Mommy-To-Be Fashion

When I first got pregnant, I made a conscious decision to buy as little maternity clothes as possible. Why spend money on something that you can wear for just a few months? I started outgrowing my jeans around the 4th month and my coworker introduced me to this clever accessory called the Bella Band. It's kind of like a tube top that you wear around your belly. The purpose of the Bella Band is two fold: it holds up your pre-pregnancy jeans while you wear them unbuttoned or unzipped, and it lengthens your pre-pregnancy tops that have become too short because of the growing bump. The Bella Band allowed me to wear my regular jeans until I hit about 4 months. Then I broke down and asked Santa (aka Rick) to bring me some nice maternity jeans. Around the same time, I started checking out maternity stores like A Pea in the Pod and was unpleasantly surprised by how much cute maternity clothes cost! A simple t-shirt was $50 and a slightly embellished one would be $100! On the other hand, maternity clothes at lower end stores like Old Navy just don't look very nice. I soon realized that it was mostly unnecessary to buy tops from maternity stores. Now that baby dolls and longer tops are in fashion, you can find something cute and wearable at stores like Banana Republic and American Eagle without paying inflated prices. I'm wearing a top from Banana Republic in the picture above. It seems to me that maternity fashion retailers try to charge more because they know that you are in an emotional stage in your life and that you probably will easily succumb to the hoopla of over-priced hot mama fashion. However, it is getting harder and harder to stay away from maternity clothes as I enter my 7th month of pregnancy. I'll need to get a little more creative to find clothes that look good, feel comfortable and are suitable for work.

Start of the Third Trimester!

It's amazing how time flies, our little golden pig is going to arrive in just 3 more months! The first trimester was painfully slow. I remember counting down the days to 3 months so I could tell everyone about the baby. The second trimester was much smoother, I finally started to look pregnant and feel pregnant. The nausea went away and my energy level picked up. I actually felt quite great. Now that I'm officially 6 months pregnant, I'm starting to notice little differences again. I'm beginning to feel the effects of my weight gain: woddling a bit more, noticing that extra padding in unexpected areas of my body and finally outgrowing a size small at Banana Republic. A few people have been telling me about the "nesting instinct" and boy has it started to kick in! We hadn't done anything to our house for the baby in the past 6 months but in the last couple of weeks I've gotten the incredible urge to clean! Pack! Prepare! The baby's room was full of stuff so I've been on a mission to clear out all of the clutter and get it ready for a makeover. So far, we've managed to clean out the entire closet and toss out a few things while relocating a few others. This process has actually been pretty fun and I'm looking forward to seeing the room turning into a blank canvas for me to unleash my creativity on. Home Depot and Pottery Barn Kids here we come!


Here's a picture of us at our friends Howie and Vika's wedding last weekend. Good thing that's a wrap dress I'm wearing because it expands as my belly grows!

Here's a before picture of the nursery-to-be. We'll keep you posted as we make progress.

Tipping The Scale

Alright, many of you may be wondering how I'm doing with my weight gain. I weighed about 120lb before pregnancy. I didn't gain any weight during the first trimester because of the nausea and lack of appetite. I was a little worried but soon I started putting on the pounds as I regained my appetite. I started outgrowing my jeans at about 4 months and now I'm completely unable to zip up any of my pre-pregnancy jeans. Currently, at 25 weeks, I'm about 145lbs. Doctors recommend that a woman gains 25lb - 35lb during her pregnancy at the rate about 1lb a week. Although I'm technically averaging 1lb a week, I've actually been gaining about 2lb a week in the last 12 weeks or so. Most of the added weight has been in my belly since I can still fit into most of my pre-pregnancy tops. Although this is the most I have ever weighed but I don't feel heavy. The only difference is that I have this rather large obstacle in my mid-section that prevents me from putting my shoes on and cutting my toe nails easily! I do feel that my belly is rather large compared to some of the other expectant moms that I know. I look like I could be 7 months pregnant even though I'm not quite 6 months yet! It'll be interesting to see how big my belly will be at 9 months.

I'm not sure what the doctor's recommended weight gain for the expectant father is but I know that Rick has gained a few pounds through sympathy eating. :) We're both planning to start a work out regiment soon...

Above is a picture of me and Myra, who's also due in May!

January 20, 2007 - Snow Day and The Mysterious Disappearance of My Ankles

We didn't imagine that the MDX we bought would come in so handy so quickly! Over the last a week and a half, we got at least 6 inches of snow over two separate snow falls. On the first evening of the snow fall, our typical 30 minute drive home took over 4 hours. We were thankful that we got home in our trusty new SUV. The next day, we worked from home and played a little in the snow. It was sunny and beautiful.

Last week, as I was taking a shower before going to bed, I looked down and noticed that my ankles have disappeared! Instead, I've developed "cankles"! You know, when you can no longer distinguish where your calfs end and your ankles begin? I knew that my boots felt a little tight that day but I didn't realize that my ankles had swollen that much. I quickly turned to my pregnancy bible and read up on ankle swelling. To my relief, my ankles came back the next morning. Since then, I've paid special attention to not sitting or standing too long and drinking lots of water each day to avoid the swelling. Boy, I wonder what surprises I'll get next?

Jan 7, 2007 - Happy New Year and Baby Gymnastics

Rick and I welcomed 2007 with a dozen of our friends at Club Venom in Seattle. Although I couldn't celebrate with champagne, it was still great to dance the night away at our last babysitter free new year's eve. This year will be the Year of the Boar, which is a nice way of saying the Year of the Pig. Our baby will be a little piggy, same as the baby's Daddy!

Around 19 weeks, I started feeling little flutterings in my belly. At first I thought it was just my stomach grumbling but after a couple of days, I started to suspect maybe it was the baby moving. My doctor had told me to expect some baby movements soon but I didn't know what they were supposed to feel like! My friend Kayla described her baby moving like butterflies and my sister in law Betsy said it feels like fluttering. After a few days, it became more apparent that those gentle movements were not caused by me but the baby. At the beginning, I only noticed them a couple of times a day and the location of the movement seemed random. Rick was anxious to feel the baby as well but the movements were too unpredictable or gentle for him to feel. Now, at week 21, the movements are more frequent and stronger . I noticed that after I eat and I sit or lay still, I can feel the baby moving quite distinctly. Last Thursday night, I sat on the couch after dinner and put my hand on my belly to see if I can feel the baby. After feeling the baby 2 or 3 times in the same spot, I told Rick to put his hand on the same location. After a few seconds, the baby moved again and he definitely felt it! We both giggled in excitement and I was so happy that Rick could finally share some of what I was feeling!

December 29, 2006 - High School Reunion and New Car For Baby

My fabulous friend Ivy co-hosted our 10 year high school reunion this past week. We had a good turn out considering there was relatively short notice for the event. My bump was sizable enough that people were not afraid to come up to me and congratulate me on the baby. It would have been fun to say... uh, what baby? Rick and I teamed up and won the Beverly Hills 90210 trivia game. We scored the complete season one on DVD! Guess what I'll be doing tonight...

On the way home from Vancouver, we stopped off at Acura of Lynnwood and bought a new car for the baby! OK, maybe it's for us too but we decided to upgrade my 2-door Accord coupe for a more sensible family car. Here's a picture of me with our new Acura MDX. I must have been a good girl this year!

All I want for Christmas is a brand new car!

December 26 - Christmas and Third Ultrasound

My parents came to Seattle to spend Christmas with us. They saw me a month prior when my belly was nothing but a slight bulge so naturally they were very excited to see my now sizable bump. My dad was very anxious to take pictures of my growing belly to send to all of our relatives.

We had our third ultrasound at 20 weeks where we could find out the sex of the baby. Rick and I had decided long ago that we wanted the baby's sex to be a surprise. It has also been fun for everyone to guess the sex based on the shape of my bump or the complexion of my face. My dad says that if my face starts to get ugly then I will have a boy. Rick and I both just want our baby to be healthy but I think I secretly hope it will be a girl although I will be equally happy if it is a boy. We have had a boy name picked out for years but we're still undecided on a girl name. Any suggestions?



Here's a picture of the baby at 19 weeks.


Here's a picture of the baby's little feet!