break.  No other signs of allergies yet...  

Tonight we did the OB hospital tour.  They showed us where to check in, the cafeteria (very important), and the maternity ward.  We got to check out the birthing rooms and the recovery rooms.  Birthing rooms are all private, but the recovery rooms depends on how crowded maternity ward is (although they will do everything possible to give everybody a private room, they have 6 private rooms and 6 double rooms).  On several occasions I had to take deep breaths to control my emotions or I might have started crying with all the baby pictures all over the place.

Euro Trip

I survived the crazy Euro trip.  Still recovering from the stress, strain and jetlag that come with such a trip.

From the beginning I missed my puppy bear so much.  On the first flight SFO-NWR I watched "The Artist", in which one of the protagonist is a Jack Russell Terrier, Uggie.  He was sooo adorable in the movie that it caused the waterworks to start.  I wanted to watch Tin Tin too, but I knew it would make me cry so I didn't.  Births also make me cry, even in dumb movies like "New Year's Eve".

Turns out I didn't need to worry about Maja staying with the big dogs.  She had a grand time terrier-izing them.  And although they might not admit it, Charlie and Takoda love all the attention they get from Maja.

Back to the trip, flying was not so fun for me.  I would get nauseous during and after takeoff and landing.  A couple of times I thought I wouldn't be able to keep it down...  deep breathing and ginger ale helped a lot.  And then there was the flight when suddenly my nose started to bleed.  I had one napkin left, I quickly shoved it up my nose to stop the bleeding.  We were seated right next to the toilet so P was able to get my more tissue quickly.  Getting comfortable in the seat was a challenge too, even on the lay flat seats for the over the ocean leg of the trip.  The stretched out muscles at the top of my belly complain in most positions, sitting (especially slouching) or laying.  And my upper back is sore too.  After much pillow shuffling, I found the best position to be: plane pillow behind me to support my lower back, Toto folded in half to support my upper back, plus a curved neck pillow.  I wasn't able to sleep much on any of the flights, so the traveling was quite exhausting.  Most nights I would sleep for 3-4 hours and lay awake for the rest of the night/morning.  Only 2 nights I was able to sleep like a rock.

Our first stop was in Germany.  First we drove out to Kirchzarten to check out P's bro's new home.  As their guest room is not set up yet, we stayed at a cute little hotel in an old remodeled barn.  We were able to go to our favorite restaurant, Adler in Oberried...  and we had the yummiest creme brulee for dessert!  Next day we drove to Rottenburg for family lunch.  On the way we stopped in Wehingen, where P spent the first 5 years of his life.  Family lunch was at P's favorite restaurant in Rottenburg, which is also a hotel so we got a room there.  Lunch was with P's cousins from his Mom's side, and their kids, and grandkids.  We realized that the next generation of kids is all girls!  So we will have the first baby boy in the family!

Next stop was Zurich, where we had work meetings with 2 different customers.  In Zurich we got a little down time for shopping and were able to find an anti-stretch mark belly cream that is not icky.  This might be a waste of $, but at least the creams keep the itchiness in check, for the most part.  Stretch marks on my breast are now visible.  =(

During one of our speed reading sessions (P and I got the same book to determine who reads faster), I felt baby kicking especially hard.  I put my hand over my belly and I could feel it!  So I had P put his hand on my belly and wait for the next kick...  And WOW there it was.  P was surprised how well he could feel the kick and is now expecting a little football (soccer) player or martial artist.

And with life, comes death...

We had a traumatizing experience while walking down the Bahnhofsstrasse (after our obligatory visit to Sprungli).  Fire engines and ambulances rolled up one of the side streets.  Paramedics were sectioning off the street with yellow tape, people were standing around.  As everybody was speaking in German or Swiss, I had no clue what was happening.  Suddenly we heard a loud thud...  and gasps from the onlookers.  So I asked what happened???  And P said somebody jumped off a building.  OH.  That was bad.  As I dabbled in the realm of depression in my previous life, I will refrain from analyzing the situation as most of my readers would not understand...  and I don't see the point of spending the time to explain any further.

On to baby updates:

- Tomorrow is first day of week 22!

- Weight up to ~129#

- Belly circumference is 35", it often feels like it's going to explode...  maybe due to the next point

- Constipation still present, even with pills...  frustrating situation

- I've started a baby stuff basket with the cute gifts we've gotten 

- Started a list of what to get and prep before baby arrives (thanks Suli!)...  it is all quite overwhelming, so many options, so many reviews, agh!

- Started a baby registry on Amazon (at family and friend's requests), but it is still quite sparse as I wade through all the stuff needed and options available

- Signing up for birth classes and hospital tour and all that fun stuff

- Started prenatal yoga (got a DVD back in December)