Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Halfway Mark!


This is just a little post to express my excitement that I made it halfway! I'm now 20 weeks and feel pretty great now. And...I think I've started to feel some kicking! I'm not 100% sure, but occasionally I'll feel little flutters in my abdomen and am hoping that it's the little guy. BUT I could just be imagining things since I'm so anxious to feel him move!

Tomo's mom sent me some stomach warmers/supports. They're very comfortable and do help a lot while I'm sleeping. She also sent some very cute chocolate and a new infrared space heater that's supposed to warm up the whole room, now if only it would get cold out so I could use it!




Also, I feel like my stomach popped out during the last week! Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's because I always pay attention to it after I eat...but you can judge for yourself. First are two 20 week pictures that I took today, and (obviously) the one after is the 19 week picture from last week:


What do you think? Bigger? Just my imagination? Even though I'm getting bigger, I still feel like I'm in the "looks fat" rather than the "looks pregnant" stage.

Now for some name information. I know people aren't too crazy about the name that Tomo made up, but for now, that's what it is; he's set on it and rejects any other name I give him, and I'm opening up to it. Full name, at this point in time, is............Jacet (pronounced Jay-set) Haru (for Japan times, it means Spring) Izumiya. Jacet Haru Izumiya. Due April 9, 2013.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

It's a...


BOY! I'm sure most of you saw the Facebook announcement I posted. I was going to try to wait until I had time to update the blog but...I was just too excited! I'm now 19 weeks and 2 days, just about halfway! Now for some more general updates.

I've been following a forum on the babycenter.com website that consists of other April 2013 moms. Sometimes it helps a lot to read the advice and opinions of the more experienced mothers, but recently it's been making me anxious and worried. A lot of the women have started feeling their baby's movements from around 16 weeks and an occasional few have posted 2nd trimester miscarriages. Well, I haven't yet felt any baby movements (I'm 19 weeks) and became so worried that something was wrong! I stayed pretty calm with the knowledge that nothing felt WRONG and that I was still getting nauseous and sick occasionally, but I still couldn't wait for the doctor to check things out.

Finally, Tuesday came and we went to the office. I was very excited to possibly be able to find out the gender. Before the ultrasound the dr asked general questions and looked at my chart etc. Well, apparently I've gained too much weight already! She said my end weight gain should be around 10kg (22lb). Tomo made her check my chart again though and reminded her about the weight I lost from morning sickness. If using my morning sickness weight, I gained too much. Using my pre-pregnancy weight, I only gained about 2-3lbs which I think is pretty normal. So she changed her diagnosis from "too much weight" to "gaining to fast." Either way, I'll have to start watching what I eat...

Ultrasound time! I got a little worried at first when she was measuring and asking if I felt movements. When I said no, she got a concerned look on her face and said something like "we'll let's just look and see." She showed us the baby and he was moving around and perfectly fine! I assume that when she points out all the parts to us she's checking for anything wrong as well. When she got to the leg area, lo and behold, a little tiny (but definitely noticeable) "boy-part" was hanging out! 100% boy! She didn't take a picture of the "money shot" though...

Reactions: I was (am) excited because I wanted a "big brother" figure for any other children we have. Tomo was actually quite disappointed. He really wanted a little girl! He thinks that a boy as a first child is going to be difficult to handle. His mom said the same thing, but I think that's just because Tomo was such a wild child.

And now for names. We've been tossing names out here and there, well I have and Tomo just says yes or no, and Tomo decided to take a name I said and sort of make one up. I suggested Jace, Tomo added a 't' and we now have Jacet! Lol. It's not so far out there that I won't take it into consideration, and it's actually growing on me...the middle name will be Japanese but we haven't thought about that one too much yet.

The weather is finally getting colder so I can break out my more comfortable winter clothes and boots. And apparently in Japan (not sure about the U.S.) it's important to keep the pregnant belly warm. They actually make belly warmers for that so maybe ill get one. I'm in Japan, might as well do it the Japanese way :)

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more updates eventually!