Glucose Test

The dreaded glucose test is here again - Friday AM to be exact. I haven't taken a glucose test since 5 months ago, upon which I failed it. My glucose level back in my 4th week of pregnancy was 211, and that was fasting. I know, very high and very shameful. Glucose levels should be under 90-120 fasting. Unfortunately, diabetes and gestational diabetes runs in my mom's side of the family. Of course I cannot fully blame my genes, my high-sweets diet didn't help anything. Candy, desserts, pastries, ice cream, gelato - we're a huge part of my diet before knowing that I got knocked up. I've since had a medical nutritionist help me with a low-sugar /low-carb diet. Sucks right? There's nothing worse than a pregnant momma on a diet. Anyway, I'm okay with it now (i cried and whined when i found out i had to go on a diet). I actually feel pretty damn healthy for the first time since high school. No alcohol and a low sugar/ low-carb diet will do it.

Normally a pregnant lady doesn't take a glucose test until 6 months or 24 weeks. Well, I'm 24 weeks pregnant and I have to take the damn test again.... sheeeit. Am I scared that I will fail it? YES. For the first 4 months of my pregnancy I was pretty good at following the diet. From finger pricks, my glucose levels post prandial were 92 and 99 during my 2nd and 3rd month of pregnancy.

However, I think there's a big chance that I'll fail it again b/c if you recall my posts from around my bday Aug1 and Aug2 - all I talked about was birthday cakes, pies, cupcakes, etc... Well, needless to say, for the whole month of August my low-sugar, low-carb diet was followed rather loosely. Hey! It was my bday month, we had a ton of house guests, we went up to the bay area, and it was the summer! And recently, I regressed back to eating candy and chocolate truffles to get me through countless all-nighters for my thesis. I know, it's no excuse.

If I fail it again, then I have to take the just-shoot-me-now 3-hr glucose test, which entails fasting the night before (which im ok with), and drinking an overly sugary and nasty glucose drink, and having blood drawn after the first 30 minutes, then after 1st hour, 2nd hour, and 3rd hour. I'd have to stay in the lab the whole time too, can't even go outside. Oh my God, I'm scared.

24 week update - Momma Piggie Pregnancy Stats:

• how momma is feeling: Pretty good! a lil tired from thesis process but in general - energetic=D
• diet: lately, I snuck in a mooncake to celebrate "Chinese Moon Festival" haha, but other than that still trying to stay healthy with consuming tonz of soymilk,plenty of protein like eggs, ribs, protein bars, almonds, and fruits&veggies

• btw, we had Morton's for the first time last Friday after I submitted my thesis and after Chuperman took a shelf exam for IM and psychiatry. I was SUPER exhausted and almost didn't want to go but of course I'm glad i made it out. Morton's was pretty good actually! The atmosphere was more laid-back than I thought and the food was good. Our waiter is Hawaiian and was super nice to us. I think I still like Fleming's better but Morton's ain't bad. The jumbo shrimps were amazing! Thanks Karen for recommending.
  
• weight gained: 11 lbs (again, if i didn't have GDM, i prob would have gained 30lbs -easily)
• exercise: pre-natal yoga, swimming, hiking, shopping

chuperman's early bday celebration dinner/tiramesu completion of thesis dinner at Morton's

Morton's key lime pie and dark choc raspberry souffle cake with some awesome vanilla bean ice cream


reading my thesis thinking "i can't believe i'm done"

24 week update - Baby Piggie Stats:

• movement: kicking, punching, elbowing, head-butting, more and more each day
• gender: Boy
  
• the more i talk to friends and read pregnancy literature, it's actually quite common to get an inaccurate u/s reading (especially <20wks)>
• my color is YELLOW for now until mommie and daddie find out FOR surez that I'm a boy on the day i'm delivered
  

• weight: almost 2 lbs
• length: almost 14 inches

I'm done!

I now have a Masters of Science degree. Unbelievable. If we were to back-track to the year 2000, when I just started working in finance - having just graduated from undergrad with a non-science degree, and if you were a crystal ball telling me that I'd go back to school for graduate studies - I would have been like... bullsh*t. I had ZERO interest in going back to school. But if you also told me I was going back for Environmental Health Science - I would have been like, what's that?

I never thought I would finish my master's thesis dissertation. Actually, at one point or another - everyone around me didn't think I would finish either, including Chuperman, my own brother, and my friends. No hard feelings. None taken. haha. I'll spare ya the gruesome details, but it really felt like all odds were against me in finishing my thesis. Especially during the last month of merry-go-around revisions between my 3 advisors, many sleep-less nights, and having to defend my thesis in an oral presentaton. Well, I proved everyone wrong including myself. I'm not going to lie, it's a big relief to be done. But, I think I'm still traumatized from the whole experience. Friday night I got a full nights sleep for the first time in a looong time. I thought I was going to finally get some peaceful sleep, but instead I had nightmares that I was still revising various graphs - tweaking the standard error bars, and jamming away at 5am to meet the deadline.

I hold a newfound respect for those who endure the thesis process where you conduct a scientific study from start to finish. It's much harder than taking classes, writing a literature review, or working in groups on case-studies. Now I have to work on getting this study published.

But first, I'm going to take the next week to catch-up on sleep and return back to laid-back tiramesu=D .... not to mention that I'm 6 months pregnant - even more reason to take it easy. Chuperman can agree that having care-free tiramesu back would be a good thing for all of us. :P There were a few tense moments last week, especially during the few hours right before my oral defense. Needless to say, emotions were running high.

Anyway, looking forward... onto prepping for mommy-hood...

Outlook for the week: finally begin shopping around for baby crib, stroller, etc, shopping for myself..hee, mini-facial at Fresh, foot massage, eating at my fave restaurants, going to work, hiking at Crystal Cove, begin working on publishing study, chuperman's bday on Friday=D

Graduation: At this point in time, I've decided not to walk in June 2008. Walking 10 months later is kind of weak. Talk about delayed reaction right? So forget it - not walking. I'll wear a cap and gown and pose for pictures at my baby shower. =P

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Last stretch

Almost there... just 2 more days until my defense and 3 more days until I'm DONE with academia. I've spent the whole night working way my through some revisions from, you guessed it, Mr.Asshole #2 Advisor whom finally gave me back my thesis with his edits a whole week later. It probably only took him one day to look at it too. I still have to revamp my discussion section, abstract, and work on another graph. Not to mention, throw together a thesis presentation. By the end of this week, my thesis will be freakin' bulletproof.

Maybe I won't be completely done with academia after I turn the beast in - I'm looking forward to some leisurely learning like picking up Spanish again (for realz this time - naturally in h.s. I didn't pay attention) and improving my Mandarin. Even taking a few art history classes or something fun. I still need to think about what other subjects interest me without killing myself. However, I do know that I'm finished with higher education after this. FOREVER. PERIOD. Seriously, I can't take it anymore. For you over-achieving doctors and PhD's PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK. I'm just not built like that. AND I will not force my child into graduate school unless it is his or her desire.

New 80-gig hard-drive baby: The good news is that my new hard-drive came in yesterday and now I can work on my own laptop again! Thanks Chuperman for setting this up - you're my hero=D I know you probably can't wait until Friday either!

Carrot in front of the horse: After I turn in my thesis on Friday, I'm going to go on an eating spree. I'm looking forward to Morton's and Mastro's. I've never been to either. I know - 2 steakhouses in one week - but hey, life is short, my coupons will expire very soon, and my fave get-out-jail card saying "I'm feeding for 2" is very fitting in this instance. I'm also looking forward to more Vie de France, Lawry's Carvery, and Earthen:P

Speaking of spree's: I went on a few shopping spree's last week to decompress. I needed some serious retail therapy. I was looking at my on-line cc statement today and saw this mysterious transaction: "Hennes & Mauritz - NEW YORK" and thought to myself "Oh my God, I haven't been to NY since last fall! This is another encounter with fraud!" (the 1st one was in Costa Rica). But, silly me, Hennes and Mauritz stands for H&M clothing with hq in NY. heee. The H&M at South Coast is kind of small - I think I like the one at Spectrum better.

Pinkberry newsflash: Most locals know that Pinkberry is coming to The District, but did you know Pinkberry is coming to Fashion Island as well!! YAYY!!!! I must say, I live too close to Fashion Island, South Coast, Pacific Whey, Zov's, etc..and my office is right next to the District.... it's SOO hard to stay discliplined.

Diversions

I am still waiting for my #2 Jack-ass of an advisor to give me feedback on my thesis. In the meantime, I've been trying to recover from the grueling process of getting my thesis approved. I've managed to sleep more, got an emergency maternity massage at Spa Gregorie's b/c my back and my neck were absolutely killing me - especially from all the heart-attack worthy news from early this week (i.e. instructed to make thesis defense last minute, graduating 10 days later than i thought, the baby is now a boy instead of a girl, death of my laptop hard-drive).

Yesterday I took a moment for myself to regroup and discovered a few new things:

My new fave breakfast item is a breakfast croissant from Vie de France. I normally get turkey&swiss croissant or ham&swiss croissant but noticed they had a new croissant in town - the new egg, sausage, and cheddar croissant. I had it this AM and OMG - it was sooo good. It can't be that bad for ya right? I mean, as a momma-to-be eating for 2, all i see is triple protein (not butter butter butter).

Also, I was informed that at in South Coast, they're having a Sweet 16 celebration to celebrate their 16th year in business. Meaning, COMPLIMENTARY strawberries and champagnes, AND complimentary mini-facials every Thursday this month from 6-8pm. I might go next week if my thesis is finally done, or for sure the following week!

"Dumping physical memory"

On top of difficulties getting my thesis approved (mainly by Mr.Jerk #2 advisor) and hence turning the beast in later than I thought and prolonging the pain, AND finding out that we're having a BOY now instead of a GIRL - my laptop died last night. It started off with the laptop making a funny race car noise, then all the applications started slowing down, i quickly transferred everything to my flash-drive like my THESIS, etc. Luckily, I pretty much had allof my thesis doc's on email and the flash-drive anyway. So no data was lossed due to hard drive failure. It was sad when the screen said something like "dumping physical memory".

Even though it's already been a bumpy week so far and it's only Wednesday, I know that things could definitely be worse. After my thesis is defended, approved, and turned in Chuperman and I are goign to San Diego for a weekend on a much-needed get-away.

I GOT CARDED! A few weeks ago I was at Trader Joe's and I bought like 2 bottles of wine and 2 bottles of Belgium beer for a dinner party. When checking-out, I was wondering if the cashier would notice my pregnant bump and automatically think I'm over 21. Well, he carded me! =D I was ecstatic. I didn't care if he didn't notice my pregnant bump or if he just thought I was chubby and looked young:)

Comments on how I look: As superficial as this may sounds, being a pregnant lady, we still need to hear positive words of reinforcement on how we look. Since after all, the media and society puts an overwhelming importance on physical image and especially the need for women to look thin and beautiful. Well, it's kind of hard to look thin when you have a baby growing inside you! Anyway, most of my friends and family and even complete strangers have been very encouraging and positive saying stuff like "you look great", "you have a glow", "you look tiny for being 22 wks pregnant", "you've gotten prettier so it prob means you're having a girl" haha. Thank you to those who have been so supportive of my growing waistline. A lil bit of sensitivity goes a long way.

Fetal Gender

Two days ago at a bday party, we heard of someone getting U/S from 3 different OB's ALL saying that she was having a GIRL. But on the day of delivery - VOILA - BOY. The general gyst of that experience is DON'T CUT THE TAGS. Hearing this story made me queasy and was like an omen for us...

SURPRISE: I moved my OB appt from Thursday to today so that Chuperman could come with me. The OB was kind enough to give me another impromptu U/S. I wanted to double-check the gender of the baby b/c back in week 17, the OB said I was having a GIRL. Well guess what? We're having a BOY now! Unbelievable right?! We got our warning 2 days ago that U/S can indeed by wrong. I'm 22 weeks pregnant now and the chances that the U/S is correct is now 95% accurate (once past the 20 wk point) so now we're having a baby boy! haha. Good thing I haven't had the time to buy a single thing for the baby. We didn't have any tags to cut anyway. I wouldn't buy baby clothes this early - I'm smart enough to know that U/S can be unreliable. The way the fetus moves so rapidly in the amniotic fluid and the precision of the imaging makes it hard to read U/S scans. We are thinking of doing a 4-D U/S. Any rec's?

Thesis update: As predicted, Ms. Lenient #3 Advisor promptly returned my thesis with minor comments to me this afternoon. Now still waiting on Mr.Difficult #2 Advisor.

Crystal Cove: To decompress from all the stress from my thesis, I took a 40 min hike on the beach. It was much needed and I felt so much better afterwards, only to be stressed out again 2 hours later with the news of the updated gender of my baby!

Even though I've been super stressed out with my thesis and now in shock that we're having a boy instead of having a girl, I still very thankful and blessed. A boy will be just as amazing! Regardless of the gender, we would be so blessed with a happy and healthy baby. Thank you God for providing us with this growing miracle.

Correction: 11 more days...

... so originally, my deadline to submit my masters thesis was September 12 - in just TWO days. In my mind, I thought I'd be free and clear in just 2 sweet days. I really thought the end was near. I couldn't be more wrong. Even though the chair of my committee has reviewed, given me feedback (then I made the necessary changes), and has APPROVED the beast - 2 of my other advisors still need to review and approve the manuscript of which one of them happens to be picky as hell. The 3rd advisor is really laid-back and shouldn't give me too many problems.

Thesis Defense: AND on top of that, the chair of my committee JUST informed me 2 days before I thought I could submit it, that I have to have a spontaneous thesis defense with all 3 of my advisors present. What the heck! I have to make a freakin PowerPoint presentation now and then get grilled to death. Fabulous. All of the other masters students didn't have a defense nor did they to make a presentation - why pick on the pregnant lady? The pregnant card does not work in this instance. And because the mean # 2 advisor needs more time to critique the heck out of my thesis, I'm going to have to turn in the beast next week instead of in just 2 days - thus, prolonging the P-A-I-N. And by pain, I'm talking about pulling all-nighters, no shopping, being mal-nourished, no leisurely reading, no free time... but mostly the no-sleep part sucks. Anyway, such is life. Bring it on Mr. Asshole #2 advisor. Ms. Lenient #3 advisor can review it in lickity-split ONE day - Mr.Asshole #2 advisor -why do you have to make life so difficult.

I'm going to have another OB check-up on Thursday. I expect greatly elevated blood pressure readings from my normal 110/70 caused from my thesis.

Congrats to Roger! only 2 more to beat Pete Sampras' record:

Btw, while finalizing the revisions of my thesis - the tube was turned on in the background to US Open men's final yesterday. CONGRATS to FEDERER on his 12th grand slam title. Great match yesterday. Federer is simply amazing. I predict that Djokovic will be the next #1 ranked tennis player in the world in about 2 years. Currently ranked at #3, Djokovic is only 20 yrs old and has room for improvement. I hated him at first b/c he was just so cocky and inmature during the Australian Open early this year, but has matured rather quickly since then into a charismatic joker. He still has a temper tho which is entertaining to watch. I think he might be more popular than the #1 Federer now. I also predict that Federer will indeed surpass Pete Sampras' 14 grand slam titles. I think Federer will eventually hold 16-18 grand slam titles under his belt.

5 more days...

...until I'm done with me master's thesis. The manuscript is to be turned into Library Archives by Wednesday. Today I had one of my other advisors briefly review my thesis - mainly of the figures and tables. Sigh... let's just say that I was very naive in thinking that I'd have a relaxing weekend comprised of prenatal yoga, naps, shopping, and watching the finals of the U.S. Open. I now have to delete half of the figures and graphs, and completely compute and produce new ones AND re-do half of the results, discussions, and abstract too. #$%!!. Now my weekend is completely GONE.

At least my secondary advisor has made some really awesome suggestions that my primary advisor was too lazy to step up to. My secondary advisor gently said that my primary advisor "is a busy guy" meaning that: his review of my thesis was rather cursory. Hopefully after I turn in this manuscript next week, ideally, the next step would be to publish this bad boy. Let's not get my hopes up, I have other priorities like preparing my life for a baby and catching up on 4 years worth of scrapbooking. Chuperman and I are great at taking a ton of pictures but really horrible at producing physical photo albums. I have much to do! Have a great weekend all!

Movie:"Lust, Caution"

Ang Lee's latest movie: Lust, Caution. (Click below for trailer)



Theatrical Release Date: Sep 28, 2007 (Limited)

Cast & Crew:
Tony Leung, Tang Wei, Joan Chen, Wang Lee-Hom, directed by Ang Lee

Synopsis:
The new film from Ang Lee, the Academy Award-winning director of "Brokeback Mountain" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." A startling erotic espionage thriller about the fate of an ordinary woman's heart, it is based on the short story by revered Chinese author Eileen Chang, and stars Asian cinema icon Tony Leung opposite screen newcomer Tang Wei.


Anyone have a copy of this movie yet? If you do, I can swap The Simpson's movie on DVD with ya haha.

U.S. Open

I've been watching the U.S. Open a lot lately and stumbled upon this gorgeous bombshell from Serbia - Ana Ivanovic. She's been compared to looking like Rita Hayworth and happens to be ranked #5 in the world! Too bad she got eliminated last week. It's hard to tell - she's 6 feet tall!

Roger Federer, MR. 007 of Pro Tennis and ranked #1 in the world, by FAR - he's a legend. Roger is not the best-looking guy (looks kinda like quentin tarantino w/ the big schnazz and funny chin) but what a tennis stud. I am SO JEALOUS THAT MY BRO GOT TO SEE ROGER PLAY AT THE OPEN IN NY last week. It's one of my dreams to watch Roger Federer play live. He looks a like a frickin ninja here in Monday night's win over the Argentinian - Feliciano Lopez.Federer looks even sleeker in his black on black ensemble. Tonight he plays the All-American and over-hyped Andy Roddick in the semi's. I know, I'm a traitor, but Andy Roddick bugs the heck outta me. He's not that good-looking, his tennis is very one dimensional, and he's really cocky. I like Mr.Harvard-man James Blake much better. I predict Federer kicks his ass in 3 easy sets.

Waiting Game:
I turned in my thesis to the chair of my thesis committee last Friday. Thank God! However, my advisor is STILL reviewing it. I know I can be impatient but my approved thesis is to be turned in next Wednesday, and I still have to get my draft back from my chair, make the necessary changes (hopefully not too many!), and STILL have two of my other advisors review and approve the beast. In the meantime, I've been busying myself with plenty to do. Over the long weekend I cooked for a dinner party, ran errands, got a pre-natal PT massage, went to church, braved the crowds at South Coast, had more friends over, went to a few family functions, watched the U.S. Open, and tried to rest in between all of that.

Pre-natal Yoga:
Yesterday I took a pre-natal yoga class at Yoga Shakti and I loved it. It wasn't too hard, but today I'm a lil sore so I guess it was challenging enough. We're mostly on our feet and sitting-up the whole time. The yoga class I took in the Bay Area was much more challenging, probably because it wasn't geared for pregnant ladies haha. During the last 10 mins of the 90 min class, the yoga instructor pretty much told us to take nap on our sides and put pillows b/w our legs, under the arms and head... it was very relaxing. After yoga, I decided to take a dip in the pool. I swam a full ONE lap (2 lengths of the pool) haha. Today I feel really tired, relaxed, and am checking my email every 5 mins pining for a response from my advisor.

Retail Upgrades:
The new Whole Foods in the District in Tustin is INSANE. It's the biggest most expensive grocery story I've come across (makes Bristol Farms look CHEAP). The Tustin Whole Foods is equipped with the snootiest foodie bars: a Brazilian churrascaria, taqueria, panini bar, WINE AND TAPAS bar, truffles bar, seafood bar, SMOKED MEATS bar, coffee and tea bar, sushi bar, and buffets of hot food. I decided to try a samosa but was disappointed b/c it tasted too "healthy" for me. The samosa cost $2.75 and was underseasoned. I'm still loyal to my fave Wholesome Choice which offers samosa's (granted smaller than Whole Foods) at only 75cents plus it's perfectly seasoned and come with TWO dipping sauces. I also bought some Tunisian olives from the olive bar and crostini from Whole Foods - they were both excellent. Try not to go during peak hours - you'll get run-over!

Diamond Plaza is coming to Irvine on Jamboree and Alton!! INCLUDING THE FAMOUS DING-TAI FUNG DUMPLING HOUSE . I pass by this plaza everyday but judging by the progress of construction - the new Chinese shopping ctr won't be ready until probably at least the 2nd/3rd qtr of 2008.