Travels: Denver

Jun and I are currently in Denver, as she had a work-related conference/class to attend. With my current joblessness, I am tagging along with her and enjoying the benefits her company has given her which include a free hotel room, free rental car (Dodge Caliber, which has to be one of the slowest, least-powerful vehicles I've ever driven) and enough per-diem money to feed both of us every day.

In the past when I've gone on trips like these with Jun, I've been able to go out during the day and walk around downtown and enjoy the things the city has to offer. This time is a little different because our hotel is about 10ish miles southeast of downtown. Parking downtown is ridiculous (in the neighborhood of $10/hour) so on Monday I decided to take the light rail. The nearest station to our hotel is about a mile away, so I got up in the morning and made the hike to the station and caught the train. It took a good hour of walking and train-ing to get downtown and when I got there, I roamed around for awhile and took some pictures and acted all tourist-y. It was a beautiful day in the low 90s with the sun shining and I enjoyed the day but by about 3 o'clock in the afternoon I felt like I had seen all I needed to see and caught the train back home.

I've spent the last day and a half lounging around our room reading my book or exploring the hallways and stairwells of the hotel...

Other than that we have been trying to eat in all the Denver restaurants that have been featured on food-related TV shows. So far we have been to:

The Cherry Cricket - As seen on Man Vs. Food
The Bagel Deli - As seen on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives

and

Beau Jo's Pizza - As seen on Man Vs. Food

We might try to hit another place or two before we leave on Friday.

Also, last night we decided to take our extremely-underpowered car and drive into the mountains west of Denver. We drove along the winding mountain roads (avoiding the hundreds of bicyclists) and stopped at most scenic lookouts to take pictures. Along the way we also found the place where Buffalo bill was buried. Who knew he was buried on top of a Colorado mountain? I sure didn't. We were also planning on driving up the the famous (?) Red Rock Amphithéâtre (not trying to be snobby with my spelling, that is what the spell-check suggested as the preferred spelling) to check it out, but there happened to be a Death Cab for Cutie concert that night and the place was packed so we headed home. We might try again tonight since there are no scheduled events.

I forgot to upload the pictures from our scenic drive to the computer before making this blog post, so if you read this before I edit and add the pictures... I'll get to it!

Edit: Here's a couple of pictures.

Don't Scare Us Like That!

Yesterday was probably the most nervewracking thus far. Pregnancy has not been a cakewalk for Jun; she's had terrible nausea and morning sickness for the last two weeks and just has generally not felt all that well, but it's never been anything to be concerned about. However, yesterday morning Jun got up for work and started getting ready and noticed a "personal" issue that warranted concern. She woke me up and told me what happened and we both got worried that a miscarriage was threatening. We immediately called the doctor who told us to be in her office first thing when it opened.

The doctor's office opened at 8:30 so I drove in to Jun's office to pick her up and we drove (in near silence) to the doctor. We arrived on time, but due to not having a "real" appointment, it was almost 10:00 before we finally got called out of the waiting room to get a sonogram. Once the sonogram got underway we were extremely relieved to see this:

and:

We were also able to hear his heartbeat which was actually a stronger 118. Not quite to the 120-160 range, but getting close.

Just also received the results of her bloodwork she had done two days before which said her progesterone levels were normal so she wouldn't have to go on progesterone supplements. (We also found out she did NOT have HIV or Hepatitis. What a relief!) Just to be on the safe side, the nurse took her blood again to make sure her progesterone levels didn't fall, so poor Jun had to be stuck with a needle again by the same nurse who gave her the big bruise on her other arm, so now she has a matching set! (Note: Got the new bloodwork back this morning and progesterone levels are still normal.)

We also got to talk to an actual doctor during this visit, who said Puff appeared to be doing fine and that all of Jun's "problems" from earlier in the day had no impact on the baby's health. She did prescribe bedrest to Jun, however, so Jun has to take it easy for the next few days.

We also talked to a nurse who did her best to scare us by informing us on all the terrible diseases and genetic malformations that they can now be tested for while the baby is still in the womb such as Downs Syndrome or Cystic Fibrosis. We also got to watch 3 videos about saving umbilical cord blood (which contain stem cells) which were pretty interesting.

All in all, it was an emotional day which ended on a happy note... but don't ever scare us like that again, Puff!

Doctor's Appointment #1 of Many

Today was a big day for our young pregnancy; we had our first prenatal doctor's appointment. I was fortunate enough to be able to tag along and I was very glad that I did.

This appointment was an sonogram only... we only got to talk to the doctor for maybe one minute and that was only in passing. Apparently it's too soon to even ask any questions? That was one thing that frustrated me about the appointment. Jun and I went in with a long list of "first-timer" questions but really got nothing in return... but I digress... on with the appointment details!

Our baby is still very young, and as it turns out, even younger than we thought. Jun and I had tried calculating the baby's age by counting from her last period, and thought we had a pretty good estimate of being in our 8th week (6 week fetal age). Well, it turns out that since Jun's period is longer than the average lady's, she ovulated later and didn't get pregnant when we thought she did. In fact, it turns out that she got pregnant almost a week and a half later than we thought. This was apparent on our sonogram picture when the technician used her computer to measure Puff and found out he was quite a bit smaller than we thought he would be at this point. Not really a big deal, it just means that we aren't as far along as we thought and it pushed the due date back about a week longer than Jun and I had estimated on our own. (Doctor's Projected Due Date: April 7th, 2012)

It was really a neat experience to see our baby on the monitor. I hesitate to use the words "cute" or "precious", because it wasn't much more than a dot on the screen.

Probably the most special part of the appointment came when the technician found Puff's heartbeat. Jun and I weren't sure if we would be able to hear a heartbeat at this appointment, but we were presently surprised when the "wub-wub-wub" sound came out of the speakers. It was definitely a surreal experience for me, and I can't even imagine what Jun was feeling at the time. The technician used her tools to calculate the fetal heart rate at 113 bpm. This is apparently a little on the low side (normal is 120-160) but the technician said that it's probably because the baby isn't far enough along yet. We're supposed to go back in 2 weeks to have another sonogram and make sure then heart rate gets up to into the normal range.

After the sonogram experience, we went with a nurse to another room for Jun to get her blood drawn. Jun said later that the nurse "wiggled the needle around" in her arm and left her with a bruise and a sore arm.

Gender Determination: Science vs. History

First things first... Jun and I don't care whether Puff is a boy or girl. As long as he/she is happy and healthy we could care less. We are just excited to be increasing our family size. That said, we would definitely like to know Puff's gender in advance so we can plan accordingly.

Modern technology has given us a few different ways to determine a baby's sex while still in the womb. The method with the earliest detection period is chorionic villus sampling (CVS) which can be done sometime around the 10th to 13th week, the next earliest is amniocentesis which can determine gender around the 14th to 20th week. After that an ultrasound can be used after the 20th week.

Need to know sooner? How about before you even conceive? How about before you even think of getting pregnant. Look no further than the Chinese gender chart. It's several hundred years old and said to be around 90% accurate. Without further ado, here it is:

If you happen to be a mother already, check it to see if it's accurate. Remember that in China, when you are born you are 1 year old, instead of 0... so add 1 year to your current age. For example, Jun got pregnant at 28, so her Chinese age is 29. The month of conception is pretty self explanatory.

Jun's age is 29, and Puff was conceived in July... so that means...

A boy!

Actually, we had about a 5 month window in which to conceive a boy according to the chart.

Now, we are definitely taking that chart with a grain of salt and we won't be purchasing footballs and dinosaurs any time soon... but it is fun to look at. Hopefully in a few months we'll know the baby's gender and we can come back and see just how accurate the chart is.

On Food: Aversions, Cravings, Spicy and Sweet

Today is the last day of week 6 and tomorrow will start the first day of week 7. I've heard that pregnancy seems like it goes by quickly, but for me it seems to be crawling by. I think it's because we are anxious for Jun's first doctor's appointment in a little over a week. At that appointment we'll finally get a chance to ask our pressing questions, get some information and finally get a sonogram which will show us both that Puff really is in there.

Another reason time is moving along slowly is the fact that we can't tell anyone our good news yet. To all who are reading this a few months on down the road, we're sorry we didn't tell you sooner, but we really wanted to! Hopefully in a few weeks more of our friends and family will know. The plan right now is to tell our family (outside of our parents who knew on day one) over Labor Day weekend and begin telling our friends after that. That's still about 4 weeks away, however, so I hope we can keep the cat in the bag that long!

As the title of this blog entry suggests, Jun has started having her first sensitivities to food. Food "aversion" and "craving" are still probably too strong of works, but there are definitely sensitivities. Her first aversion was to sweet foods. Anything overly sugary or rich. It's not constant, and every once in a while she actually does want a sweet treat, but for the most part even the smell of sweets or baked goods tends to make her nauseous.

Her first real craving has been spicy food. Pretty much anything with salsa or tabasco sauce has been high on her list. She's a girl that enjoys a little spicy food every so often, but lately we've just been leaving the tabasco sauce bottle on the table just incase whatever food she has in front of her needs a little "kick."

Other than that, Jun's pregnancy symptoms are rather mild. She has gotten sick or nauseous only a few times after meals, but usually feels quite a bit better after. Everything else is going great, though.

Hard to believe a 1/4" baby is causing all these problems.

Puff...

In an effort to stop referring to our upcoming bundle of joy as "it," we tried to think up a nickname for our baby-to-be.  We thought of several different nicknames, but they were all either too gender specific or just plain too goofy... also we kept coming back to items of food for some reason.

List of rejected nicknames:

Noodle
Doodle
Button
Dot
Bear
Bug
Nut
Panda
Pea
Bacon

We hadn't settled on a nickname the first night so we slept on it (I know... this is such a HUGE decision...).  The next morning my mom (MyMy to her other grandkids) called and asked when the baby would be due.  I told her that we estimated it would be late March/early April which meant that the baby would be born in the year of the dragon based on the Chinese zodiac calendar.  I then informed her of our dilemma of choosing a nickname and she immediately stated that since the baby would be a dragon, why don't we use "Puff" as a nickname (in reference to Puff the Magic Dragon).

It was just too perfect to pass up... it's very cute and good for either a boy or girl so that's what we're going with.  Thanks, MyMy for your help with this IMPORTANT decision.

A Little About Me, Us and This Blog

My name is Greg.  I am 28 years old at the time of writing this.  I graduated from Oklahoma State University in 2007 with a degree in Civil Engineering.  After gradation I moved to Fort Worth, Texas to take a full-time position with an engineering firm.  I have lived here ever since.  My life would be pretty dull and boring, had I not met Jun during my last year of college.  She was a fifth-year senior, like me, and she was an Architectural Engineering major.  She was a Teaching Assistant for a class along with one of my roommates which is how we originally met.  She would come over to drop off tests or help grade papers and we eventually became friends... and a little later... more than friends.  

We didn't officially begin dating until April 2007, which was one month before we both were graduating.  I was going to be moving to Texas and she was staying at OSU for grad school.  We knew it would be tough to do a long-distance relationship, but decided that it was worth taking a chance on.  Fast forward more than four years and you have us as we are today; happily married for two-and-a-half years, still living in Fort Worth in a house we had built west of the city proper.

In the early Spring of this year, we began entertaining the idea of increasing the size of our family by 50%.  Due to my employment status (which is a tale for another day, and possibly another blog), we put off actually trying for a kid until our 28th birthdays began approaching (Me: July 11th, Her:  June 30th).  After deciding we were going to get too old if we didn't get our act together soon, we officially started trying in late June.  

We began charting waking temperatures and using a guidebook (thanks cousin Cindy!) to tell us what her temperature charts meant and what days she would be most fertile.  Well, that book must contain some kind of magic because it took only one month for us to get pregnant.  One month.  I can't believe it.  I mean, I really went in with no expectations because I had read it takes some couples months or even years to conceive, surely we couldn't be so incredibly lucky.  

The test says otherwise.  As of today, Jun is approximately 6 weeks along.  Not very far at all, but it's crazy to think that one month out the nine passed without us even knowing.  She isn't showing and probably won't for many more weeks.  She has some symptoms of pregnancy such as fatigue and funny tastes in her mouth as well as a few others that are too personal to go into on here.  No morning sickness yet, but our other book says that will probably start in 2-3 weeks.  Neither of us are looking forward to that, but we both know it comes with the territory.  

Now, while we are extremely excited by this news and feel that God has certainly blessed us, we still approach these next few weeks with wariness.  Jun won't even be able to go to the doctor for another two weeks to confirm.  Even then, we probably won't be sharing our joy with anyone outside of family for probably even a month or so after that.  Chances are, if you're reading this, we're already a few months along and you have some reading to catch up on!

I've intended for this blog to be a journal of sorts for Jun and I, but also as a way our family and friends can keep updated on our progress and share in our new adventure (both the highs and the lows...).  

Thank you for reading our blog.  I hope you will have as much joy reading it as we have writing (and living!) it.

Surprise!?!

August 1st, 2011, 5:45 AM

We had just woken up to Jun's phone blaring "Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse as her alarm clock.  Time to start the day.  Jun sleepily rolled over and said one word, "thermometer."  With my eyes still mostly closed, I felt around on the bedside table for the basal thermometer we had been using for more than a month now to chart her waking temperature.  I was almost asleep again when I heard the thermometer beep and Jun use her phone as a flashlight to look at the numbers.  I held my breath as I waited for her to tell me what the temperature was.  If it was over 98 degrees again, it would be 16 days of high temperatures in a row.  If you've never really studied the patterns in a woman's basal temperature as it relates to fertility, I'll tell you what 16 day of high temperatures after ovulation means...

Pregnant.

"98.32," she calls out.  We both knew what we needed to do.  We crawled out of bed and walked the short distance to our bathroom and started un-boxing a pregnancy test.  We had a couple of different types of test and I had chosen the one we bought on a whim from a Dollar Tree.  Turns out it's not like the ones on the commercials with the sticks you pee on, it requires you to pee in a cup and then use the included eye dropper to add four drops of urine from the cup to the tester.  We both somehow managed to get this done without getting anything on our fingers and we waited the required 3 minutes.  After the required period of time, we saw this:

Dollar Tree Test... Pregnant

You can definitely see a faint pink line next to the dark red line which means...

Pregnant.

Well, we weren't satisfied with a Dollar Tree test.  Who knows how accurate they are.  For a dollar they may tell EVERYONE they're pregnant.  However, when I think about it, you would think most people who buy pregnancy tests at a dollar store would be hoping for a negative... but whatever.

So I pulled out the big guns.  The Equate brand pregnancy test from Wal-Mart.  This one cost $5, so it must be 5x as accurate, right?. Well, this test requires you pee on the little absorbent tip for 10 seconds and seeing as how Jun had just used the bathroom for the first test, she didn't really have it in her to complete the test as instructed, but she did have enough left to fill up the little cup we were using for the first test again so we just stuck the absorbent tip of the new test in the cup for 10 seconds.  Figure that was close enough.  After another mandatory wait of three minutes, we checked the new test and this is what we saw:

Wal-Mart test... Pregnant

In the circular opening in the new test, you can definitely see the "+" symbol which means...

Pregnant.

Pregnancy Factor of Safety = 2