Why I Haven’t Blogged in a While

December 3, 2009 Pregnancy Test // New York City, NY

I wish I could say that I’m embarrassed that I haven’t posted since November 2009, but I’m not.  As you may or may not have heard, I’m havin’ a baby!  My due date is around the corner (August 1st) so it’s high time that I share an official post about my pregnancy!

MY FIRST TRIMESTER:
My first trimester was a biatch!  For the first 4.5 months, I was pretty much in bed the whole time, extremely nauseous and uncomfortable.  I kept a “heaving” log and would clock up to 18 power dry-heaves a day.  Fun.  All of a sudden, my sense of smell and taste became so sensitive.  The only consolation I had was the fact that my nausea was a good sign that my pregnancy was progressing.

DISLIKES:

• MUSHY FOOD: examples – Filipino arroz caldo, bananas, etc.
• RED MEAT: except lamb
• onions
• large portions of anything
• the smell of coffee
• strong perfumes or colognes

LIKES:

• FRUIT!
• LAMB!
• preserved, salty Chinese plums
• Filipino homecooking (tinola, adobo, etc.)
• homemade dried fruit by Maura Donohue (especially the dried green apples and mangoes!)
• fried eggs, rice, and ketchup
• CHOCOLATE!
• ICE CREAM!
• WAFFLES!
• GARDEN BURGERS!
• CHEESE!

COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT:

• Vics VapoRub under my nose
• U-shaped body pillow
• Netflix
• Hulu.com
• popsicles
• frozen grapes
• pre-natal yoga
• my husband’s patience!!!
• Skechers Shape-Up sneakers: officially the UGLIEST pair of shoes I have ever owned but the only comfortable footwear I could tolerate because my feet were in so much pain!  The big bonus is that it HAS indeed toned up my legs from wearing them almost non-stop since November!

I want to send an extra shout-out to my husband, Brian!  I know my first trimester was a difficult and desperate time for him.  As you may already know, he is an exceptional chef, but he had to deal with my constant and seemingly insatiable hunger.  All day long I would complain of being hungry but I could never really know what I wanted to eat until it was too late.  Then, by the time he would prepare it for me, I would have changed my mind completely!  Poor Brian!  He gained so much weight because of me and my wasted food!  He took so many hits for the team!  Love you, Brian!!!

SECOND TRIMESTER:
What a relief when the nausea disappeared!  [I remember my very last Yack Attack was in mid-February immediately after we landed at JFK after my best friend’s wedding in SF.  It was the first time in my whole life I’ve ever needed a barf bag!]

My second trimester was marked by the need to sleep AT LEAST 10-12 hours a night!  What a luxury!  This was also the same period of time that we were… I mean, that Brian was frantically packing up to move out of New York City.  With the help of close friends, and our brother-in-law, Ray, and Brian’s dad who had flown in from Tokyo, Brian miraculously got us all packed up and out to start our new journey to Los Angeles.

We had a 3-week detour in Ithaca, NY, where we spent time with my sister-in-law and her family.  I also started to do some pre-natal yoga which I highly recommend!  It’s the ELEMENT Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga DVD by Elena Brower.  I would try to do it a few times a week and I never got sick of it.  I always felt like it gave me a great workout while making me feel relaxed and refreshed at the same time.

Growing up, I had always imagined that I wouldn’t want to know if I was having a boy or a girl during pregnancy until the delivery date.  But as soon as I got pregnant, I was DYING to know!  I had a not-so-secret preference of wanting a baby boy because I was really looking forward to having a mini-Brian!  Needless to say, I was extra thrilled to discover that, in fact, we were having a boy!!!  This will be a huge learning experience for me considering I have only had  sisters and mainly girl cousins in my family, but I am overjoyed to have my dream come true of having a mini-Brian in my life!

Why We Haven't Blogged in a Long Long Time....!

THIRD TRIMESTER:
We are now officially moved into our new apartment in LA as of June 1 and we LOVE it!!!  It’s so nice to have a sun-flooded apartment with a little more space AND which is walking distance to our favorite shops and restaurants and so close to my sister and future brother-in-law (aka: our future babysitters!)!!!!

I am now one of those annoyingly blissful pregnant women who LOVES being pregnant.  I describe myself as a mommy kangaroo carrying around my baby and not really disturbed by the alien feeling of this future breakdancer spinning and kicking around inside me.   I have lost track of what week of pregnancy I’m in and I feel like I’m living in the moment.  I feel good.  I feel healthy.  Thanks to Junior, I feel the healthiest I’ve ever been in my life.  I’ve never been this in tune with my body.

I’ve stepped up my yoga training by signing up for classes with Gail Bennett who teaches all over Los Angeles.  I signed up for a pre-natal yoga workshop at the Hub which is in our neighborhood and ended up having private sessions because no one else had signed up!  I felt bad for her and the studio but I was so glad for me and the baby!  Private lessons!  YAY!  The workshop at the Hub is over but I’m going to try to take Gail’s other classes at YogaWest and GoldenBridge until the baby comes.

Brian and I do fluctuate between being a little FREAKED OUT to feeling totally Zen and go-with-the-flow about the upcoming delivery and general life-altering experience of having a child.  We are slowly feeling less and less panicked about the What-We-Need-To-Do-Before-the-Baby-is-Born List… not so much because the hospital bag is, in fact, packed and we’re already registered at the hospital… There are a few things left, but right now, I’m not going to obsess over the fact that I’m still trying to wrap up work projects or that our humidifier doesn’t work.  The baby’s coming whether we’re ready or not!  We’re trying to remind ourselves that this is all part of our vida loca and we’re just going to take it a day at a time like we always do!

In conclusion, I will say that being pregnant has been amazing.  I feel like I’m part of a secret, elite club.  I feel blessed to be in this position.  It has been so cool and weird to have random strangers congratulate me on the street as I go about my business, to have a partner who loves and supports me unconditionally, and to have close friends and family surrounding us in this time in our lives.

Here’s a hysterical video that a friend passed on to me last week.  Enjoy!