Geek in Heels - Page 154

May 5, 2010 • In Baby, Personal, Pregnancy

18 Weeks

This week’s update is a few days late, but I’ve had good reason to postpone.

There isn’t anything new or exciting on the pregnancy front aside from my severe round ligament pain. I still feel some aching, but it seems like the pain is gradually getting better. Praise God! I’m happy that I can now move about, especially considering that we’re leaving for our babymoon in just two days (!!!) and we had purchased non-refundable tickets and hotel rooms in order to get the best possible rates.

I am however, feeling extra sluggish and Jabba-esque due to my being in bed for the past few days. I stepped on the scale this morning to find that I had gained two pounds from my last weekly weigh-in. But since I had lost some weight in the past few weeks, I am still a few pounds lighter than I was at my heaviest (at 13 weeks).

As you can see, there doesnt’ seem to much development in the belly department either.

On to the update!

Dear Baby,

Your father and I are still getting used to calling you and referring to you as “she” and “her” as opposed to “it.” We’re both overjoyed that you’re doing well in there, and we honestly can’t wait to meet you face-to-face.

Your father constantly sighs while looking at my belly. “I wish she were here already,” he would pout.

You are now the size of a sweet potato, or a large bell pepper. You are now about 6″ crown-to-rump and weigh 7 ounces. Looking at a ruler, it’s already hard to imagine that you’re already this big!

Your ears are now in their final positions (although they still stick out a bit), and a protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around your nerves, a process that will continue for a year after you’re born.

According to Baby Gaga, this week is an important one for your skin:

There are now two distinct layers—the epidermis (or the surface skin) and dermis. Currently, their skin is covered with a greasy, waxy, cheese-like substance, known as vernix caseosa. Sure, it sounds pretty nasty, but this mixture of fatty secretions covering your little swimmer from head to toe is the best way to protect their oh-so-thin skin from bruising and abrasions as well as chapping caused by amniotic fluid exposure (and your little one is swimming in that stuff!). Still don’t like the fact your little darling is currently slathered in fatty cream like a greased pig? Well, you know the birthing process? Where you have to push something the size of a watermelon out a hole the size of a grape? That adorable little greased piglet would have a lot harder time getting through the birth canal without the vernix caseosa.

I just imagined myself giving birth to a greased-up baby pig…thanks for the mental image, Baby Gaga!

In addition to your skin, your sexual organs are now formed and in pace. You will even have developed a vaginal canal by the end of the week!

I always said that it must be weird for mothers who are growing boys inside; after all, they are growing a tiny penis inside of them! But now that I know that I am growing a tiny uterus, fallopian tubes, and a vagina inside of me…well…

JUST DON’T LET ANY BOYS COME NEAR YOUR HOOHA, OKAY???

</end overly protective motherly rant>

Baby, the past few days have been especially tough on your mother. Please don’t give me any more trouble while we are on vacation. I promise I will get lots of sun and tons of relaxation on the beach which I know you’ll love!

Happy Children’s Day!

Ask any child in Korea what the date June 25 signifies and they may give you a blank stare. But any mention of May 5 will be met with smiles and excitement.

Why?

Because May 5 is Children’s Day, a national holiday reserved for the celebration of children and the youth and innocence they embody.

The Korean Children’s Day was created by the children’s writer and storyteller Bang Jung Hwan in 1923 as a way to instill a sense of independence and national pride in children. Bang had noticed the low status that the Korean culture — based on Confucian ideals of placing value on age and maturity — placed on children and so wrote an “An Open Letter to Adults,” which stated:

Children are the future of our nation. Let’s show respect for children. Children who grow up with ridicule and contempt from others will become people who disrespect others, while children who grow up with respect from others will become people who respect others in turn.

Children’s Day highlights the dignity of children and their need for love, care, and respect. It is also a day to honor adults that have contributed to improving the lives of children.

Being a national holiday, all schools and most offices are closed on Children’s Day. Parents are encouraged to go out with their kids in order to fully celebrate the holiday, whether it be via amusement parks or the numerous festivals that are held on this special occasion.

And you can’t forget the presents. I remember that growing up in Korea, we children probably received more presents for Children’s Day than for Christmas.

I always wondered why the United States doesn’t have an official Children’s Day; after all, many other countries in the world celebrate their youth with a national holiday.

My family hasn’t celebrated Children’s Day since we moved to the states. However, I fully plan on celebrating this Korean holiday with my kids. If mothers, fathers, veterans, and even dead Presidents get a day dedicated to them, I feel that children should too.

That Flippin’ Clock!

The Fliqlo screensaver.

Used (and loved) by many a minimalist and design enthusiasts alike, it has become one of the most popular screensavers of the past year.

image source

And today, I found the perfect physical accompaniment:

I love it — it’s the perfect mix of retro, minimalist, and functional design. Measuring more than a foot wide, it is surely to make an impact in any home.

Get your own for $80 at the Little Clock Shop.

Via Apartment Therapy Unplggd.

Our Second Trip to the ER

Sunday night. (Or Monday morning, if you prefer.)

I woke up at around 2 a.m. with some pain in my lower right abdomen. I got up to pee — which is not unusual these days — and went back to bed. “The pain will subside,” I told myself. “You’ve been having tons of pregnancy-related twinges, pangs, and aches over the past few months. It’ll go away.”

It didn’t.

By 2:45 a.m. the pain had gotten so bad that I was thrashing around on the bed. And no, J didn’t wake up because he’s the world’s deepest sleeper which has me convinced that I’ll be doing all the 3 a.m. feedings by myself when the baby comes.

I finally couldn’t take it anymore and poked him. Then pushed him…and shook him until he finally woke up.

“I think we have to go to the ER.”

He got up, put on some clothes in record time and hauled our asses to the hospital.

One thing I learned from our last ER visit was that they do not have doctors and nurses running around in blood-stained scrubs, yelling things like “Stat!” like they do on medical dramas. It’s a fairly calm affair —

— unless you’re in excruciating pain, that is.

By 3 a.m. the pain had gotten considerably worse. It had started as a dull, throbbing ache but it was now a full-on sharp, STABBING sensation that ceased to stop. Not only that, the pain had spread to my sides and back as well, forming a U-shaped band of agony around the lower right side of my torso.

How bad was the pain?

At its worst, I had trouble breathing. I had tears running down my face and was dry-heaving (and am certain that I would have been puking if my stomach was not empty). I was shaking so much that the nurse had trouble putting in the IV.

There were people in the ER who were more vocal about their discomforts than I. So J had to go grab the nurses on more than one occasion and angrily ask what the hell was taking so long to get his pregnant wife some help.

Someone finally arrived with a vial of morphine. Can I just say, that sh*t is DOPE? I can now understand how so many people can get addicted to narcotics.

When my pain had finally subsided — or more accurately, been masked — and everyone started talking reealllly slooooowww and things became fuzzy wuzzy, they finally announced that the ultrasound tech had arrived and was ready for me.

I did not like the ultrasound technician. (And this is saying a lot coming from a patient who was high and happy on morphine.) He had bad bedside manners and kicked J out of the room. He wouldn’t even show me the screen, and when I asked if the baby is okay, he gruffly replied, “It’s moving.”

He performed a full abdominal ultrasound which took a good 20-30 minutes. I was then wheeled back to my bed and awaited the results.

When the on-call OB arrived, imagine my surprise to see what it was one of the doctors from my OB practice! He said that all my bloodwork looked normal and that the radiologist couldn’t find anything abnormal on the ultrasound.

He said that the most likely culprit is severe round ligament pain (RLP). HOWEVER, there was still a chance that it was appendicitis.

He explained that although my appendix didn’t look inflamed from the ultrasound, they couldn’t be sure without a CT scan (which they are reluctant to perform on pregnant women). For the time, they will rule it out since I didn’t have a fever and my white blood cell count wasn’t elevated.

Thankfully, the baby was doing just fine and didn’t seem to be in any danger.

The morphine had started to wear off and my pain hadn’t returned, so they decided to discharge me. If I continue to experience the pain, I was to call the OB office right away.

I spent all day yesterday recovering. The pain would come and go in waves, but it hasn’t been as bad as before.

I called the office when I became concerned that the pain wasn’t going away, but the on-call OB agreed with the other doctor that it is most likely RLP for which, unfortunately, they can’t do much. Severe RLP (like mine) is rare, but not unheard of. I just happen to be one of the few lucky women who has been blessed with it.

The bad news is that there is a chance I will continue to experience RLP for the duration of the pregnancy, or even after!

However, I take solace in the fact that the baby is doing okay. Even if I have to experience RLP every day until she is born, she’ll all be worth it. I even joked to J, “Well, she’s really making me work for her, isn’t she? At least I’ll appreciate her that much more when she’s born!”

I’m still in some pain as I write this. Mercifully, the pain seems to be lessening with each wave.

Please keep me and the baby in your prayers.

P.S. — Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th Be With You!

Would You Contest This Ticket? How About Hiring an Attorney?

This morning, I received my first traffic violation ticket in over a decade.

I was at a busy intersection (corner of W. 42nd and 8th Ave) and attempting to make a left turn onto 8th Ave. The traffic signal with a left arrow turned green, so I slowly started to make the turn, but stopped as there were still pedestrians crossing the street. I waited until all the pedestrians had passed, then finished making the turn.

I was then immediately pulled over and given a ticket for “failure to yield to pedestrians.”

The cops had obviously set up a trap at this location, because three other cars got pulled over for the same reason at the time. And in the time that I was waiting for the ticket to be issued, I witnessed at least 10 other cars doing EXACTLY what I had done, or worse (pulling deep into the middle of the pedestrian walkway) and getting off without a glance.

I would like to contest this ticket as I did not block any pedestrians, or ignore them, or drove on through. I waited until everyone had passed before continuing to make the turn. I did not do anything worse than what all NYC drivers do, and I certainly did not hurt anyone.

However, I realize that the law is not on my side as the judge is more likely to take the officer’s word over mine. In addition, my understanding is that the officer has THREE chances to appear in court so I may need to show up in court three different times, which I am reluctant to do as I’ve heard many stories of people waiting for hours on end in traffic court with no success.

This violation is a 3-point violation, which will most certainly jack up my insurance rates. I would also need to pay a fine of $160.

Should I contest this ticket?

I contacted a traffic violation attorney to see what my options are. For $300, they will file all the necessary paperwork and make all appearances in court on my behalf. I do not even need to meet with them — we can do everything over email, phone, and regular mail.

I asked what their success rate is for the dismissal of traffic violation tickets, and they answered 65-75%.

J thinks that the $300 is worth it, especially considering the increase in insurance costs over the years. As for me, I’m a bit reluctant because it’s a lot of money for something that I can do myself. I may not necessarily do it better, but it’s still doable.

Would you hire an attorney?

On a more personal note, SCREW YOU, NYC.

I know that the city is strapped for cash. But purposely setting up traps like this — on a crowded street during rush hour, no less — is just bad form. They blocked off TWO lanes for this trap, further aggravating rush hour traffic and inconveniencing motorists and pedestrians alike.

Find other ways of raising money. Traffic tickets are fine when warranted. Not when it’s for something that happens in NYC on every corner, every hour of each day.

Calvin Grown Up

This made me tear up…

I unfortunately do not have any toys I can pass down to my children. I always preferred books over toys and never developed an attachment to any particular item.

There are, however, many many many books that I’d love to read to my children in hopes that they will love and appreciate them as I did.

Do you have any toys, books, or heirlooms you plan on passing down to your children?

Image via haha.nu.

Starting to Get Excited for Our Girl!

So I’ve had an entire night to sleep on it.

And after thinking about it some more, talking to my mother and some girlfriends about it…

…I’m starting to get excited!

I think one of the reasons I was so shocked at the news is because I had a gut feeling from the beginning of the pregnancy that it was a boy. I was drawn to boy stuff, and really pictured myself raising a firstborn son. (So much for mother’s intuition!)

Now that I’ve accepted the fact that we’re having a girl, I’m starting to think of all the benefits of having a daughter and it’s pretty exhilarating.

I will always be the dominant female figure in her life.
They say that when your son gets married, you lose a son forever; when a daughter gets married, she’ll still be your daughter. This idea may be outdated and debatable, but I do like to believe that a mother-daughter relationship is one to be cherished and treasured because there is none like it.

There are so many more cute items for baby girls than boys.
I was never one for playing dress-up or playing with dolls, so I have never dreamed of having a daughter whom I can dress in cute clothes and buy adorable toys for her to play with. However, you can’t deny that there are so many more sweet items to be bought for girls than for boys. Like this Ladybug Crib Bedding Set. I am so putting this on our registry.

Girls are more likely to help out as they get older.
Some may say this is sexist, but I have found it to be true from watching my friends’ families. And who says she can only help out with cooking and cleaning? My sister and I have helped our father with numerous home improvement projects (including installing a 50-gallon water heater), machine/car repair, and construction work.

She can still love sports.
J and I had planned on getting numerous baby sports apparel (NY Knicks, Baltimore Ravens, and JHU Lacrosse) for the baby long before we knew the gender…and we haven’t changed our plans. In fact, now that we know the gender and therefore have a name, I will be ordering this Knicks Personalized Hooded Towel in the near future:

We will immerse her in our favorite sports from a young age, and hope that she will participate in many team sports as she grows up.

Men who have older sisters tend to treat women with more respect and courtesy.
Again, this can be debatable and there are exceptions to every rule. But I have found from observing my guy friends over the years that those with older sisters treat women better. And I sincerely hope that our daughter will be a great older sister and a role model to a younger brother in the future.

Even my MIL chimed in with a benefit of having daughters: “Look at J and his younger brother! They never listened to me when they were young, and they still don’t listen. Girls are easier to raise!”

What say you, readers? Can you think of any additional advantages of having a girl?

The Gender Reveal

It’s a GIRL!

After the NT scan, I thought that we had a bold and outgoing child on our hands. But this ultrasound certainly made me change my mind — she was a shy one, constantly covering her face with her hands and keeping her legs tightly crossed. It took quite some pokes from the tech, in addition to my downing an entire bottle of fruit juice and coughing repeatedly, until she uncrossed her legs and let us have a peek at the goods.

The ultrasound place we had chosen offers a complimentary follow-up exam if the baby’s gender can not be revealed at the first visit. Our tech felt so bad that she couldn’t get any clear images of the face (due to the baby’s hands) that she gave us the free exam anyway. We will return in two weeks for a second run at the 3D/4D ultrasound pictures and video.

I would be lying if I said I was completely happy to hear the news. In fact, J took it better than me. I wasn’t disappointed for myself, but for J and his family who had been looking forward to a boy. However, they took the news in stride and for that I am thankful.

My parents were ecstatic to hear the news. I could hear my father excited talking in the background, because he wanted a granddaughter from day one. When I called my sister, she screamed and almost blew my eardrums out. While I am happy that the baby seems happy and healthy, I feel guilty for not having the same reaction at the gender. As such, I have been praying that God fills my heart with joy for our baby girl.

Although we had picked both girl and boy names already, I had been having doubts in the past weeks about our choice of a boy name. As a matter of fact, I was certain that we would probably go with something else — we just couldn’t decide. Maybe this was a sign, because I love the name we have picked for our girl and wouldn’t have it any other way. (We will keep the name a secret until she is born.)

J is already talking about making a trip to Home Depot so that he can build a cage to keep our girl in until she turns 18. He also says he wants to buy a shotgun to scare off all boys. I know he’s kidding, but I can’t help but already be worried about boys too. I have a feeling we’re going to be very protective parents…

Protecting My Domain and Moniker

I recently discovered that a blogger has taken to using the “Geek in Heels” moniker for her own site. (Thank you, Google Alerts, for giving me the heads-up!)

The blog is relatively new and does not seem to have many readers. However, the writer is Asian like myself and our blogging topics are bound to overlap sooner or later.

It is precisely for these reasons that I began to wonder if I should protect the “Geek in Heels” name by grabbing all the popular top-level domains (.com, .net, .org, etc). Currently, I only own geekinheels.com.

I don’t think my site is that popular, but it has been featured on popular sites such as BoingBoing and Neatorama. I hardly ever get many comments, but I do get a decent amount of visitors and have a Google PageRank of 3. I receive at least one email per week regarding advertising and/or promoting products people would like me to write about on this blog.

I don’t know if this site will ever become very popular, or if I’ll make decent money from it. However, I do know that I love the “Geek in Heels” moniker and plan on using it for a long time. I also plan on blogging for as long as possible.

Based on this information, do you think I should invest the money in buying new domain names with different top-level domains? What about variations of geekinheels, such as geek-in-heels.com?

The Geocities-izer

The Geocities-izer.

Its tagline says it all: Make Any Webpage Look Like It Was Made By A 13 Year-Old in 1996. Complete with a MIDI file playing in the background, animated GIFs, and glaring color schemes.