Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Sick and pregnant


There is only one thing worse than being sick (or pregnant) and that is being sick AND pregnant at the same time. I just got back from vacation and then had two days of photoshoot for work. And basically, my body crapped out on me. I'm freezing all the time and last night I was so severely congested and couldnt breathe out of either nostril so I had to breathe out of my mouth while sleeping. Now, I don't know how anyone could breathe out of the mouth for so long. Don't their lungs get tired? (Not to mention the beyond morning breath stench that oozes out of the mouth. Gross.) I woke up with bad chest pains so I stayed home from work. I would be crazy to try and make it into work today.

I googled some remedies for colds while pregnant and there really isn't much out there. All I kept thinking last night was how sweet it would to shove a bottle of Afrin right up my nose for one tiny spritz so it could clear the passageway. Gosh, I sound like a drug addict. Actually, Dave is pretty convinced that I am addicted to this stuff. What I would do for one spritz...

It's so crazy to me that the person carrying the baby can be sick as a dog or vomiting five times a day, yet the fetus inside is still fine. I guess that is why they call it the miracle of life...

By the way, I was totally sold out by a three-year-old. O said to me in front of one of my coworkers "Eemo, you have baby in your tummy, right?!" OMG. I tried to play it off but I don't think it really worked. Grrreeeaaaaattttt..... Doesn't she know how to keep a secret??!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Back from vacay....

(on a cruise ship in Antigua)

Can't believe we are back from Antigua aka our Babymoon already. Overall, the trip was pretty relaxing. Although it was a press trip, they didn't have too much planned on our itinerary, which was nice. I crashed every night around 9pm right after dinner and woke up the next day around 8am. It was perfect.

However, my pregnancy taste buds are starting to kick in and food either tastes weird or straight up bad. And trust me, I'm not a picky eater, but I have to say, I did not enjoy the food at all. Slight disappointment, but oh well. What are you going to do...Oh, I did consume a good amount of seafood though. And with every guilty bite, I would think to myself Is this bite of lobster going to turn my baby into a 7-fingered freak or something? Nah...

I can't seem to suck in my stomach anymore. So I'm wearing a two-piece but I'm not showing enough to be obviously pregnant yet and it just looks like I have a gut. Freaking great. I walked around holding a towel to my stomach. Even when I was just sprawled out on a beach chair, I felt like I had to cover my belly (although it gets sucked in and I don't look as gutty). If I stayed out too long and had the sun shining on me directly, I felt like I was roasting my baby so I couldn't really stand being under the sun for too long. Hence why I've come back looking Casper white as ever.

I realized though that I am kind of over tropical vacays. I get island fever after a while. I hope our next trip is to Europe. Or Korea. Although, I'm pretty sure I'd get sick of walking around all day. And a 13-hour flight to Korea doesn't sound too appealing either. I threw up on the way back and I can't tell if it's morning sickness, heart burn, or something bad I ate before I boarded. But I've been feeling nauseous ever since. Still, I was able to inhale a bowl of bap and kimchijjigae at 1am when I got to my parents' house last night. Gosh, my mom and dad are the best. I'm so glad I told them early that I was pregnant. I'm only able to milk this for 7 more months!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Leaving on a jet plane...

(whoever said depends was only for the elderly?)

So about two to three months ago, Dave and I received an offer to go to Antigua from work (which I gladly accepted, duh) and we're flying out tomorrow. It's funny though. Earlier this month, I couldn't wait to get my butt on that plane, but now I'm sort of nervous to fly. There are a lot of warnings in regards to pregnant women in their first and third trimesters flying on a plane. Supposedly it increases the risk of miscarriage(?!) or so some people believe. Thus, I'm a little apprehensive about the whole trip, but I'm sure once I get there I'll be thrilled to just relax poolside and do nothing. I mean absolutely nothing. If I wanted to, I could sleep 19 hours a day. And there's nothing I want more these days than SLEEP. I would kill for 19 hours of sleep.

I think part of the reason why I don't get enough sleep is cause I'm up peeing half the night. I've always had a tiny bladder, but pregnancy has somehow (if physically possible) compressed it to make it even smaller. I have to pee so frequently that I'm considering wearing Depends on the way to work God forbid I get stuck in one of those nightmarish delays. No doubt I would pee all over myself. The second I get off the train and head into the office, I have to pee SO bad that I literally do a little pee-pee dance to shake off the gotta-go-now feeling. And just as a tease to my bladder, of course I'm always thirsty too.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Male vs. Female OB/GYN


My search for an OB/GYN has been pretty slow. I've looked into more than a dozen doctors but either they're located too far away or their office hours suck. And the recommendations I keep getting are for male doctors. I'm sure guys docs are more than capable of delivering a baby and sympathizing with a pregnant woman's hormonal madness, but my initial preference was to go to a girl doc. I think Dave would be more comfortable with that too. One of the doctors that was recommended to me is this Korean male OB who is an elder at some church. Uh, that would make me feel like my father-in-law is delivering me or something. WEIRD. Well, I guess I need to shake off my awkwardness since I was able to book an appointment with him for next Friday. Awesomeness. Plus, he opens late on Fridays and has office hours on Saturday, which is atypical of OBs. So I'm going to give him a shot. But as soon as the weirdness reaches a certain level, I may have to back out. Those office visits are no joke. Talk about invasive procedures (sticking his hands up my you-know-what). My running joke with Dave is that as long as the doctor doesn't have enormous hands, I should be fine.

This past weekend, we broke the news to the Wellders and some other people. I am glad I ended up telling them. Esther was definitely the most surprised. I think she was more shocked than I was at first. Ha. I think no matter what happens, it's so important to have your community there for you.

By the way, I have my mom calling every day to see if I drank my two glasses of milk and to inquire about out what I ate for lunch (God forbid I feed my baby fast food or Lean Cusine). She won't even take me to eat jjajangmyun cause she says there is no real nutritional value in noodles. I thought pregnant women were allowed to eat whatever they want and give in to their cravings. Dude, I am craving all sorts of Korean food... Kimchijjigae, mandoogook, dwenjangjjigae, ddukbokki.... Sigh. I should go eat a banana or something.

Friday, August 12, 2011

I had no idea...

(old wives tale = fruit dreams mean baby girl)

For some reason, I always thought I would know when I became pregnant. Not that I am so in tune with my body or anything, but I felt like I would at least have some sort of idea. I blame it on my non-symptoms, as I would call it. No morning sickness, cravings, food aversions or anything. I feel like I should be hugging the toilet bowl and gagging. Maybe then I would feel more pregnant... I've been feeling really dizzy for a while but had no idea that it was due to pregnancy. Thought I was going to fall over and collapse the other day from the room spinning. I suppose I should be thankful for the mild side effects. I asked my mom today how her pregnancy was and she said she wasn't nauseous or throwing up. I guess we will see about that. By next week I could be projectile vomiting all over the toilet bowl.

My mom said she had a dream that she was eating lots and lots of fruit, which she translates as me having a girl. We had dinner with the Zangs today and Nancy is really hoping I have a girl too. I guess it would be nice to have a daughter first but then I keep thinking of my dad who is probably kneeling on the corner of his bed begging God to grant him a grandson. Oy. I feel like I need to redeem my dad of his inability to produce a boy. But then again, there is still hope in my sister.

Sabrina and I went to some stores today during lunch to look at maternity wear. Gosh, I am so not looking forward to that. I'm seriously going to wear the same uniform every day: stretchy tank, leggings, cardigan and boots. It will be winter when I start to get huge so I think it will be acceptable office wear. I don't know how some pregnant woman manage to look so put together and nice all the time. I've already made up my mind that I will just be a fat bum.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

"Welcome to poverty"


As it turns out, Dr. Lisa Ann Miller stopped practicing OB a few years ago. She is now just a regular GYN and reproductive surgeon. What.the.flip. So Dave, Eunice and I went to her today thinking we'd hear a baby's heart beat, but all I got was a pap smear (OUCH!) and some bloodwork done. Oh, at least she DID confirm that I was pregnant. Actually, the nurse confirmed it for us and congratulated us with these exact words: "Welcome to poverty." Wow, did she really say that to us? Are people that insensitive and rude? I guess so. At least we don't have to go back there since the doctor is no use for me (unless one day I'm considering a reconstructive vaginal makeover) so that's that.

I'm so confused about my due date since you're supposed to calculate the first day of your last period but since my cycle is longer than 28 days, I don't know if I'm supposed to add a week or something. That means my due date can be anywhere from April 2nd to 11th. Either way, right near my birthday. Yep. Had I known this year would be my last birthday celebration ever, I would have gone all out with a bang...

I told Bori today that I was expecting and she looked so shocked I swear her eyeballs were going to pop out of her socket right into her salad. I was trying to think of a clever way to tell her, but in the midst of our conversation, she kept asking if Dave and I were going to have kids. So I whipped out the pregnancy stick photo on my phone and showed her. Kind of anti-climactic but oh well. She freaked out for a good five minutes. Pretty much the reaction I was expecting out of her...

Speaking of reactions, we completely threw all caution out the window and told all four of our parents today--individually. My mom didn't sound shocked at all. Just pleasantly surprised. I'm sure she's thinking "How the heck did she get pregnant?" since she's certain that Dave and I never see each other with our clothes off. (Sure, whatever floats her boat.) Dave's mom AKA mother-in-law was really sweet. If anything, she sounded even happier than my own mom. Ha. My dad completely stammered for a bit and then blurted out some comment about me having to be healthy and eat well, take care of my body, etc. Likewise, Dave's dad AKA father-in-law expressed the same sentiments. I must take care of my body. Okay, thanks, dads. Duly noted.

Too bad I really wasn't taking care of my body last month. I was shoving sushi into my mouth every other day (I'm about to cry thinking about 9 months without it) and doing things like P90X yoga and practically hospitalizing myself. Well, I certainly won't be doing that anymore. I could understand why pregnant woman just want to sit around at home and watch TV and eat junk food and get fat.... cause you're tired as HECK. Dave (God bless his soul) asked me today why I'm sooo tired since I'm only in the first trimester and I'm hardly showing (well, I have a slight bulge that just looks like ddong bbeh I never got to work off). Umm. excuse me. My body's preparing to grow a freaking placenta in my stomach on top of a living human being and exerting all its energy into that baby developing factory. Duh, I'm tired. I'm going to let him make it up to me by giving me a foot massage.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Finding an OB/GYN


Since I really haven't told anyone that I'm pregnant yet, I couldn't ask for any recommendations when it came to an OB/GYN. So I did what any other pregnant woman in my position would do and searched online. I knew I wanted a female doctor, but with some of these Middle Eastern names you really can't tell. Well, I think I found a good doctor for me. Dr. Lisa Ann Miller. She had pretty positive reviews on those health grade websites so I'm going to take other people's word for it. Dave and I are scheduled to go in and see her tomorrow. I really wonder how the meeting will go. Maybe she'll put that cold jelly cream on my stomach to try to find a heart beat. So crazy to think that the little lima bean has a heart beat. Right now my heart is going duh duh...duh duh...duh duh...just thinking about tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E-!

Yesterday was our two year anniversary. Dave took me out to Union Square Cafe, where we enjoyed some really good food and talked about how great life is, etc. He had plans to take me to some macaroon cafe afterwards, but I requested to cut the night short since I was feeling tired (as usual) and wanted to go get some rest.

Little did he know that I had a plan of my own. I found out yesterday in the morning that I was PREGNANT! I took four tests (from two different companies) to confirm the results. Trust me, the lines don't lie. I was trying to figure out all day how I would break it to him. I contemplated waiting a few days so that we could enjoy the night in peace, but I was so anxious and acting "strange" according to him, that he could probably tell that something was up.

So we came home and I gave him a card for our two year anniversary and told him that his gift was inside. I recorded him reading the card (my sister asked me to take a video of his reaction) and caught it on camera--the sheer confusion, fear, shock, and joy (which followed later) of it all. Can't believe we're going to be parents! Our third year is going to be so crazy!!