Today a Papasan swing arrived in the mail for us! Apparently my mom and grandma went in half-sises to get one for us! It’s got a cute star theme to it and I just adore it! <3 We got it set up in under 40 minutes too! [My husband was happy it played “Greensleeves”, but upset that it played “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. He’s so bi-polar about baby products sometimes…]

In other happenings, my Gestational Diabetes test is tomorrow; I am NOT looking forward to it. I’m not big on sugar [Hell, I prefer Asian sweets for specifically that reason- they’re not sickeningly sweet.] and I’m really worried I’m going to throw up, as so many other women told me they did. [Thus having to do the test all over again.]

When I had my appendix out 10 years ago I had to drink this stuff that tasted like dirty dishwater so that they could do a scan… I remember barely keeping that down. Bleh.

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So first, I had a dream about a boat.

A boat made out of shoes. [they were Converse, I think?]

A boat, made out of shoes, which were in turn made out of tiny crocodiles.

And on this boat I was in a baking competition [think Food Network Challenge kind of a thing] where I had to make a cake out of pieces shaped like Lego bricks. I remember spending a ton of time making a Bundt cake out of Lego shaped cake pieces, picking up a ball of modelling chocolate, thinking “Fuck this”, and just jumping off the ship; at which point I woke up.

Then I fell back asleep after one of my many nightly bathroom trips, and had ANOTHER dream. This time I dreamt my daughter stuck her foot out of my stomach. Like, she was stretching and her foot popped out perfectly shaped around my flesh like my belly was latex and she was doing some kind of interpretive dance number! So of course, logically, I grab this tiny foot [my god, it was so tiny!] and I gently pulled on it, so we could see some of her leg!

My husband looked on, horrified. I thought it was neat, and it didn’t seem to hurt me or the baby. I remember deliberately doing this in the dream to see how much I could reveal of her, and to prove to my husband that it was really happening.

All that really stood out to me from the last dream is that I might have a little obsession with my daughter’s feet. I’ve been thinking about teeny tiny baby feet since I found out I was pregnant, really. I threaten her when she kicks me [and her kicks pack a wallop now!] that when she comes out I’m going to eat her little kicky feet.

So in response, she kicks me more… she is one feisty baby! [Which proves she’s totally our kid! =p]

Also: Yay, we have internet back again! [No thanks to my stupid ISP, which is stupid. Did I mention that they’re stupid?]

Seriously. Especially since my ISP is dicking me around and I have stolen the neighbor’s uber-crappy internet [I’m guessing it’s satellite? It’s really bad.] in order to post this. I hope it goes through, because pages take SO long to load on this connection… -_-;

At any rate, last Saturday we went in and and found out Dragon Baby’s gender- we are having a little girl! <3 [this got re-confirmed at another scan on the following Tuesday.]

…a little girl who seems to have insanely long legs. She did NOT get that from her mommy! D:

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Everyone says that when you feel the first movements, it feels like butterflies, or gas, or it feels like light tapping. Mine feels like none of that. It feels like a really far away hunger pang. It took me a bit to figure out that it was the baby and not an eminent stomach growl since A.) my stomach is much higher up now, and B.) it was happening after I ate. It’s kind of neat now that I know what it is, but it was driving me nuts because I’ve been told that first time moms don’t feel their baby move until much later, especially if they’re overweight. [like I am] So I thought my stomach was still growling after I ate, and I was getting confused and kind of mad because I was clearly full!

I can’t wait until I can clearly say things like “hey that was a kick!”. I also can’t wait until my husband can feel them too. He gets amused when we doppler right before bed and the baby plays hide and seek with me.

I am a little confused on when Dragon Baby can hear sounds. I’ve read tons of websites and at least 7 published books, and all give a different age range for when they can hear. But when my husband lays near my stomach while we do the doppler sessions, it actually makes the baby come closer to the probe. Nothing I’ve really read has been accurate for me, [I’m showing earlier than I “should”, feeling movement earlier than I “should”, etc.] so I’m going to go with evidence and say that Dragon Baby can hear it’s father’s voice and seems to like it. [or at the very least, be intrigued by it.] I guess it hears me all the time and I’m old hat now, ha ha.

This week is supposed to herald a growth spurt for the little one and I’m definitely feeling it- I am a champion sleeper again, after thinking I just left that tired-all-the-time stage. Ah well, with the bed rest allotment, and work being super understanding [I love those guys!] I can afford to sleep at least. Grow Dragon Baby, Grow! I wanna reach that “viability” milestone. After that is reached, I feel like I can finally sit back and enjoy this pregnancy with minimum worry. I do feel much better being out of the first trimester, but I am still a worrier from a long line of worriers and… well, I worry.

Speaking of worrying, this week we found out my grandma has uterine cancer. She goes in for a consult with an oncologist in two days, and will probably have surgery by week end. I’m really upset but I’m trying to push it down for the well-being of Dragon Baby. I have a hard time pushing down feelings most of the time, so it hasn’t been easy for me. Fortunately my husband has been a rock and has been great emotional support so it feels a lot easier than it might have been. Ugh, I hate it when bad things get sprung on us like this when things seem to be going well.  The Bitch does like to keep her incorrect sense of “balance”, doesn’t she? Bleh.

I’ve been resting a lot since the last post, and I probably should have written this sooner but… yeah.

At any rate, we went in Monday for a follow up and to keep what was my original OB appointment. [Funny, I haven’t waited until a scheduled appointment YET with this pregnancy. I always come in early with something wrong.]

The doc wanted to check on the length of my cervix since the bloodbath incident so we got to see Dragon Baby and this time my husband was in the room. He was amazed and horrified to see it moving around so much, ha ha! Even the doc said she hasn’t seen a baby move around so much before, so hopefully that is a good sign! Cervix looked good, baby looked great, and very much like a baby, which my husband wasn’t expecting either.

I’m still having spotting, and my doc can’t see anything on the ultrasound so she’s going under the assumption that it must be a very small bleed somewhere. I’m on modified bed rest until further notice. [Which sucks.] In fact, I’ve bled and spotted so much, she’s basically told me to not worry or call unless it’s a red flow again, which is kind of reassuring if she is confident enough to say that. Plus I have the fetal doppler so I can check on the heartbeat whenever, which is really comforting.

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This morning I wake up at a little after 7 am for one of my many early morning bathroom trips. I was feeling a little crampy but didn’t think much of it- around the time when my weeks move to the next I get some slight cramping. I always assumed it was from my uterus stretching, and was always surprised at how prompt it was. [13 weeks today? Time to stretch some more!]

So I wander into the bathroom and do my business, then wipe. Now, I’ve had a miscarriage and several instances of spotting before, so I’m a certified member of The Toilet Paper Inspection Brigade. So I check the paper and see red. Red EVERYWHERE; on the tissue, on my hand, even on the edge of the toilet seat.

Needless to say, I freaked the fuck out.

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Got to hear Dragon Baby’s Heartbeat on the Doppler last night! I’ve been catching glimpses of it, but I’ve had to have the Doppler right up to my ear and full volume to hear it. I found it over my right hip at about 8pm last night, and it let me listen for almost a minute! I decided to grab my phone and record it to share with family and my husband, who isn’t usually around for Doppler sessions since he’s working late right now. …and now I’m sharing it with you, because I think it’s absolutely magical! [Though I might be the only one, ha ha!]

The rate was between 147 and 168 beats per minute. Listen to that thing fly! <3 [You can hear at the end of the clip where Dragon Baby gets fed up and moves away, lol.]

…is already trying to eat me out of house and home! I am starving all the time now.

I hope I’m some kind of breastfeeding savant or something because I have a feeling Dragon Baby will be a champion eater at this rate. [With all the bouncing around in there and making me constantly hungry.]

This started a few days ago, I’m basically ravenous every two to three hours. I’ve tried snacking- doesn’t work. I have to eat full meals. If I didn’t lose about 20 pounds in my first few weeks from morning sickness, I’d be worried right now… <.<

Also, I’m 12 weeks today! Huzzah! <3

I’ve noticed that along with the hunger, my nausea has returned slightly. Weird.

I don’t understand the pregnant women that just instinctively know what the gender of their unborn child is. I feel absolutely nothing either way. It could be genderless for all I know. [I know it’s not- gender is determined at birth and by the sperm, which is why I find it ridiculous when men blame women for not giving them the gender child they wanted.]

Everyone on my mom’s side is telling me they feel it’s a girl. [I think they feel that way out of wishful thinking because my brother already has a boy.] My one aunt thinks it’s a boy and is adamant about it, but she’s the only one.

My husband really wants a boy, but also has no idea. [Though he says it will probably be a girl just because The Bitch likes to spite him.]

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My husband is Chinese, and when we told his side of the family they flipped out and were really excited- not just because this is their first grandchild/great-grandchild, but because it’s the Year of the Dragon, a really auspicious year to be born in. So they started to call it “The Dragon Baby” and it has stuck, because it’s nice and gender neutral.  

Then it was recently brought to my attention [like, a few minutes ago, in fact] that as far as the Chinese Zodiac goes, I am a Water Dog, my Husband is a Water Boar, and we’re scheduled to have a Water Dragon.

So much water! Good thing I like water. =D