Tales
Terren’s Pregnancy Blog, 2008
Zyguy's Page (Zygote + Guy)
Ultrasound hot off the press, the saga of the little guy in the bubble. The bubble in Lynn's pants.
****NOTE- we're not very blog savvy, so you have to scroll to the bottom to find if there is an update******
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We're not hip enough to have a blog. Our unborn child, however, is clearly way cooler than we are.
Hopefully, we'll get to meet Zyguy (gender neutral) someday around 9/1/2008.
Here's a shot from our first ultrasound, at 7 weeks 3 days, on 1/17/2008:
Yes, if you caught that -- 1.13cm long. Not even half an inch, and already with a heartbeat of 152 beats a minute. (That round thing on the right, that's a yolk sac.)
To check out the heartbeat, click on the picture below. Another screen will pop up that you can maximize and then click the play arrow on the lower left corner.
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Then on 2/1/2008, we headed back to the hospital. Like the first time, Justin "borrowed" the ultrasound machine from the ER, wheeled it down 2 hallways and we rendezvoused in a secret "changing room" storing someone's random mountain bike. Luckily there's a lock on the door.
Sure enough, the baby was still tickin'. And this time it was kickin'....click on picture below to see for yourself.
We are very very excited. With each day the chance of actually getting to meet this little dude becomes better. We're very thankful, even if it doesn't turn out as we hope.
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On 2/5/2008, Nurse Alice from our newly chosen Ob-Gyn performed a transvaginal ultrasound on Lynn to "confirm" the pregnancy - clearly had she seen Justin's skills, there would be no need to confirm diddley. Transvaginal means they actually put the probe in Lynn's vajayjay, reaching within a couple inches of the baby -- unlike the transabdominal ultrasound that Justin uses in the ER which can be thwarted by gas in the tummy, organs, and other mischief. Happy to say that Zyguy was still hanging out. Below is a scan of the chumpy photo the nurse gave us.
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Happy Valentine's Day! It's been nine days of no ultrasound, Zyguy isn't big enough yet to be felt kicking, pregnancy symptoms are so minimal, and Mom has only gained 1 pound - all of this makes Lynn nervous about Zyguy being ok. Today was the nuchal translucency screening - the most accurate screening test for Down's Syndrome and a couple other congenital defects. They advised her to drink lots of water (This helps with viewing the baby accurately.). Lynn takes this so seriously, she ends up peeing at least 6 times during her hour at the doctor's office.
Lynn finds out on the ultrasound table that the minimum gestational age for accurate screening is 11 weeks 4 days; Lynn is one day early. (Thanks for telling her now...) But as long as the fetus is longer than 45 mm, Lynn won't have to haul herself back to Fremont. The doctor measures and Zyguy is...45.1 mm! Just made it. On with the scan. The doc tells Lynn she has a couple less than 1 inch fibroids, which are not too concerning. The heartbeat is 174 beats per minute, in a good zone. He measures the nuchal translucency thickness with a perfect profile of Zyguy. To be more accurate, he needs the baby to separate from the uterine wall, i.e. "hop." He tells Lynn to cough and lo and behold, Zyguy attempts a kip off mom's uterus. Hoo-ah! Lynn wonders, "Wow, what does Zy do when I'm laughing? Yikes." (7.6 on the Richter scale for the little guy.) The doc also shows Lynn Zy's five fingers of its right hand which happen to be hanging out right by its nose. (Like father like son/daughter? Justin still picks his nose in the car just like HIS dad.)
Turns out all the measurements look pretty good. Best Valentine's gift ever!
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What's up with Zyguy these days?
(Note that depending on your connection, it may take a few moments for the video to load. To remedy seeing the video play in slow motion, just wait a minute before clicking the play arrow.)
11 weeks four days - 2/15/08
Please turn on your speakers. This movie has audio.
Backstory: The Director (Justin) decided on this last filming that 3 second clips of Zy were too brief so he decided to up each clip to 10 seconds. Upon observing all of Zy's crazy activity, the Director went nuts recording clips. But in attempting to burn all the videos to a CD, the Director overloaded the ultrasound computer with so much video that it crashed three times. The Director, afraid of overheating the computer, opened the door and stood there whirling around a white towel (used to clean off ultrasound gel) to cool down the 8 foot by 6 foot room. It took over an hour to transfer all the video. We arrived two hours late to our dinner date at Martha and Nando's house. No more ten second clips. :-)
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(From Lynn's perspective) - 2/28/08
While Justin is away on a two-day ski retreat in Tahoe with his EM program (a nice break from his rotation in the Pediatrics Intensive Care Unit, which, according to Justin, is not a good place to be while pregnant...), I had another appointment with Nurse Alice on 2/28/08. After all those blood vials, everything that needs to be positive is positive and everything that needs to be negative is negative. Yah!
The early screen test (which is the nuchal translucency measurement plus the blood test) shows that Zy's odds of having Down's is 1/3276 and Trisomy 18/13 is 1/8921 (For some context, the risk for an 18-year old of having a baby with Down's is 1/1200). My risk based on maternal age alone is 1/267 and 1/447, respectively, so the results are super awesome!
Having read that most people gain between 2 and 5 pounds in their first trimester, I worriedly asked Nurse Alice, "How is it that I can be into my second trimester and still only have gained 1, maybe 2 pounds?" She said, "Just remember you said that...mark February 28...." We laughed. She comforted me that my uterus was the right size (which I can now feel as a tough round ball four inches below my belly button) and that I'll really put on weight in the second trimester.
Earlier in this week I traveled to LA for work. On the second morning, I went to pull on my suit pants and realized I couldn't button them. Then I tried putting on the suit jacket and couldn't button it closed either. My belly and boobs (or gonzagas as Justin likes to call them) are too big. I spent all day with my boss at a huge conference hoping my fly didn't come unzipped...and my pants didn't fall off.
While walking home from the appointment with Nurse Alice, I read over the early screen test and realized that the crown to rump length (CRL) measurement in the report was 45.7 mm rather than the 45.1 that the sonographer had told me on the day of (See story above.). Having read up on nuchal translucency studies and results, I became concerned because if the CRL was accidentally reported as longer than the actual, the risk results for Down's and Trisomy would actually be worse than the report showed. This set off a protective mama bear into a number of long conversations with several different individuals from the Medical Genetics Center that put together the report and the Perinatal Center that took the measurements, questioning the accuracy and measurements of the results and insisting on a sound report. The poor receptionist who answered the call of one of the most informed and paranoid pregnant women ever. Mama Bear was much more comforted after hearing that the measurement was accurate and the half millimeter difference in CRL would change the risk results only by a hair, if any. The gist of the story - I am the worrier in the family; as a pending Mom, I'm orders of magnitude worse. If I were actually a smart instead freaked out Mama Bear, I would have realized that we took an ultrasound the day after the nuchal translucency measurement and Justin came up with 46 to 47 mm...which corroborated the report. I asked Justin afterwards, "Am I turning into a freak!?!"
I also heard Zyguy's heartbeat for the first time. Zy's alive - phew.
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3/5/08
Frequently Asked Questions about Zyguy
Was Zy planned? If Justin driving 2.5 hours back and forth between Sacramento and Berkeley to do the deed to catch Lynn while she's ovulating is considered planned, then the answer is yes.
Are we getting hitched before the baby comes? No, Lynn's proud of having a bastard and is going to call it "tard" for short....plus, Lynn can't get funky on the wedding dance floor with Zy in her tummy.
Have we started to think about names? No, but if Zy is a guy, he won't be named after any of the Apostles.
Are we going to find out the gender? Justin (and thus Lynn) doesn't want to....and even if we did, we wouldn't tell anyone cause the blue and pink thing gets us down.
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3/2/08 (Out of chronological order due to the movie editing time needed by the Directors)
Zyguy is learning new skillz at 13 weeks, 6 days, but is growing too big to get funky on the uterine dance floor. Click on the photo below to watch its new skillz.
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3/14/08
This just in...dee dee deet deet d-dee d-dee deet deet....
According to Justin, Lynn's gonzagas "have taken over area code 510 and show no signs of slowing. If you see a giant nipple outside your window, don't be afraid....it's just Lynn's boob."
Zyguy digs In 'n Out. Justin takes Lynn on her first craving run for an In 'n Out burger over in Pinole, despite breaking two of Lynn's principles - eating minimal fast food and wasting fossil fuels. Zy thanks Pablo, Lynn's friend, who introduced her to In 'n Out, the only redeemable fast food restaurant.
Zyguy scoffs at child labor laws. With the help of our friends Khanh and Mike who will serve as sponsors, Zyguy will be sweeping the floor from day one (see photo below). Like his dad, Zyguy cries, "Death to all dust bunnies!"
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3/17/08
We checked in again with Zy (Or Shanaynay as Mike and Khanh call her, or Billy Bob as Harry calls him) at 16 weeks for another ultrasound.
Turn on your speakers for this one.
We're taking two polls. Send your results to Justin and Lynn if you're inclined.
1) Lynn's mom recently called her to share a humorous story. Lynn's parents had just finished a round of golf and decided to stop by McDonald's to grab something convenient to eat (which of course Lynn reprimanded her mom for doing). Not able to find anything small to eat, Mom ordered a kid's Happy Meal. After finishing their meals, Mom went to throw her garbage away and Dad stopped her with, "We should save the toy for our grandchild!" Mom couldn't stop laughing as she pondered the idea of saving the ugly toy monkey that came free with the Happy Meal.
- Does Lynn's Dad have "grandkid" on the brain constantly?
- Is Lynn's Dad going to be such a dedicated grandfather that he would save the ugly monkey for four years before Zyguy could actually safely play with the three-year-old-and-up toy?
- Does Lynn's Dad think his potential grandkid is only worth a free Happy Meal toy?
2) Help name Zyguy's future cafeteria. 1980's TV/Movie characters seemed to be appropriate because Lynn's gonzagas grew up in the 80's. Choose your favorite pair.
- Cagney and Lacy
- Laverne and Shirley
- The Wonder Twins
- Starsky and Hutch
- Ponch and John
- Cheech and Chong
- Mork and Mindy (This is a late write-in candidate submitted by Karen - we love it!)
Posting this was Justin's idea. He thinks it's hilarious. Lynn apologizes to her offended friends.
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4/4/08
On March 21, Lynn received a call from Nurse Alice. Based on the introduction of the conversation, Lynn knew Nurse Alice had bad news. Due to an error, the office requested several extra tests on the most recent blood samples, one being for Down's. Normally after a good nuchal translucency result, the office would not submit subsequent tests for Down's because they tend to produce more false positives and are less accurate than the nuchal test. Nurse Alice regrettably said she felt obligated to share the news that the most recent test came back positive (that's bad) and Zy's risk for Down's was calculated at 1/86 (as opposed to the 1/3276 from the nuchal test). Lynn was devastated, as was Justin. Justin was also pissed at the mistake and wanted to ignore the results. Lynn spent the weekend depressed - she was a wreck. It had a huge effect on both of their outlooks even though they knew intellectually and rationally that based on all the information on both of these screening tests that the risk of Down's was very small. They decided to schedule an amniocentesis as soon as possible even though this was not part of the original plan and terminating the pregnancy was not a consideration. Lynn had to know for certain.
Five days later, Justin and Lynn headed into the Perinatal Center for their amnio. Preceeding the amnio, we had genetic counseling which was not much use because we had already learned about all the statistics. The ultrasound technician, Elena and Dr. Weiss, then spent about 30 minutes conducting a fetal ultrasound, which showed no hard or soft signs of Down's (e.g. heart defects, wide spacing between the eyes, two vessel umbilical cord, etc.). They were very good at what they do and respected our desire to not find out the gender by warning us when they got near Zy's loins. Lynn covered her eyes; Justin stared at his feet. Then it was time for the big scary needle (which, according to dorky Justin, was a 22 gauge 3.5 inch quincke spinal needle like he uses for spinal taps).
Lynn hates needles. (She actually started giving blood many years ago to, in part, get over her fear of needles - it hasn't worked.) Dr. Weiss could tell as he jokingly tries to humor Lynn by asking Justin, "Do you want to try this?" knowing that Justin doesn't perform amnios. Sweaty palms, quiet voice (and you know how rare that is for Lynn), and a few cramps occur as 2 inches of needle slip into Lynn's abdomen. Zy's swimming pool shrinks by 20% as it gets drained by the pool boy (Dr. Weiss). The procedure ends smoothly and now it's time to wait 10 to 14 days for the results.
After an exhausting trip in DC visiting congressional members, Lynn spent yesterday (4/3) working at home and taking some leave to rest. Her work phone rang; it was the genetic counselor from the perinatal center. She had good news. All the results from the amnio came back normal.
She proceeded to ask Lynn, "Do you want to know the gender?" Lynn was about to say, "Can you give me a hint?" and realized the absurdity of the question - so instead said, "The father doesn't want to know so no."
The lesson learned from all this drama: no more screening tests for us. We'll opt for the amnio if Lynn ever gets pregant again.
Due to popular demand we are posting photos of Zy from the outside. (Truth be told, several of Lynn's friends have requested photos of Lynn's paunch because they're having a hard time picturing Lynn pregnant.)
3/14/08 - 15 weeks 4 days in Hawaii
3/29/08 - 17 weeks 5 days (Happy B-day, Lynn!)
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4/15/08 - Happy Tax Day! Wishing you all big refunds!
The bad news: Last Wednesday, Lynn had about a half hour of extreme abdominal pain, tried to make it back to the bedroom, and collapsed in the hallway. Dizzy, everything going dark, panting on the floor and sweating, she almost passed out. Everything is ok now.
The good news: In week 16 (about 4 weeks ago), Lynn felt Zy move inside her tummy for the first time. However, last Saturday she visually saw for the first time her tummy bulge externally from Zy's movement while lying in bed, and subsequently, Justin FELT Zy kick/punch/move from placing his hand on Lynn's tummy. Never has she seen such unadulterated excitement from Justin. But it shouldn't have surprised her from the guy who has the most severe case of pregnancy envy she could ever imagine.
This last weekend Zy's grandparents met for the first time ever (in 15 years of Justin and Lynn knowing each other). It was a splendid weekend involving yummy food, the SF farmer's market, glorious Bay Area weather, watching the Master's and great fun with family.
Asian Invasion goofy photo
Lynn, Sandra (Justin's parents), Debbie, Steve (Lynn's parents) and the Kuo cousins
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4/17/08
Although new and completely thrilling for each individual couple, most pregnancy experiences are expected or could be predicted. Things like seeing an ultrasound, feeling the baby kick, listening to a heartbeat, overwhelming emotion, family support and love, etc. One recent experience may be the most unexpected and thus truly wonderful occurrences inspired during our pregnancy.
We received the coolest letter that I (Lynn) have ever received in my life - from our friend Scott whom we have not been in touch with for over a year. He attended medical school at UCSF with Justin and was a roommate of Lynn's. The humor, poignancy, sincerity, and overall cleverness of the letter made me truly contemplate how lucky we are to have come across such amazing people in our lives. With a short introduction from Scott, “Let the paperless revolution begin!” the letter speaks for itself.
The third page of the letter goes on to speak about a deeply personal loss that our friend experienced just a few days previous, expressing his own difficulties and pain in watching death overcome a loved one. It did not feel appropriate to post this last page, but I mention the content because the three pages together make the letter whole.
I also mention the third page because never has there been a time in my life that the circle of life has come to have such relevance and significance to me. Never have I felt such pure excitement, hope, and happiness from others rest on one little thing - this little creature growing inside of me. My dear, dear uncle told me on several occasions in the months before he died last year, “You and Justin should go have a HAPA (a half Asian/half Caucasian baby).” I find it fitting that our baby’s due date will be on the one-year anniversary of my uncle’s passing.
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4/24/08 (From Justin's perspective)
So I've got a little bit of pregnancy envy, as Lynn says. "Why do you get to be the one that holds her all the time?" "Why can't you share a little bit?" Fortunately to sate my pregnancy envy a bit, feeling Zy's movements by putting my hand on Lynn's belly has become more and more easy and frequent over the last week. Just about every night as we get in bed Zy starts some kind of Yoga program. Feeling Zy in there moving around and believing that I'll meet this little child someday is absolutely one of the coolest things that I have ever experienced in my life. When I'm feeling the kicks and downward dogs, I have a perma-grin plastered across my face. (I'm sure I look like a fool.) It can't get any better than that.
This weekend we made another check in with Zy, who might be feeling neglected. Over 4 weeks since the last ultrasound? Was Dad getting bored or something? No longer as cool as before? Too scared of seeing a flash of "the money shot" and finding out the gender? Whatever the reason, here is the latest picture of Lynn's expanding belly, and the latest installment of the Zy ultrasound chronicles.
Click on the image below, and turn on your speakers again.
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5/23/08
Two weekends ago we visited Mom and Dad in Seattle, and also watched Khanh in her performance at the Seattle Children's Theater. Lynn enjoyed her first Mother's Day with her own Mom. Although we wanted to cook breakfast for Mom, she in her never-ending ability to give to those she loves, ended up cooking for all of us. Lynn can only hope to be as selfless and loving as her own Mom. We also got our first view of the toy Lynn's Dad is saving for four years until Zy can play with it. (See entry from March 17 to recall story.). Words can't describe how hilarious we find this entire story so all we can do is post a picture.
Note this is not a monkey.
23 weeks 6 days
View from Mom and Dad's
The count is in. It's about 20 votes to 4 that Zy is a boy. The 4 people who think it's a girl are Scott Gerber (Justin's freshman roommate), Ernie Chen (Lynn's old family friend), Laurie Kermish (Lynn's friend from EPA), and Isa Lee (Lynn's 5-year old goddaughter).
Lynn has exploded in the last four weeks and has now gained 20 pounds total, and the words Nurse Alice uttered in the first trimester are coming home to roost. (See story from February 28.)
Justin in all his medical geekdom found Zy's chromosomes to be the coolest thing ever. Upon seeing chromosomes for the first time, Lynn was quick to claim the upright half of the pairs as hers, and the limpy bent ones as Justin's. (For example, in column 2, Lynn's would be the one on the left and Justin's the one on the right.)
This last week, Justin was able to capture the first good quality 3d ultrasound shot of Zy. Watch the movie- coming soon.
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6/4/08
Here's the latest video: a preview of what Zy might look like when the big day arrives. No need for speakers on this one. Click on the picture to watch.
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6/11/08 - 28 weeks and 2 days
It's official.
- We're in our third trimester!
- Lynn's got "cankles" - that's when one's calf and ankles no longer have definition between the two.
- Lynn's paunch has outgrown past her boobs. We'll post a picture soon of mama's paunch.
- Justin turned 33 today. Wish the pending father a happy birthday!!
This past weekend Zy got to travel to NYC for the first time and celebrate the nuptials of Amanda and Rob. It was a beautifully touching ceremony and a rockin' reception. An unfamiliar lady came up to Lynn after the ceremony and told her, "You are going to have the happiest baby ever," noting how full bellied Lynn's laugh was and how hearing the laugh just made her so happy inside. It was the sweetest gesture...and Lynn could only hope that having a happy baby could be so easy for her as having a full-bellied laugh. For the first time Zy got down and dirty with salsa. Mom and Dad, even in the third trimester and 23 pounds heavier, danced the night away. Lynn almost took a couple diggers on the dance floor and needed a bit more rest than usual so was happy to pimp out Justin to other ladies on the dance floor.
We three stayed with friends who were wonderful hosts in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Jorge and Shannon treated us to a wonderful dinner at Cesca, a glorious Italian restaurant where Lynn broke the standard pregnancy rules and ate Crudo (raw scallop and raw snapper). They also drove us all the way to our other friends' place in Brooklyn to make it easy on the pregnant lady in the 95 degree humid weather. Troy and Carlyn hosted Justin's family for some cake to celebrate J's bday and gave up their master bedroom so the pregnant lady didn't need to sleep on an aerobed. Zy and parents thank all our hosts profusely for being so generous and hospitable. We had a hectic but fabulous time seeing friends and hanging out with the Davis clan.
Shannon emulating Lynn's new cleavage.
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6/22/08 - 29 weeks 6 days
Everybody keeps telling us how beautiful Zy will be as a HAPA (half Asian, half Caucasian baby) - the PRESSURE! Lynn continues to think if Zy gets Lynn's big nose and Justin's hairy butt, we're doomed. So this is our wish list for Zy:
- Justin's memory
- Lynn's moral compass
- Justin's good looks
- Lynn's athleticism
- Justin's tolerance for pain
- Lynn's fearlessness
- Justin's patience
- Lynn's sense of self
- Justin's optimism
- Lynn's perceptiveness
- Justin's perfect ears
- Lynn's body odorlessness
Here's our non-wish list for Zy:
- Justin's unibrow
- Lynn's fat feet
- Justin's thunder thighs
- Lynn's bad gums
- Justin's seborrhea
- Lynn's hayfever
- Justin's spelling skills
- Lynn's sense of misdirection
Honestly, the biggest hope we have is that Zy is fully healthy and most importantly, happy...which is what we both strive for constantly.
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6/25/2008
Here is the most recent ultrasound installment from about 10 days ago. Watch Zy jostling Lynn's belly from the external perspective and also see Zy touching foot to nose on the ultrasounds (Zy is folded in half.) . Click on the photo below to open the video.
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7/12/2008
Zy got to wade in the tropical warm waters of Hawaii over the Fourth of July - the first time in the ocean for Zy. We all snorkeleld together with Karen and Trevor, celebrated Elena and Bob's wedding at the historical Moana Surfrider, and hung out with Mike, Khanh, Mady, and Ian in Shark's cove up on the North Shore and in Waikiki. Lynn and Justin again outdid themselves on the dance floor. Seven months pregnant, Lynn pulled a crotch muscle while doing an advanced dance move (shaking 30 extra pounds of weight around is quite the work out!), and one of the guests referenced Justin as the "white guy with skilz." We had a blast! The only bummer was that Lynn gained 5 pounds in 5 days - yikes. Congratulations to Elena and Bob!
Post Snorkeling with Zy
Pictures speak for themselves - 'Nuff said
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7/26/2008
As long as everything goes well, come meet the new little one. See the invite below - all are welcome! Meet three generations of Lynn's family. Mom and Dad will be in town helping out Zy's parents.
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7/29/2008
Another crazy Kuo reunion took place last weekend. Zy got to meet Lynn's cousins from Singapore and Los Angeles and her Aunt Catherine from Taiwan. Twenty four of us partied at the pool in San Rafael and then at Lee's pad in Tiburon. The cousins rocked out together playing Rock Band, celebrated Aunt Catherine's 60th birthday, and Cousin Nao threw a family baby shower for Lynn. It was an epic day of food and fun. On Sunday, Zy also got to meet Bump and Jack, our friends from Minnesota.
Lynn, Zy, and Lee
Let's hope Zy can live with such zest outside the womb!
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7/30/08
Alas. Here is Zy's final ultrasound home movie, which we filmed last week. Zy's just too big to see well on ultrasound anymore, so even Justin has decided to give it up. :-) Next time we'll see Zy is hopefully after popping out between Lynn's legs!
Click on the image below to start the movie.
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8/14/08
On Monday, we found out that in a week, Lynn went from 1 to 2 cm dilated and from 50 to 70% effaced. Baby is working some magic. Yesterday was our last day of work. A few items of note:
1) Our ultrasound movies have gotten over 850 views. We're glad folks have watched the progress!
2) Lynn has gained a bit over 30 pounds.
3) Check back here for photos and details on the Meet the Bastard gathering on September 20.
4) Zyguy is a Zygal - we're having a girl! But please don't buy us any pink products - we're pinked out!
5) We thank everyone for all the hand me downs and other gifts. Thanks to Ellen Blake who, on August 6, threw us a wonderful baby shower at EPA, in which we requested zero new consumption. We're completely stocked with everything - 4 car seats, 2 Baby Bjorns, stroller, floor toys/gyms, baby bouncy chairs, high chairs, a million baby outfits, books, and toys. The gratitude is unquantifiable.
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8/30/08
Lynn has exceeded all of her ob's expectations. As of last Monday (5 days ago), she was 3 cm dilated, 70% effaced, and baby has dropped to -1 position. Ob was in disbelief that Lynn hadn't gone into labor as a first-time mom at 3 cm dilated. Lynn has also been experiencing fairly regular Braxton Hicks contractions for long periods during everyday.
Although expecting to hit active labor anyday now, Justin and Lynn have had a wonderful last week, hanging out with the Ings, Dave, Trev and Karen up in Berkeley. Jon Chen from Vancouver grubbed Korean BBQ with us in Oaktown. Willis, Rachel, and the new little cutest Carina from Denver joined us for a stroll and brunch. Cousin Lee stopped by to visit earlier in the week, and just yesterday Devra, Leif, and Raina from San Diego had brunch with us in Berkeley. We're lucky that Shanaynay has been patient, otherwise we would have missed seeing some or all of these friends. We three thank all for visiting us; we loved the time together at such a precious point in our lives. We're so looking forward to all the friends and family who plan on visiting in September and October.
Justin has been "nesting" by making batches of spaghetti and pesto sauces to put in the freezer and sweeping up dust bunnies. Lynn's been keeping up on her Olympics, Democratic National Convention speeches, and NFL preseason football.
Walking back from brunch yesterday with Devra, Leif and Raina, Lynn experienced some uncharacteristic butt and lower back pain. It went away after 15 minutes or so but for the few hours after our guests left, Lynn started feeling back pain with her contractions for the first time. And as she was sitting on the couch around 3 pm, Justin became very concerned over some particularly runny vajayjay squirts that made a puddle in Lynn's undewear. While they discussed the merits of Lynn's squirts, Justin played out the worse case scenario of Lynn's bag being ruptured, the fluid getting infected, Shanaynay getting meningitis, resulting in devastating brain damage. Justin insisted on going in to get checked out. So he finalized packing up the bags, we showered, ran a couple last errands, and headed to the hospital. Just as we were leaving the house, Lynn recalled that her Seahawks were playing the Oakland Raiders that night and she might miss part of the game if it wasn't tivo'ed or televised in the Bay Area. So Justin had to run back in and grab both of our computers so Lynn could try to slingbox the game using the hospital's wireless connection.
We spent the next 2+ hours getting baseline monitoring done on the baby, answering a bunch of questions, and getting Lynn's vajayjay checked for amniotic fluid. The results turned up negative so we were reassured. However, the most interesting aspect of the trip was seeing the monitoring results. Turns out instead of the contractions that Lynn guessed were coming about every twenty minutes, the monitor showed regular contractions about every six minutes, lasting longer than 40 seconds, for over an hour. Appeared as if Lynn was in early labor. One of the nurses stated that if Lynn was dilated at 4 cm or so, they might admit her. Lynn told her that she really didn't want to be admitted because the Seahawks were playing at 7 pm and she wanted to go home and watch the game. The doctor said that was fine so we headed home.
Lynn ate a big dinner, relaxed, and watched her football. Contractions slowed down to every ten minutes and we made it through the night. Shanaynay continues to wait. She's like her father - either tremendously patient or a tremendous procrastinator. Stay tuned. We think she's ready to make her entrance soon.
Photo by Zy's Dad of Zy's mom
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9/1/08
Due date arrived with a bang. Labor day indeed. RIght on time (must take after mom!) Contractions started at 4:35am, after a long story that will take some telling later, Zy-gal was born at 4:02pm. 7lb 14oz. 21 inches. Name pending. Here are some of the first photos.
Woo hoo! We are very blessed. More later.
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9/2/08
The first 24 hours of our daughter's life passed smoothly in the hospital with us in our room, though she certainly got more sleep than we did. Even when we weren't trying to figure out breastfeeding, we found ourselves exhausted but still too excited to sleep easily. She's finally here with us after the 9 months of cooking in Lynn's uterus. Pretty dang cool. We think she's a keeper.
Plus, no more Shanaynay or Zyguy nicknames, as now we know her name: Terren Jo Davis.
Welcome. We were expecting you.
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9/3/08
Thank you everyone for the emails, calls, visits at the hospital, flowers, gifts, funny jokes, love, good wishes, everything. We are deeply touched by all of the support.
We made it home today. Mom and Dad are in love with their daughter. Grandma Kuo has been feeding us as we try to feed our daughter. People have asked about visiting - anybody is welcome to come by. Give Justin a call to give us a heads up. Just be forewarned you may have a tough time finding a place to sit if Lynn and her boobs are in the house.
Some may wonder about the chosen name. Terren means "of the earth". Jo is in honor of Lynn's uncle who encouraged us to have a HAPA and also passed away on Sept. 1 exactly one year ago. Lynn and Justin called Lynn's uncle Jo Jo, which means uncle in Chinese. (See entry from April 17, 2008.) We liked the names together euphonically.
Here are a couple additional photos. We will post more photos and stories later.
Late entry- We weren't the only ones who wanted to take her picture in the hospital. We got asked if Terren and we would be willing to pose for a videographer for footage for an Alta Bates Summit capital fundraising campaign. We said ok, and Terren got to model before she was even 48 hours old. She slept on the job, but somehow still looked pretty cute. I guess she takes after her dad, whose first job was modelling at age 5.
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9/8/08
BACKYARD BEER AND PIZZA!! Come celebrate the arrival of Terren Jo Davis.
Who: All our friends and family are invited. Grandma and Grandpa Kuo will be in town so come meet them, too.
When: September 20, 2008 at 2 pm.
Where: Backyard of Terren's home: XXXX Parker Street, Berkeley, CA 94702
What to bring:
- If you want something to sit on for certain, bring a folding/camping chair for yourself. We will have limited chairs/blankets for the backyard.
- Hat, sunscreen, whatever you need for being under the sun. We have limited shade in the backyard.
- As for gifts, we are stocked with everything so we honestly don't need anything. However based on our baby shower experiences, we find that folks still want to give gifts so we have two options. 1) We would love any support and time you can give to our family in the upcoming month(s). If you'd like to sign up, we'll have a sheet for days to bring by a meal/yummy fruit/snacks for us. We would love the support, but more importantly, we would love for Terren to get to know our friends and family. 2) If you want to bring a gift, we would appreciate reused/recycled items so bring anything secondhand. But please no pink and no clothes for less than a one-year old.
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9/9/08
Here's the condensed version of the labor story from Lynn's perspective:
3:30 am on 9/1/08 - Contraction wakes me up but I fall back asleep.
4:35 am - Painful contractions start. These are far different than anything I had experienced. They were coming about every 3 minutes for 60 seconds. I knew within a half hour that I needed to get to the hospital. We were admitted to triage and I was already 6.5 cm dilated. Contractions were coming every 2 minutes for 60-90 seconds each.
9 am - I am still only 6.5 cm dilated after 4.5 hours of huge contractions, and the nurse tells me that that my cervix is swollen. She suggests getting me a dose of fentanyl to take the edge off of the contractions for a half hour to see if my cervix will relax and dilate more. I consent.
9:45 am - Cervix has not dilated. I decide to get an epidural.
10 am - Epidural is put in, the pain disappears, and I start resting. I can now start talking to Justin after having banished him from saying anything to me for the last 3 hours. Nurse tells me that I'm having HUGE contractions. Justin later said that he saw a contraction that lasted about 3 minutes on the monitor. The only sympton I experience is uncontrollable shaking/shivering. I call my parents to tell them that the baby is coming today and that Mom should take her scheduled flight from Seattle.
11:30 am - I am fully dilated and effaced. Thank God for epidurals.
Noon - Baby is tachycardic (High heart rate signifying baby is stressed.) I have a low-grade fever, which is a possible sign of an infection.
12: 30 pm - Nurse comes back in to teach me how to push during contractions. She states that I'm an amazing pusher (I am thankful for all those previous years of athletic competition.).
1 pm - Baby continues to be stressed. I spike a real fever over 101. They start me on antibiotics and later give me Tylenol. I continue to push for 30-45 seconds during each contraction, which is about every two minutes. Baby is trying to round the corner of my pubic symphysis so pushing feels like trying to take the biggest dump of my life.
2:15 pm - The ob comes in and tells me that they're concerned about the baby being tachycardic. They don't like to stress the baby for too long and that she is too high up still to try a vacuum-assisted delivery. After a bit of discussion, she tells us that she can give us another hour or so to push but the last option is a C-section.
I knew that this last hour was my only chance to avoid a C-section. Justin suggested we try different positions, which we did. I was desperate so I even tried squatting to use gravity to help Baby, even though the epidural makes your legs somewhat numb.
3:30 pm - The ob comes back and informs me that Baby has a caput, the soft tissue of her head is poking through and swollen, but she has not descended any further. My first option is a vacuum-assisted delivery (although it could make a C-section more difficult and the last option is a C-section.) I want to try to vacuum; the ob tells me that I have 5 contractions to make it happen (because according to Justin extended vacuum use is dangerous for both mom and baby.)
They set up the vacuum. Several extra nurses come into the room. I can tell intuitively that all the nurses are skeptical of a successful vaginal delivery. They all believe that I've been pushing really well but Baby's head is likely too big for my small pelvis.
Before I started pushing, the ob told me that after I feel the head come through, I can't stop pushing no matter what because the shoulders have to get through.
4:02 pm - After 3 contractions, a lot of urgings to push hard, and the will to push through delirious pain, Terren Jo Davis was born. At one point, I remember hearing Justin exclaim, "You're doing it, Buddy. We're going to have a baby." Just what I needed to hear to will myself over the hump.
Baby came up on my chest, and all I could say repeatedly was "You made it, you made it, you made it," as I stroked her little hand.
Some afterthoughts:
I had heard that all women forget the pain of labor and delivery after the euphoria of seeing their baby. I'm here to tell you that's a myth; I will never forget this day. In this context, Justin laughed as I told him in the postpartum room, "Luckily she's cute." As I lay exhausted in my hospital bed incontinent (Who knew at age 35 i'd be peeing down my leg multiple times a day?) with an exploding perineum, my mom joked, "So when are you having the next one?" When Justin received calls in the hospital and was asked about how it all went, I actually had to cut him off from telling the details because I wasn't ready to relive the experience at that point, esp. with him telling the story. Somehow it felt like the story is mine to tell.
One day after we arrived home, Justin got irritated and refused a request of mine. He apologized for being a jerk. And the next day I told him, "If you want to put your nuts in a vice for 12 hours, and then shoot a grapefruit through your nut sac, I will do anything you want for the next two weeks."
Terren is now over one-week old and we feel so fortunate and are thriving even with the newborn feeding schedule. Infinite thanks and gratitude to my 70+ year-old parents. My dad has taken on the graveyard shift and assisted in any way he can with changing diapers, soothing Terren, and burping her at night. My mom is grocery shopping, cleaning and cooking wonderful, nutritious homecooked Chinese food for us everyday and every meal. This is what family is all about. We are a tribe.
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We don't like to spam people with pictures, but there have been many friends and family who have enjoyed reading the pregnancy blog so we will continue to post stories and pictures of Terren in a similar vein for any interested family and friends to see. The site hasn't been chosen, but just let us know if you're interested in staying tuned and we will forward you the link when it's established.
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