Project Four Zero: 39 Weeks!

Well friends, Week 39 marked the week that Mateo was destined to make his early arrival, which might explain why I've been noticeably absent on this blog.  This week started off as a normal pregnant week for me:  feeling no significant symptoms and wondering how and when Mateo would decide to make his presence known. 

In the end it was not Mateo's decision, but the doctor's after my prenatal appointment revealed that I was walking around already 5cm dilated and feeling as normal as any pregnant woman could.  That same day, December 13, 2011, I waltzed into the birth center and my water was broken around 7:30-8pm.  By 11:16 pm and after only 15 mins of actual pushing, Mateo was born weighing 7 lbs, 9oz and 20-in long.  We couldn't be happier with our new bundle of joy!

I've been planning to record a vlog about the birth story, but I've been in non-stop motion while recuperating from the labor, and now with 2 children there's never a dull moment, or even just a moment for that matter, to be able to record a little something.  But I know I eventually will.  For right now, I'm taking advantage of this midnight moment where the two boys are actually sleeping to write on this blog.

If you're wondering about Diego's reaction, he was first confused and scared seeing the little alien-looking animal.  After Dada told him it was OK and allowed him to touch his brother, he began to smile (possibly realizing the alien was actually human).  And now he says, or at least it sounds like he says, "brother" when I'm holding Mateo.  Imagine that.  The boy who barely wants to speak is saying "brother" after just a few days!

Please welcome our 2011 Christmas present:  Mateo: "Gift from God"!

Almost back to my old self, except the 2 children part! - Shirley

Project Four-Zero: 23 Weeks!

I went from a high-intensity week last week to a more chill week this week.  My inlaws came in from Peru to stay with us, and I've been treated like a princess (Hence,  the castle background in this week's picture.  LOL!)  No cooking, cleaning, or even taking much care of Diego for me!  They seem to think I need a break because I'm pregnant.  While physically I have been- and continue to be able to handle domestic duties, it's so hard not to take advantage of this rare opportunity. 

As of this morning, I think I may have let it go too far though.  Diego is showing signs SSBS - Suddenly Spoiled Boy Syndrome.  It seems that SSBS is easily triggered when the patient is in close proximity to grandparents.  We need to nip this thing in the bud!

SYMPTOMS

Tolerable leg cramps and drymouth (they seem to be getting better)

More fetal movements

Glucose levels under control now that I'm only eating brown rice & pasta.

CRAVINGS

OK! - You got me.  I admit it, I bought a box of Runts candies "for Diego" and have been helping myself to a couple (just the red ones because I have to be picky about my sugar now) each day AND I ate a donut as a snack the other day. 

Project Four-Zero: 21 Weeks

It's weird for me to be saying this but, this week my Gestational Diabetes counselor was rejoicing because I had gained weight. 4.5 lbs in the last 4 weeks that I've seen her - to be exact. I guess the extra mayo and avocados are doing the trick. My husband I and were talking the other night and discussed the fact that I look like I'm ready to pop. Neither of us can remember how big I was at this point in time during Diego's pregnancy, but we're pretty sure that I'm bigger now.

My belly-button is already looking like it's going to pop out (it didn't pop out for Diego's pregnancy) and I'm only 1/2 way there now. This is very concerning to me because of two reasons I've mentioned before:

1. Pushing out a big baby
2. My previous history of fainting at around the 7-month mark, when laying on my back or reclined (due to the baby putting pressure on my vena cava).  These faint spells have shown the tendency to involve me in serious car accidents so I'm really worried.

So now that I've made the counselor happy this round, I think I'm going to cool it on the mayo and avocados for the second round.  Although, they taste soooooo good! Yummy!

SYMPTOMS:

"Wake-you-in-the-middle-of-the-night" foot cramps & dry mouth

CRAVINGS:

Orange Juice - which I shouldn't have but I sneak in a few sips here and there.

Project Four-Zero: 20 Weeks!

I've officially reached the halfway mark this week! And what better way to celebrate than to go on a babymoon to The Bahamas? The point of the babymoon was to be able to get some RR in before I get any bigger and before I become a mother of 2. But as you can guess, my toddler did not allow me much RR this week. He didn't quite understand the concept of a tropical vacation.

It was all systems go for him! I'll talk about the vacation a little more in a separate post. As for the pregnancy, this week I did not bother to check my glucose levels while on vacation. I tried to be good with food, but I still ate cheap junk food at times to combat the inflated prices for everything at our resort.

Also, during and prior to the vacation I felt a very strange and strong soreness in my inner thigh area as well as a very swollen (in size, but no pain) vajajay - um "unmentionable". I don't know what that's all about but it's still there, saying "hello" to me at every moment. I've heard of swollen ankles, bu vajay-jays?  That's a new one.   My inner thighs are so sore that it feels like I've been horse-back riding for the past 5 hours, which in turn is causing me to walk with a slight "pregnancy waddle".

Speaking of waddling, have you ever seen this YouTube video? It's my sister and my favorite viral video....

CRAVINGS

Something about having a nice cold Coke w/ ice at the Bahamas really hit the spot!

SYMPTOMS

Horse-back riding thighs and swollen vajay-jays! WTH!?

Then she waddled away..... waddle, waddle... 'til the very next day.

Project Four-Zero! 19 Weeks!

By postponing my weekly photo last week for the gender announcement and waiting for my sister to edit last week's photo (can I rag on my sister's procrastinating ways any more than I already have?) I have caused Weeks 18 and 19 to chronologically meld together in a way.  However, I still took a separate picture for Week 19.  This week's picture is "Pretty in Pink" and if you have connected the dots, then you've figured out that this would've been Week 18's outfit had my gender ultrasound revealed I was carrying a girl instead of a boy (just imagine me holding on to some pink balloons). 

And so the outfit must settle for sloppy-seconds and be used for the Week 19 photo session instead. 

SYMPTOMS:

Sleepiness

Light nesting 

CRAVINGS:

I've been craving the sugar, but munching on fast food like McDonalds and Jack n the Box (hold the soda) instead to ignore the cravings.  Did you know that a Whopper meal is worse for my gestational diabetes than both McDonald's (Big Mac) and Jacko (Sourdough Jack)?  True Story!  No wonder my belly is so much bigger this week!  I was a fast food junkie!  :(

SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES:
Passed the 2nd Integrated Screening but my placenta got a bad grade.  Need to have more ultrasounds to keep an eye on baby's size during the 3rd trimester since there is a chance he could be born early or smaller than normal.

The Four-Zero Project! Week 18!

Better late than never?  This is my Week 18 shot, which I postponed a little until I knew the gender of the baby.  Then tack on more time to get my sister to actually post-process the photo after she takes it, and well - you get today as the day that the picture finally gets published.

So you already know it's a life with little boy-barians for me starting now.  It's good to know the sex, and good to know that I already have a ton of boy stuff.  Now I can focus on shopping and "refining" my "boy" stock by buying the things that I wanted to get for Diego but never got the chance to.

Boy... Oh.... Boy!!!

Project Four-Zero: 17 Weeks!

Bubble guts or fetal movements?  That is the hot-ticket question this week.  I'm leaning towards the latter because they would be very strange, on-going bubble-guts if so.  Of course, the movements are extremely light.  So much that I wouldn't go as far as to call them fetal movements, but more rather:  fetal flutters.

I'm getting antsy this week to find out if I am having a girl or a boy.  I don't know why, but this week I'm getting the girl vibe whereas before I was totally getting the boy vibe.  Oh who am I kidding?  I know why.... It's called wishful thinking.  Also, knowing that I could know in exactly 2 days instead of 1 week is kind of getting me irritated right now.  Oh work schedule - why must you get in my way?!

This was hospital week for me as I went to get my blood drawn as well as went to my prenatal checkup.   2 vials of blood, 2 urine samples, and an hour long wait in the waiting room really didn't yield me any new, spreadable news.  My doctor just gave me the old "Hang in there!" speech after letting me hear BabyDos's heartbeat.  So that's what I'm doing... until Gender Day!

Project Four-Zero: 16 Weeks!

If the eyes are the window to the soul, then this week my soul was irritated. I woke up in the middle of the week after drifting in and out of sleep due to my tearing left eye. I paid it no attention until I looked in the mirror getting ready for work. The eye was small and swollen and pink! Thank goodness it cleared up in time for my Week 16 photo session!

This week I've had one notable symptom: Let down. No, I'm not feeling like everyone around me is letting me down! Hahaha! Let down, as in nursing? You know.... leakage from breast feeding? Yes, it's really weird, but that's the feeling I've had this week. And it's just a feeling; not actual let down. There's nothing there when I look. It's the weirdest thing.

My belly has really started to grow, and although I still feel that I carry it quite well under clothing, my pants won't let me lie anymore. They've become increasingly uncomfortable to button/zip up, so much this week that I made my husband go through our storage and find me my old reliable belly band. I wore my belly band for a couple of days and then took a peek at the other clothing that I had in the storage bag. Maternity pants! Ewww. I hate them. But I wore a pair anyway, and that only confirmed how much I hate them. They were loose, kept falling, looked baggy and sloppy. But I new that I couldn't wear my belly band forever, so I went to Motherhood Maternity and bought only what I needed and made sure it was my size. I bought one pair of skinny jeans, one pair of straight leg jeans, one pair of long black leggings, and one pair of black legging capris. That's it! Just the basics because like I said, I hate maternity clothes shopping.

So other than feeling like an increasingly sloppy blob, the only other news this week is on my gestational diabetes. Not-so-good news if you ask me. I have continued to experience unprovoked high levels of glucose especially during my morning fast. I have an appointment to follow up in a few days. I'm really nervous on what they are going to suggest for the new plan to tackle this issue. Cross your fingers for me everyone!  Please!

SYMPTOMS: Fake Let Down

CRAVINGS: Anything really. I'm just hungry all the time!

The Four-Zero Project: Week 14

Party planning, party planning, and more party planning!  That's been the theme of this week.  I've been so involved in all the party stuff that I've barely noted anything special for this 14th week of pregnancy.
There IS one thing I noticed while I was working on some crafts for my father's party.  I was working from home because my childcare plans fell through.  There I was trying to cut gi-normous airplane cutouts for my father's party, and Diego decides he wants to be as involved as possible.  He touched everything (which scared me because I was using Exacto knives), crumpled everything, and wanted to continuously throw everything off the table and onto the floor!  Arg!

He also insisted on crawling in the small space between my back and the back of the chair that I was sitting in and then proceeded to climb on me as if I were Mt. Everest!  It reminded me of the time I was in the Amazon Jungle and had monkeys on my my head!

Each time he started to climb Mt. Shirley-est, I would scoot over to another chair and continue my very important work.  He would simply leave the chair he was on, and follow me to the next chair.  I gave up, and let him continue to climb me.  At one point he grabbed onto a thick chunk of my long hair and used it as his mountain-climbing rope.  Strangely, I used the word "thick" just now in that last sentence when speaking about my hair.  Come to think about it, my hair HAS been cooperating with me this week, and I've had some very cute hairstyles.

My hair has never been the same since Diego was born and he's basically a year and a half now!  But I think this new pregnancy is giving my hair that new-life-during-pregnancy kick that people talk about.  And I know it's not the prenatal vitamins because unfortunately, I haven't been good at taking those religiously.  :(

So at the same time that my belly is growing, so is my hair and I LOVE IT!  Since I'm still at that stage where I can sorta hide the belly, and yet ROCK the healthier hair, I'm all smiles this week.... yup... all smiles.

SYMPTOMS:  

Great hair - not too shabby!

Double Up! Weeks 11 & 12

Where has the time gone?  I'm late an entire week on Project Four-Zero.  How dare I?! 

Well, these past two weeks have been busy at work, and by the time I get home I have no energy to fight with Diego over who gets to type on the laptop, so I don't even turn it on at home.  I've really got to get Diego his own laptop to destroy.  It's gotten so bad that I bring my personal laptop to work in hopes of stealing some time on it during work hours to edit videos and Photoshop pictures.  One day my boss is going to walk in on me and catch me!

Other than the high sugar levels in my blood, which has directly resulted in a "no sugar" ban and many exhaustive, low energy moods, there have not been any other significant happenings during this week as far as pregnancy symptoms go.

This afternoon I have a follow up integrated screening appointment quickly followed up by my prenatal appointment where I believe the doctor will let me listen to the beating heart for the first time.

So exciting!

On a side note, this last Project Four-Zero photo session proved to yield a good number of outtake shots.  I found most of them hilarious.... What do you think? 

Runner-up for the Weekly Photo

 
Also, I know it's a little weird and a little "Texas" but I liked how my hair came out in this last session.   I've always struggled with up-do's; they always make me look like a dude.  I even swear I heard the driver say hello "Sir" as I got on the shuttle for my work a couple weeks ago when I tied my hair back in a J-lo type pony tail.  I seriously considered getting short bangs after that!  

I also wore my hair up and somewhat tight on Day 1 of a 2-day training I had for my job last week.  The next day I wore it down.  My flamboyant teacher in his pink shirt came up to me and said, I think your hair looks really nice down!  I didn't recognize you when you walked in today.  I thought - that poor woman!  She thinks today is Day 1 and I'm going to have to tell her that she can't get credit for the course!"  I laughed along with him, but inside I was still considering bangs.

Still no short bangs yet, but maybe the key is loose up-do's and earrings instead???

The Four Zero Project: Week 10

This week has been good to me.  I'm hoping that all signs point to the end of morning sickness.  Since my first prenatal appointment I have been pretty bad at taking my prenatal vitamins consistently.  This was a problem that I had during my first pregnancy too. 

Trying to be more responsible this time, I created an alarm/reminder on my phone and it worked for a few days and then the alarm mysteriously disabled itself.  Actually, as I was typing this, I just re-enabled it in hopes that I will get on track with my vitamins again.  Wish me luck!

Today, I snuck out of work for an hour to get my blood drawn for the integrated prenatal screening.  I entered the new hospital that I mentioned in a previous post.  You'll remember that in a few posts back, I wrote about how disgusting the old building's bathroom was?  Well obviously it was a much different experience in this new state-of-the-art building.  So far each time that I've gone to the bathroom, there have been dedicated bathrooms for the patients which are roomy and clean.  Today, as I walked into the Lab for my blood work, I stood looking around for a minute trying to find the number dispenser so that I could take a number.  I couldn't find it anywhere so, I just stood there hoping someone would tend to me.  Someone did shortly, and she asked me my name.  She then proceeded to hand me a pager, like the ones they hand you at some chain restaurants while you wait for your table.  We've come a long way since the "Take a Number" days!

SYMPTOMS

None thank goodness!

CRAVINGS

I just ate a delicious chocolate doughnut!

Not a flattering pic of Diego, I know, but he was more interested in playing with my camera's remote!

Four-Zero Project: Week 9

This was a tough week.  Morning sickness made an appearance a few days ago and decided that it liked the digs and stayed lingering around for an entire 2 days!  Of course leave it to fate for me to feel sick on my mother's birthday AND on the weekend!  When the morning sickness reached its pinnacle, I started to become consumed with depression.  My mind doesn't respond well to long bouts of bodily discomfort.  This week really made me consider the possibility of post-partum depression with this next child.  I had neither morning sickness, nor depression with Diego.  I'm not saying Diego's an angel though; nor am I already choosing my favorite child.  Actually, I think that because of my little Diego demon (I say it in the most loving way) and his antics, I am physically exhausted to respond well to this next pregnancy.  During the first pregnancy I could take a nap whenever I wanted (as long as I wasn't working or driving...LOL), and I didn't have as many responsibilities.  Nowadays, things are so different.

So this weekend, there were times that I just needed to sit down and fester in my own cruddy mood.  I couldn't let this mood affect me, so I went on with my plans.  We went to my mom's birthday dinner.  We had to wait over an hour to be seated.  Over an hour!  I had to pretend like everything was OK until then.  Luckily the restaurant was outside of a mall, so my sister suggested that we do some shopping while we waited.

That's where I picked up my splurge item of the week.  An owl necklace for $18.  I've always wanted one, and ever since I started following the Adored Austin blog, I NEEDED one.  I love that blog because its a fashion/mommy blog, and we have mostly the same taste when it comes to accessories.  I mean, we even have the same diaper bag!

I did end up telling the big news to my family at the birthday dinner, and as I expected my mom didn't get it at first; she needed a little bit of explanation and coaxing.  As soon as she uncovered the second picture, she instantly thought it was a picture of Diego's first ultrasound...

"Actually, Mother, read the picture," I said.  And as her brain processed the wording, her face lit up and she said,

"Are you pregnant again!!!?"

"Yes, mother.  Now you can stop saying I'm getting fat!"

And she laughed.  Now she owns a frame with a picture of her two grandchildren.  She got lost in wonder for a minute as she tried to envision what her future grandchild would look like.  Whose face will eventually replace that photo?  We hope to find out by the end of this year!

SYMPTOMS

All day morning sickness and depression.  Starting to notice a belly pouch.

CRAVINGS

N/A ; I must've been too depressed to feel I deserved good food.... NO!  Wait!  Now I remember!  Before the sickness and depression started I was craving a Little Lucca's Sandwich!  OMG it was deeeeeeelicious.  It was EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED AT THAT MOMENT.  It's been awhile since I've been satisfied like that with food in awhile.  Yup, I think I'll sit back now, and remember what it felt like to eat that sandwich - Ultimate Club... If you must know...

Four-Zero Project: Week 8

Well folks, I've officially made it to Week 8 of The Four-Zero Project!  In my last update, I said that the spotting had delightfully decreased.  Wouldn't you know it that the very next day, I had I one strong spot come and visit me?  Fortunately since then, I haven't spotted any spots!  Cheesy play on words; I know....  I'll try not to do that again.

During this week I've only noticed an extremely light nausea that could also be mistaken for nothing more than a full tummy.  And speaking of my tummy, it's been craving all kinds of junkfood!  I've been trying my best to treat my diet plan like a drill-Sergeant, but the other day I caved in and bought myself a Big Mac (I only ordered the sandwich though!) and another day I drank a can of 7-Up that was seductively chilled in the refrigerator (but at least it was decaffeinated!). 

And what is my diet plan you ask?  Well, it's my regular diet only a little amped up and more strict.  I basically eat home-cooked meals everyday.  The meals usually consist of a cereal or toast with tea (decaffeinated now) for breakfast, and a rice or pasta with a meat (beef, chicken, or fish) and a side of veggies for lunch/dinner.  At our house, none of the food used to prepare our meals comes from cans. 

The things that I'm keeping in mind when I prepare my food now:

• Stay away from Ceasar's salad dressing
• Only eat sandwich meat if you nuke it in the microwave first
• No more Queso Fresco for you!  (Mexican cheese like Feta)
• Try not to eat tuna
• No more Fast Food Fridays!
• No caffeine (if you can help it)

All this may seem a little strict or that I'm over-reacting, but I figure it worked for my first pregnancy; why not this one?  A lot of people say that you tend to be less cautious the second-time around, but I'm trying my best not to make that statement true in my case (although damn! that Big Mac was delicious going down!)  I'm pretty sure I'll stick to my plan because I'm afraid of gaining too much weight; not that I have a weight-problem.  No, no.....

I'm terrified of stretch marks.  I already have more than I would ever want; and I hate them.  And I don't want to start a new collection now.


So... this is my new picture for Week 8 with my $20 dress that I had to buy so fast, I didn't even get to try it on first.  Not bad right?  I love BCBG!  There's just something about that brand.  I took this picture on Sunday morning during a break in a small rain storm we were having.  Of course it started raining moments later and I ran inside to protect my equipment.  I love the mood that the camera created with the lighting just before the rain.  Later that day, we enjoyed the San Francisco Bay to Breakers (luckily there was no rain the rest of the day).  I was sad to find that I had forgotten my camera at home; so no cool pictures.  Oh well...

Symptoms:  light nausea, extreme fatigue by 4pm (probably because of the "no caffeine" thing)

Cravings:  Big Macs!  or anything cheesy, preferably melty cheese.

Four-Zero Project: 7/40 Weeks

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Mother's day!  I spent the day with family and eating Thai food in the city, and of course taking the next picture for the Four-Zero Project! 

We had dinner with my mother.  She mentioned that I'm gaining weight again.  Specifically, that my stomach is getting big.  It was so hard not to laugh - so I did.  I laugh at a lot of things she says, so I didn't let my secret out of the bag yet.  You might think my mother is mean, but her heart is in the right place.  After a lifetime of a weight struggle, she just doesn't want the same for her daughters.

Mid-week I spotted what I consider pretty strong for one day.  I felt so sad, because I convinced myself that I was having a miscarriage again as soon as I saw it.  Luckily it didn't develop into anything further and I am spot-free for a couple days now!  If I never see a spot again for the next handful of months, I will be a happy camper.

Symptoms - more burping and very, very slight nausea when I eat a lot.  I'm super-tired by the time I get home, and for some reason I'm more cold than usual.

Cravings - Fruit smoothies or any fruit-flavored drinks - even just water with lemon-wedges in it.  Anything but plain water, which I'm usually content with.

Four-Zero Project! Revived!

I can be a little superstitious at times, but lately I've been a little hesitant to post this because I fear it may bring me bad luck.  Nevertheless, I am going ahead because I really want to document this pregnancy to the fullest since it very well may be my last.

So... I am reviving the Four-Zero Project with the hopes that I will be able to make it to Week 40 this time around.  Let's all cross our fingers!

I took a few pictures over the weekend for Week 6 (I've made it to 7 as of yesterday, Yipeeeee!).  I could've chosen a couple different poses that had me smiling in them, but I thought this one was more telling of my real state:  worried.  Of course I am happy too.  I would love nothing more than to kick my feet up and enjoy this pregnancy, and after June 14th, I hope to reach that goal: the end of the first trimester.  Until then, due to my last experience, I wait....

Symptoms:

• Burpies, my body's way of stalling on-coming nausea, I think.
• Occasional spotting, to my dismay