Doctor's Visit - 29th Week

Today, we went to our, Bi-weekly now, Doctor's visit, and here's an update:

• Dr. Chen started our session by running an ultrasound scan on the Baby
• He first measured the circumference of the Baby's skull, and the result, as you can see from the image below (see FL), is equivalent to a 30weeks old fetus
• Which means that the Baby is right on track for the head size
• He then measure the belly of the baby (see AC), and the measurement came back as a 32weeks old fetus!
• With another click on his machine, it calculated that the baby is currently weight-in at approximately 4-pounds
• Dr. Chen than told us that the computer estimated that the baby will weight approximately 7-pounds when born
• He told us that the Baby's is already in a Vertex position (head-down, legs-up), and the Baby is currently facing sideway of Amy
• He told us that everything looks good and he told Amy to make sure to continue her vitamin medication
• As I'm typing this post, I realized that we have forgotten to ask Dr. Chen about the result of Amy's Glucose Tolerance test that she did 2 weeks ago!
  
• This is partly because we were too excited to see the ultrasound images on the screen, which we are sharing with you below
• Please feel free to click on the image to enlarge for better viewing
• And don't forget to continue reading the next post, and cast your vote!
• Until next time, take care and thanks for reading our blog!
  

Guess the Gender... Again!

As mentioned, Dr. Chen spent a great deal of time running some ultrasound images on our Little Piggy. As always, we gave him the warning of "Don't tell us the gender!" But this time, he asked us over and over again if we are sure that we do not want to know. He even bribed us with: "Labor Day is coming and there will be lots of Sales at the department store, are you sure you don't want to know, so that you can shop for the Baby?" We insisted, but before we concluded our consultation session, he gave us this image and told us that the answer to the gender of the baby is in this ultrasound image below!

Since you all know that I was professionally trained as an OB-GYN, I really didn't want to see the scan in the beginning. But soon after Amy took a peek at it, she told me that there's no-way I can tell. I decided to take a look... and guess what, Amy is right! I guess my OB training from reading the New England Journal of Hustler wasn't enough!

Well, the next decision for us is, shall we post this image? Since most of my friends are all OB major back when they were in school, I'm afraid that they can tell too! Well, let's challenge them to find out!

• The 2 images you see below are basically the same
• I overlay-ed a grid on top of the 1st image to create the 2nd image
• This is because I want to hear from you!
• First, I would like you to cast your vote
• The voting from within this post is DIFFERENT from the voting as appear on the side bar, to the right of this site
• Once you have voted, I want you to leave a comment in this post to tell me, based on, for example, Cell G5, I think the baby is a boy!
• You may click on either image to enlarge the image for a better view
• Have fun! And I look forward to hear from you!

PS. Personally, I think cell F2, F3, & G3 combined together is the umbilical cord.
PPS. I also rotate the image to view it from a different angle. It didn't help for me, but if you think it might help you, just rotate your monitor!

Doctor's Visit - 27th Week

Today, we went to our Monthly Doctor's visit, and here are the highlights:

• Amy didn't do too well with her Glucose Tolerance blood test last month, and she has to re-do the 3-hour version today (as opposed to the 1-hour version).
• Knowing how much Amy likes sweets (that's why she likes me so much!), I asked Dr. Chen what happens if she fails this 2nd test? Dr. Chen said he will refer Amy to a specialist, to put her on a special diet, and medication. Nothing to worry about... at least for now, according to Dr. Chen.
• We did the Doppler again, and this time the Baby's heartbeat was 156!
• Dr. Chen also changed our visitation from once a month to twice a month!
  
• Surprisingly, Amy's weight gain is also under control! An increase of 4-lbs since last visit. Exactly 4-lbs per month, which is right on schedule!
• We still didn't get an ultra-sound during this visit. That's why we don't have any picture to show our readers. (Besides, we are already late for the blood test!)

Other than these, the baby has been kicking a lot! We learned from the Prepared Child Birth class that Amy needs to do more exercise to get the baby to face towards the spine, as opposed to the tummy, to ease the pain during birth. We started swimming in these past few weeks, hoping that we can train the next Matt Biondi (Janet Evans, if it's a girl!) for the olympics. At first, I wanted Amy to swim so that she will get some weight off her tummy. But the nurse in that Child Birth class told us that swimming is actually an excellent choice of exercise for pregnant women. (Provided that Mom can swim!)

As of this posting, there are only 80 days left in this pregnancy! It's getting close!

Driving Directions to the Hospital

We have a few family members inquired about the driving directions to Torrance Memorial Medical Center.

Here's the information:

Address:
3330 Lomita Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90505

Phone:
(310) 325-9110

Click here for a satellite aerial image of that I prepared. It shows you how to get to the hospital entrance, parking, visitors entrance, and more.

Click here for a PDF version of a 3D Map of the Hospital, for printing.

Click here for look for our baby's picture once he/she is born!

Click here if you want to send us an email while we're in the hospital.

Click here if you want to learn more about the Family Birth Center at Torrance Memorial.

That's all the information I have. If you want more, tough!

We Captured our Baby's First Smile!

Tomorrow, is the beginning of a new Premiership season. My team, Liverpool, is playing Aston Villa tomorrow, and the game is broadcasted live, via satellite, on cable channel!

I've been so excited and eager to watch this game, until 2 days ago, I realized that I have a 2-day long pregnancy class, BEGINNING TOMORROW at 8:30am! :-(

I've heard a lot about how parents sacrifice for their children. You know what, mark this down as my first sacrament for my child!! (Wiping tear off the corner my eye now.)

This class that we are attending tomorrow is called Prepared Childbirth. Believe it or not, it runs from 8:30am to 5:30pm, on both Saturday and Sunday! (Did I mention that Manchester United's game is also on TV, on Sunday morning?) Anyway, 2 days of 8-hour class? I would think by then, I would qualify to carry the letters M.D. after my name! Oh, also, we have to bring our own snacks? Goosh! That's worse than going to work! Anyway, if I'm not too tired by tomorrow night, I'll post some highlights of the class tomorrow. That is of course, assuming that I remember the stuff I was being taught!

Last but not least, lots of friends and family members have been asking me how big is Amy's tummy? The pictures below should give you an idea! We also want to take this opportunity to thank Aunt Amy for sending us some stretch mark correction cream. (Yes, that's the stuff in the picture!) Not only did the cream work on Amy's tummy, it also works on mine too!

Until next time, Happy 26th week!

Men can breast feed too!

Although I kept telling my wife that those are muscles, she insists that the cause of my expanding chest size over the years is due to the increase in body fat gathering under the skin around my chest. But I still think they are muscles. It's just that the gravitation force has outperformed my pair of chest muscles (pectoral muscles, I believe they are called) in the recent years.

Anyway, did you know that men have mammary glands as well? Below is a 6:30 minute documentary titled 'Milk Men', that talks about Male Breastfeeding.

**Not Suitable for Work! Nothing graphics, nor violent. It's just borderline for viewing at a workplace

Disclaimer: No, I'm not considering breastfeeding myself. My 6 nipple piercings are absolutely choking hazards! Besides, it does look weired as you can tell by watching the video.