Honey, I'm Home!: Pregnancy

Showing posts with label Pregnancy. Show all posts

Introducing...

December 10, 2010

Caleb Nicholas Tsoi

Our baby boy was born December 8th, weighing 8lbs, 10oz and measuring 54cm. I'm so incredibly proud to say that Caleb was born healthy and fully alert after a completely natural birth.

October 16, 2010

After months and months of deliberation, I have finally decided on my last day of work.

I have finally typed up my formal letter.

I have finally printed, signed and delivered them.

It has been done.

Maternity Clothing

September 15, 2010

How to tell that it's time to buy some new maternity clothing:

1. Your belly is peeking out at the bottom of your shirt.

2. The stretchy piece of material that is suppose to accommodate your ever-growing belly doesn't seem to be stretchy enough.

3. You find it unbearably difficult to breathe when your shirt is zipped up.

4. You wear your husband's boxers as shorts because yours don't fit. No one else is going to see you at night anyway.

5. The first thing your husband asks you when he gets home is "Do you know where my shirt is?" and you always reply "Oh... you mean this one" while looking down at the shirt you're wearing.

Every Pregnancy Is Different

August 16, 2010

Things could not be more different between the last time, when I was pregnant with Nathan, and this time.

I think I went into this pregnancy with the naive notion that this pregnancy would be a breeze, just like last time. I guess I should have realized how incredibly lucky I was that time and also acknowledge the fact that my body has the added stress of being in a very physically and mentally draining job.

Just for fun, I'd like to do a comparison to look at a few differences (so far).

The Bump
When I was pregnant with Nathan, I didn't really show until almost the middle of my pregnancy. This time, I popped early and you could tell I was pregnant by about the third month. People have been telling me it's because after the first child, your body has already been 'pre-stretched' so it just shows faster. The size of my bump may or may not have been influenced also by some cravings.

The Cravings
With Nathan, I was very conscious about my eating and I was careful to avoid any junk food and fast foods. The only thing I actually craved was Caramilk. I went through those chocolate bars like it was no one's business, but other than that, nothing. This time, I did not have so much self-control. Within a span of 20 minutes, I'd crave McDonald's, then pizza, then sushi. The oddest craving I had was pickles. That's weird enough in itself because I normally don't like pickles, but I specifically wanted the pickles from a McDouble burger - the one bite that had the pickle in it was mine. The rest of the burger went to Andrew.

The Aversions
With Nathan, again, there wasn't really anything I had to avoid. Nothing made me feel sick and it was pretty enjoyable that way. This time around, certain smells of foods and certain flavours made my stomach turn. My aversions were so bad that even thinking about certain things would make me feel sick. For instance, for months we had to avoid eating, talking about or even thinking about Pho. The thought of the smells and flavours would make me gag uncontrollably.

The Other Symptoms
I never felt any discomfort when I was carrying Nathan, nor did my sleep get interrupted. Sleeping is horrible this time around. There was a period of time when I'd get up frequently throughout the night because my bladder was going crazy. Then once that settled, it was insomnia. I spend most of the night tossing and turning, exhausted but wide awake.

Exhaustion was another factor. Taking my lack of sleep into account, in addition to having a full time job this time around, my energy levels were at an all-time low. There was a point when I'd come home, eat and then sleep right away. Poor Nathan suffered. Poor Andrew suffered even more. Luckily, they were both super supportive of me. Nathan would call me over to play with him and I'd accidentally fall asleep. Next thing you know, I hear Nathan asking me to lift my head so he can slide a little pillow under my head, and then he'd cover me with a blanket.

Then there was Andrew. Not only did he have his full, sporadic work schedule, but he also took it upon himself to do all the house work plus get Nathan ready for the rest of the night, making his dinner and preparing him for bed, and get lucnhes and backpacks ready for the next day so that I could go to bed and not worry about having to get up early.

I'm so incredibly blessed, and even though this pregnancy wasn't a breeze as I had hoped, I'm still really enjoying it!

Three and a half more months until baby's here!

Sushi and Crepes

August 13, 2010

It's been a while since we've gone out on a Friday night.

Tonight was a rare treat.

It all started when I took half a day off work to get my glucose challenge test done. Unfortunately, after hours and hours of fasting, 45 minutes before the end of my shortened work day, a co-worker offered me a Twizzler and without thinking, I ate the entire thing. Seconds after, I realized my mistake and contemplated making myself throw up so that my entire morning of fasting and agony wouldn't be a waste.

Alas, I did not end up doing the test but that gave me just enough time to zip over to Nathan's open house. After the performance, he gobbled up some yummy watermelons and we headed home where I went straight to the couch for a quick nap before we headed back out to Second Cup for a nice summery drink.

I asked Nathan what he wanted for dinner and he said "sushi" (one of his 3 typical responses), so I suggested going home first. He insisted on not going home first so we ended up walking the entire 2 kilometers to the sushi restaurant. I should be rewarded.

By the time we got there, Andrew was just finishing his conference and was heading home so I asked him to kindly drive the car over so we wouldn't have to walk another 2km home. Because I'm quite sure that Nathan would have asked to be picked up once we stepped out the door. And I would have to insist on also being picked up because there was no way I was going to walk all the way home.

Then, when we finished our sushi, we headed across the street for one last treat - a delicious crepe. Because we totally deserved it.

Nesting Instinct

August 8, 2010

The nesting has begun.

According to Parenting Weekly, the nesting instinct shows up around the 5th month of pregnancy and is the "uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world."

I'm currently 23 weeks, baby's about the size of a papaya and I'm constantly dashing around the house, tossing out things we don't need, putting away little odds and ends and trying to figure out how exactly I am going to pack away my entire wardrobe seeing as how I won't need any of my regular clothes again until after we move to Australia.

So for me, it may be a combination of nesting and the fact that we're going to be moving to the other side of the Earth in approximately 5 months, but the nesting has definitely begun.

In an effort to make a dent in my large supply of flour and sugar, I baked yesterday morning. Approximately 60 muffins. In 3 flavours - blueberry, apple cheddar and banana chocolate chip.

It's a good thing those muffins are so tasty and that I have a super-supportive husband who will eat anything I make. Otherwise, I wouldn't know what to do with all those muffins!