Category Archives: Pregnancy
Lily’s Arrival: The Big Day!
Our precious angel, sweet baby girl, arrived on June 8, 2012, at 7:30am, weighing 6 pounds 8 ounces, and stretches 19 inches long! This entry will document my whole labor experience, so if you don’t want to know the details, then just enjoy the pictures, and don’t worry about the text. After all, this blog is for Lily to read one day, so for me and Khoa to reminisce on our adventures together!
So on Thursday June 7th, I was starting to question what “real contractions” felt like. I know everyone experiences contractions and labor differently, so even though people kept saying “you will know when you’re in labor”, I still didn’t really know! What I was feeling was really tight and hard in the stomach, so it could have been braxton hick contractions, but it felt a little stronger than before, yet it wasn’t painful. So I asked my experienced mommy friends, and they all either had pain or didn’t, so I figured I’ll just start timing and keeping track of what I was experiencing, and if it matched the criteria for the 511 labor signs (contractions being 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute for a whole hour), then we shall go to the hospital. If it ends up being a false alarm, then I will at least have answers and will know if what I am experiencing was the real deal or not, better safe than sorry too! So I told Khoa about what I was feeling and so we agreed to go to the hospital after he gets home from work.
So when he finally got home from work, his mom called and wanted us to pick up some food she made for us (so nice of her to keep making us food to help make our lives easier at this point in our pregnancy!). So not wanting to cause alarm or worry, we decided not to tell her (or anyone else) that we were going to go to the hospital. We told his mom we will pick up the food later, but she decided that she will drop off the food to us instead! So we waited, but she ended up running late, no biggie since I wasn’t really in pain. When she came by, her and Khoa started to have a LONG, conversation about cars! Khoa even started pulling up cars on the computer and they had what seemed the longest discussion on cars ever! I started to get more uncomfortable and was trying to give Khoa a reminder as to what our plan was today with my eyes, and finally he got the message after 30 minutes. So finally, Khoa’s mom left, and then I was still 50% thinking this might be a false alarm, so I decided that I had time to take a shower really quick and brushed my teeth. After my shower, we grabbed out suitcase and headed to the hospital!
On the car ride there, Khoa was still excited about a car he wanted to buy, a Tesla, he totally missed the 55 FWY, so we had to take a little detour to get back on route. Khoa goes “How funny would it be if this is the real deal? haha” We both still feel it could be a false alarm, so we were pretty light hearted about this, and I said “Well, as long as we get there safely, it’s all that matters, and I’m not in pain anyways, so no rush.” We pass by a Del Taco on the way to the hospital, and I suddenly got hungry as well, and I really wanted to eat some chili cheese fries. I heard that when you’re in labor, you don’t really have an appetite, so that also made me think maybe it’s a false alarm, so I told Khoa if this was a false alarm, if we can get some chili cheese fries on the way home! He sweetly answers “Of course baby, whatever you want!” =)
So we get to Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport around 9:30pm, and all I know is that I’m suppose to go to the 5th floor and my Dr. said my file is ready to go and so they’ll just be waiting for me when I’m ready. So I get to the 5th floor, I press the buzzer and said I wanted to get admitted. We have to fill out all this paperwork, sign here, initial there, answer questions, give them my insurance, etc. I was thinking man, if I was having so much pain, how can I answer all these questions and fill out paperwork?? When we did finish, another pregnant woman came in and boy did she look like she was ready to pop! She was walking super slow and was heavily breathing and everything! Khoa was like “If she gets sent home, there’s no way we will be asked to stay!” haha! So we finally get set up in our room and they hook up the monitors on me to monitor my contractions and the baby’s heart rate. We sit there for an hour, and I was thinking about how I can really eat those chili cheese fries right now, and Khoa and I were just talking about excited this would be if this was really it! We sit there waiting, checking out the monitor and watching the peaks go up and down from my contractions, and anxiously waiting for the verdict. The nurse came in after an hour (it’s about 11pm now) and saw that with my last contractions, the baby’s heart rate dropped really low, so from that alone, the nurse announced we will be staying and having this baby soon! I was so excited to hear that, we were surprised, but thrilled because that means Lily will be born the next day, Friday June 8, 2012!!!!!!! We asked how long typically it will take for her to arrive, and they said she will probably be her by noon if everything goes well!
So now knowing this is NOT a false alarm, I realized I won’t be getting my chili cheese fries, but I will be get something better, a baby girl!! We started to tell our family the news that we’re at the hospital, and then we got transferred and settled into our new Labor and Delivery room! When we got there, they hooked me up to the monitors again, and hooked me up to an IV, drew some blood, and asked if I wanted an Opana drug. It supposedly keeps you calm, helps with the pain, but makes you really woozy and dizzy, but really helps you sleep, and is administered through the IV. So I figured even though I’m not in much pain, it could get more painful later, and I could really use the help to fall asleep so I can have energy for the pushing later on! So I said yes to the Opana, and then Khoa and I got ready to sleep! Shortly after they gave me the Opana, they came and broke my water to speed up labor, it was like a warm gush of water flowing out of me…very weird feeling I must say! I knew that once your water breaks, contractions will be infinitely more painful, so I decided to sleep while I can! After 2 hours with on the Opana, it wore off, I was 4cm dilated, and about 90% to fully effaced! I finally felt the pain of the contractions, boy did it hurt! They gave me another dose of Opana, but it didn’t really help anymore, but luckily I only had to endure about 20 minutes of pain. During those 20 minutes though, Khoa noticed I was doing the deep breathing method for contractions, so he asked if I needed him there to get through them. I told him that I’ll be ok, and that I wanted him to sleep to get his rest so that he can be there for me for the pushing cause I hear that’s the hardest part. So after 20 minutes, I finally got the epidural! I could have gotten it sooner but the anesthesiologist had to give 2 patients that were much further along than me, the epidural first. The process of getting the epidural was not so bad at all, mostly because I couldn’t see what was going on, but also, but it happened so quickly. I only felt a small sting from the numbing needle, and maybe some pressure later, but that was it! The epidural is truly magic! I felt great and slept for 3 hours straight!
The nurse woke me up around 5:30ish AM to check up on me and see how far along I was. She then asked me if I can give her a push and see how it goes. So I tried, and she goes “Yep, it’s time to push!” They gave me an oxygen mask though because the baby’s heart rate still kept going down with every contraction, so they figured maybe I needed more oxygen. So when Khoa woke up from the news that it’s time to push, he was a little drowsy and saw me with the mask and panicked, but I told him not to worry, it’s all good! So we just had to wait for the doctor, which took about an hour or so, before we began to push. Khoa got super excited and decided to record the event with my camera and with his tablet as well, to have different angles, all from the non private parts angles though, so one on my left side and one on my right side haha. Earlier, Khoa and I discussed if he wanted to watch the baby come out, and he said no, he’d rather not see that, and then didn’t seemed too enthusiastic about cutting the umbilical cord, so I thought that was plan. Oh how quickly that changed! When the Dr. arrived, (it was Dr Hargrove in place for my usual doctor, Dr. Ricci since Dr. Hargrove was already nearby), we quickly started to push. I made Khoa in charge of holding my mask in place on my face because it kept slipping. Once a contraction came, the nurse told me to push, and then right away the nurse was like “WOW you can already see her head!” Immediately Khoa dropped my oxygen mask and run over to the other end and was like “Where?!” What happened to not wanting to look? Haha! So during the break between the first and 2nd contraction, when I was catching my breathe, I asked Khoa “Can you please hang on to my oxygen mask this time?” haha! So 2nd contraction came and she ALMOST came out, so close!! 3rd contraction came and with one last push she was out, June 8, 2012, 7:30AM!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY!!!!!!! (check out our winking angel at only 14 minutes old!)
Our beautiful precious baby girl now laid in my arms! She big glistening eyes and eyebrows with a a ca-lick at the ends (just like her daddy), and big luscious red lips, pinchable chubby cheeks, and cute little button nose! She has long pretty fingers and toes, and long arms and legs as well! I was so overwhelmed with happiness and joy and love, and also shocked this all happened so fast, that I was just so speechless and in awe when they places my precious Lily on my for the first time, just seconds after she was born! I got really emotional and cried a little, tears of joy! Khoa almost cried as well, but the Dr. asked if he wanted to cut her cord and instantly he was like YES! Again, how things change haha. Lily weighed in at 6lbs 8oz and stretches 19inches long. They quickly cleaned her up and then Lily and I had our golden hour and we just laid there, skin to skin, blissfully in peace, just the two of us, and Khoa at our side holding my free hand. A warm sense of completeness came over me, and the word happy was a serious understatement. My heart was overflowing with love for this little angel in my arms. Nothing else in the world existed except for the 3 of us, life was perfect!
Our experience at Hoag Hospital was absolutely wonderful! All the nurses and staff were super friendly and made us feel like superstars! We had such great pampering that when I got home, I really missed being at the hospital for 3 days! haha! We got 3 meals sent to us daily (Khoa gets 1 meal but the second day he got lucky and got 3 meals too!) On the last night we were there, we got to enjoy a Celebratory Dinner and it’s pretty much just fancier food (like filet mignon wrapped in bacon) and they gave us two cute little apple cider bottles and little fancy cups too. Steve worked his charm on the nurse and managed to get us more apple cider as well, so we got 4 bottles, yummy!
Thank you to all our family and friends who came to visit us and Lily at the hospital! That also contributed to our wonderful experience at the hospital! Our private rooms were very well insulated so you can’t hear any noise from the other rooms, and they didn’t regulate how many visitors you can have at a time. Our room was like a party room with all the guests that kept coming in and out, and all the smiles and laughter that was continuously filling the air! Lily was so good to and just slept while she was being passed along, without a worry or care, what a sweet mellow baby! I got super spoiled too with having Lily in our room the whole time. I just can’t get enough of her cuteness, her smell, her cute little noises she makes, the sound of her cry, her movements, everything! I would always keep her bassinet right next to me so I can look at her all the time! I would wake up in the middle of the night and just look at my cute little angel and it just floods my heart with warm fuzzy feelings!
Before we left the hospital, we put Lily in her onesie that Alvina made for Lily from the baby shower!! As you know, auntie Alvina was the winner of the onesie contest so Lily was suppose to wear this onesie home. Unfortunately, the onesie is a size 9 month onesie, so it’s way too big for her to wear. So we still put it on her for a photo so that she can wear it at the hospital. The next photo is her actual outfit on the way home, her first outfit out in the real world!
Sunday morning we got discharged from the hospital, and I wanted to go straight to Khoa’s grandparent’s house so that his grandfather, Lily’s GREAT grandfather, can meet Lily! Lily’s first car ride wasn’t too bad! She’s so tiny, so to me she looked quite uncomfortable in the baby sit, and she cried when we first put her in the seat, but once the car started moving, she just knocked out and slept the whole way! It was a very nice moment for for the whole family, and we got to take pictures of all 4 generations! Also, for the car ride home, and having optometrists for an aunt and uncle, we had to make sure we protect her eyes from the sun, so we put on her stunna shades from auntie Jennifer and Uncle Andy! No cataracts for this baby!!
We left our house to go to the hospital as a married couple, but now we arrived home as a new family! Thank you everyone for all your love and support! We are so blessed, lucky, and overjoyed for our precious baby Lily, and we can’t wait to share our new adventures with her, watch her grow, and love her more and more each day! Lily’s auntie Jennifer made a really sweet and thoughtful video documenting our whole pregnancy experience. It’s really touching and so beautiful, I can’t wait for Lily to see this one day! Thanks Jennifer for your hard work!! Enjoy everyone!!
Lily’s Arrival from J.N. on Vimeo.
39 Weeks!
At 39 weeks into my pregnancy, our baby dragon Lily is about the size of a watermelon! Last week at my doctor’s appointment, her heart beat was a 146bpm, I gained a total of 14 lbs (so I lost a pound), I was still only dilated 1 cm and I was 70% effaced! (TMI alert ahead!) I believe last Friday or Saturday I lost my mucus plug too. It doesn’t mean I will instantly go into labor, every person is different. However, this does make progress so she can arrive any day now!
For the most part, I am feeling great, just really anxious and eager to meet our dragon lily! I get a lot of braxton hicks contractions and a lot of “lightning crotch” symptoms (it’s when the baby’s head is so low that sometimes she bumps into some nerves that’ll send a sharp shooting pain down my leg). I don’t feel terrible uncomfortable most of the time, but I am usually quite tired. I can tell she’s dropped a lot cause my belly use to be a lot higher, so I feel like we are getting close! I want her to come out when she’s well and ready, but at the same time, I’m very impatient and want her in my arms now!!!! haha. I hope it will be sooner than later! Khoa and I joked saying if she’s like me, she will come out early, and if she’s like her daddy, she will wait until the very last minute and come at her due date or after! I really hope she’s like me =P.
Yesterday we had a growth ultrasound and she sure is growing fast! She is about 7lbs 5oz which puts her in about the 40th percentile! Still below average on the small side but that seems big and dandy to me!! They also measured my cervix and I am 2cm dilated! During the ultrasound, Khoa was able to capture a really cute video of our Lily pad sucking with her lips!! Since she’s making us wait to meet her still, here are a couple pictures where you can see her big lips, little button nose, and chubby cheeks! Also, below is her video for all of us to enjoy for now! =)
Update: June 6, 2012
I just had my Dr’s appointment today and here’s the latest update. I gained a total of 15 pounds, I am almost 3cm dilated (what a GREAT head start!) and I am 80% effaced! Woohoo! We continue to wait, but I feel she’ll be here sooner than later (I hope)!
Baby Shower!
We had the most wonderful time yesterday at our baby shower thanks to our wonderful host Chi Hai! So many of our friends and family came out to share this special celebration with it, it was almost overwhelming, but in a good way! We truly felt the love and excitement for our baby Lily’s arrival and it was simple a happy day! There were such much details that went into this shower, I don’t even know where to begin!
One of my favorite displays at the shower was the dessert bar! Chi Hai bakes some delicious vanilla mini cupcakes and I made the green tea buttercream and fondant decorations. My cute little niece Brooke was our super helper in placing the flowers on the mini cupcakes and she did it like a pro! Chi Hai also baked vanilla cake pops and Alvina and I dipped them in pink chocolate and Chi Hai and I striped them with white chocolate. I made rose and green tea macarons, to go with our color scheme of pink, white and light green. The mixed berry cake was ordered from Givral Bakery where they did the piping on the sides and added the green ribbon border. I made the baby dragon out of fondant and arranged real light pink spray roses on the cake as well. We also had bowls of pink and white sprinkled animal crackers, mhmmm! The lovely dessert tower was arranged by cousin Chi Tu and friend Alvina! They did such a great job layering the desserts and I loved how Chi Tu placed the leftover spray roses inside the tiers! It just looks so pretty and tasty, I love it!
Our Party favors consisted of pink and light green frosted take out boxes that were filled with silver hershey’s kisses and a custom fortune cookie with a special message from our baby Lily! The boxes were wrapped with a decorative wrapping paper strip and then sealed with our dragon Lily Logo! The Fortune cookies are dipped in either milk chocolate, white chocolate, or dark chocolate with flat circle sprinkles on top. The fortunes in the cookies consisted of 5 different custom message:
1) I can’t wait to meet you! – Love Baby Lily
2) Thank you for coming to my mommy & daddy’s shower! – Love Baby Lily
3) There’s a baby girl named Lily in your future that can’t wait to meet you!
4) Love, joy & wonderful dreams are all the sweet things baby Lily will bring.
5) Roses are red, violets are blue, baby Lily can’t wait to meet you!
Our baby dragon Lily’s logo also made her appearance on the 
cheeseball cups, and the lemonade drink dispenser. We made custom water bottle labels with her logo on them as well, and had a custom super cute nutritional facts label as well. In case you can’t read the nutritional label, you can see it close up!! We also had custom made Bingo Gift boards with dragon Lily’s logo in the center as the “Free Space.” We had Wish List for Lily that people can fill out for her. We plan to bind all the cards into a small book for Lily and we can read them to her later! We also have custom designed certificates of award for all the games where the certificates were presented by Lily with a special message for the winner! We also designed a t-shirt for the onesie design contest winner as part of the prize! The front says I*heart* Lily and the back had Lily Design INC. logo below the back neck line, and on the bottom right butt check there’s a “Lily Approved” stamp (Khoa’s idea for the back of the t-shirt layout haha!)
Other details of the baby shower consisted of an amazing GIANT diaper cupcake that Alvina made!! The base of the diaper cupcake is a laundry basket wrapped with diapers, each tied with a pretty brown bow. Inside the cupcake consists of cute and practical goodies that Alvina was compiling together since she found out we were having a baby! She even asked Khoa for my bakery logo so she can hand draw the tag herself, so impressive the amount of work and thought she put into this gift for Lily! She also made a beautiful poster with a thoughtful quote and framed it as well. It will go very nicely on the wall of Lily’s dragon lair (nursery). Chi Hai brought cute lanterns to hang up around the clubhouse, and thought up of hanging up sample onesies at the onesie design station as well! I also crochets some stuffed dragon dolls for Lily as display and for her tohug and love. Also, Bi-Ying couldn’t make it to the shower but she shipped over a lovely diaper cake for display and use as well!
Of course, another big hit from the shower was all the yummy Vietnamese food! We got food catered from 4 different Vietnamese restaurants for the egg rolls (@Thanh Long Deli), nem nuong (@Khanh Hoa), mi xao (@Tan Cang Newport Seafood), and banh beo (@Phuong Giang). My mom made her infamous pasta salad and clear noodles and my aunt made her delicious fried rice! We also had honeydew and watermelon balls, balled by Chi Hai and Brooke! We also had a tray of Logan, more watermelon, and pineapples! I wanted to have some dragon fruit too for our dragon theme shower, but unfortunately it is not in season right now. Regardless, the food was fabulously delicious and there were hardly any leftovers!
We would like to give special thanks to Chi Hai for hosting our wonderful shower, it was perfect!! Special thanks to Lily’s auntie Jennifer for documenting the shower and making a video. I haven’t seen the video yet, but I know it’ll be great!! Also, thanks to all our family and friends who helped us prepare and set up for this occasion, and to those who helped us clean up afterwards. You know who you are, you didn’t have to help us set up or clean, but you did and we totally appreciate it! Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate Lily’s upcoming arrival with us as well! Most of all, extra special thanks to Khoa, without him, I would not have all these wonderful things in life to look forward too! I love you baby cakes!! We had so much and it was great to see everyone before our precious baby gets here. We felt so much love from everyone and we are extremely blessed and lucky to have such a wonderful family. We are so excited for what’s to come, we can’t wait to meet her!!!!!
Enjoy more photos from our baby shower here!
Here is the video that Lily’s auntie Jennifer made of our wonderful baby shower!! She is so talented and captured the festivities so nicely, I cannot thank her enough for documenting this for us. I can’t wait to show Lily this video one day!
9 Month Update!
Today I am 36 weeks and 3 days!!! I cannot believe I have reached the 9 month mark! By the way, I count months by counting 4 weeks to 1 month. I know there’s an extra 2-3 days added to a total month, but it’s just easier this way! =) So last Friday we had another growth ultrasound, most likely the last ultrasound before our Lily pad is here! She’s now in the 35th percentile, she’s getting bigger, still small, but growing, so yay! Also, the ultrasound specialist pointed out she’s growing more hair on her head as well, woohoo! She’s facing head down as well, ready to go, and as of Friday, she weighed in at approximately 5lbs 10 oz! She’s bigger than me than when I was born (5lbs 5oz), but then again, I was a twin haha. Her heart beat also measured at a fast pace of 153 beats per minute! Overall, things are looking great! Here’s her beautiful profile and close up of her little button nose and plump lips from the ultrasound!
I had my baby check up appointment this week to confirm things are moving along smoothly. Her heart beat measured at 134 beats per minute (I guess she’s not an active morning person…haha), that could be a good thing for us! I gained 1 pound since my last appointment, putting me at a gain of 12 pounds total now. My belly measures at 33cm and the doctor measured my cervix for the first time and I am excited to say I am 1cm dilated and my cervix is starting to thin out! This doesn’t mean our dragon lily will pop out any minute, it just means the process has started! It can take a couple weeks, a few days, who knows! It’s exciting nonetheless!
So how am I feeling now that I’m 9 months in? Well thanks for asking! I’ve started to feel some Braxton Hicks Contractions, and it’s a little confusing because sometimes I’m not sure if it’s just her moving really strongly that made me uncomfortable, or if it’s the contractions. As for my belly button update, it’s nearly flat as a pancake now! I knew it was bound to happen, but it’s better than popping out into an outtie I guess, although I’m still waiting for that to possibly happen. Also, no stretch marks yet (that I know of) woohoo!! I sure feel lucky!! I feel great, but now and then, the contractions creep up and my belly sides feel really tight and uncomfortable. I tend to get a lot of back aches too when I’m working at my desk or driving in the car, so luckily when I’m work, I can just get up and walk around. Today is my last day working at work, then I get to work from home till she’s here! I have lots of trouble sleeping at night. I often have to sleep sitting up so that I don’t get acid reflux, and I wake up in the middle of the night a lot because I have to pee. I forgot what it’s like to sleep through the night, I guess that’s my body’s way of preparing me for what’s to come!! Other than that though, we are just super excited for what’s to come in a few weeks so these little back aches and pains will totally be more than worth it!
Here is my monthly photo taken yesterday when I was 36 weeks and 1 day! Special shout out to my sister, Jennifer, for capturing me at my best!
Cinemagraphs!
Having fun with cinemagraphs! Cinemagraphs are pretty much photos taken to a whole new level! You start with a video clip, and end up with a unique image to show off your memories! These are my first attempts at them, I hope you enjoy! =)
Babymoon!
Babymoon – April 27-29, 2012
Khoa and I took a babymoon locally and in San Diego to enjoy our time together as a couple before our whole world changed when our little miracle arrives! We started our weekend by eating dinner at A&J’s in Irvine Friday night and then watched 5 Year Engagement at the Spectrum. The movie was very funny and cute, we would recommend it! On Saturday, we had lunch at this place Khoa heard about on the radio that has really yummy open face tacos called Taqueria Tapatio! It’s quite delicious and the watermelon juice and horchata are REALLY refreshing as well! We then started out drive to San Diego. 
I always wanted to visit the stopping view point after you pass San Onofre, and so finally we did, it’s call Camp Pendleton Vista Point! There’s tons of squirrels there that are super friendly and a lot of people had little sunflower seeds and peanuts and bread to feed them. People gave us some sunflower seeds to so the squirrels went right up to me and ate out of my hand! I don’t know how sanitary that was, thank goodness for hand sanitizer, but they were so darn cute I couldn’t resist getting so close to them!
After stopping at Vista Point, we continued out drive and finally made it to Ocean Beach thanks to Alvina’s suggestion! It was nice little beach, pretty crowded, but it’s known for it’s pier. The pier is the longest pier in the west coast, and is in a shape of a T. The pier was not nearly as busy as the beach itself, so we enjoyed a nice spacious stroll to ourselves. After walking on the pier, we went to the side of the beach to explore as well!
For dinner we ate at Phil’s BBQ. It’s only of my favorite BBQ places and boy was I satisfied! I think our baby dragon Lily enjoyed it a lot as well =P The wait there is usually ridiculously long, so we made sure to arrive early around 4:45pm, and the line was already around the corner of the building. We probably waited a total of 25-30 mins., so we got lucky because usually the wait is double that amount! It’s totally worth it though =).
After dinner we went to Sunset Cliffs to watch the sunset. It’s a really nice scenic area with a clear ocean panoramic view! We arrived with about 30 mins to spare before the sunset, so we explored around the cliffs and got some photos. We also got lucky that it was a nice clear day with a few clouds so we got to see the sunset perfectly! Also, there weren’t that many people there either so it was overall a very nice, intimate time that Khoa and I got to share with each other. Some of the people we did walk by on the cliffs complimented me saying I look great and congratulated us on our pregnancy!! Little things like that sure makes we feel warm and fuzzy inside! =)
We went to Little Italy in Downtown San Diego afterwards to eat desserts at Extraordinary Desserts!! I’ve been wanting to eat there for the longest time but never had the chance because we were always so full after dinner! This time we had about a 1.5-2 hr gap between dinner and dessert, so that allowed us to digest and make room for all the fabulously delicious dessert we were about to experience! We ordered the tres leches cake, passion fruit napoleon, raspberry and lychee sorbet! The sorbet was SUPER refreshing and flavorful, the best sorbet I’ve ever had! I also ordered an appetizer of an avocado and artichoke truffle bruschetta and that was the best bruschetta I’ve ever had as well! Khoa ordered a macadamia nut iced coffee I got an American Beauty, which was pretty much a rose sparkling water. Our overall experience there was really great, we’d definitely come back for more!
On Sunday we had lunch at Watson’s Drugs and Soda Fountain. I had a groupon so we decided to check it out, and it’s cute little diner atmosphere 
restaurant, that even had a working jukebox! They are known for the patty melts so I ordered an avocado tomato patty melt and Khoa ordered the chili cheese eggs with home fries. I got a fancy root beer float and Khoa ordered a mimosa! The restaurant had store connected to it that sold all sorts of old fashion candies and sodas and other knicks knacks as well that was fun to browse through. After a really good lunch we took a stroll around the Orange Circle and did some window shopping. We then pampered ourselves and have a 1.5hr couple’s massage! After getting massaged for 1.5 hrs, it’s hard to go back to just the normal 1 hour massage haha! After our pampering, we went to Main Place mall and did some light shopping while sipping on one of my favorite drinks, milk tea! We then went home and started watching a movie on Netflix, The Sitter. It is not a family friendly movie, but there were a lot of funny parts in it! We had to put the movie on pause so we can go to out dinner reservations at Gulliver’s in Irvine!
Gulliver’s is a steakhouse that is based off the theme of Gulliver’s Travel (or so Khoa says). The facade is very cute with pretty flowers and the inside is really intimate and cozy! The staff were super friendly and when Khoa told them we were celebrating out babymoon, they were very enthusiastic in congratulating us and making us feel special! The food portions were humungous!!! Plus no matter what you order, they come and scoop you a huge helping of cream corn as well!! Good thing we had a groupon for that place too because it’s quite expensive, but well worth it! They also have gift certificates on restaurants.com (thanks Jennifer for the info) and so next time we go, we’ll definitely get a gift certificate to save some money! By the end of the meal, I couldn’t finish half of my meal, so we decided not to order dessert. However, they boxed us up a complimentary house special dessert anyways, a raspberry sponge cake, for celebrating our babymoon!! Yay!! After stuffing our faces, we went home and finished the movie. We had such a nice and relaxing babymoon, and I couldn’t have spent it with a more wonderful man! Enjoy our pictures, the full album can be viewed here!
8 Month Update!
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!
Maternity Photos!
Maternity Photos!
Fun day in the sun with my baby and Hun! We finally took our maternity photos this past weekend on Saturday and Sunday. At first we were worried the rain might postpone our plans, but Lily summoned her lucky energy and brought our the sunshine! We also took advantage of this time to just have a nice outing and enjoy the outdoors and sunlight as well! Saturday (April 14th) Khoa and I grabbed our tripod and camera and when to the William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine. It was pretty chilly outside, and windy, but we toughed it out and got some nice fun shots! We were going for a Pixar’s Up inspired theme for the photos at the park, and so we had some fun colorful balloons as props, and I wore a bright fun yellow dress for contrast! A reason why we wanted to do an “Up” theme was because we like to go on adventures together, so having a baby is our next BIG ADVENTURE we will face together, so it seems so appropriate! =) After we were done with the balloons, we gave them to a little girl and made her day! =) Khoa did such a great job with the self timer, it’s a good thing he can run fast! =)
After the park, we had had lunch at Le Diplomat and got milk tea at Cha for Tea! We met up with Jennifer and she then helped us with photos at the Corona Del Mar Beach in Newport! We chose the beach because one of our favorite vacation spots is Hawaii, and so we wanted to represent that in our photos in hopes to bring our baby dragon Lily to Hawaii with us one day when she’s older! The beach was super cold and windy, and I was really nervous the wind would not look good, but Jennifer assured me that the windy worked just fine! It was sure cold though, but worth it in the end from the shots we got!! Jennifer sure has a great eye, and we are greatly appreciative of her help!
On Sunday, we went to the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden at Cal State University of Long Beach! I chose that place this is the year of the dragon, and the Japanese Garden has that Asian motif that fits our theme perfectly! Also, I just love the pond and the bridge, etc. Also, I wanted to print some of these photos and hang them in the dragon lair (nursery) for Lily to look at, and the garden had so many vibrant colors that I think Lily will really enjoy! Jennifer also helped us with these photos as well and once again, magnificent job! =) At one point during the pictures, I dropped a block into the pond, and luckily Khoa was able to swoop it out of the water before it went under the bridge! What a great save! Haha! Anyways, enough with reading, time for you to enjoy the photos! =) I plan to make some Cinemagraphs (animated photos) soon, so stay tuned for that!
Hello 3rd Trimester! 7 Months!
I am doing the happy dance because I am officially in my 3rd trimester! Today I am exactly 28 weeks along with my pregnancy and I cannot be more happy! Also, today is the first day of Spring! Yay! Doesn’t all this goodness make you want to jump for joy? I sure do! Our little baby dragon Lily really is my lucky charm! This is month 7, lucky number 7, and this past weekend was just St. Patrick’s day so that’s why I decided to wear green in my photo! Our dragon Lily gave us so much luck, here are a few examples: I won my first poker game ever on our recent trip to Bass Lake with some great friends of mine, and we got some scratcher tickets and it led to 2 more free scratcher tickets, and $3! Those 2 tickets then won us another free ticket and $10 more! We haven’t cashed in that last free ticket, but I know it’ll for sure be a lucky one!
As for updates, there’s not much. I recently got a bad cold and phlemgy cough, and I’m still battling it as we speak. I don’t know if it’s related to my sudden sickness or not, but I lost a couple pounds…so that’s a little worrisome to me since I’m suppose to be gaining weight! I’ve been trying to get a hold of my Dr. but they have been closed, so I will try again tomorrow. Hopefully it’s nothing to worry about! Positive thinking! Also, Khoa came home last night and brought me this beautiful bouquet of flowers to make me feel all cheery! Isn’t he the sweetest??
I am happy to announce that I still have my belly button…but I’m trying my best not to get too attached haha. I do not have stretch mark yet on my belly, and I do emphasize YET because I know it’s inevitable! But I’m laying on the lotions thick anyways cause you never know, it could be helping a little bit! I am sleeping better now and then, but it could be because I’m sick and am exhausted, but at least I got some nights of uninterrupted sleep! I need to enjoy it while it lasts!
Khoa and I took our first baby class last night too! It was Baby Basics so we learned how to soothe the baby when it’s crying, learned how to give the baby a bath, change her clothes, change her diaper, and swaddling! It was a very informative class and I’m glad we went! I was tempted not to go because I’m feeling so sick, but I toughed it out and now I feel that much more prepared! We have an 8 hour long birthing class this coming saturday, and a baby safety class this coming monday! Lots to look forward too!
Here’s a photo of my baby bump at 28 weeks! 7 Months baby! =D
6.5 Month Update!
So currently I am 6.5 months and 3 days (26 weeks and 3 days) into my wonderful pregnancy and I feel great (despite not sleeping through the night and having crazy weird dreams and nightmares)! I recently took my glucose and anemic screening tests and passed with flying colors! Baby Dragon Lily is kicking all over the place now, and she’s reached an inch or so above my belly button too! Speaking of belly button, it’s still there, hanging on like a champ! Hopefully it will last the next 2.5 months without popping out (fingers crossed!). Also, a couple days ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and had this excruciating pain all over my belly, sides, and back. It lasted for about a minute and so I emptied my bladder and tried to lay back down but every moment had such paralyzing paid that it was hard to do anything to make the myself feel better! I tried to explain this to my Dr. and she said I had my first contraction! However, contractions should be painful like THAT…so I still don’t know what happened, but I’m glad that hasn’t come back!
Other updates are that my belly measures 25cm, so I’m 1 cm low since I’m at 26 weeks right now. I have gained a total of 6 pounds, so 5 pounds since my last appointment a month ago! That’s progress! I noticed that my belly gets quite pointy, especially when I start to lay down, it’s a crazy phenomenon where I start to lay down and when I’m at the 45 degrees angle, you see a narrow point go down my belly, like an outline of the baby itself! Maybe I’ll take a video of it sometime…but maybe not because it’s quite strange to see… Overall, I’m as happy as can be and I really do look pregnant now! I love seeing my baby bump in the mirror and as it gets bigger, I get that much more happy. I can’t wait to meet you my little lily pad!!
Anyways, here’s my 6 month photo taken a couple weeks ago when I wad 24 weeks and 4 days! I wore pink since it was the week of Valentine’s day! She will always be my Valentine! I included our 1st child Luna in the photo too, she’s starting to get curious! =D
Parts of Baby
I’ve been meaning to post this last month, but now is better than never! We found out the gender of our baby on January 11, 2012, it’s a GIRL! We also got a few ultrasound images of our baby and here’s a collage to show you how far she’s developing. It’s amazing what’s been formed already and you can just look at her beautiful bones and spine and just look at those limbs!!
Here is a video as well that shows our little precious dragon Lily (yes her name will be Lily!) wiggling around and you can see her heart beat pumping away! What a strong heart!
Also for more updates, I felt the baby kick higher in my belly for the first time on a few days ago on Monday, February 13th! Normally she kicks and punches really low by the hairline, but now she’s starting to expand and moved up only a couple inches below my belly button now! It’s very exciting to feel her everyday, and she just keeps getting stronger, and the amount she moves at a time is increasing as well! I love seeing Khoa’s reaction when he gets to feel how much she moves, it’s such a great feeling! As for more updates on my weight: I lost a total of 5 pounds as of mid January since my start weight back in October. Since my last appointment a couple weeks ago, I gained 6 pounds, making me +1 pound since my start weight. It’s really strange how little weight I’ve gained because my belly clearly is getting larger, but since the anatomy ultrasounds in January showed that the baby is growing and developing just fine, my doctor isn’t too worried yet. Hopefully, at my next appointment in two weeks, I will continue to gain weight and I won’t have to do weekly growth ultrasounds, but even if I do have to, then at least I get to see our dragon Lily more!! =)
Another exciting news is that I’m over half way done with this pregnancy, I can’t believe how fast time has flown! Dragon Lily can now hear our voices for a few weeks now, but she can also hear surrounding noises as well, so watch what you say, she can hear you! We make sure to have belly talk every night so Lily can know our voices =). Also, she can hear my own heart beat! How much more connection can a mother and daughter get than that?! There’s really something sweet about her being able to listen to the rhythm of my heart every day =). Now I leave you with a photo of me taken around the 5 month mark, due to high demands to see my baby bump! It’s not impressive yet, but that will surely change rather quickly!
Boy or Girl?
On Wednesday, January 11th, we got to find out the gender of our sweet babyDragon! We were really bummed that Khoa couldn’t make it to my ultrasound appointment with me, so I wanted to plan some special and surprise Khoa with a plan to find out the gender of our babyDragon together. So what I started my plan by asking the sonographer to write down the gender of babyDragon on a piece of paper. I bought a giant cardboard box (I searched 3 different places, Staples, Kinkos, and Home Depot, for the largest box I can find too, Home Depot is the place to go! I flipped the box inside out so that it didn’t have the Home Depot logo all over it) to Party City, and asked the girl behind the counter for a special request. I handed her an envelope that that contained the gender photo and keyword, and told her to fill the box with either pink and white balloons, or blue and white balloons depending on what the paper says. She was really ecstatic and enthusiastic to help me out, which made the process more exciting, and gave me choices on “It’s a Girl” or “It’s a Boy” aluminum balloons. I waited outside while they blew up the balloons and filled my box, and was called back in when they finished! The girl was really nice and thorough to make sure the surprise wasn’t ruined!
So I lugged the giant box back into my car, and boy was it a tight squeeze. Good thing I couldn’t find a bigger box or it would have be disasterous! So I finally get home, and by this time, Khoa already gotten home from work, and brought home dinner from Chili’s. I wanted to cook, but we were both too excited to find out the answer that we figured this was be easier and faster! I told Khoa to stay inside his office while I brought my box up to dragon’s lair (the nursery), because I wanted to surprise him with my plan, so he has no idea about the box and what’s inside! I must say, carrying a giant 22″x22″x22″ box up 2 flights of stairs is quite a challenge, I kept crashing into the stair rail and wall..but good thing the box is cardboard and not wood or something otherwise we’d have to repair the walls in our house…haha!
So after Khoa and I wolfed down our dinner and talked about our day, and then talked about what we think dragon is. We both think dragon will be a boy. Either way, dragon will be our precious baby and we will love him/her to death!!! Sounds silly, but it’s true. I quickly decorated the box and then called Khoa up for the grand reveal!! I walk him into the dragon’s lair, and right in the middle of the empty room is the giant box. He immediately goes “Wow, you did this yourself??” So still having no clue what’s inside the box, I tell him that once we open it, we will know!! So at this point, I don’t know about him, but I was getting all sorts of jitters and butterflies and a litle nervous too! I cannot believe we’ll find out within seconds!! So we countdown “Ready? 3, 2, 1, OPEN!” and we rip the tape and open the box….PINK balloons come flying out!!!
It’s a GIRL!!!
I was so happy and tears start streaming down my face!! We were jumping up and down and I could not stop saying “It’s a GIRL!! it’s a GIIIIIRL!!! AHHH IT’S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!” we hugged and Khoa held me in his arms and we just stood there staring at the pink and white balloons and we were just overwhelmed with joy! Khoa and I will be having a little baby dragon girl!!
Here is the gender photo we received. I have NO idea what the arrow is pointing to and what it all means, but I am pretty confident the quick cursive writing says “girl” so that’s all that matters to me!
