week 39

(click on the picture to enlarge it)

One more week to go! Yay, I'll meet Nhu-Y by next Tuesday. How exciting!

There is a big difference between this week and last week. I feel heavier when walking. Walking is also harder when the baby has dropped very low. I feel like there is a big rock sitting on my bladder. So even though I don't have to run to the bathroom every 5 minutes, I feel quite uncomfortable walking especially when I need to pee.

The back hurts after I sleep for a few hours. I totally blame this on the bed. Thuy complained about how soft the bed was when we bought the mattress 2 years ago. I thought he was picky. Now I understand what he said. It's a little bit hard for me to get in and out of the bed. The back problem seems to go away when I stretch and do a little bit of yoga and work-out. So it's not a big complaint for me there.

I can eat a lot more now. However, I am still at 137 lbs - which means I only gained 26 lbs through the whole pregnancy. This is the last week of pregnancy, I convinced Thuy to let me eat the sticky rice which usually spikes up my blood sugar level.

I got the ultrasound today. Nhu-Y is about 7lbs 14 oz. So Nhu-Y will be around 8lbs next Tuesday. Nhu-Y is fine (according to the doctor): the size is on target; the sizes of the head and stomach are normal. They think her legs are long - I guess it's good. She will be a supermodel then :). The amniotic fluid is also on target. (The doctor said the insulin may affect the amount of amniotic fluid. Too little fluid may affect the growth of the baby and the brain. Too much fluid may cause complication during the delivery. Darn, I have learned so much during the pregnancy. Biology does not seem so hard any more!)

We got a clear view of Nhu-Y's face today. During other ultrasound sessions, she usually covered her face with both hands/arms. Today, we're lucky to see her face. She looks like me - the nose and the lips. I prefer that she will look like her dad. But I guess it's OK she looks like me. She's still cute to me anyway. I'm a lot happier when her dad replied "Excellent! it's like winning a lottery when I have two of you" when I asked him what he thinks if the baby is like me. That's the best gift that I ever had.

Nhu-Y's room is livable. It's far from being "ready" as I would like it. I was stressed a little bit several weeks ago then I realized that it was not worth it. So I lowered my standard to "livable." My happiness and health are more important than having a nice room for Nhu-Y. I'm sure she will agree and thank me when she's healthy :).

I have an NTC3.2 release at work. I hope by the end of this week, I can verify all the bugs. So other QA member will be able to handle the rest of the release. Therefore, I hope Nhu-Y comes out after this week. It's ideal for her to come out as scheduled, Nov. 24. So I have this weekend to complete everything I need to. And I have the coming Monday to rest.

My induction is scheduled at 7am on 11/24/2009. The doctor advised me not to eat much after midnight. The reason behind this is if there is a complication, then food might go to the lung in the case of an emergency c-section while under general anesthesia. While the reason does make sense, I don't think it will be a big problem. Here are my reasons: 1) if complication occurs (knock on wood), then it will take at least several hours to detect. At that point, food may have moved to the small intestine already. 2) I should be in the best state of my mind to be calm and relax, having an empty stomach will irritate me dramatically. 3) women who do not have scheduled induction/c-section can still go into labor right after a big meal. I haven't seen any statistic on those cases. So based on those reasons, I will ignore the advise from the doctor. I will have a good breakfast then go in with a happy face and a ready mind for the labor.

I need to write a lot of things I learned during the pregnancy. But I guess this is good for now.