She finally looks pregnant. :)
I'll be home soon, honey. Love ya!
Monday, December 12, 2011
A Quick Update
I'm on the road again, but Jun let me take this picture of her in one of her new maternity shirts before I left. It's now my phone's wallpaper so I see it every time I make a call or send a text.
She finally looks pregnant. :)
I'll be home soon, honey. Love ya!
She finally looks pregnant. :)
I'll be home soon, honey. Love ya!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
It was the best of times....
...and hopefully the worst of times are behind us.
For those of you that don't know yet, we are having a...
That's right, it's a boy. During our appointment a month ago, little Puff was not very shy and made sure we knew which gender he was. So I guess from now on we'll be referring to Puff as a "he".
That was over a month ago, so let me get everyone caught up to what's been going on. As of tomorrow, Jun is now 23 weeks along and feeling great. The sickness is now pretty much behind her and she has a very healthy appetite. Her stomach is growing little by little, but it's definitely not big enough to be cumbersome. She gets around really well and isn't having any health problems or swollen joints. It's a good time to be pregnant!
A few weeks ago we had to begin buying Jun maternity clothes due to her ever-expanding waistline and based on her reaction, she may never go back to normal clothes. All I hear is that they are "sooooooo comfy!"
For Thanksgiving, Jun and I set out from Fort Worth early on Thursday morning to go back to Oklahoma and see my family. It's nice leaving at like 4:30 because there's little to no traffic, and we managed to make good time. That day for lunch we ate at my grandma's house. We had a great time seeing a lot of family and eating a delicious lunch. That night we finally let my family know that we are having a boy. Everyone seemed really excited.
Late Thursday/Early Friday was Black Friday, and once again I got waist deep in the madness and went into each store swinging elbows. The stores opened super-early this year and it led to much frustration in the planning and execution of our shopping trip. We hit the major retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart, but it wasn't as successful of a trip as we had had in the past. I think it may be the last time I participate, especially with a baby to take care of next year. Good luck to those of you that go next year!
On Saturday we had our family Thanksgiving dinner. Dad fried a "cajun-style" turkey and we all ate more food than we thought possible. That evening, Jun and I had to leave to head back to Texas, as I was flying to L.A. on Sunday and we wanted to spend some time together before I left for a week. It was sad to have to leave everyone so early, but it was nice to get back home again as well.
After a week on the road, I made it back home on Friday to go with Jun to her follow-up appointment with the Perinatologist. My mom and dad were also able to be in attendance, which was very nice of them. This appointment went very well. The doctor was able to find the small "mass" again, but it didn't grow from the last appointment which was very encouraging to the doctor. In her opinion, it wasn't really a mass at all, but probably a "pronounced" gallbladder or perhaps a dilated liver tube (whatever that means). She said she wouldn't have caught it if she didn't know what she was looking for and that everything else indicated a perfectly healthy baby boy. We were of course very relieved to hear the news. We'll still see the specialist every month, but we were assured that everything was moving along great. Puff was sort of curled up in a ball during the visit, so we weren't able to get a good length measurement, but we did find out he weighs about 1 lb, 2 oz now, which is apparently right where he should be.
Another fun thing; I was finally able to feel Puff kick the other day. I laid my head where Jun said he had been moving, and after a little bit of patients, I was able to feel him kick me right in the ear! Pretty special.
We had another appointment with Jun's regular OB doctor today, and while we didn't get a new ultrasound, we were still able to hear his strong heartbeat, which is always reassuring. Jun was given a sugary-drink to take home with her which she will be drinking prior to her next appointment where they will be checking her sugar levels to detect gestational diabetes. The whole day of the test she's not allowed to eat anything with sugars or carbs so that the test won't be screwed up. Hope everything goes well then too.
I'll leave you with one of the pics from the specialist ultrasound. It may be hard to make out, but we caught puff sucking on his fingers and the doctor snapped a picture.
Until next time!
For those of you that don't know yet, we are having a...
That's right, it's a boy. During our appointment a month ago, little Puff was not very shy and made sure we knew which gender he was. So I guess from now on we'll be referring to Puff as a "he".
That was over a month ago, so let me get everyone caught up to what's been going on. As of tomorrow, Jun is now 23 weeks along and feeling great. The sickness is now pretty much behind her and she has a very healthy appetite. Her stomach is growing little by little, but it's definitely not big enough to be cumbersome. She gets around really well and isn't having any health problems or swollen joints. It's a good time to be pregnant!
A few weeks ago we had to begin buying Jun maternity clothes due to her ever-expanding waistline and based on her reaction, she may never go back to normal clothes. All I hear is that they are "sooooooo comfy!"
For Thanksgiving, Jun and I set out from Fort Worth early on Thursday morning to go back to Oklahoma and see my family. It's nice leaving at like 4:30 because there's little to no traffic, and we managed to make good time. That day for lunch we ate at my grandma's house. We had a great time seeing a lot of family and eating a delicious lunch. That night we finally let my family know that we are having a boy. Everyone seemed really excited.
Late Thursday/Early Friday was Black Friday, and once again I got waist deep in the madness and went into each store swinging elbows. The stores opened super-early this year and it led to much frustration in the planning and execution of our shopping trip. We hit the major retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart, but it wasn't as successful of a trip as we had had in the past. I think it may be the last time I participate, especially with a baby to take care of next year. Good luck to those of you that go next year!
On Saturday we had our family Thanksgiving dinner. Dad fried a "cajun-style" turkey and we all ate more food than we thought possible. That evening, Jun and I had to leave to head back to Texas, as I was flying to L.A. on Sunday and we wanted to spend some time together before I left for a week. It was sad to have to leave everyone so early, but it was nice to get back home again as well.
After a week on the road, I made it back home on Friday to go with Jun to her follow-up appointment with the Perinatologist. My mom and dad were also able to be in attendance, which was very nice of them. This appointment went very well. The doctor was able to find the small "mass" again, but it didn't grow from the last appointment which was very encouraging to the doctor. In her opinion, it wasn't really a mass at all, but probably a "pronounced" gallbladder or perhaps a dilated liver tube (whatever that means). She said she wouldn't have caught it if she didn't know what she was looking for and that everything else indicated a perfectly healthy baby boy. We were of course very relieved to hear the news. We'll still see the specialist every month, but we were assured that everything was moving along great. Puff was sort of curled up in a ball during the visit, so we weren't able to get a good length measurement, but we did find out he weighs about 1 lb, 2 oz now, which is apparently right where he should be.
Another fun thing; I was finally able to feel Puff kick the other day. I laid my head where Jun said he had been moving, and after a little bit of patients, I was able to feel him kick me right in the ear! Pretty special.
We had another appointment with Jun's regular OB doctor today, and while we didn't get a new ultrasound, we were still able to hear his strong heartbeat, which is always reassuring. Jun was given a sugary-drink to take home with her which she will be drinking prior to her next appointment where they will be checking her sugar levels to detect gestational diabetes. The whole day of the test she's not allowed to eat anything with sugars or carbs so that the test won't be screwed up. Hope everything goes well then too.
I'll leave you with one of the pics from the specialist ultrasound. It may be hard to make out, but we caught puff sucking on his fingers and the doctor snapped a picture.
Until next time!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
A Long 24 Hours; Or, How I Learned What A Perinatologist Does
Jun and I had another visit with the doctor on November 3rd. Yes, I know that was 10 days ago. Yes, I know I'm slacking.
This was a very important appointment because at about 18 weeks, Jun was just shy of being halfway through the pregnancy. We went into the doctor's office very excited, because from what we were told, the ultrasound tech should be able to determine gender.
Jun's name was called by the nurse and me, Jun, and my mom (who was nice enough to come down for the appointment) went back to the ultrasound room. The tech got Jun all set up on the table and we saw this on the monitor:
Wow, Puff has gotten a lot bigger from the last time we got an ultrasound. The tech also turned on the 4D ultrasound again and we got a pretty good look at the baby's face:
Puff was (at the time of the appointment) 5.5 inches long and weighed about half a pound.
After all the niceties and "ooo-ing" and "awww-ing" the tech spent about fifteen minutes taking measurements on all of Puff's vital body parts.
Brain? Check.
Heart? Check.
Spine? Check.
Internal Organs? Check.
Arms, Legs and Fingers? Check.
Unidentified mass? Che.... wait what?
The ultrasound tech dropped the words "mass" on us to describe a dark-ish spot near the baby's liver/gall bladder area and it totally killed the joy we were feeling in the room. She tried to get a view of the "mass" from several different angles and she had no idea what it was. She said there was nothing in her medical books to describe what she was seeing (which she said was a good thing).
She referred us to the doctor who took a look at the ultrasound pictures and basically shrugged and said "I don't know" before referring us to a high-risk pregnancy doctor called a Perinatologist. Great. We then spent the whole evening worrying that our baby wasn't the perfectly healthy bundle of joy that we were hoping it would be. Not a lot of sleep was gotten that night.
We were very fortunate to get in to see the specialist the next day. The doctor that we saw was very nice, even though it looked like I was older than she was. She did another ultrasound on Jun and Puff and found the "mass" that the ultrasound tech had found the previous day. Her thoughts about the dark spot?
"I don't know"
Her best guess was that it was gallstones, but while it wasn't unheard of for a fetus to have gallstones, it was pretty rare to see it this early. Her other thought was that it could be a cyst on Puff's liver, which she said wouldn't be a very big deal. She had a fancy tool which could measure bloodflow to different baby body parts and whatever the "mass" was it did not have blood moving in and out of it, this meant that she thought it wasn't a tumor. The doctor was very reassuring, stating that she was almost sure that the "mass" is not a big deal and not something we should lose sleep over as we have an otherwise perfectly healthy baby.
We still don't know what it is, and we have another appointment in a few weeks with the Perinatologist to see if it's still there. We'd certainly appreciate any prayers you would be so inclined to give regarding the matter as it is as yet unresolved.
I almost forgot, we DID find out the gender! We are having a.....
This was a very important appointment because at about 18 weeks, Jun was just shy of being halfway through the pregnancy. We went into the doctor's office very excited, because from what we were told, the ultrasound tech should be able to determine gender.
Jun's name was called by the nurse and me, Jun, and my mom (who was nice enough to come down for the appointment) went back to the ultrasound room. The tech got Jun all set up on the table and we saw this on the monitor:
Wow, Puff has gotten a lot bigger from the last time we got an ultrasound. The tech also turned on the 4D ultrasound again and we got a pretty good look at the baby's face:
Puff was (at the time of the appointment) 5.5 inches long and weighed about half a pound.
After all the niceties and "ooo-ing" and "awww-ing" the tech spent about fifteen minutes taking measurements on all of Puff's vital body parts.
Brain? Check.
Heart? Check.
Spine? Check.
Internal Organs? Check.
Arms, Legs and Fingers? Check.
Unidentified mass? Che.... wait what?
The ultrasound tech dropped the words "mass" on us to describe a dark-ish spot near the baby's liver/gall bladder area and it totally killed the joy we were feeling in the room. She tried to get a view of the "mass" from several different angles and she had no idea what it was. She said there was nothing in her medical books to describe what she was seeing (which she said was a good thing).
She referred us to the doctor who took a look at the ultrasound pictures and basically shrugged and said "I don't know" before referring us to a high-risk pregnancy doctor called a Perinatologist. Great. We then spent the whole evening worrying that our baby wasn't the perfectly healthy bundle of joy that we were hoping it would be. Not a lot of sleep was gotten that night.
We were very fortunate to get in to see the specialist the next day. The doctor that we saw was very nice, even though it looked like I was older than she was. She did another ultrasound on Jun and Puff and found the "mass" that the ultrasound tech had found the previous day. Her thoughts about the dark spot?
"I don't know"
Her best guess was that it was gallstones, but while it wasn't unheard of for a fetus to have gallstones, it was pretty rare to see it this early. Her other thought was that it could be a cyst on Puff's liver, which she said wouldn't be a very big deal. She had a fancy tool which could measure bloodflow to different baby body parts and whatever the "mass" was it did not have blood moving in and out of it, this meant that she thought it wasn't a tumor. The doctor was very reassuring, stating that she was almost sure that the "mass" is not a big deal and not something we should lose sleep over as we have an otherwise perfectly healthy baby.
We still don't know what it is, and we have another appointment in a few weeks with the Perinatologist to see if it's still there. We'd certainly appreciate any prayers you would be so inclined to give regarding the matter as it is as yet unresolved.
I almost forgot, we DID find out the gender! We are having a.....
Monday, October 24, 2011
The Robbins' Nest: Now with Pictures!
I know it may seem, at times, that I have lost interest in blogging due to the length of time between posts, but rest assured, I do plan on sticking with it, and creating the longest run-on sentences I possibly can. I suppose the reason for the lack of posts over the last couple of months is because... well... not much has happened.
Jun is still pregnant (thankfully), but there's not much more on that front to report. She is slowly but surely feeling better and her "evening" sickness is now only occurring once every 3 or 4 days. I'd say she's almost into the "feel good" period of being pregnant. Her appetite has returned lately and she's been able to eat three good meals a day. Actually, as of this morning she has gained a net total of 1 pound! (After having lost about 5 in the first trimester.) She's still frustrated that no one can tell that she's pregnant just by looking at her. I mean, I can tell, but I see her quite a bit more than most people do and I hear her complain that her pants are starting to fit snug. You can definitely feel a hard spot under her belly button, so it's growing, just not showing yet.
For reference, here's some pictures we've taken to show her progress:
(Note: All "week" calculations are actual baby age [weeks since conception]. Add approximately 2 weeks to convert to the "conventional" way of counting weeks [weeks since last period]. I will be using the actual baby age from here on out to avoid confusion.)
11 Weeks:
15 Weeks:
Not much of a change, right?
As of today, she's somewhere around 16/17 weeks, so she'll be due to take another progress picture in about 2 weeks.
Jun had another doctor's appointment last Thursday, but since they didn't give her a sonogram, there isn't much to say about it. Puff had a heartbeat of 149, which is still good and strong and Jun and Puff are still doing great. According to Dr. Internet, Puff is now around 5 inches long which is approximately the size of a large avocado. She has another doctor's appointment on November 10th which is going to be the appointment where we are able to determine gender (hopefully... if Puff isn't too shy). We're really looking forward to it.
In other baby-related news, we made our first nursery purchase. Jun noticed that Babies 'R' Us was having a sale on a set of baby furniture that we really liked so we went ahead and ordered it. It came in to the store last week and we brought it home to get it set up. I'd like to send out a thank you to our good friends Mandy and Jeromy who were nice enough to help us move the incredibly bulky boxes to our house from the store. A special thanks to Jeromy, who's strength and masculinity are beyond reproach (no homo), who risked muscle tears, spinal dislocations and/or tendon and ligament injury to help me lug the ridiculously heavy boxes inside. We wouldn't have been able to get it done without you guys (and your pickup).
Here's a couple of pictures of the assembly process and the finished products.
This is the box the crib came in. It was as heavy and unwieldy as it appears. In this picture I'm trying to wedge a box cutter into the joint to cut the box open without somehow opening my femoral artery instead.
All the crib parts laid out.
Assembly. I've got my tongue sticking out and my mouth held just the right way, which is just the way my dad taught me how to get work done. Jun, who refused to have her picture taken that evening, was dressed the way my dad taught me to dress to get work done... in teal sweatpants and a bright orange shirt. :)
...and completed!
Having some furniture in Puff's room makes it seem a little more real and exciting, but just sheer amount of stuff we have to buy is a little overwhelming. Looking forward to getting started though!
I know I promised a video from the last ultrasound Jun had, but the video the ultrasound tech gave to Jun at her last appointment was in some strange format and I've got to get around to converting it correctly and uploading it to YouTube. Hopefully I'll have it up in the future.
Until next time!
Jun is still pregnant (thankfully), but there's not much more on that front to report. She is slowly but surely feeling better and her "evening" sickness is now only occurring once every 3 or 4 days. I'd say she's almost into the "feel good" period of being pregnant. Her appetite has returned lately and she's been able to eat three good meals a day. Actually, as of this morning she has gained a net total of 1 pound! (After having lost about 5 in the first trimester.) She's still frustrated that no one can tell that she's pregnant just by looking at her. I mean, I can tell, but I see her quite a bit more than most people do and I hear her complain that her pants are starting to fit snug. You can definitely feel a hard spot under her belly button, so it's growing, just not showing yet.
For reference, here's some pictures we've taken to show her progress:
(Note: All "week" calculations are actual baby age [weeks since conception]. Add approximately 2 weeks to convert to the "conventional" way of counting weeks [weeks since last period]. I will be using the actual baby age from here on out to avoid confusion.)
11 Weeks:
15 Weeks:
Not much of a change, right?
As of today, she's somewhere around 16/17 weeks, so she'll be due to take another progress picture in about 2 weeks.
Jun had another doctor's appointment last Thursday, but since they didn't give her a sonogram, there isn't much to say about it. Puff had a heartbeat of 149, which is still good and strong and Jun and Puff are still doing great. According to Dr. Internet, Puff is now around 5 inches long which is approximately the size of a large avocado. She has another doctor's appointment on November 10th which is going to be the appointment where we are able to determine gender (hopefully... if Puff isn't too shy). We're really looking forward to it.
In other baby-related news, we made our first nursery purchase. Jun noticed that Babies 'R' Us was having a sale on a set of baby furniture that we really liked so we went ahead and ordered it. It came in to the store last week and we brought it home to get it set up. I'd like to send out a thank you to our good friends Mandy and Jeromy who were nice enough to help us move the incredibly bulky boxes to our house from the store. A special thanks to Jeromy, who's strength and masculinity are beyond reproach (no homo), who risked muscle tears, spinal dislocations and/or tendon and ligament injury to help me lug the ridiculously heavy boxes inside. We wouldn't have been able to get it done without you guys (and your pickup).
Here's a couple of pictures of the assembly process and the finished products.
This is the box the crib came in. It was as heavy and unwieldy as it appears. In this picture I'm trying to wedge a box cutter into the joint to cut the box open without somehow opening my femoral artery instead.
All the crib parts laid out.
Assembly. I've got my tongue sticking out and my mouth held just the right way, which is just the way my dad taught me how to get work done. Jun, who refused to have her picture taken that evening, was dressed the way my dad taught me to dress to get work done... in teal sweatpants and a bright orange shirt. :)
...and completed!
Having some furniture in Puff's room makes it seem a little more real and exciting, but just sheer amount of stuff we have to buy is a little overwhelming. Looking forward to getting started though!
I know I promised a video from the last ultrasound Jun had, but the video the ultrasound tech gave to Jun at her last appointment was in some strange format and I've got to get around to converting it correctly and uploading it to YouTube. Hopefully I'll have it up in the future.
Until next time!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
On Travels, Careers, Visits and Bumps
I realize that it has been awhile since my last blog post, but it's not without reason. Several changes have been occurring in my life in relation to my career. Life has been hectic and I haven't always been in the mood to blog after work.
A little of what's going on:
When I started this blog, I was between careers. I had lost my previous job and was actively pursuing another. My urgency increased when Jun found out she was pregnant. At the beginning of my job search I was looking only for jobs that were closely related to the one I previously had. After our big news, I started branching out, looking for ANY kind of job so I could support Jun and my future family.
A few days after my last blog post, I got a call saying I had received a job offer. I was extremely happy to be gainfully employed again and even happier to just get out of the house during the day. I think I may have been getting cabin fever during those extremely hot months of summer.
The main drawback to this new career is that I will have to travel more than I'm used to. I'm currently in my 3rd week of employment and I've already been to Toronto and I'm currently in New Orleans. I think the travel will die down eventually once I've "learned the ropes," but right now it's something that Jun and I have to deal with. I'm not crazy about leaving a pregnant wife at home, but we both realize that right now, a job is a job and we have to make the best of it. I'm lucky that Jun is by nature a very independent person and is smart enough to take care of herself, but I still have a guilty conscience like I abandoned her.
I've joked with Jun that this job was perfect for me four years ago when I wasn't married and not expecting a baby. Hopefully in my travels I'll get to go somewhere "interesting" and Jun will be able to work it out in her schedule to join me.
Enough about me...
Jun is still doing well and our little Puff is now 14 weeks old, this means that Jun has now finally crossed into the second trimester. The second trimester is supposedly the time period in which pregnant women feel infinitely better. They are not plagued by morning sickness constantly and they aren't big enough to be over-encumbered. So far that has been the case. Jun hasn't been as sick as before and is now only "sick" every now and then. She's starting to get an appetite back and is actually putting on a little weight. No baby-bump yet, but you can definitely feel it coming if you place your hand in the right place.
I think she's ready for a baby-belly because then when people view her they will immediately think, "Oh, she's pregnant! Look how cute she is! She's absolutely glowing!" instead of thinking to themselves, "Is she putting on weight?" Don't worry Jun, it will get there soon enough.
We haven't had a doctor's appointment since the last blog post, but she will have another one next Thursday. If the books we have are to be believed, Puff will have almost doubled in length since the last visit.
Last weekend, while I was not yet back from Toronto, my mom was nice enough to come and visit Jun and keep her company in my absence. They went shopping for baby-related items and hit all the usual stores including Babies 'R' Us and Buy Buy Baby and also went to a consignment sell. Although they didn't come away with anything, they did bring home a few ideas for what we should by in the coming months. Thank you mom, for hanging out with Jun while I was gone and taking care of her. I appreciated it and I know Jun appreciated you taking time to come down.
I know this post was woefully boring with no pictures, but hopefully we'll have some soon when Jun goes in for her next appointment. Hopefully a video as well!
A little of what's going on:
When I started this blog, I was between careers. I had lost my previous job and was actively pursuing another. My urgency increased when Jun found out she was pregnant. At the beginning of my job search I was looking only for jobs that were closely related to the one I previously had. After our big news, I started branching out, looking for ANY kind of job so I could support Jun and my future family.
A few days after my last blog post, I got a call saying I had received a job offer. I was extremely happy to be gainfully employed again and even happier to just get out of the house during the day. I think I may have been getting cabin fever during those extremely hot months of summer.
The main drawback to this new career is that I will have to travel more than I'm used to. I'm currently in my 3rd week of employment and I've already been to Toronto and I'm currently in New Orleans. I think the travel will die down eventually once I've "learned the ropes," but right now it's something that Jun and I have to deal with. I'm not crazy about leaving a pregnant wife at home, but we both realize that right now, a job is a job and we have to make the best of it. I'm lucky that Jun is by nature a very independent person and is smart enough to take care of herself, but I still have a guilty conscience like I abandoned her.
I've joked with Jun that this job was perfect for me four years ago when I wasn't married and not expecting a baby. Hopefully in my travels I'll get to go somewhere "interesting" and Jun will be able to work it out in her schedule to join me.
Enough about me...
Jun is still doing well and our little Puff is now 14 weeks old, this means that Jun has now finally crossed into the second trimester. The second trimester is supposedly the time period in which pregnant women feel infinitely better. They are not plagued by morning sickness constantly and they aren't big enough to be over-encumbered. So far that has been the case. Jun hasn't been as sick as before and is now only "sick" every now and then. She's starting to get an appetite back and is actually putting on a little weight. No baby-bump yet, but you can definitely feel it coming if you place your hand in the right place.
I think she's ready for a baby-belly because then when people view her they will immediately think, "Oh, she's pregnant! Look how cute she is! She's absolutely glowing!" instead of thinking to themselves, "Is she putting on weight?" Don't worry Jun, it will get there soon enough.
We haven't had a doctor's appointment since the last blog post, but she will have another one next Thursday. If the books we have are to be believed, Puff will have almost doubled in length since the last visit.
Last weekend, while I was not yet back from Toronto, my mom was nice enough to come and visit Jun and keep her company in my absence. They went shopping for baby-related items and hit all the usual stores including Babies 'R' Us and Buy Buy Baby and also went to a consignment sell. Although they didn't come away with anything, they did bring home a few ideas for what we should by in the coming months. Thank you mom, for hanging out with Jun while I was gone and taking care of her. I appreciated it and I know Jun appreciated you taking time to come down.
I know this post was woefully boring with no pictures, but hopefully we'll have some soon when Jun goes in for her next appointment. Hopefully a video as well!
Friday, September 16, 2011
A Lesson in Patience: The Longest Doctor's Appointment
Yesterday Jun had another checkup with the doctor to make sure everything was going ok with Puff and that his heart rate was still up in the acceptable levels. Jun's appointment was at 3:30 and we had plans to meet up with our friends Nick and Ashley at 5:45 to get dinner and go to the Rangers' baseball game. We were to pick up Ashley at 5:00 in downtown Fort Worth in order to get to Arlington safely by 5:45. That was the set time because the Arlington restaurant we were eating at, Hibachi 97, has an early-bird 2-for-1 dinner special and you had to get there and seated before 5:45. I'll give you a rundown of how the afternoon/evening went.
3:30 PM: We arrive at the hospital and are welcomed by a fire drill. The sirens were going off and lights were flashing... but no one in the hospital seemed to notice. All the employees were still milling around inside or still going about their jobs. Some of the fire curtains that closed off certain hallways were closed, but people were just opening them and walking on by. We get seated in the lobby and commence waiting. Usually the doctor runs about 30 minutes behind schedule.
4:00 PM: Still waiting. All the other patients in the lobby were there before us, so we know something is up. We were sure that we were just coming in for an Ultrasound, which took about 15 mintues, so we were still ok.
4:15 PM: I'm starting to get nervous. It takes about 15 minutes to where we have to pick up Ashley and then about 30 minutes to get to the restaurant.
4:30 PM: Our appointment is now one hour overdue. A lady across the lobby from us gets a cellphone call and explains to the person she's talking to that her appointment was a 3:00. Uh oh.
4:40 PM: I call Ashley to explain our situation. If Jun were to get in RIGHT NOW, we could possibly still make it. Ashley is very understanding.
4:45 PM: I'm checking my watch every 30 seconds and my heart sinks a little more every time another name is called.
4:46 PM: I set the new high score in Yahtzee on my phone.
4:50 PM: As I'm calling Ashley again to say that I think we'll have to change dinner plans, Jun is called back.
4:52 PM: Jun is getting her Ultrasound done and the Ultrasound technician (Joy, who is wonderful) shows us this:
There he is! He's looking quite a bit bigger, and now more human than blob shaped! Joy turned on the heart rate monitor and we heard the wub wub wub sound of his heart. It had slowed down slightly to 163, but still good and strong. My heart has pretty much melted by this point and I had forgotten all about how late we were for dinner when... did I just see... did the baby just... move?
Surely not. I dismiss the thought as Joy just moving the Ultrasound wand around. Then the baby moved again. It moved it's little arm around almost like a wave. I got up from the little chair I was sitting in to get a better look... then the baby jumped! It was really swimming around in there! Joy could see how excited we were to see that and decided (out of the goodness of her heart I think, since it's expensive to use) turned on the latest technology, the 4D Ultrasound and we saw this:
If you're not quite sure what you're looking at, the baby is facing left in the picture. You can see the neck, body and one little leg at the bottom with his knees bend. Not sure what the blob in front of his belly is, possibly the placenta? In the first ultrasound (not the 4D) when the baby was swimming around we were definitely able to see 2 arms and 2 legs, so that was a relief.
Joy was also quick enough on the draw to record a short video of Puff swimming and moving around and generally showing off for the camera. We didn't have a flash drive with us, but she said if we brought one next time we could download it and take it with us. Look for that video in a future update.
Jun can't feel Puff moving around yet because he's only 4.4cm (about 2 inches) long. We're anxiously awaiting the day we can feel him moving around though.
5:05 PM: My amazement begins to wear off as we leave the ultrasound room and I realize that if we are able to leave RIGHT NOW we could still possibly make it by the skin of our teeth. I can almost TASTE the steak and fried rice that awaits me...
5:06 PM: A nurse informs us that the doctor would like to speak with us. I try to explain that this was just supposed to be a Ultrasound check up and that we didn't have any questions for the doctor, but the nurse insists that the doctor wants to see us. She shows us to a room and we sit down and wait.
5:10 PM: I text Ashley and tell her that we're not going to make it to dinner. We try to schedule something else. Poor Nick is in Arlington after work, now just waiting on us with nothing to do.
5:20 PM: Still waiting on the doctor. No new Yahtzee high scores to report.
5:25 PM: Jun informs me that the doctors office closes at 5:30. We should see the doctor any second.
5:30 PM: Nope.
5:45 PM: The door to the room opens and a clearly frustrated nurse brings us to another room where "we won't be forgotten this time". Oh boy.
5:50 PM: The door opens again and this time it's the doctor! Oh happy day! She sits down and glances over Jun's chart and says "The baby looks great, he's growing just as he should be, and unless you have any other questions, you can go. Sorry for your wait." I'm trying to keep a poker-face, but I'm really frustrated at this point. I mean, it's great that Puff is doing so well, but... the waiting was ridiculous.
6:00 PM: We set up our appointment for a month later and get out of there.
6:20 PM: Crazy traffic on Hulen Street causes me minor road rage, but we get to Nick and Ashley's place and pick up both of them (as Nick finally drove home because of the wait). We apologize profusely and begin making our way to the ballgame.
6:50 PM: Crazy traffic on I-30 causes me moderate road rage, but at least we were moving.
7:05 PM: In Arlington, near the ballpark, looking for a parking spot. We pay $10 for a spot 3/4 of a mile away.
7:25 PM: We are finally in our seats in the stadium. It is the top of the 2nd inning.
After that I managed to calm myself down and enjoy an absolutely fantastic night for watching baseball. The air was cool and there was a slight breeze and we witness the Rangers kick the snot out of the Cleveland Indians.
Amid all the frustrations of the day, and think Jun and I both learned a lesson in patience and what is most important in life.
3:30 PM: We arrive at the hospital and are welcomed by a fire drill. The sirens were going off and lights were flashing... but no one in the hospital seemed to notice. All the employees were still milling around inside or still going about their jobs. Some of the fire curtains that closed off certain hallways were closed, but people were just opening them and walking on by. We get seated in the lobby and commence waiting. Usually the doctor runs about 30 minutes behind schedule.
4:00 PM: Still waiting. All the other patients in the lobby were there before us, so we know something is up. We were sure that we were just coming in for an Ultrasound, which took about 15 mintues, so we were still ok.
4:15 PM: I'm starting to get nervous. It takes about 15 minutes to where we have to pick up Ashley and then about 30 minutes to get to the restaurant.
4:30 PM: Our appointment is now one hour overdue. A lady across the lobby from us gets a cellphone call and explains to the person she's talking to that her appointment was a 3:00. Uh oh.
4:40 PM: I call Ashley to explain our situation. If Jun were to get in RIGHT NOW, we could possibly still make it. Ashley is very understanding.
4:45 PM: I'm checking my watch every 30 seconds and my heart sinks a little more every time another name is called.
4:46 PM: I set the new high score in Yahtzee on my phone.
4:50 PM: As I'm calling Ashley again to say that I think we'll have to change dinner plans, Jun is called back.
4:52 PM: Jun is getting her Ultrasound done and the Ultrasound technician (Joy, who is wonderful) shows us this:
There he is! He's looking quite a bit bigger, and now more human than blob shaped! Joy turned on the heart rate monitor and we heard the wub wub wub sound of his heart. It had slowed down slightly to 163, but still good and strong. My heart has pretty much melted by this point and I had forgotten all about how late we were for dinner when... did I just see... did the baby just... move?
Surely not. I dismiss the thought as Joy just moving the Ultrasound wand around. Then the baby moved again. It moved it's little arm around almost like a wave. I got up from the little chair I was sitting in to get a better look... then the baby jumped! It was really swimming around in there! Joy could see how excited we were to see that and decided (out of the goodness of her heart I think, since it's expensive to use) turned on the latest technology, the 4D Ultrasound and we saw this:
If you're not quite sure what you're looking at, the baby is facing left in the picture. You can see the neck, body and one little leg at the bottom with his knees bend. Not sure what the blob in front of his belly is, possibly the placenta? In the first ultrasound (not the 4D) when the baby was swimming around we were definitely able to see 2 arms and 2 legs, so that was a relief.
Joy was also quick enough on the draw to record a short video of Puff swimming and moving around and generally showing off for the camera. We didn't have a flash drive with us, but she said if we brought one next time we could download it and take it with us. Look for that video in a future update.
Jun can't feel Puff moving around yet because he's only 4.4cm (about 2 inches) long. We're anxiously awaiting the day we can feel him moving around though.
5:05 PM: My amazement begins to wear off as we leave the ultrasound room and I realize that if we are able to leave RIGHT NOW we could still possibly make it by the skin of our teeth. I can almost TASTE the steak and fried rice that awaits me...
5:06 PM: A nurse informs us that the doctor would like to speak with us. I try to explain that this was just supposed to be a Ultrasound check up and that we didn't have any questions for the doctor, but the nurse insists that the doctor wants to see us. She shows us to a room and we sit down and wait.
5:10 PM: I text Ashley and tell her that we're not going to make it to dinner. We try to schedule something else. Poor Nick is in Arlington after work, now just waiting on us with nothing to do.
5:20 PM: Still waiting on the doctor. No new Yahtzee high scores to report.
5:25 PM: Jun informs me that the doctors office closes at 5:30. We should see the doctor any second.
5:30 PM: Nope.
5:45 PM: The door to the room opens and a clearly frustrated nurse brings us to another room where "we won't be forgotten this time". Oh boy.
5:50 PM: The door opens again and this time it's the doctor! Oh happy day! She sits down and glances over Jun's chart and says "The baby looks great, he's growing just as he should be, and unless you have any other questions, you can go. Sorry for your wait." I'm trying to keep a poker-face, but I'm really frustrated at this point. I mean, it's great that Puff is doing so well, but... the waiting was ridiculous.
6:00 PM: We set up our appointment for a month later and get out of there.
6:20 PM: Crazy traffic on Hulen Street causes me minor road rage, but we get to Nick and Ashley's place and pick up both of them (as Nick finally drove home because of the wait). We apologize profusely and begin making our way to the ballgame.
6:50 PM: Crazy traffic on I-30 causes me moderate road rage, but at least we were moving.
7:05 PM: In Arlington, near the ballpark, looking for a parking spot. We pay $10 for a spot 3/4 of a mile away.
7:25 PM: We are finally in our seats in the stadium. It is the top of the 2nd inning.
After that I managed to calm myself down and enjoy an absolutely fantastic night for watching baseball. The air was cool and there was a slight breeze and we witness the Rangers kick the snot out of the Cleveland Indians.
Amid all the frustrations of the day, and think Jun and I both learned a lesson in patience and what is most important in life.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Down with the Sickness
This first trimester seems to be creeping by. Jun has been feeling sick 6 out of 7 days every week. Most of the time she just feels nauseated, the other times, well... apparently what goes down must come up. It's really bumming us both out because there's nothing we can really do about it. The last time we were at the doctor, Jun was prescribed some anti-nausea medicine (Ondansetron) that dissolves in your mouth. She's been very wary about taking any kind of medication though, so she just suffers through it.
I know it's hard on her to be sick all the time, and it's hard for me as well having to sit there helplessly as she gets sick. At least we know that if she's getting sick, then her hormones are just acting up in response to the baby.
Speaking of the baby, Puff is now 10 weeks along, and the pregnancy is in it's 12th week overall. This means that we are approaching the end of the first trimester. We are almost a third of the way there.
In preparation for our upcoming bundle of joy, I took time on Saturday to clean out the room that will become the nursery. I should have taken before and after pictures of the room, but I moved out all the junk (thereby making 2 other rooms messy) and vacuumed the carpet. In the next few weeks we'll probably decide on a color to paint the room, probably a nice, gender-neutral pastel green or yellow. We're probably still a few months from buying furniture though. We've done a small amount of furniture shopping in stores like Buy Buy Baby and Babies 'R' Us, and we've come to the conclusion that it's all way expensive. I used to think that weddings were the biggest money-making scam, but I'm starting to think that babies are right up there as well.
Other than that, everything is looking good in the Robbins' household. Jun has another doctor's checkup and ultrasound on Thursday, so we're looking forward to seeing how big Puff is getting an hearing his heartbeat again. Hopefully it's still beating strong and fast!
I know it's hard on her to be sick all the time, and it's hard for me as well having to sit there helplessly as she gets sick. At least we know that if she's getting sick, then her hormones are just acting up in response to the baby.
Speaking of the baby, Puff is now 10 weeks along, and the pregnancy is in it's 12th week overall. This means that we are approaching the end of the first trimester. We are almost a third of the way there.
In preparation for our upcoming bundle of joy, I took time on Saturday to clean out the room that will become the nursery. I should have taken before and after pictures of the room, but I moved out all the junk (thereby making 2 other rooms messy) and vacuumed the carpet. In the next few weeks we'll probably decide on a color to paint the room, probably a nice, gender-neutral pastel green or yellow. We're probably still a few months from buying furniture though. We've done a small amount of furniture shopping in stores like Buy Buy Baby and Babies 'R' Us, and we've come to the conclusion that it's all way expensive. I used to think that weddings were the biggest money-making scam, but I'm starting to think that babies are right up there as well.
Other than that, everything is looking good in the Robbins' household. Jun has another doctor's checkup and ultrasound on Thursday, so we're looking forward to seeing how big Puff is getting an hearing his heartbeat again. Hopefully it's still beating strong and fast!
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