10 weeks today!

Weekly check-in:

How far along?: 10w3d
How big is baby: The size of a prune!
Weight gain/loss:  +2 (from pre-pregnancy weight)
Pregnancy symptoms: 10 weeks and still no morning sickness :-). Bloat has subsided. Tender breasts and slowly disappearing waistline :-/.
Maternity clothes: No. I can still fit in my regular clothes but pants and bras are getting tighter. I started using my belly band and love it. I can still button my pants but the belly band helps give support to my potbelly :-).
Stretch Marks: None. Still slathering myself with cocoa butter
Sleep: I have not been getting much sleep this week but the trip to the bathroom at night has decreased
Best moment this week: Hitting the double digits..10 weeks! Saw Baby Jarbs in my dreams
Movement: None
Food cravings: Granny smith apple and fruit smoothie
Food aversions: Still do not like sweets
Labor signs: None
Belly button in or out: In!
What I miss: Not having to think twice about everything that I put in my mouth :-)
What I am looking forward to: Another day care tour tomorrow
Milestones:

With bones and cartilage starting to form and vital organs beginning to function, baby is making major progress. Body length will almost double in the next three weeks, and arm joints are now working. Soon, legs will start working too.

Dreamt about Baby Jarbs

I have read that having vivid, weird dreams is one of the pregnancy symptoms. Well, I dreamt about Baby Jarbs last night :-). In my dream, Baby Jarbs was a girl! She was so cute but she was a big (I mean tall) baby. I did not start producing milk until 2 days after I gave birth. I then tried nursing Baby Jarbs but she won't take my milk :-(. That is where my dream ended. I told Daddy Jarbs about my dream as soon as I woke up this morning. He said "you sure that wasn't me?" Haha! Ummm, no! :-P.

Hmm..was the dream a premonition? Will we have a baby girl or was that my subconscious mind talking and wishing we'll have a girl? Will the baby get Daddy Jarbs' height and not take after mommy? :-P. We'll have to wait about 10 more weeks to find out the gender!

The neti pot works!!

Last week, I mentioned how I was feeling miserable because of my allergies. Since I am pregnant, I cannot take the allergy medicine that I normally take during this time of the year. I have been hearing a lot about the Neti Pot and how a lot of people swear by it. It is basically a nasal rinse and is good for sinuses and allergies. It is all natural and does not involve any chemicals.  I decided to try it out and see if indeed works. I got nothing to lose but everything to gain. I bought the starter kit from Amazon.com. The kit contains a ceramic neti pot which looks like a small genie lamp, salt jar and peppermint/eucalyptus oil.

The process involved in washing the nasal passages seems complicated. The process also sounds and looks gross especially to anybody who has not tried it. I made sure I followed the step by step instructions in the starter kit . I tried it for the first time a couple of days ago and was pleasantly surprised on how easily it worked for me! I did not have any problems with the rinsing process and felt instant relief from my stuffy nose! Wow! I am a believer!!! I now make sure I do the rinse two times a day, before I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning. Daddy Jarbs wanted to watch me do my rinse but I don't let him. I know he will just laugh at me. It will mess me up and I'd end up snorting the saline solution!!

You can watch the video and read the instructions here on how to use the neti pot. I know it looks gross but trust me, it works!! :-). Instant, drug-free allergy relief. Two thumbs up for the neti pot!!!

Day care tour

This morning Daddy Jarbs and I went on a day care tour. We went to the Esther Peterson Child Development Center at the Department of Labor building. This was our first day care tour so we did not really know what to expect. As we were walking in the center, there were two buggys full of toddlers on their way out for their morning "walk". The kids were so cute. The assistant principal showed us around the center. We got to visit the infant, toddler & pre-K rooms. They also have a little outdoor playground where kids play everyday. The infants get their own mini-crib where they can take their naps. We like that this center is relatively close to both our offices and our house. We also liked that the building is secure and that the parents can visit the baby anytime they want. Overall, we were pleased with the center and signed up on their waitlist. We had to pay a $75 non-refundable fee. Only downside is we get third priority on the list since we are not DOL or  federal employees. Daddy Jarbs is a Federal contractor though so we do get third priority in the list.  There is about an 18-month wait on the list. We are crossing our fingers that a spot will open up for us on our desired date which is around spring of 2011. Baby Jarbs will be around 6 month old by then.

We have another tour scheduled with another day care center next week and plan to sign up on the waitlist for three more centers. Hopefully, we'll get a spot in at least one of those!

9 weeks today!

Weekly check-in:

How far along?: 9w
How big is baby: The size of a green olive!
Weight gain/loss:  +1
Pregnancy symptoms: 9 weeks and still no morning sickness. Thank God! The bloatness is starting to subside. Aside from sleepiness and frequent urination, I still feel great!
Maternity clothes: Nope but I bought a couple of Belly Bands last week. They were on sale so I had to buy them. I know one day I'll eventually need them.
Stretch Marks: None
Sleep: I still get 7-8 hours of sleep but need to get up 4-5 times a night to go pee :-/.
Best moment this week: Telling immediate family members and close friends about the addition to the family
Movement: None
Food cravings: Crabs, crabs, crabs! After last Saturday's crab feast in Baltimore, my sister bought 3 dozen crabs last Monday. I ate a dozen :-). I think I am finally done with my crab craving. On to the next...
Food aversions: Still do not like sweets
Labor signs: None
Belly button in or out: In!
What I miss: Taking allergy medicine! I have pollen allergies which I get every spring. I normally take claritin, use nasal spray and eye drops but since I am still in my 1st trimester, I can't take any of them :-(. I am starting to feel miserable now with my stuffy nose and itchy eyes!
What I am looking forward to: We're doing a tour of the day care at DOL tomorrow and will decide which day cares we'll sign up on the wait list for.
Milestones:

 

Your little embryo has now officially graduated to fetus-hood. Adding to the excitement, a Doppler ultrasound device might be able to pick up the beating heart. With basic physical structures in place and increasingly distinct facial features, baby is kind of starting to look like...well...a baby!

I love spring BUT

...I hate allergies!!! :-(. I woke up this morning with a sore throat, itchy eyes and stuffy nose :-(.  I am allergic to pollen and my allergies normally peak around early spring. Since I am pregnant, I can't take any of my allergy medicine. I normally have to take claritin, use nasal spray (flonase), and eye drops (Pathanol). Yes, the works! Needless to say, I felt miserable all day. I called my doctor's office and talked to the nurse to ask if there is anything that I can take. The nurse said I can take Claritin and Benadryl. During second tri, I can start taking Flonase. I told my sister, Dr. Elie about this but she advised me not to take Claritin and just have Benadryl instead. She said they don't prescribe Claritin to patients especially during 1st tri. She gave me a website where you can check whether a drug is safe to take or not. The site says this about Claritin: "Data not available in human pregnancy but reported possible association with some congenital defects: Cardiac defects, diaphragmatic hernia, cleft palate, microphthalmia and deafness". I do not want to take any chance so I had to pass on Claritin and researched other natural ways to relieve my allergy.

Lately, I have been hearing a lot about the Netipot. A lot of my friends swear by it so I thought I'd give it a shot. It is a nasal rinse which is suppose to relieve allergies and other sinus problems. I ordered one at Amazon.com and will get it on Wednesday.  I can't wait to try it out!

At this point, I am willing to try anything just to feel better and relieve my allergies naurally so on Saturday, I scheduled an appointment with an acupunturist! I have not tried acupuncture but have heard a lot of people get allergy relief after a few treatments. My insurance covers acupuncture treatments so I don't have anything to lose. Given how bad my allergies are, I can't last the whole spring season without getting some sort of relief.

Baby shower

Today, I went to a baby shower for our good friend, Barbs. She is having a baby girl and is due on May 7th. Our babies will be 5 months apart. We'll definitely schedule play dates together when Baby Jarbs arrives!

With my bestest girlfriends Barbs, Ana, Dulce & Haydee

Congrats to the soon-to-be parents Barbs & Rommel!

The cat is out of the bag...

Today we had a Jarbs family get together to celebrate the birthday of Daddy Jarbs' sister, Terri, nephew Zach and niece Kaitlin. During dinner, we broke the news.  Everybody was happy to hear the news. The aunts and cousins were excited to hear about the addition to the Jarbs family!

Day trip to Baltimore

We were blessed with another amazing spring weather today. Daddy Jarbs and I took the day off from work and took Lola Bebot and Tita Elie to Baltimore. We got there around lunch time. Since my doctor gave me a clear pass to eat crabs, we went straight to a crab house called L.P. Steamers for lunch.  I ordered a dozen jumbo crabs which I shared with Daddy Jarbs, my mom and sister. They each ate one or two crabs. I had eight!!  The crabs were sooo yummy and the bebeh in my tummy was so happy!! :-).

After lunch, we went to the Baltimore Aquarium and enjoyed looking at all different kinds of fishes and sea creatures. They also had a pretty cool dolphin show and 4D theater.

To wrap up our day trip in Baltimore, Tita Elie treated us to an awesome dinner in Daddy and Mommy Jarbs' favorite restaurant, Roy's.

Dinner at Roy's won't be complete without having the best chocolate souffle in the whole world :-). I had been staying away from sweets but I had to have this one!

Funny Lolo...

So we finally told my dad, Lolo (Grandpa in Filipino) Eddie, about the baby news. He is in Manila so we had to call him to deliver the news. This was how our phone conversation went:

Mommy Jarbs: "Hi Dad! We got news for you!!"
Lolo Eddie: "You got neosporin?"
Mommy Jarbs: "Nooo! I said we got newwwsss forrrr youuu"
Lolo  Eddie: "Neosporin? Thank you!"
[Daddy Jarbs, Lola Bebot & Tita Elie were listening and hysterically laughing]
Mommy Jarbs: "NO! NEWS FOR YOU!"
Lolo Eddie: "Oh news!? What?
Mommy Jarbs: "You're gonna be a LOLO!"
Lolo Eddie: "He-llo??"
Mommy Jarbs: "No, LOLO!!"
Lolo Eddie: "Ah..really? Ok, I will go there and babysit!" :-)

LOL! Lolo Eddie's so funny :-).

8 weeks today

Weekly check-in:

How far along?: 8w
How big is baby: The size of a raspberry!
Weight gain/loss: Still +/- 1 depending on the day
Pregnancy symptoms: Besides bloat, breat tenderness, sleepiness and frequent urination, I feel great! Still no morning sickness. My doctor said I should feel lucky!
Maternity clothes: Nope although I prefer wearing loose, comfortable clothes to hide my bloat.
Stretch Marks: None. I've been religiously applying Palmer's cocoa butter everyday.
Sleep: On the average, I sleep about 7-8 hours a day. My sleep gets interrupted though since I now have to get up and go to the bathroom about 5x during the night.
Best moment this week: Finally seeing Baby Jarbs yesterday
Movement: None
Food cravings: My cravings varied this past week. One day, I craved for Korean food, next day, Italian food and a couple of night ago, Mexican food.
Food aversions: Still do not like sweets
Labor signs: None
Belly button in or out: In!
What I miss: My energy
What I am looking forward to: Telling the baby news to our family and close friends. We do not plan to announce to the rest of the world until much later.
Milestones: 

Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways.

1st prenatal appointment

We had our first prenatal appointment today and it went very well. I am soo happy and relieved. We met our doctor for the first time. We really liked her and the whole OB practice overall. Our doctor was pretty cool. She's not old school which is good. She practices at Sibley Memorial Hospital which is one of the best hospitals in the city. The doctor told me that 1) I can eat soft cheeses as long as they are pasteurized, 2) After the 1st trimester, I can drink 1 to 2 glasses of wine per week  - not that I plan to but good to know, 3) I can work out as hard as I used to as long as I can still carry a conversation. Obviously, I need to modify things as my tummy gets bigger and lastly, 4) I can eat crabs as long as they are cooked! Yay! I was so happy to hear the last one :-).

During the appointment, they did a sonogram to determine my estimated date of delivery (EDD), how far along I am and whether there are one or more babies in the uterus. First of all, the technician confirmed there is only ONE baby. Unfortunately (or fortunately?!), no twins :-). Baby Jarbs measured 8 weeks 2 days and the EDD is October 24th! It is 5 days away from Daddy Jarbs' birthday which is on October 29th :-). Daddy Jarbs and I also saw Baby Jarbs' heart beating! It looked like a little flicker on the screen. It was pretty cool. The heart was beating 143 bpm which the technician said was normal. There is an old wives tale that supposedly predicts the baby's gender based on how fast or slow the heart is beating. Supposedly, if the fetal heart rate is above 140 you are expecting a girl. However, if the heart rate is below 140, it is supposed to be a boy. Hmm...what do you think?

Meet Baby Jarbs!

Daddy Jarbs also took a video of the sonogram. Click HERE to see the video.

Since the 1st appointment went well, we went to Todai for dinner to celebrate!

Daddy & Mommy Jarbs

Crab legs..yum!

Daddy Jarbs also had to feed the "baby" in his tummy! lol.

7 weeks today!

Weekly check-in:

How far along?: 7w
How big is baby: The size of a blueberry!
Weight gain/loss: 1 lb but I look like I have gained way more!
Pregnancy symptoms: Bloat, breast tenderness, sleepiness; still no morning sickness (knock on wood)
Maternity clothes: Nah but my pants are getting a little bit snug
Stretch Marks: None and hopefully won't have any! My sister, who is a dermatologist, just had me buy Palmer's cream for stretch marks which she said I should start using now.
Sleep: I still pass out around 9:30 - 10:00 pm and sleep through 6:30 am the following day.
Best moment this week: Telling my family about the baby news
Movement: None
Food cravings: Korean fried chicken
Food aversions: I still do not like sweets
Labor signs: None
Belly button in or out: In!
What I miss: Not having to watch what I can/cannot eat! I had to stop myself from eating prime rib during brunch last Sunday because it was cooked medium rare :-(.
What I am looking forward to: Our first OB appointment next week and hopefully see Baby Jarbs!
Milestones:

Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long.

Craving for Korean chicken!

I woke up this morning thinking about Korean friend chicken :-). When I have a craving, I HAVE to have it so after going to the gym, I dragged my mom and sister to Bonchon to get my Korean fried chicken. Mommy & Baby Jarbs were happy :-).

Nice spring Sunday

Finally, spring is here. We were blessed with a gorgeous weather today. We met up with my Uncle Jun, Tita Marissa and cousin Anabel for brunch at Kennedy Center's Roof Terrace Restaurant. We celebrated my sister's recent graduation. Since we have the family together, Daddy Jarbs and I  took the opportunity to let everybody know the impending addition to the family. Needless to say, the whole family was thrilled and are hoping for twins! :-).

During lunch, we found out that twins run on my dad, Lolo Eddie's, side as well! Holy moly! Uncle Jun said, Nanay (my grandma) had twin siblings. They were fraternal twins - one boy and one girl. Okay, so twins run in both sides of MY family. Everybody's rooting for us to have twins. I have a gut feel that it won't be though. Hopefully, we will be able to find out when we have our doc's appointment, which is in 9 days!

Twins run in my family!

I found out today that twins run in my mom's side of the family! My mom said my grandpa had twin siblings! Very interesting info :-).

Baby Jarbs' Lola & Tita are here!

My mom and sister arrived from the Philippines today. In the Filipino language, grandma is "lola" and aunt is "tita". They will be here for three weeks. I am glad that they will be here when we have our 1st prenatal appointment and we'll be able to share our experience first hand. We will spill the beans to them this coming Sunday when our family meets up for brunch :-). Baby Jarbs will surely be spoiled with yummy Filipino food for the next three weeks.  

6 weeks today!

..or so we think! Since we will not know for sure how far along I am until our first prenatal appointment, we'll stick with our counting based on my last period.

Weekly check-in:

How far along?: 6w
How big is baby: The size of a pea!
Weight gain/loss: My weight fluctuates everyday. My guess is it's because of pregnancy bloat. I am (+/-) 1 lb everyday so I really do not know what my real weight is.
Pregnancy symptoms: Bloat, breast tenderness, fatigue
Maternity clothes: Nah. I can still fit fine in my regular clothes although my pants are starting to get a little snug because of bloat!
Stretch Marks: None and hopefully won't have any!
Sleep: I start to feel sleepy around 9:30 pm. I normally pass out on the couch while watching tv and move to the bedroom around 12 mn or until Daddy Jarbs is ready to go to bed.
Best moment this week: Calling Daddy Jarbs and telling him about the blood test results - that we may be a little bit further along or that we may have twins. I swear I heard some sniffles over the phone when I told him that :-).
Movement: None
Food cravings: All salty and sour food. I have a bag of salt and vinegar chips and sour candies in my lunch bag :-).
Food aversions: I do not like sweets. I came to hate frozen yogurt which I previously LOVE. Now, the thought of it makes me sick :-(.
Labor signs: None. Still waay too early
Belly button in or out: In!
What I miss: My energy! I am pretty much useless when I get home from work. I do not have energy to do anything. I just want to lay down.
What I am looking forward to: Telling my family this weekend that we are expecting :-)
Milestones: The nose, mouth, and ears are beginning to take shape. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long.

Got the blood test results!

There was a vmail message waiting for me this morning when I arrived at work. It was from my general doctor asking me to give her a call back for the results of yesterday's blood tests. I gave her a call back but she is not available :-(. I am so anxious to hear what the results are. Several things (good and bad) are running through my head. I hate it. I hope everything is well with our sweet little pea. Now, I anxiously wait for the doctor to give me a call me back...

12 pm - OK, I Just heard back from the doctor! She said the results were normal and that I may be further along than I think!! She said my HCG level was 32,000!! A bit too high for somebody who is 5 weeks along. Off I went to Google to find out more about HCG levels.

The American Pregnancy Association cites the following chart as normal ranges of hCG for the number of weeks after the woman’s last menstrual period:

3 weeks: 5 - 50 mIU/ml

4 weeks: 5 - 426 mIU/ml
5 weeks: 18 - 7,340 mIU/ml
6 weeks: 1,080 - 56,500 mIU/ml

7 - 8 weeks: 7, 650 - 229,000 mIU/ml

9 - 12 weeks: 25,700 - 288,000 mIU/ml

13 - 16 weeks: 13,300 - 254,000 mIU/ml

17 - 24 weeks: 4,060 - 165,400 mIU/ml

25 - 40 weeks: 3,640 - 117,000 mIU/ml

The doctor said I can be a week or couple more weeks further along than I thought OR that we may having twins. Whaaaaaaat?!?!?! She said the numbers were all over the place and those two scenarios are the possible explanation. The doctor said we will be able to confirm everything when I have my first appointment with my OB GYN doctor and after the ultrasound.  For now, I am so happy and relieved to know that the HCG results were normal. After talking to the doctor, I emailed Daddy Jarbs right away and asked him to give me a call back. He was pleasantly surprised to know that there is a slight possibility that we are having twins. We have always joked about this and that he wants us to have twins. My OB appointment is in exactly two weeks. I.can't.wait!!!

Today, Daddy Jarbs told Grandma & Grandpa Jarbs that we are expecting. They were both thrilled to hear that they will have a Filipino grandchild soon :-).

1st trip to the doctor

I went to my general doctor today to get my blood drawn and have tests done. The test is basically to confirm the pregnancy and to make sure that my progesterone levels are normal. I will find out the results tomorrow. The doctor did not tell me anything that I did not already know. She basically told me that I can still work out the way I used to as long as I feel okay. She also mentioned the foods that I should stay away from like soft cheeses, raw fish and seafood with high mercury.

After my appointment and while waiting for Daddy Jarbs to get out of the office, I stopped by FroZenYo - the new soft serve yogurt place that opened close to our office. I LOVE frozen yogurt and can eat it everyday. Today, however, for some reason I did not enjoy my froyo which was weird. I do not even crave for it now. I do not think I will be eating froyo again anytime soon. I guess it is a good thing that I am not craving for sweets. On the other hand, I stopped at CVS to buy myself 3 packs of sour candies :-).

When Daddy Jarbs got off work, we drove down to Maryland to go to his Grand Uncle's viewing. He passed away last week. We saw Grandma & Grandpa Jarbs there. Daddy Jarbs was hoping to break the news to Grandma Jarbs but unfortunately, did not find a perfect timing to talk to her. I guess it will have to wait until we have the next family get-together which is in 2.5 weeks. We also saw Uncle Floyd who asked us "so when will you have my grandson?" Daddy Jarbs and I just looked at each other and bit our tongue LOL. For dinner, we all went to Captain John's and we got snow carb legs. I immediately googled to double and triple check if this is okay for me to eat. I was happy to find out that crab legs are low in mercury and as long as it is eaten in moderation, it is okay.

Today, Daddy Jarbs has started calling Baby Jarbs our sweet little pea :-).