Lily & Leo

Hello 8 months, I am exactly 32 weeks and one day today! I have less than 8 weeks to go (give or take) till our little miracle is here!! So two weeks ago, our baby dragon Lily had a heart beat of 140bpm, I gained a total of 8 pounds, and my belly measured at 29.5 cm. I was at 30 weeks and 1 day then so my belly size was only half a centimeter behind from where the average belly size should be, so overall I was doing pretty well. I did get some majorly bumming news though that I cannot nurse due to my thyroid medications. I was really sad at first because I did a lot of reading and heard that nursing is really beneficial for you and your baby, and I was really looking forward to the experience as well. Luckily, I have a really wonderful support system and my family cheered me up in no time. Benefits to formula right off the bat is that Khoa can help me feed Lily which means I will get more rest. Later on I won’t have to worry about switching her to a bottle, and I won’t have to deal with all the discomforts of nursing. Also, my generation grew up with formula, and we all came out just fine! =D

Today, Lily’s heartbeat is 139bpm, I gained 1 pound since my last Dr.’s visit, making it a whopping total of 9 pounds since my start weight, and my belly size is 28.1cm. I don’t know how it got smaller, but the average belly size at this point should be around 32cm since I am at the 32 weeks mark. I did a growth ultrasound last Friday, and it’s amazing with technology these days. They were able to measure how big our dragon is, she’s 1,702 grams (3lbs 12.02oz) as of last Friday! The results from the ultrasound shows that she is in the 26th percentile for growth. At 18 weeks of pregnancy, she was at the 40th percentile, now she dropped to 26. What that percentage means is that she’s bigger than 26% babies, and smaller than 74% babies at this stage in the pregnancy. My doctor wants to schedule one last growth ultrasound in three weeks to make sure she’s still growing ok, and as long as she doesn’t fall below the 10%, then it should be fine. The results also show that she has a lot of fluid (that’s what allows her to have her oxygen flow, etc.) so that is a very good sign. If she stops growing at a healthy rate, the the fluid would decrease in size as well, but since it hasn’t, then it’s a good sign. Also from the ultrasound, they were able to point out that she has a lot of hair growing on her hair! Yay! Also, she’s still in the head down position, looks like she’s ready to come to our side of the world!! Hehe. Here are a few pictures from the ultrasound appointment.
Another update is that lately I’ve been having trouble sleeping at night, because everytime I lay down, my throat would start to burn and I would get the urge to throw up, and a few times I actually did throw up. Turns out, my stomach valve opening thing (sorry I don’t know the medical term) doesn’t close all the way at this point in the pregnancy, so it’s easier to get acid reflux. So one of the things I’ve been doing was sleeping while sitting up, and then in the middle of the night I would finish sleeping laying down. Once I slept on the couch because I thought it would be more comfortable than sleeping sitting up in bed, and Khoa is the sweetest husband ever for sleeping next to me on the couch too so that I won’t be alone! =) I’m one lucky gal! My Dr. today told me that I can try taking pepcid AC or any over the counter acid reflux medication and that should hopefully fix that problem, so we’ll see how it goes! On the belly button update, it’s still there but barely! It’s getting quite flat, and I feel like it’ll pop any minute!! Not bad for lasting this long though, we’ll have to wait and see what it decides to do, stay and innie and be flat, or be adventurous and become and outtie! Also, no stretch marks that I know of yet, woohoo!

Overall, I’m loving this pregnancy! I find myself very happy, like a constant state of euphoria, and I feel so grateful for this experience in life. Lily’s kicks get stronger each day and she’s reaching maybe 2-3 inches about my belly button now! She’s starting to nudge around in there more rather than just kicking and punching. Khoa and I can’t wait to hold her in my arms!! That’s all the update I have for now, enjoy my 8 month baby bump photo!