Welcome Baby Jacob!!!

My sweet boy Jacob:

(click below pic for more pix)



(pic: "a lil out of it" 2nd hr after he came out - nurse burping him)

Birth Date: 10:42am, January 2, 2008
Weight: 7 lbs 2.5oz
Length: 20 inches

9:15pm New Year's Day: water broke!!!
Is it possible that my water broke without having any contractions?? I had no warning signs - my tummy hadn't even dropped yet!
Then, mad dash to the hospital. Good thing we packed our bags.
I didn't know that once my water broke without first having contractings that I only had 24 hrs to deliver the baby.
11:30pm-midnight-ish: I had to be INDUCED. Didn't know that those who get induced normally get an epidural immediately. I was ZERO cm dilated so they had me hooked up to very strong doses of Ptocin (oxytocin) - to encourage contractions and increase dilation. The nurse warned me that b/c my water broke first before having any contractions that the petosin would encourage very painful contractions, more painful than usual. She estimated that I'd have the baby out in the afternoon. Right off the bat, since I was induced and still closed up, I had violent contractions of 2-3 minutes apart. There was nothing gradual about my contractions (like there usually is). Klutching and clawing the rail of the hospital bed, cursing under my breath, trying to breath through each painful contraction, wincing in pain, and then finally crying for help - I endured these nasty contractions for 5 hours straight until i could no longer take the pain. I really really did not want to get an epidural but it was just too hard, especially being induced. I was disappointed that I had to get an epidural b/c I knew my lower back would not like it. But I really had no choice, I had to push my pride aside - the pain was beyond anything I could imagine, especially with all that damn ptocin.
4:30am: 4cm dilated
5am-ish: Epidural administered...sigh.
6-9am: chuperman and i actually got some shut eye through the contractions and while i was getting more and more dilated.
9:15am: my OB checked for dilation - 8-9cms dilated. "-1". He estimated that I'd have the baby out by noon.
10am: moved from labor room to delivery room
10:20am-ish: I felt major pressure and started to push.
Pushed like 15x's or so....
10:42am: Welcome Baby Jacob! I'm a big sap and cried as he came out. I was super happy to meet my baby son=D Thank the Lord for this big blessing. What a milestone. Chuperman and I are super happy, tired, exhausted and getting used to the mommy and daddy thing. A steep learning curve is an understatement.

..............to be continued... my baby is getting hungry!

Frickin' Dietitian & I'm an airport shuttle

Lucky me met with my dietitian this afternoon. The last time I saw her was 6 weeks ago, after my OB saw my off-the-charts glucose levels. Since then, I've had to frickin' monitor my glucose level by pricking my poor fingers 4X's a day, log the frickin' blood sugar level, and write descriptions of my daily food intake. Let's start with the good news. Since 6 weeks ago, I gained 5.5 lbs which my dietitian thought was actually below normal. It is recommended that pregnant ladies gain 1 - 1.5lbs a week in the 3rd trimester. Since I have an end goal of not exceeding 30lbs of cumulative weight gained during 40 wks pregnancy, I really have been trying to portion control everything I eat. So, kudos to me for being disciplined in that sense. Keep in mind that the 3rd trimester is super notorious for the most weight gain for momma and baby. It's easy to just let lose at the end.

However, despite the good progress I'm making with my gradual and modest weight gain, the dietitian says my snacks need improving. In life, everything can be tweaked and improved upon no matter how great I think I am. I'm supposed to have 3 snacks a day - mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and evening snack. Instead of just eating fruit by itself, I need to couple it with a protein to reduce the glucose spike. She also says that I need to drink more milk at night after seeing that I snack on fruit only.

Another cruel reminder is that as I get more pregnant, the less my body is able to manage glucose = meaning, absolutely NO SWEETS for the remainder of the pregnancy. NO Christmas cookies =( NO Christmas goodies =( NO Christmas anything =( Christmas used to be my favorite holiday but this year it ain't! By now, I usually would have single-handedly decorated the house with Xmas lights, wreaths, and assembled a full-on Xmas tree (i'd have to beg Chuperman to help haha). But I'm too tired to do any of that stuff and really I should prioritize on the "baby nesting" stuff! The bottom line is: not only can I not enjoy decorating the house, I can't enjoy eating anything! Being a big fat foodie - this is really hard on me. Who knew that being pregnant meant going on a diet! Isn't that like counterintuitive!?

All I wanna do is share the holiday joy of home-made baked Christmas cookies and send em off to my cousins in various parts of the country.. haha. Instead of one of my fave past-times :baking, I'm reduced to ordering my fave brownies from Chelsea Market of Manhattan to send to my dear relatives.

Back to the dietitian... so I asked the dietitian a very simple and direct question: how much weight should I gain? She couldn't tell me a straight-up number, she just answered my question with a question "What does your OB say?"... my response, "i ask him every time I see him and he says I'm fine, but i still don't have a concrete #"... blank stare... what good is a dietitian anyway! No one can tell me how much weight I should gain, so I came-up with 30lbs by myself based on my own research and data. Such an arbitrary number, does it really matter?!

Although I still sound sick, with a lingering cough and a bit of congestion -I am feeling a lil better these days. =D

I have "LAX shuttle service" stamped across my fore-head:
Tonight was my 4th time driving to LAX in the last 4 weeks. Had to drop off my aunt. Yup, 8 months pregnant and still sturdy as a rock (or just plain brash).. haha... did I also mention that I drove to Vegas a month ago without making a single bathroom stop? I really need to slow the heck down - I'm not winning any gold medals for being a tough cookie.

Anyway, I am so thankful that it's gonna rain tomorrow! I hope it pours and pours and pours!

33wks going on 34 wks

To answer C-note's question, I decided to just make a post about it since I haven't really gone into specific regarding my pregnancy progress lately...

On Monday, I met with my OB and we got another U/S. He says he's "100-200% sure that the baby is a boy". We saw "the sac" haha. The baby boy was super active during the u/s - kicking and punching like crazy. It was hard to measure him. However, the OB measured my belly and it's at 32cm, which is on track. At 33 wks pregnant, measuring 32 cm is normal he says. If I were at 34-35cm he'd be worried, especially since i have GDM.

Key differences between 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimester for tiramesu82, a recapo:

1st trimester - is there really life growing in my belly? - mild morning sickness:

• weight loss: only by a few lbs since I was trying to eat healthy - had to cut out a lot of desserts, candy, pastries... you get the pic
• low energy, feeling fatigued: on top of normal preg fatigue I also had life stuff to deal with: moving households, international travel, work, grad school (thesis)
• nausea: week 5-10, thankfully this wasn't too bad... never threw-up, just felt sea-sick
• issues with sleep: interrupted sleep for bathroom breaks
• food cravings/aversions: HATED chicken, craved japanese food, craved in-n-out, arby's, etc., couldn't watch Foodnetwork - made me nauseous
  
• exercise: walking
  

2nd trimester - honeymoon period - feeling like myself again!:

• very energetic: pulled at least 5 all-nighters to finish my thesis , would always be running errands, cooking, baking, working, shopping, exercising
• Got to travel and still have a good time - wasn't too tired
  
• belly getting noticeably bigger now but still not big enough to slow me down
• issues with sleep: still wake up multiple times throughout the night
• I had my baby shower at the end of the 2nd trimester which was good planning since immediately after the baby shower I hit a wall, hence, welcoming the 3rd trimester
• (I really recommend having a baby shower BEFORE the 3rd trimester since the 3rd trimester is pretty rough)
• food cravings: still had aversion to chicken, was able to watch FoodNetwork again:)
  
• exercise: walking, prenatal yoga, swimming
• injury: at end of 2nd trimester I pulled a lower back muscle and couldn't walk for 5 days due to too much activity - my body was telling me to slow the heck down!
  

3rd trimester - oh boy! getting frickin' HUGE and feeling exhausted:

• sinking energy level: my brain/mind wants to do so much still but my body thinks otherwise! last week i did a lot of cooking and baking - but my body is paying for it now
• got to travel again but this time i came back completely exhausted. Chuperman and I went to Vegas for a weekend getaway to see the Beatle's Love show and Spamalot:) Great shows but super exhausting trip!
• belly growing at an exponential rate: 3rd trim is notorious for the biggest weight gain for both fetus and mom, harder to move around, waddling big time
  
• exercise: walks - i've been more careful with not walking too fast - i don't want to pull a muscle again! preg momma's are more susceptible to muscle strain/sciatica
  
• sleep deprivation: been getting the worst sleep - this is the worst out of the 3 trimesters for me, esp that im sick this week... sleep is pretty non-existent at night.. i try to take cat naps to make up for it but still feel exhausted. also, the baby is super active and makes restful slumber that much harder
• public reaction: in general, very positive - now that i'm unmistakably pregnant - i find that ppl are nicer to me - opening doors, greeting me with more zeal, helping me hold/load stuff, compliments, looking (or staring) at me with awe and intrigue (prob from sheer size of my belly), im getting more free food, free iced tea, free stuff, ppl are getting out of my way if they see me coming haha
  

"Nesting Stage"

A friend told me that the "nesting stage" occurs at the end of the 2nd trim or beginning of 3rd trimester -- this is when the preg momma feels the need to get EVERYTHING ready for the arrival of the baby. Well, this hasn't happened to me yet haha but I figured that I should schedule it in since I never got that "need" to get everything ready in a jiffy yet. So the scheduled nesting stage was supposed to occur this week for me, but since I have a damn cold, it'll be pushed off by another week or so, until i get better. I think it's okay, b/c my belly hasn't dropped yet. When the baby drops, then I'm gonna go into turbo mode for sure.
After the shower, i hit a wall, and was super exhausted and couldn't get myself to do anything, let alone organize baby stuff. I still need to make a spreadsheet of all the baby stuff inventory we have. Then I have to return/exchange/purchase stuff at Baby's R Us and Target. We still have to get a stroller! And waiting for infant carrier...
Crib and pack'n'play stills needs assembly....

According to pregnancy books, the fetus at about 33/34 wks is approximately 4-4.5 lbs - and for the remainder of the term will gain 1/2lb each week!

Birthing Plan:

no epidural.
I know, I'm in the clear minority and ppl think I'm nutz. since studies regarding the drug toxicity and adverse health effects on the fetus, newborn, and mom from an epidural administered during delivery are inconclusive, and I feel that since our bodies are made to deliver NATURALLY - that getting an epidural is not for me. Since I have back issues, an epidural may actually exacerbate my problematic back in the long-term.

We're down to the last stretch - holy sheeeeit!! Just 6-7 more weeks!!!

Happy 30th Wedding Anniversary!..and Yo Yo Ma concert pix....

Happy 30th Wedding Anniversary to my mom and dad!

If you do some quick calculations - you'd figure out that I'm a honeymoon baby :) :P Through thick and thin, love and hate, bullying in-laws and relatives, temper tantrums, low emotional quotient, stubbornness, nagging, sadness, and joy - they're still working on their marriage, but they love each other, and wouldn't ya know - they're still married! It's hasn't been a walk in the park - but major props to em for stickin' it through!

Yo-Yo Ma Cello Concert

This is a lil delayed - Chuperman and I saw Yo-Yo Ma perform at Segerstrom Music Hall on November 18 (last Sunday). His performance was flawless. Almost makes me wanna cut my nails and practice my violin (needs major restringing tho).

33 weeks pregnant

By the way, I still don't have my voice back... can't wait for the weekend!!! Happy hump day!

obnoxious

a few things are pretty obnoxious to me this week...

First off, I thought by getting gas on Monday morning, after a long holiday weekend, that gas would be cheaper. Well, even at Costco, the total to fill up my tank was a brutal $81.65. I know some of you are thinking... duh, what do you expect you frickin' snob? I got my car 6 years ago, this is before I started my program in environmental health science haha.. wow.. has it been that long! Don't get me wrong - I love my car - it's safe, fast, excellent for roadtrips and ski-trips, and carries a lot of stuff (can carry an outdoor patio set and 2 bikes - not at the same time tho). however, my next car will DEFINITELY be a hybrid or hydrogen car - something that'll emit less CO2 into our already poor air and won't burn a hole in my pocket on a weekly basis. I like Chuperman's Prius but it's too slow for me, the rear has poor visibility, and I feel kind of unsafe in it. Otherwise, the prius gets excellent mileage, has GPS, and has a carpool lane sticker (meaning driver can drive in carpool lane without any passengers). The Prius is an excellent commuter car - no doubt about that.

Secondly, another reason why this week is obnoxious is because I caught a damn cold. It started out with a sore throat on Saturday. Then yesterday my cold completely escalated to the point where I lost my voice. On top of that I have a nasty cough that really hurts! This is swell, since I'm taking care of 2 small businesses, my parent's house (more to it than you think), and my 8-month pregnant body.

Lastly, some of you know my love/hate relationship with my assistant. (We have a small business where it's just my mom, me, and our assistant) Just some background: She has the biggest heart, she's from the south, loves to eat, at 5'2" she weighs in at approx 250lb, super friendly, introduced me to heart-attack food (southern food), loves to gab, extremely loyal, has great intentions in fullfilling task at hand but gets easily distracted and sometimes does not follow through, spazzes out easily.... you get the pic.. anyway, today my voice is gone b/c i have a cold. So she says "you sound awful", which is true - i sound worse than a bullfrog/sea lion. I shouldn't be allowed to talk today but i had to meet with 2 contracting crews this morning and yes, take care of 2 business. Anyway, then she takes it to another level and adds "you look like crap, no pun intended".. i tried to let that last comment roll off me. in my head i wanted to tell her "you look like you need gastric bypass surgery AND routine lypo", but since i couldn't speak and have a headache from the damn cold - i just pretended she didn't say anything and focused on my work. In a way, her comment brings me back down to earth since i've been getting a lot of "you look beautiful" "you're not that big" "you have great skin" "you look really great for having a boy (oldwives tale is if you're having a boy, the preg mom will get uglier or some BS like that) "you'll be fine"... i know these are all sympathy pregnancy compliments since i have a FAT and not to mention growing butterball stuffed in my belly. i am well aware that after im done being pregnant, that ppl around me won't be as generous with their compliments. it's just apart of life. and yes i know, i have major self-esteem issues regarding my image and rely on the publics approval... which girl can honestly say she does not have a complex about their image?

Laker vs Houston Tip-Off Game and Baby Shower Pictures

Last Tuesday we scored free tix (not entirely free, my bro works at the NBA) to the Laker's vs. Houston Rockets tip-off game last Tuesday. Even though the Laker's lost by a mere 2 points, it was still fun game:)

My dad, mom, and bro. They gave out free XL laker's t-shirts.



Tiramesu being a good sport. This is a good example where the camera lens adds 500lbs.



Yao Ming, the Chinese giant. Pre-game warm-up. Looks like he's marching.





Pregnant Tiramesu at approx. 7.5months.



Custom home-made diaper tower and baby bear basket (middle and right).



Designing/painting baby-T/onesie table.



"Future Cal Bear"



Giant Tiramisu Cake:P



Guess my pregnant waistline using yarn baby game.




Gentlemen's Baby Bottle Game: who can drink/suck the fastest sparkling cider? Chuperman won this one haha.





bro-in-law started chocking haha



focused and determined Chuperman



expressions say it all: annoyed bro-in-law on left with "not fair" look on his face, my bro jimmy in the middle looking onto the victorious Chuperman who has an "yeah!! i won!" look




Adorable piggy Lana - 5 months old.

Baby shower recapo:
It was fun and chaotic. About 50 ppl came out to share in the joy:) I know, this was a HUGE shower, almost like a mini-wedding! Thanks everyone for coming out and showering Baby Chu with love! I thought it was really fun and laid-back for a coed baby shower. There was a lot of freedom at the shower. Ppl weren't forced to play games, paint onesies, or watch me open presents if they didn't want to. This was good. In general, I know baby showers can be boring but I must say that the format of Baby Chu's Shower was excellent due to good planning, laid back hosts, and good helpers. Thanks everyone who helped! Unfortunately, Tiramesu was not very photogenic that day - i got like no sleep for 2 nights prior to the shower and for some reason I looked like a chipmunk that day. :( Not to worry, I had lotsa fun - I especially enjoyed the games and hanging out with all the cute babies:) I still wanna design a onesie myself! Great idea T! Thanks! :)

Pregnancy Update:
I had an OB appt this morning. Everything looks pretty good. The baby's heartrate is 150bpm. I'm 30 weeks pregnant! ahh!!!

GDL is expecting!!!

The popular FoodNetwork "Everyday Italian" chef, adorable, gorgeous, and talented Giada De Laurentiis is expecting her 1st child in April! =D Thanks Fung for passing the word along! http://www.celebrity-babies.com/2007/11/giada-de-lauren.html

Click on Video from Today Show

Just a refresher: I met GDL at a food and wine event in 2006. She was super nice and friendly.

Congrats to GDL! Hope her baby daughter is a clone of Giada.

My baby shower was over the weekend! I will post about it soon! =D