My cyst was still there and its size was about the same. The tech said the measurement was a little bit larger than last time but she said it may be due to how it’s shaped. At this point, I am not thinking too much about my cyst, just hoping it won’t prevent baby’s head from getting engaged. I am expecting to have my first internal exam this coming Friday and hoping to hear some good news, some progress.

I can definitely feel my little one getting bigger and stronger. While I bent over my ribs sometimes bump into his bones. Even though it’s not quite comfortable, I love feeling his movements and it makes me feel great to know that he is growing. It’s great that he was only 1 ounce away from the cut off for low birth weight. What’s really funny is that lots of people think I look big and say I am going to have a big baby. According to the u/s, chances are he is going to be a 6, 7 pounder, which is fine with me as long as he is healthy!! I am wondering if it’s my cyst making me look big though. >_

We all went to a Chinese restaurant for dim sum lunch in Fort Lee the next day. There were so many good stuff I hadn’t had for a LONG time but couldn’t have because of my GD condition. DARN!! After that, DH and I drove to the close-by Mitsuwa Market Place. Lots of Japanese there. Very interesting. The food court there sells lots of delicious Japanese food and desert. Wish I could have them!!! There is also a Japanese book store and a store selling all kinds of Japanese imports including some really nice furniture.

We then drove north to a park under the George Washington Bridge. The beautiful Manhattan skyline was in sight. It was a hot day but there were many people BBQing there: Asians, Indians, Hispanics, blacks, and whites.

We visited a very nice beach at the central eastern NJ. The park is located north of the town of Highlands. The park is shaped like a peninsula, west side facing NJ and east side facing Pacific Ocean. There are 5-6 different sizes of beach in the park. We went to the most north-eastern one first and you could see Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island from there. It’s really cool.

Even though it’s a four day weekend, it’s just way too short for visiting my aunt. We spent the first and the last day driving. I didn’t really feel coming back.

On July 6th, we had our scheduled pediatrics tour and it all went well. The doctor meeting us was pretty friendly and patient. Even though they don’t have a lactation consultant on staff, we decided to give them a try. Our baby now has a doctor. ^_^ (Oh, and I’ve confirmed that it’s required for the hospital to perform a new born hearing screening.)

Went to see the specialist for my GD on Friday 7/7. He said except a few high numbers, he was pretty happy with how I’d been doing and wanted me to continue. I was hoping he would tell me to check my blood glucose less frequently but it didn’t happen. Oh, well!! That evening I went to the hospital to attend the breast feeding lesson. It was long but very helpful. I’ve learned lots of tips and the nurse who gave the lecture seemed very nice. I was looking forward to seeing her again when I deliver.

Had another prenatal visit yesterday morning. My urine and blood pressure were all fine. My Group B Strep cultures came back negative. I also gained some weights from last time which made me feel good. Couldn’t help but asking again about fetal hearing. She said a fetus can hear but it’s very muffled sounding. She said there is no need to worry about going to a loud concert and being spanked on the butt. She measured my fundal height and it was 35cm, which was right on track. Baby’s heart rate was in lower 140’s. I asked her to check the baby’s position. She though he was transverse first, which made me nervous for a second, but after palpating my whole belly, she agreed that the baby is head-down as last two appointments. She said it’s easier to find out baby’s presentation by doing internal exam and if the baby has been head-down, chances are he is going to stay that way. Oh, my baby! Please stay head-down!!! They will start doing internal at my next appointment; I’ll be 37 week then!! I’ll be full term also. It’s so exciting!! They also scheduled another sonogram next week to check on my cyst and the baby’s growth.

We had some great food at the shower, some store bought and some home made. Too bad I couldn’t try all of them because of GD. I had some bread with spinach dip, shrimp, raw veggies with dip, two small pieces of veggie pizza, and some fruit.

There were about 16 or so people there. They are all people from work. (It’s a work baby shower after all.) After people ate, we started playing some games. The first one was to guess how many mints there are in this baby bottle. The second one was that everyone, except me, cut off a part of the ribbon to represent the measurement of my belly. The third game was that everyone was given 4 cards, when the host called your card, you got to pick a gift out of four. When all four gifts were all owned by somebody, you could choose to take either one away from the owner. The gift kept being moved from one person to another until the host ran out of the card. The last four people got to keep the gifts (surprises).

The last game was conjugated with the gift-openings. Everyone got a sheet of paper with bingo boxes on it. They wrote down what gifts I was getting. When I opened a gift that they had on the list, they could cross it out. When someone got all four in the row crossed out, they won a gift. People were having a great time and some of them even got to take some gifts home.

I, or my baby I should have said, got lots of great gifts. Lots of baby outfits, some toys, some blankets, some baby bathing necessities, two bibs, two CD’s, a couple of hooded towel, a hamper, a night lamp with a rubber duck on it, two diaper bags I liked, one really cute Fisher Price aquarium bath tub, a changing pad and cover, two nursing pillows, a baby book, a photo album, a scrap book that I can write everything about the baby, etc. and etc. I also got a special one dollar bill from Department of Treasure with lots of 8 in the sequence number with a card talking about the year of dog and the personality of people born in the year. Oh, and the wife of my boss bought me all the bottles, nipples, and a sterilizer I need. That was so nice of her. This lady June even especially sawed a beautiful “multi-purpose” blanket for my baby. I can hang it up on the wall, use it as a curtain, or a blanket when the baby grows older.

The last but not the least, I cut a cake with “Welcome Baby OUR LAST NAME” on it. I couldn’t have the cake though. DH came before the party was over so he got to have some food and the cake so that was nice. He hung out with other two husbands of the hosts while we ladies were enjoying our good time.

I felt so moved that even though I am not really close to anybody at work, the hosts still put so much effort in organizing such a wonderful baby shower for me and there were so many people coming. It really made me feel home.

He was head down, which was perfect. The tech measured his head, waist, thigh bone, and his heart rate. All measurements looked good and his heart rate was about 154 BPM. I saw my lil one’s face for the first time. (I only got profile shots before.) He was so cute!! I think he looks more like his father than me. He has his Dad’s high forehead. His nose looks like my FIL’s nose. DH said he looks like a Bhudda. What’s really funny was that we both think he looks a lot like my FIL. I guess we’ll find out fore sure once he is born.

The tech told me he is 37th percentile and it’s normal. I talked to nurse Vickie this morning. She said it just means that chances are he is going to be a 6, 7lb baby instead of 9, 10lb one. His growth is fine. I feel relieved to hear that. At least I don’t need to worry too much about him being overly large. Besides, Asians statistically have smaller babies then Caucasians and I am small myself. Thus, as long as I follow doctor’s instructions and get enough calories I need, my baby should be fine.

I am just so glad I got to see my baby and so grateful that he is doing well in my womb. His health is the most important thing to me at the moment. My cyst was still there and about the same size. But I am not thinking too much about it right now. I am simply hoping to have a healthy baby and go with the flow on other issues. I may very likely need a surgery for my cyst after delivery but I think everything will work out just fine.

I am going to see a specialist tomorrow morning to find out what kind of diet plan I need to follow and how I should check my blood sugar daily. I’ve changed my eating habits a little bit, hoping it will help. I am avoiding all sweets, no juice, no fruit in the morning, decrease the daily intake of fruit, and eat high fiber whole grain bread and crackers. I am also eating a small amount every meal but eat more meals through out the day.

DH and I went to my prenatal appointment with Dr. F today. We first discussed how GD will affect me and the baby. She said we are going to see how I am doing with the new diet and check the size of the baby at the u/s before they decide what we are going to do next. I am having my u/s this coming Friday for my cyst. At the same time, they’ll find out the percentile of my baby. 50% will be perfect, higher number means larger than average and smaller number means smaller than average. The size of the baby will greatly affect my choice of delivery. She also said they will check the baby’s blood sugar right after the delivery so they can give baby sugar water if his blood sugar is too low.

We then went over my birth plan. They pretty much can work with most of my wishes, so that’s good. DH then mentioned about Dr. B. It turned out that Dr. F already knew our situation with Dr. B from nurse Heidi at the hospital. However, she didn’t comment too much. She did mention that Dr. T may be on maternity leave by the time I deliver, which means that I will have 1/3 of chance seeing Dr. B.

I haven’t gained any weight for the past month. She said it was okay and I don’t need to worry. She said some women even lost some weight while on diabetic diet but as long as the diet provides enough calories, there won’t be any concern. She said my blood pressure was beautiful. So was my fundal height, 31cm. I am hoping the fundal height being on target is a good sign showing that my baby is not over-large. We listened to his heartbeat, which was 158 BPM. His heartbeat sound strong and healthy. Dr. then touching around my belly for his position. He was head down. YA! I was so happy to hear that!!

I am praying that I’ll get my blood sugar in control and my baby will be strong and healthy!!

We got the lower apartment rent out yesterday, to a couple. DH showed them the apartment so I haven’t met them yet but I trusted DH’s judgment. We still need to replace some windows and upper kitchen floor cabinets. Special order takes about 2 to 4 weeks to arrive so I sincerely hope that everything will go smoothly so we can get these two main renovations done by early July so we can move in and set up the nursery. Not much time left actually and I am getting nervous now.

I failed my one hour glucose screening last Thursday so I went to have a 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test done this morning. Unlike last week, which I ate 1 hour right before I had 50mg of glucose drink, I fasted for 12 hours this time. I am hoping and praying that it was the breakfast I ate causing me to fail the test last week. It was really boring sitting at the lab for 3 hours. I felt a little sick to my stomach half hour after I drank 100mg of glucose drink but was fine after that. I got a big bruise on my right arm but what can I do? I am praying everything will turn our just fine and to hear the good news from a nurse tomorrow morning. Please let me PASS!!!!

On our second anniversary, we took my MIL to the Babies R Us to shop. She got us two Graco Snugride car seats, two learning worms, one crib sheet, one sleep sack, and a few really cute outfits. We then went to a new opened Viet-Thai restaurant for lunch. After that, we took her to a supermarket to get some groceries and then home.

After that, we went to Lowe’s to ask about replacing doors and windows and then to the park where we took wedding pictures. It was a long day but a very productive day. The weather was really nice and we had a great time doing baby shopping with my MIL.

I am having my Glucose Tolerance Test tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed!!

We went to a Thai restaurant for a dinner on my birthday. DH ordered two spring rolls. After having a bite I suddenly remembered that raw bean sprouts is one of the things a pregnant woman should avoid, according to some websites anyway. There was not much in it so I ate the whole thing. Now I am getting kind of worried about it, especially after I learned even more about food poison on Internet. (I think doing too much research on Internet is really a bad habit of me because I tend to read a lot into the information and get even more stressed out.) The very next morning after that meal I started getting a little sore throat. Even though I know chances are I am just coming down with a cold, (DH was sick earlier this week) I am worried that it may be because of the Listeria which will cause flu-like symptoms. However, I don’t have any stomach symptoms, fever, chill, or muscle aches. The only symptom I have is sore throat. I finally couldn’t help and called the nursing station about it. The nurse said to me “The raw veggies pose absolutely no danger to pregnant women.” I don’t think she is totally right. (Any food can make you sick if they are not fresh or clean.) However, I guess the chances of getting sick from raw veggies is still a lot smaller than from undercooked or tainted meat. That’s why she said that.

I called MIL and she said there are just so many things out there that can make you sick and you just can’t worry about everything. She said even lettuce can have bacteria that will make people sick if not handled properly. She told me not to worry about it unless I get more symptoms and become sicker. She said I may just come down with a cold or an allergy.

Pregnancy does bring lots of excitement to my life, but plenty of worries at the same time. I really wish I could worry less and enjoy my pregnancy more.

DH bought me a stuffed polar bear mommy and baby along with a small pocket book about mothers. He told me “This is from our son. I told him it’s a little over-priced but he said Mom will like it so we bought it.” Then he gave me a Motherhood gift card and said “I got you something more practical.”

He was SO sweet!!! *^^*

During the lesson, one of the husbands mentioned that the hospital where I am going to deliver my baby at has a high rate of epidural usage. DH started getting worried and once again tried to tell me to switch to another doctor. We had the discussion with those two nurses. They asked me which group I am going to and I told them. Nurse H told me that Dr. F is great, so are Dr. T and A. We mentioned about our experience with Dr. B. She wasn’t surprised to hear that. Obviously, most of people working with Dr. B know what kind of personality she has. H said that I should address my complaints to Dr. F and go through my birth plan with her. She also gave me another solo doctor’s name for future reference. It’s a lot more comforting and reassuring to learn that even though Dr. B is not our type of doctor, other three doctors are good.