Boy or Girl?

My friend called and was really excited to tell me that she saw a do-it-yourself take home gender test at Target.  I had to check it out for myself, so went to Target the next weekend to scope out this gender test.  It was $29.99, so I hesitated to buy it because it was so expensive (Well, that's expensive to me anyway).  I called Jimmy, who's in Texas, to tell him about it and he immediately, without hesitation told me to buy it. 

It's called IntelliGender and you basically just pee in a cup and wait for it to change color.  Before I took the test, Jimmy did some research on the product online.  According to the company it's supposed to be 85% accurate.  Well, orange means girl and green means boy.  Here are my results...

GREEN=BOY

I guess we'll just have to wait until my ultrasound on April 30th to see if it's right!

Week 17

Baby MJ is the size of an Onion... I'm so happy I could cry!

According to the "Ultimate Man's Guide to Baby Sizes" the baby is also the size of a Hockey Puck. 

C-A-P-S, Caps, Caps, Caps!  I'm sure this baby will have some Washington Capitals baby clothes from daddy ;0)

Cute maternity dresses and skirts are so hard to find! I HATE wearing pants and shorts, and I can only tolerate Capri pants if necessary. Most dresses and skirts I find are super tacky and anything cute/wearable I find is really expensive. I’ve also been checking consignment stores and eBay, but am still not having much luck.

Last weekend I went shopping with some friends. It was sort of depressing because I can’t really go into my favorite stores since I can’t buy regular clothes right now. So, I focused on the one thing that I know will fit me… SHOES!

There was one maternity store in the mall, so we went there. It was really overwhelming! I had trouble finding anything normal looking; everything looked so tacky. Then, my friends were pointing out the breast pumps, maternity thongs, and nipple creams and I got really freaked out. In the end, my wonderful friends gave me a little pep talk and I was able to focus. I got a new dress and a blouse for work. They’re still a little too big for me, so I’ll have to wait a few weeks/months to wear them.

I also went to The Body Shop to get my hair products and decided to see if they had any lotions or creams to prevent stretch marks. I read that stretch marks are genetic and rubbing lotion on your belly is proven not to prevent them, but hey… you can’t blame a girl for trying!! Anyways, I ended up buying a $16 bottle of lotion (It’s really cool; it’s packaged like a deodorant stick and isn't sticky); call me a sucker, but I know I’m not the first (or last) to ever do so.

I’m so excited because I have only one more week until I get to see Jimmy and two weeks to see my family. Like I said before, Jimmy knocked me up and left me! I know he can’t help it and that he had to leave because of work, but the timing was awful! We found out about the baby around Christmas time and then he left in January.

I really think once I see Jimmy, my family, and my close friends that this pregnancy will really sink in. I honestly feel like I’ve been going at this whole thing by myself. I feel like I’m on auto-pilot sometimes. I know the real emotions will come out when I’m with the people I love. (It’s kind of like when you fall off your bike, pick yourself up, and ride home hurt and in pain. At home, your parent’s ask you what happened and that’s when you start bawling and freaking out.)

I’ve already been having dreams about the baby. In fact, last night, I had a dream that my belly was see-through and I could see the baby through my skin. It was weird. I’ve also had two dreams about having twins and a dream about having a deformed baby. It’s all really disturbing, but I read that it’s very common.

People always ask me how I’m feeling, so here’s the update. I’ve been feeling okay. I’m still really tired all the time and I’ve been still getting severe headaches. I called in sick on Wednesday; I just felt like crap. I still crave Simply Lemonade and drink it often ;0) I’ve been having bigger breakfasts, so I think my appetite is increasing.  My belly feels really, really tight right after I eat and I think I’ve gained about 4 pounds.  I've been feeling crampy and have some pain in my abdomen area on occasion, but nothing too serious.

Most of my regular clothes still fit and I'm going to try to wear them as long as possible.  However, I have been incorporating some maternity items into my wardrobe.  The maternity clothes are more comfortable, especially the pants ;0)

Day 1, Week 18 Belly Shot

Jimmy helped me pick out this maternity dress in January before he left for training.

George and Martha Nursery

Regardless of the sex of the baby, we are definitely going to do a George and Martha Hippo theme in the nursery. It’s perfect because the colors are gender neutral: yellow, light green, and a touch of red.  I know it's a little early to be setting up the nursery, but since we found out about the pregnancy as soon as we moved to DC, it made sense to just set up the room as a nursery as we were setting up our place.

We've known we were going to do a George and Martha theme for about 8 years. Jimmy got me the George and Martha Hippos as a wedding gift, knowing we would someday use them in our nursery! It's so exciting to finally put them into use!

George and Martha are hippo characters from a children’s book series written by James Marshall. Jimmy and I love the stories! I hope our children grow up to love the stories as well.  George and Martha are best friends and do lots of silly things together, but there's always a good moral at the end of each story. I took a Children’s Literature course in college and even did my final project them ;0)

George and Martha Hippos on the changing table.  Jimmy gave me them in 2002 when we got married.  I love George's gold tooth and cane... he's a pimp, ha ha ha.

My sister Jessica, who was 9 years old at the time, came to visit Jimmy and I while we were in college in 2000.  Jimmy, Jessica, and I painted these during that visit.  Jessica's is the yellow one, mine is purple, and Jimmy's is the blue one.  We saved these knowing we would use them for our nursery!  I put them on the door.

We are slowly converting the guest room.  I guess technically it will be a guest room/nursery.

We'll probably keep the bunk beds in there for guests. It might also be a good place to relax, feed, and play with the baby.

Curtains!  Our first official "baby purchase."  We bought them just a few days after we found out I was pregnant!  They are perfect... green and yellow with a hint of red.  We couldn't resist.

This is the area where the crib will go

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not into clutter and knickknacks.  Once we get the crib with the bedding in there, I think we'll just put a few George and Martha prints on the wall, get a rocking chair, and call it good.

Week 16

Baby MJ is the size of an Avocado.

Mmmmmm, I love Avocados!  I guess that means the baby likes them too ;0)

According to the "Ultimate Man's Guide to Baby Sizes" the baby is also the size of a Stud Finder!  I love it! 

Week 16 is over! It has been a very eventful week... two big things happened:

1. I felt the baby move and
2. Someone asked me if I was pregnant for the first time.

1. I had been feeling bubbly, fluttery, gas-like movements in my belly for the past week or so, but I just thought it was normal stomach grumbles. Well, I was talking with my friends and coworkers about their experiences and when they were describing what the early movements were like, I realized that what I had been feeling was the baby!

2. I go to monthly lab meetings, so I only see some of my work colleagues once a month. Right after a lab meeting, a colleague came up to me and asked me if I was pregnant. He was relieved when I said “yes.” (Apparently, he had mistakenly asked a woman who was not pregnant and was embarrassed). He said he could tell because I was rubbing my belly during the meeting. I didn’t even realize I was doing that. I guess that may be the first of many questions from strangers/acquaintances.

I am so very happy to say that I get to see Jimmy in 2 weeks and my family in 3 weeks! I am so excited to see everyone that I love and to have a vacation! Jimmy’s last day in the field is today, so we will get to talk on the phone more often, so I am thrilled that he will be more accessible to me.

I had a prenatal visit on Monday. It was really short (like 5 minutes), but I was able to hear the heartbeat, which was 150 bpm, and they told me my uterus was perfectly positioned. I was sad that they didn’t do a sonogram because I wanted to see the baby. Oh well, maybe next time! According the my records, I’m 1 pound UNDER my pre-pregnancy weight, but I’m pretty sure that’s wrong because my belly is so much larger now. They didn’t seem concerned, so I’m not worried about it.

Whomp, whomp whomp… It’s so very reassuring to hear the heartbeat because sometimes I wonder if there’s something really growing inside me. Sometimes I start to panic: “Is this all in my head?” “Am I just getting fat?” “Is there really a baby in my belly?”

If you don’t know already, I have minor issues with my heart. A few years ago, when they diagnosed me, they told me that I would need to be monitored if I were to ever get pregnant. Well, my doctor/midwife informed me on Monday that my heart would be strong enough for labor. I guess ignorance is bliss because I had no idea that was an issue. Apparently from my exam and the information they received from my cardiologist, they determined that my heart was strong enough to make it through the pregnancy and labor…yay!

My stomach is starting to feel really tight and starting to pop out! I’m really confused because I think the pregnancy hormones are making my stomach hairy. My stomach may have been hairy my whole life, but now that I’m focusing on it, I’ve been noticing more details of my belly that I wouldn’t rather know about. So, I’ll just say that the pregnancy is making my stomach hairy. Regardless, it’s U.G.L.Y. I will definitely not be rocking a bikini this summer.

The weather has been great, so I’m happily back to wearing skirts and dresses to work again. I’ve been using that belly band thing and trying to get as much use of my regular wardrobe before converting to maternity wear. The belly band kind of crumples up my skirts at the waist, but it will do for now. My dresses that aren’t form fitting still fit, but it will only be a matter of time until I will have to convert to maternity clothes.

Day 1, Week 17 Belly Shot 

I'm still wearing my regular clothes, but after I ate lunch today, my dress was super tight in the chest/stomach area and I couldn't breathe!

Rainy Day Photo Shoot

Rudy

(AKA Roooods, Ham)

Rudy informed me that she wanted to be photographed from her "good side"

Olivia w/ears up

(AKA Livy Cat)

Olivia w/ears down

Lucy

(AKA Snout)

She's not the most photogenic kitty, ha ha ha

Week 15

Baby MJ is as big as an Orange

According to the "Ultimate Man's Guide to Baby Sizes" the baby is also the size of a Baseball

Week 15 was a pretty uneventful week, which is a good thing. I’ve been feeling better in general and the headaches haven’t been as severe. I’m still really tired all the time, but every now and then, I’ve noticed I have more energy in the day. All in all, I’m feeling much more like my old happy self!

Now that I’m actually starting to feel better and settling into a new routine in DC, I’ve been finally able to just relax and think about the baby. I am so excited. The only thing I’m really nervous about is getting through the pregnancy; I’m not nervous about being a mom at all! Jimmy also told me that he is so ready to be a dad, which is a relief, because most new dad’s freak out. I love hearing about his plans and ideas for the baby, it’s really sweet and cute. We’ve been waiting and planning for so long… we are so excited!

Jimmy and I are 99% sure the baby will have dark hair and brown eyes. I’m kind of worried about the skin tone situation because I am very light for a Filipina and, well, Jimmy is…. very white! I’m just hoping our child has at least a little bit of color to him/her! Since Jimmy and I both had braces and major mouth/teeth/nose issues, this poor child doesn’t have a chance! I guess we should start saving up for the orthodontist bill right now.

Our baby will definitely be smart, have a witty sense of humor, and probably talk too much. This child will also grow up to love animals, especially cats. It’s just so exciting to think about all the different things this child could become.

This past week, I read Animal Farm and am now almost finished with 1984. Those are two of Jimmy’s favorite books. I’m usually into reading the classics or girly stuff, so I’m not sure what compelled me to start reading those books. Jimmy left them on the nightstand and for whatever reason, I started reading them. Then I wondered/worried if my current book selections will affect the baby somehow, ha ha ha. Maybe it’s a sign! Maybe the baby will grow up to be a politician, economist, or historian.

I have a prenatal appointment next Monday, so I’m really excited to get to see little baby MJ again. I know MJ has grown a lot and I can’t wait to see all the changes that have occurred since the last sonogram. Hopefully, this will be my last solo appointment. Jimmy will be home April, by the time my next appointment comes around!

Day 1 of week 16...
my belly has really popped! ;0)

The Snout strikes again!

I was just getting to sleep when I heard a crash in the living room.  I jumped up out of bed and saw Lucy "Snout" running from the patio door.  Apparently, she tried to jump from the kitty tower onto the curtains.  She "snouted" the curtains and they came crashing down.  I was going to wait until tomorrow to fix them, but have a friend coming over after work and wouldn't have time to fix it then.  Fixing curtains at midnight is not cool.

Snouted curtains

An act punishable by lion head costume... bwaaahhhh ahhhh ahhh ahhhh!

I'm so mean

A face only a mother could love

It's hard to hang up curtains by yourself; it's a good thing I'm a handy kind of girl!

Snout seems cute and innocent...

I should close up the box and send her to Texas with Jimmy!

Finally "official" and settling in at the NIH

I’ve been at my new job at the National Institutes of Heath (NIH) for 7 weeks now. I finally feel “official” because I got my NIH ID badge last week. I am no longer considered a visitor. Yay! I now get to go straight through the gates and no longer have to endure 20 minutes of security checks each morning before work.


Working on campus is great. It really has the look and feel of a college campus and all the brick buildings remind me of Whitman. You can sense the change, energy, and progress in the air and I LOVE that feeling. In addition, there are so many cute, nerdy, guys here in their 30’s… just my type, ha ha ha.  But for every cute scientist there are 4-5 not so cute ones ;0)

What I also love is the diversity of the campus population. People come from all over the world to work there and it’s so neat to see a good mixture of a lot of cultures. When I walk through the halls and in the cafeteria, you can hear all the different languages. It's so refreshing.  Of course, since Asians are naturally smart, there are lots of Asians here. I am no longer in the minority!

I work in the largest building on campus, which is the Clinical Center. It’s huge! Not only is it a full scale hospital, tons of research labs are located there, and it houses a lot of the admin staff for NIH. I work in a cubicle, which is definitely an adjustment. This is my first job where I don’t have my own office. It’s kind of fun though because there’s always people around me to talk to if I get bored and you can hear everyone’s conversations. ;0) I just can't pick my nose or goof around as easily anymore!

Even though I’ve been there for almost 2 months, I still have so much to learn. I will be honest; the first few weeks were rough. It’s a very tough, fast paced, and high profile position, so it was a lot to take in at first. I truly wondered if it was the right fit for me. Well, I’ve gotten the hang of it and am actually starting to enjoy myself at work! I’m not going to say that I love my job (yet), but it’s growing on me. The more things I learn to do, the better it gets.

I’ve also finally figured out what I actually do! My official title is Committee Manager for the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for the Division of Intramural Research (DIR). It’s a mouthful and definitely hard to explain exactly what I do.

NIAID Website: http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/

Basically, if any type of recruitment or promotion for NIAID DIR requires a scientific peer review, I manage that case. NIAID is one of the largest institutes at NIH so we get tons of cases. In addition I also manage all the cases at our satellite NIAID office in Montana. (The Montana labs are cool because that’s where they have the bio level safety level 4 labs with all the scary, super contagious, world threatening, type diseases… I’m so glad it’s in Montana and not here in DC!)

What I do is kind of like Human Resources, but not really. I manage Title 42 candidate searches, new appointments, higher level GS scientist promotions, promotion to tenure track, and promotion from tenure track to tenure. The cases I work with are obviously all scientists, which is cool, and they come from all over the world. A lot of them are world-renowned and famous researchers.

The new candidate searches up to a year to complete and promotions take about 4-6 months. It’s highly competitive and ruthless and makes me realize why I didn’t get into science or research. My first big task is a new candidate recruitment for the Program in Systems Immunology and Infectious Disease Modeling (PSIIM) Lab.

This job is just a different type of “case management,” so it wasn’t too far of a stretch for me. The cases take much longer and I am working with a different population, but it’s not too different from what I’ve been doing for the past 9 years. I admit that I really miss working with children and families and I especially miss working with military families. Working with scientists is definitely very different, but they are just the same as any population… you have the good ones, and the bad ones!

I’m just so happy and grateful to have such a good job considering what’s happening with economy. Even though I’m not doing any ground breaking scientific research, I feel like I’m part of something really revolutionary, groundbreaking, and important and that’s a wonderful feeling.

Week 14

The baby is as big as Lemon

(This makes me want some lemonade!)

According to the"Ultimate Man's Guide to Baby Sizes" the baby is as big as a Stress Ball

Week 14 was a rough one! I’m so glad it’s over and hope this next week will bring me some much needed relief. Headaches and fatigue have been my major issues. I haven’t had any more morning sickness or any other symptom for that matter, but the fatigue and headaches have made this one of the toughest weeks for me so far.

I’ve been going to bed between 7-8pm and sleeping all the way until 6am. I still wake up exhausted and am dragging at work. It’s been crazy. Sometimes I sit at my desk and zone out for a few minutes. I had a 10 hour migraine last weekend which brought me to tears and it was so bad it made me throw up. I’ve also been getting mild headaches at work and I’ve also been more prone to get car sick during my bus ride home.

To make matters worse, Jimmy will be training in the field for the next 3 weeks, so our phone conversations have been limited to about 5-10 minutes a day this past week. I miss him so much.  I know he wishes he could be here with me, but it's good to know he's coming home soon. I am so looking forward to seeing him in 4 weeks!

I think I’ve finally gained some weight, possibly 1-2 pounds. It’s weird because my belly is physically bigger, but I’m not gaining any weight. I’m also still wearing my regular clothes. The Bella Band helps me fit into some of the pants I’ve grown out of. I just have to find loose fitting or longer shirts to cover up the band and my belly. (I really like the shirt I have in the picture. I’ve had it for years, but because it’s loose fitting and long, I know I can wear it well into my pregnancy.)

I’m still loving the Simply lemonade! It’s so yummy. I actually bought 4 bottles of various Simply brand juices. I crave their lemonade, but thought it would be better to shake things up with different flavors. This week I got Simply lemonade, raspberry lemonade, orange/pineapple, and orange/mango. They are all really good!

I look normal from the front.

Bam!

I'm REALLY arching my back here, so the belly is a little exaggerated... but it is bigger than last week!