April Fool's!!

Yups, we're pregnant again!!! This is our little boo at 13 gestational weeks. We are completely thrilled and in love with this little one. The journey this time was a little longer. With age comes more risks, more fertility delays, and more tiredness. It took us 6 months this time to conceive and I was starting to get worried. What if we can't get pregnant naturally? What is wrong with me, or him? And having been pregnant before, most doctors won't take our "problems" seriously until at least a year later. But thankfully, just as I was getting very frustrated, it happened for us.

As our son is getting close to 2, people naturally started asking if we wanted a second. We've always agreed that we want two kids, ideally. For me personally, it was important to have the kids be close in age. I just think that they will be closer in life and will go through experiences together. For my own personal reason, it is also good to get all the tough parts of raising kids out of the way at the same time! I want to be able to get rid of diapers once and for all. I want to be able to donate all the baby clothes, strollers, carriers, toys, bottles, gates, high chairs, bibs, etc...and never look back! I don't want to have to put things into storage, then lug it all back out years later. Plus, I can get used to the lack of sleep again and get it all over with soon. Then down the road, they'll all be out of the house at around the same time, be in college at the same time. Those were our main motivations for having a second child sooner rather than later. Lastly, I'll be turning 40 next year so the biological alarm has definitely be going off!

So what's different this time so far? First off, I'm much more experienced. I'm no longer obsessing over every little feeling I have. I'm not reading baby blogs everyday. and I'm not browsing for baby stuff all the time. I also know which doctors appointments to book, which medical facility to go to, what medical tests to take, what to eat, what vitamins to take, etc. The medical staff knows this too. When they read my chart and saw that I was seeing them two years ago, they know they don't have to explain every little detail to me, though they would if I asked. The other major difference this time is that I'm showing so much sooner! By week 8, I looked like I was maybe 5 months pregnant! I had to start wearing maternit pants by 10th week. My co-worker asked my boss if I was pregnant when I was only 8 weeks along! Even a male co-worker suspected!

There are some things that remain the same as last time though. Thankfully, I got through my first trimester easy, just like last time. This time, I only had one bout of morning sickness, I had none last time. However, my gestational diabetes came back, just like last time...except it's sooner this time. Sigh. We also decided to do the same screening tests for chromosonal defects as last time.

So the journey begins. We're starting to spread the news to our family and friends. But I think most people aren't surprised and some may have even suspected. But we're super happy non-the-less and I hope for a speedy and healthy pregnancy. Oh, and just so you're not confused about the title of the post, our due date is April 1, 2012!!! However, the doctor assured me that only 5% of babies are delivered on their actual due date!

TTC, TWW, EWCM, OMG!

Yes, we're ttc again. If you don't know what that means, then you've not joined the infertility club. Part of the initiation task is that you have to devote a significant amount of time scouring the web on anything and everything on infertility, ovulation, and implantation. In doing so, I came upon this blog which rendered me in tears. Not tears of sadness, but tears of painful, uncontrollable laughter. This woman can write and entertain. She's turned a mainly depressing situation into something of a comedy. I've never laughed and nodded my head in agreement so much as when I read her blogs about her attempts at getting pregnant. http://the2weekwait.blogspot.com/

Life as a Mom

It's been over a year now that we're parents of a healthy, happy, and adorable little boy! So in retrospect, what have I learned about pregnancy, birth, and parenthood? Here's a quick list...
1) Your body will NEVER be the same after birth. The expansion of my once narrow hips have given me a permanent "lose" feeling in the hip joints.
2) Perky boobs are no more.
3) Baby has turned me from a night owl into an early bird...not happily though!
4) Savor your hot meal because it'll be years before you get to eat another hot meal.
5) All those wonderful toys you get at your baby shower won't really be used until baby is about a year old. So store them away and bring them out slowly.
6) Your body will know what to do when the big moment arrives, trust it.
7) Take time to look good during labor because you'll want to look at birth pictures years to come.
8) Take lots of pics, even after only one year, I'm amazed at how much my boy has changed!
9) When I hear "Mama!" all the tough times melt away. Hormones are extremely powerful!
10) Resist buying too many toys, book and music are the Baby's favorite.
11) Tether everything to high chair and car seat using pacifier ties, toys, bottles, sippy cups, everything! Babies love to test out gravity!
12) Save the top rack of your dishwasher for baby stuff! Every baby product we have requires top rack dishwashing! Unless of course you want to handwash everything, but what about sleep?!

Pregnancy Thoughts...

Now that I am well into my third trimester of pregnancy, I'm reflecting on the path that have taken me here. I've been very lucky to have a pretty healthy and normal pregnancy. I've not had any morning sickness. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes but it's mild. I am just monitoring my glucose levels after each meal daily but have been able to control my glucose levels through diet. Thankfully, I've not needed to get insulin injections. I've gained weight normally. I've not experienced any heartburn nor constipation. It's only recently, at 35 weeks that I've started to experience a little bit of swelling in my feet and hands. My blood pressure has been normal. The only complaint I've had is that I have been experiencing hip pain for several months during my second trimester. The hip pain would wake me up each morning at about 5am. I guess my body needed to make some adjustments to prepare for childbirth and my narrow hips needed adjustment! Despite all the blessings, I must admit that I do not fully enjoy being pregnant. Throughout my pregnancy, I've had random women come up to me and congratulate me and tell me how much they loved being pregnant. I smile and nod but all the while thinking, you can have this pregnancy thing! I love my baby but must admit that I wish my husband can be pregnant. I can't wait until I'm thin again, I can't wait until I can sleep on my stomach again, I can't wait til I can wash my feet normally again. Plus, I can't wait to be able to enjoy a huge cup of coffee again.

Oh BOY!!

With 7 pregnant friends in 2009, you'd think that the distribution of boy babies and girl babies would be pretty even. However, as time passes more and more of our friends are finding out that they are all having boys! We are the last couple to find out the sex of our baby. After 7 baby boys, we were certain that our baby is going to be a girl. I even had a dream about us having a baby girl. I was craving sweets like there's no tomorrow! So it was a complete shock when our 18-week ultrasound revealed a little body part! I was so surprised that I asked the Lab Tech if it could be an arm. She kindly highlighted the part for us with an arrow. :-)

So could it be possible that there are more baby boys born in the world than baby girls each year? Turns out that it is indeed true, that there are more boys born than girls. However, according to world census, there are in general more women than men. One popular theory is that although there are more male babies being born, they tend to die off sooner due to war, natural causes, and other factors that society will still end up with more women than men. So to compensate, nature produces more male babies than female babies.

Side Snap Onsies

I've been on the hunt...for the elusive side-snap onsie! Why is it that it is so hard to find?? Onesies are everywhere, they come in packs, like underwear. But they are all pullovers. I've heard that many parents of newborns have difficulties pulling a small onesie over their floppy newborn heads. It would appear that the side-snap or "kimono-style" onesies are a perfect solution for newborn attire. You can lay it open on a table, place the baby on top of it and wrap the baby up. Easy, simple, and eveyone's happy. But why has it been so hard for me to find these onesies?? When I do find one, they cost a ridiculous amount of money! Why are they not more popular and in demand?? The only place I found a 3-pack affordable set are here at Albee, they carry the Gerber side snap onesies. But they are out of stock!!! Please restock them!! I was planning on purchasing 6 0-6 month sizes for my baby's staple wardrobe.

Mother Nature Calls...

The joys of new parenthood no doubt is consumed with some not so sweet smell of pee and poop. There are so many brands of diapers out there that when my husband and I went to Babies R Us, we were thoroughly confused. But one thing I do know is that none of the typical name brand diapers are biodegradable. I'm not the most nature-conscious person in the world, but I do sometimes wonder about those hundreds of diapers each baby will soil per year, multiply that by millions. They are just sitting in our landfills...kinda of a stinky thought. So when I saw gdiapers...hm...I wonder. They come with a cloth cover (super cute!) and a liner and an insert which you can throw out, flush, or compose. In reading tons of online reviews by moms, I've decided that it's worth a try. Seems like some of the common complaints are leaking at night, time consuming to flush, and hard to put on. But those are also complaints of regular disposable diapers. Plus, one can just throw the liner away as opposed to flushing since they decompose in less than two months. The other common complaint is the slightly higher cost. Except for the initially purchase of the cute little pants, the inserts are not much more expensive than name brand disposable diapers. Plus, it looks like places like Babies R Us and Whole Foods sell them so you won't have to always order them online. So all in all, I think I will purchase a starter case, have regular disposable diapers on hand for backup, and give it a genuine try when our little one arrives.