Pregnancy Privileges

People have told me that when you are pregnant, others grant you privileges. You no longer need to wait inline at the restaurants. You get a seat when you board public transportations. You get to have right of the way and you are always first inline for anything. Somehow this has not proven to be true in my pregnancy experience. I continue to wait inline at restaurants, at bus stops and at taxi lines. One mother tried to run me over with her baby stroller (because I walked too slow) and instead ran over my mom's foot. She said she already said 'excuse me' so she was not at fault (and I had to yelled at her while my mom's god son threatened to run her over with his body after saying excuse me). One father almost ran me over with his Mercedes on the sidewalk (and Jaime had to kick his tire and the father even got out of the car wanting to instigate a fight while his wife and kid were watching). Today, I was asked by the security guard at this neighboring building of our office tower to wait in the slow taxi line just because I'm not their tenant. The person behind me was trying to defend me and told the security guard that it is crazy that I'm not already put to the beginning of the line given how pregnant I am. I yelled at the security guard and said that he was heartless to ask a pregnant woman who can be due any time now to stand behind 20 people after she has been waiting behind 10 people. I was so mad that I almost broke into tears. I left that taxi line and walked to the nearby hotel instead. In the process I twisted my already swollen ankle. Right now I'm sitting on the cab on my way home after waiting inline for 20 min at the hotel. I told myself not to get too angry but I just cannot believe how people in this town have really lost their sensitivity and compassion. It's very sad and I hope that Chamu will grow up to be any of these heartless people I have encountered during my pregnancy.

Chamu Dropping

In the past two days, I have started to feel tremendous amount of pressure from Chamu in my pelvic area. This is quite a strange feeling. I don't think (and I hope not) he is engaged yet because that means he is coming out soon. I need him to stay inside for 12 more days (until after May 8)... He has been moving a lot and the Braxton Hicks contractions are occuring more often. I think the water around him is getting thinner as Chamu grows bigger and I can feel him a lot more (elbows, knees, feet and his little butt). I am having a hard time distinguish whether it's pressure from Chamu dropping lower or presssure from contractions. It seems like my belly is just tight all the time and all around.
We made quite a progress over the weekend to get stuff ready for Chamu. Thanks to Christy, we don't need to worry about his bed for now (will use Nathan's little Moses basket and Baby Bjorn until we get our own). We bought a bathtub, a breast pump, and a bouncing chair. We do need to buy a car seat still so we can bring him home safely from the hospital. We also started making the traditional Cantonese ginger/vinegar dish today (after Jaime tested the clay pot for lead carefully). We need to get a nursing chair and a changing table though.
Mom is back from Taiwan and she has been feeding me the right food to get rid of my cough and my elephant feet (and they seem to work!).
The Brazilian orchid which Jaime bought for me more than 6 years ago (his first gift to me) started to bloom this week. It has not bloomed at all since we bought it and for a long time we thought we bought a Brazilian green onion plant by mistake. And now it has five flowers blossoming at the same time! Isn't it beautiful? Just in time to celebrate the arrival of Chamu (that is, Jaime and I's love has now 開花結果). :)

37 weeks and counting...

We went for another check-up today since we are now officially in the last month. Chamu is growing nicely (estimated at 3.4 to 3.8 kgs) and Mamu has managed to maintain the same weight (76.7 kgs) for the last few check ups now. No progress on cervix though (still measured at more than 3 cm long). No chance of Chamu coming early and we will keep monitor his progress next week when we come back to the doctor's.

It seems like we have at least two more weeks to go and in the next two weeks I have to finish all the work so I can go on leave with a peace of mind. This may be a tall task: need to update the company budget, close a deal, hold a board meeting and then host an earnings call. I recognize that I do need to delegate and have a Plan B but it is easier said than done. It freaks me out that I may not be able to execute Plan A but I guess part of parenthood is to learn to let go that control freak side of me... I still do wish that Chamu stays inside until after May 9... After all, 1 day in the womb is more than 10 days outside and we want him to be a big and healthy baby!

Bursting Belly

At 37 weeks, your belly is as big as it can get, pushing up to your rib cage on one side and pushing down to your pelvic bones on the other side. Even so, yesterday I felt Chamu has just gone through another round of growth spurt, pushing the stretchiness of my belly to its limit. Chamu was measured 3.3 kgs (or 7.3 lbs) last Thursday when we saw him on ultrasound. He looks pretty much like a full-term baby (with fat cheeks and fat limbs) and my belly looks like a full-term belly. It is hard to imagine that we both have another 4 weeks to go. I now have this constant sensation of my belly near the edge of bursting (like a water ballon near its maximum capacity). I cannot eat much without feeling the food coming out of my throat. I cannot turn in bed without feeling my bones cracking and hurting.
Chamu is running out of room in my belly so I am feeling him more often. Yesterday he was pretty naughty and kept exploring my belly with his feet, elbows and knees (even at 4am!) He has hiccups almost everyday and I go through phases of paranoia worrying to death about him not moving too much or him moving too much.
We still don't have a crib/bassinet so if he arrives early, he will need to sleep on the floor mat. I still have tons of work to do before going on maternity leave so I don't really want Chamu to come out earlier than May 15. On the other hand, my stretch marks are getting worse, belly is bursting and legs are swollen and I really cannot wait to get this over with (pretty soon I will not be able to support my body weight even with my enlarged legs).
P.S. there is not updated answer to the "C-section" question. We will continue to monitor Chamu's weight and see whether my body can really do the job of squeezing him out naturally.

Elephant Legs

There is a reason why elephant have such thick legs that look almost like tree trunks with no ankles. Starting at around 32 weeks, my feet and legs have grown bigger and for the last four weeks, you can barely tell my legs apart from that of elephants. And I only need to carry Chamu to 40 weeks. For elephants, they need to carry their babies for 80 weeks and that's why they need twice as many legs with 4x size of our legs.

It's called Edema, caused by excessive water retention. Yes, even though most pregnant women at this stage have at least one restroom break every hour, a lot of us still end up with too much water on our lower body. Best way to reduce amount of water retention is to facilitate lower-body blood circulation by lying down with your feet up. But really, when you are working full time, when can you afford the luxury to lie down? I am grateful already that I get to wear size 9 Birkenstock to work so I should be grateful that I don't need to squeeze my elephant feet into high heel pumps. Don't bother buying too many new shoes, I have already outgrown the ones I bought 6 weeks ago. Hopefully my size 9 Birkenstock can last for four more weeks.

New Hair New Challenge

The last time I cut my hair above my shoulder was more than 10 years ago. I had been looking for a job since September of my senior year in college. Four months later, I was still without an offer. I blamed it on my hair because it made me look too feminine and too young. In January, I cut my hair to shoulder length. A month later, I cut it to ear length. By march, I had two job offers after sending out more than 100 resumes and interviewed with more than 20 companies. Shortly after, I began my new job and new milestone in life with a new hair style.

For the last ten years, I have kept my hair long. I have always liked long hair, partly to compensate the fact that my grandma always cut my hair short to avoid any lice problems (growing up on the country side, we were subject to lice check every 3 months). I missed the days when I lived with my parents and had long hair. I had long hair the whole time after I moved to the US. I have since only cut my hair short 3 times: during my freshman year, my senior year and today.

I have been wanting to cut my hair for the last few weeks. Summer is coming and I don't want to worry about my hair during labor and confinement (I cannot wash my hair for 30 days during the confinement). I also feel that with this new chapter in my life, I needed to do something to signal the beginning. Jaime was reluctant at first but I guess he soon gave in after my persistence. So today we went to the hair stylist and cut my hair almost to ear length. I felt some much lighter afterwards (the only weight I get to shed right now). It may not make much sense to others but I'm one step closer to the next milestone in my life!

Family Time

Since we returned from the US, our favorite activity has been talking to Chamu before we go to sleep. After I shower every night, Dadu will set up the iPOD. We rarely play classical music but rather choose various songs in different language to play to Chamu. He particularly likes those songs with strong beats and he often moves along with the rhythm.

Dadu likes talking to him in Spanish while helping Mamu apply stretch mark cream. It's kind of strange but Chamu does respond to Dadu's voice (sometimes he wakes up from his nap because of hearing Dadu's voice). I don't talk to Chamu that much because I feel I already talk enough during the day and he should already be used to my voice. Right now, it is still all just one way communication since we cannot hear Chamu yet. Even so we enjoy our quality family time every night and really cannot wait until the day we have the actually baby next to us.

Changing Weather

Weather in Hong Kong recently is changing as fast as my hormone-driven temper. One minute it's sunny and clear and the next day it's cloudy and windy.
Last week we had a very humid and hot-summer like weekend so we decided to put away our comforter (thinking that summer is already here) but we woke up the next morning shivering in thin sheets.
Unfortunately I caught a cold because of the hastened decision. I have been coughing nonstop since. It's quite a terrible feeling when you are sick with no access to medicine and are trying to fight it off with your own very weak immune system. On top of the pains caused by the oversized belly, now each cough adds to pinching pain to each inch of my bones (ok maybe a bit exaggerating but you know what I mean). The more I cough, the more I worry about getting infection or pneumonia. And I can't imagine what kind of shock it must be for Chamu to hear each cough coming deep down from my lungs.
Today the weather is cold again (after 3 very beautiful sunny days) but I am sweating like a pig(actually I now bear great resemblance to a pig anyways so the description is literal and no longer metaphoric) ...
I should really stop complaining and rambling on and on because I think the more I complain the more tests I will be placed to face... I should just suck it up and accept this is natural. At least after this week I do not need to travel to Shenzhen anymore...

To "C" or not to "C"?

Two "C" questions we need to figure out. First, whether or not to "C"ircumcise Chamu, both Jaime and I are for circumcision so Chamu can be free of potential infections and also enjoy enhanced aesthetic value (we are thinking ahead too much maybe). I think we have decided favorably with this "C" decision and the doctor seems to think it is a very easy procedure. It's best to get it done within the first week after birth, after which we heard that general anesthesia may be required...

Second "C" decision is whether to have a "C"-section delivery. Since the beginning, I have thought about having natural delivery. Not that I'm brave but more because I am a big chicken. I have never had stitches before and I just couldn't imagine having to stitch up my belly being a good thing. But the bigger Chamu gets, the more I worry. Because the likelihood of having a complicated natural delivery is higher and I may end up with emergency C-section anyways. The doctor seems to suggest that it may be the better way to delivery a near 9-pounder but she also says we can still wait and see. I guess we still have 4 to 5 weeks to monitor Chamu before the second "C" decision to be made...

Supersized Chamu

Chamu has always been big. Even the first time we took him to ultrasound at 7 weeks, he was already one week bigger than he should've been and that's why we thought we miscalculated the conception date. But anyways, even with the revised conception date, he continues to outperform his peers.
Currently he should be 33 weeks and 5 days. On the ultrasound we saw at the doctor's office, he is already full-term size, weighing at 3 kgs. His head is huge, limbs are long and belly is big. Well when I nicknamed him Chamu ("Shamu" being the origin), I certainly did not expect that he will really turn out to be a whalesize baby. When babies are born bigger, there are less chances of complications so I think it's good that Chamu is getting big. When the doctor does the cervical scan, she sees no sign of Chamu arriving early so it means he is going to stay comfortably inside my womb for a while. Perhaps he will be a 9-pounder when he is born...