Saturday, September 27, 2008

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

It was bound to happen eventually: my new breast pump

A big purchase that we made recently was a breast pump. Once again, I am proud to say that we got a great deal off of craigslist. I bought the hospital grade double breast pump from Medela for about $85 (New, I think they cost around $300). At first Dad and I were skeptical about buying something so special second-hand; we were mostly worried about hygiene. But our birthing class instructor - and my sister-in-law - taught us that none of the parts of the breast pump one buys ever touch the milk or breast. When you buy a breast pump like the one we did, it does not include the tubing and bottles that come into contact with your own milk/body. These extra parts you buy separately - and new, so the consumer can rest assured that everything is clean.

In any event, in commemoration of the big buy, here are some pictures of our new purchase. Now, to figure out how to use this thing (I think we still need to get the accessories before we can actually really see it up and running - not to mention that I'm not making milk yet, so there really is no way to test it on me yet, at least). Doesn't this thing look crazy complicated?




Great Thread on OBs in LA area

It's too late for us now, because we have already settled with the mid-wives at UCLA (which on the whole we think are pretty great), but I found this great thread on mothering.com offering some useful insights on supportive obstetricians of natural childbirth in the area. I'm putting the link here for my own records:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=419487

I found this on-line when I was actually looking for tips/suggestions on a good pediatrician in LA for our soon-to-be-born baby boy. I still haven't found that yet... and am a total loss on where to start (none of my friends have babies). If anyone out there has any suggests, we'd love to hear from you. Thanks!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

My Belly at about 26 weeks!

We took this picture at the West LA Obon Festival this year, already more than 8 weeks ago (on July 26). To see our pictures from that day, have a look at our google photo album! I just fixed this pic up (blurring out the edges) with picasa. You can tell my extremities are kind of swollen (lot of typical pregnancy bloating) by just looking at my hands...




Incidentally, I think this photo proves that my stomach was already pretty big, even before that picture, down below, was taken around 30 weeks.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Around 30 weeks?

We found this picture on Scott's phone, and I like it a lot. Scott and I just figured out that it was taken more than 4 weeks ago, around August 17. I am convinced that when this was taken, my belly was already much bigger than it looks in this picture... I am carrying the baby low (everyone says this is because the baby is a boy), so maybe there is a chance that my right leg is covering up some of the bellly bulge in the picture. In any event, this pic shows how happy Dad and I are relaxing on a beach in Redondo. We had just picked up a crib that a friend of Scott's gave to us (his friend's kid has already outgrown it)!!! After we met Scott's friend, we went to the beach for about an hour to kill time before heading to one of our final Bradley birthing classes.

10 Easy Things I Never Thought Would be a Challenge

As I head into the home stretch (we only have about 6 more weeks before this little boy is coming to us!), I am seriously struggling with the increasing size of my belly. (FYI: I weighed in today at my 34 week check-up at almost 170 pounds- Ugh!) Here are TEN very VERY mundane things that I can no longer do without putting a lot of thought and/or energy into:
1) Roll over in bed
2) Stand up from a sitting position (and by the same token, Sit up from a reclining position)
3) Breathe
4) Stand on one leg (to change clothes)
5) Get in and out of a car...
6) Sit with my legs crossed (seriously, they are too swollen to fold over anymore!)
7) Sit with my legs even together (they don't allow room for the big belly)
8) Go even about 30 minutes without having to go to the bathroom
9) Sit in reclining chairs, bucket seats, and on bar stools
10) Stand upright for more than 5 minutes

Thursday, September 4, 2008

32-week Sonogram: My Baby's Face

Yesterday we got an ultrasound to confirm that VJ is situated head-down in the uterus, ready to go for the birth already. The good news is that he is - so there should be no worries about our having a breach baby, and thus having a C-section (for that reason, at least). We also got a glimpse of VJ's face - although it was very VERY hazy.



Here is a transcription of our dialogue:
(Dad Scott is hanging out in the back, playing the important yet silent role of camera man/)
I am saying to our mid-wife: "Is that the top of his head?"
"Yeah," the mid-wife whispers. "Look, he's looking around!" I exclaim.
She responds, "Yeah," again and then chuckles.
Then the image changes, and I ask: "What's that?" She says, "His Face." [PAUSE]
"Ohhhh, I see!" (I see it, but it is VERY VERY hard to make out any real features. VJ's face is on its side; his chin is on the far left of the ultrasound monitor. The most visible thing on the sonogram is his right eye.)
"You see?" "Yeah!" Then the image changes again. Our mid-wife is about to show us VJ's healthy beating heart. The video winds down now, after 30 seconds.
From what I can tell, our little guy has a very square jaw - don't know where he got that - and big eyes (I DO know where he got those).