Baby

Hi everyone! As you all know, Steve and I are expecting our first baby on June 3rd. This means I am almost 32 weeks pregnant and feeling quite large. With only 8 weeks to go, we are getting very excited.



However, as first time parents who have never had any siblings, babysitting experience, or so much as a pet, there is also apprehension.



Let me start at the beginning ...

Steve and I found out we were pregnant at the end of September. We had just returned from visiting my parents and grandmother on the East Coast, a visit wherein we were asked about our plans for a baby at least few times (I sneakily said we had no real plans). At that point, I really didn't think I was pregnant. For one, I read that many women experience symptoms of pregnancy immediately, and I had none. And two, I just thought it would be harder to get pregnant, what with the arduous trek of the little sperm and small window of opportunity that we all hear about. (A warning to the girls - it's not as hard as you might think!)

The only reason I decided to take a home pregnancy test was because I had a dentist appointment a couple days later where I was supposed to get a filling, and I had read that it is best to avoid dental procedures during the first trimester. So just to be safe, I took a First Response test and saw the two lines forming almost immediately after peeing. I still just couldn't believe it, so like any UCSF-trained scientist, I made Steve do a negative control.

Still unconvinced (I didn't have a positive control after all), we ran over to the local Walgreens (just like in the movies) and got two other brands of home pregnancy tests. They were all positive, and for those who are interested, I would recommend the First Response test, followed by Clear Blue Easy, but not E.P.T.

So I was pregnant! We were so excited and also a little weirded out by the concept. I didn't feel any symptoms for several weeks after finding out, and even then, the symptoms were mostly mild. I had very little nausea, mostly just fatigue and some tummy-aches. By far the hardest part of the first trimester for me was the worrying. It was just all the statistics on the frequency of miscarriage even for couples with no apparent risk factors or health problems. Also, in the first trimester there is no obvious indication of whether the baby is ok or not. You can't feel anything in there, you don't look any different, and for me, I didn't even have many obvious symptoms. The second hardest part for me was not being able to tell anyone about it. We decided to wait until after the first trimester, when the risk of miscarriage drops significantly, to tell our family and friends. Therefore, I spent a couple of months mustering up the energy to go to social events, pretending my cranberry juice had vodka in it, and having the following conversation:

Friend: So what's new with you?

Shuyi: Not much!

Because it was really hard to think of anything ELSE new with me.

We finally saw a doctor for the first time when I was 8 weeks pregnant, 4 weeks after we found out. This was when we saw the baby's heartbeat for the first time, which was probably the best moment of my otherwise simple life.

We broke the news to our parents on Thanksgiving by showing them this 8-week ultrasound picture. There was much joy, and shock in some cases. Here I am 13 weeks pregnant on Thanksgiving (still thin!)

Ever since the start of the second trimester, things have pretty much been smooth sailing. We went to the East Coast for the holidays, where we received excessive amounts of baby-related gifts (and gave some as well to the soon-to-be grandparents).

At around 19 weeks, I started to feel the baby move. At that stage, it was very difficult to differentiate between baby and gas, but I would feel light fluttering around the same time every day. Being able to feel the baby move is a constant affirmation that things are ok in there, and it's made me feel much better and less worried.

At 20 weeks, we had our anatomy scan, where we found out we're having a little girl.

For some reason, more people had guessed that we were going to have a boy, but more people were hoping that we would have a girl, so there was much rejoicing at the news. Steve and I really didn't have a preference either way. As long as they found one healthy human child in there, we were very happy.

Since then, the baby has been growing rapidly and kicking more and more vigorously. We've spent much of our time learning about all the various baby widgets and gadgets and preparing for life with baby (more on all this later). These days, I'm still pretty much carrying on as normal, except I eat everything in sight. Steve out of solidarity is following suit and has experienced almost every pregnancy-related symptom along with me.

We hope that writing this blog will help keep family and friends up to date on our new little family. Thanks for all the advice and concern so far!