Chamu @ 38 Weeks

Today we had another check up for Chamu. I am exactly 37 weeks and 6 days. Chamu gained another pound and is now estimated to be around 8 to 9 lbs (Doctor thinks he is more likely to be 8 lbs than 9 lbs). At any measure, he is a big baby. Cervix is still at 3.1 cm so no chance of him coming early. My doctor is actually going away from May 6 to 12 so I guess the earliest Chamu can be scheduled for delivery will be after May 12. Still somewhat debating on the topic of C-section but with such a big baby I guess the decision is quite clear.

It's getting very difficult for me to move around. I can't sleep on the bed anymore. For the last two nights, I had to sleep on the couch because it is softer than the mattress. Even so I can only sleep sitting half way up. I'm approaching 80 kgs (I don't even want to convert it to pounds because it's disgusting). My stretch marks are slowly crawling above my belly button. It is hard to imagine that I will have at least another 10 days to go but if Chamu wants to stay inside and grow to be a 10 pounder then we will just need to wait patiently for our plumpy fat baby... We are still missing a changing table, a car seat and the nursing chair but have made some good progress in finalizing the list (especially now we have 10 more days...).

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!